I swirled my shaved ice in the cup, mixing the colors together. Alani looked over her own at me with raised eyebrows and a smirk. We were in the middle of another one of her interrogations regarding my relationship, which was always amusing to her. I was starting to think that it was a great incentive to be single, not that I really wanted that to happen, either.

She was leaving for a competition for the qualifying series tomorrow, but I had decided to pass up on this event. The goal was to earn enough points on the CT so that I would requalify for the CT by my ranking there, but if I wasn't placing high enough during my first few outings on tour then I would go to the QS and try to pick up some wins. That would allow me to requalify for the CT by having a high ranking on the QS. For now, I would stay home and spend my last couple of days with Will.

He was heading back to settle in a few days early, around January 4th. Will and Evan's coach wanted to get him situated with the athletic trainers to continue his rehab there. The walker was still around once in a while, but he had basically ditched it since the walk on the beach a few days ago. No one was more surprised with his improvements than his doctors, who couldn't believe their eyes. It was nothing less than a miracle.

"So you two are going to do the distance? Once you're on tour?" Alani checked.

I stirred the ice again. "Yeah, there aren't too many other options. At least he's going to school on the same island that we live on."

"It'll suck though. You were gone a lot last year though, so you know what it's like."

"Don't remind me," I groaned, "how is it for you and Daniel?"

She smiled at the thought of him, what a dope. "I trust him, which is important and helps. But it's really hard being gone so much, even when I'm only on the QS and don't have as many business deals and events like you. You know I can be touchy and kind of clingy, so that's tough. It'll be worth it though."

"Wedding bells in the future?" I winked.

That got a blush out of her. "Not for a few years, but I hope so. I'm trying not to be one of those island couples that rushes into things though."

I nodded and stabbed the remainder of my ice with my straw. Alani stood up a few minutes later and complained about how she had to go pack. I laughed at her procrastination and wished her good luck as we headed to our cars.

The drive home passed the baseball field that the boy's club team had used when they were in high school, and I looked over at the dirt out of habit. Two figures in dark green shirts were on the field that was usually closed to the public. I pulled over quickly and brushed my hair back into place after driving with the windows down.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure this field is closed. They don't want wannabees messing up the dirt," I called out as I leaned over the fence.

"Well I heard they say that because they don't want random girls coming over and flirting with the serious athletes," Evan yelled back as he continued to hit grounders from home plate.

Will turned from his position playing third and put his glove on top of his head as he walked over to the fence. He rested his arms over the fence next to me and smirked as Evan continued to yell.

"You can't be distracting him, he sucks! He needs all of the practice he can get!"

Will laughed, deepening the dimples in his cheeks. "What are you up to?"

"I was just out with Alani. How's it going over here?"

He shrugged and chewed on this inside of his cheek, glancing from River to Evan. "It's good to be back. The feet are still a little unsteady. Evan's not completely lying when he says I suck."

"I'm a lot of things, but a liar isn't one of them," Evan called from where he was practicing his bat flips. Too bad he would never get to use those skills as a PO.

I reached over and grabbed Will's glove off of his head. It was a customized A200 and sported the words "Next Pitch" embroidered in the thumb. "All that matters is the next one, right? I'm still not seeing a sophomore slump in your future, dude. Have fun, I'll see you later."

"I'm always having fun," he said before kissing me quickly on the cheek and walking back to his position. "Wanna go for a walk tonight?" he called over his shoulder.

I nodded and stood by the field for a few more minutes to watch him take reps. His jumps to get to the grounders were slower than before, but you could tell that his mind was there. In some ways, it was probably harder to have your body being the thing that couldn't keep up with your brain. He got slowly steadier as Evan continued to pound the ball at him, even making a couple of backhanded plays. The potential top prospect wasn't visible anymore, but he might be able to make it back on the college field within the next few years.

The boys continued to practice at the field as I went home to grab food before going out to surf. The waves weren't huge and I didn't feel like driving to find any better breaks, so the four foot ones on the home beach would do.

A few of the waves shaped up nicely and I was working on my aerial maneuvers. My frontside grab really needed the work, but the waves weren't quite big enough to give me enough air for that. I settled for practicing my 360's instead, but my balance was off all afternoon. I finally decided to ride a wave in after many failed attempts, including one time involving me slipping off and banging my chin on the board.

Will was walking down the beach toward me as I made my way up the beach and I met him halfway back to my house. He held his hands out to take my board for me, but I scoffed and shook my head at that one. The dude needed to get walking down before he was offering to hold my stuff for me.

"I was wondering where you went off to. You okay to go for a walk now?" Will asked as he dutifully followed me to drop my board off.

"Yeah, sounds good," I pulled a pair of flowy shorts over my bikini bottoms and jogged back next to him. He quickly slipped his hand into mine and gave it a tug down the beach.

"You working on your tan?" I laughed, nodding at his outfit which just consisted of board shorts.

"You're making a joke, but I actually am. I could get harassed at school for being a local who's this pale," he laughed.

The sun was beginning to set, but I didn't bother mentioning that he only had a few more minutes of potential tanning time. "How was your surf?" he asked.

I shrugged and leaned my head onto his shoulder for a second. "Probably similar to your practice. Couldn't land the 360."

Will squeezed my hand. "Don't get in your head about it. I'm sure that you'll be fine next time."

We talked about his classes and schedule next semester and I worked on mentally planning how our time zones would line up as I worked my way around the world. It was a daunting task, and I tried to go back to the more straightforward topics.

We had been walking for about an hour and eventually stopped to sit down on the sand. The sky was dark now with only the moonlight illuminating the waves and sand. There wasn't much on this edge of the island, so it was thankfully quiet.

I lay down and looked at the stars for a few minutes before sitting up again next to Will. He was gazing out at the waves and looked serious. My gaze found its way to his back, where his scars were now lit up in the moonlight. The shone white and I brushed over them lightly with my fingertips. He shivered slightly.

"Sorry, I think they're there for life," he said quietly.

"I know that you probably hate them... but I think that they're beautiful," I whispered, tracing another jagged path. I wasn't lying either-- they did create an interesting design, and it looked nice in the moonlight. 

He laughed harshly at that. "You're crazy, but I won't complain because it feels nice."

There was nothing that I could do other than admire the boy in front of me, my best friend. He had been broken before, and yet, against all odds, had made his way back onto his feet. 

Hello all thank you for reading (sorry it wasn't the craziest chapter)! I'm taking finals next week so I'll hopefully be updating more after that. Also... I may have gotten ahead of myself and started writing a sequel hahaha which is funny because this has probably ten chapters or so left. But I got big plans, and even though this hasn't gotten a crazy amount of reads I think I'll go for my first sequel ever :)))

Thanks so much for reading, and I hope that all of you in school are surviving the end of the semester :)