I ran down to the sea shore with tears streaming down my cheeks. I found my rock, my sanctuary, were nobody would touch me. There was a big problem at home: we were moving. This town was my birthplace, where I grew up, where I rode my first bike- everything happened here. Now my parents were throwing away those memories like they were yesterday’s trash. I brought my thin legs up close to me and rested my chin on my knees to look out at the shore line. It was a peaceful day here; the seagulls were singing their afternoon song, waves rolling softly up and down the sand. Wiping my eyes of tears I sank into a sadness that was new to me. My mind raced over my friends and school. I was the “it” girl here; I started trends, talked to everyone, I was loved. That was as good as gone now. I didn’t notice that it had started to get dark, I was hungry, though. My cell phone buzzed on my rock. Startled, I woke from my mental slumber and looked at the screen to see who was calling me. Great, it’s mom, I thought. I flipped the phone open to find out what other bad news she had for me. “Jackie come home right now! Where are you? Its dark and you have been gone for five hours,” she shrieked at me. Wow, can’t I get some peace around here. “Okay, okay. Cool it, Mom. I’ll be home in twenty minutes.” I snapped my cell shut and jumped off the rock, screaming in anger. After two minutes of that, my throat was parched.
Too far of a walk tonight I better call Zach. He was my best friend, all six feet four inches of him, along with his short cropped brown hair of him. I dialed his number and the ringer only went off once rang once, he must have been expecting me to call I wondered if he knew. “Hey Jackie! What up,” he asked me in his rough voice. “Can you come pick me up at Coconut Beach? It’s too far for me to walk home.” I could tell that he was going to throw a million questions at me just then, but he stopped, “Umm, sure, I’ll be there in five. See yah then,” he told me. “Ok, thanks Zach, bye,” I replied. I walked up to bumpy trail that led out toward the sidewalk, and sat down on the curb to wait. Zach didn’t live far from the beach and I knew how fast he drove when it came to giving me a ride, the faster he gets here the better I guess. Two silent minutes passed by and I heard his car’s engine growling only ten seconds away from where I sat. I stood up and opened the Mustang’s door and crawled inside. “Okay Jackie, why where you at the beach this late? You okay?” he questioned. “I…well…how am I going to put this, I’m moving in a few days,” this was the last thing I wanted to talk about with him right now. “WHAT! Why? This is not fair,” he shouted. Before he could say anything he started again, “No you’re not going anywhere…I’ll kidnap you if I have to. You could stay at my place; we wouldn’t have to tell your mom anything, just play it cool till moving day.” I thought about that, and boy it sounded good, but I couldn’t do that to my mom and dad. Maybe they will change their minds if I am convincing enough. “Sounds good but I can’t, I’ll just try to convince my mom or dad,” I warily replied. “But…what…can…NOOOO,” he pleaded. I covered his mouth with my hand to shut him up; I didn’t want any more drama tonight. I looked out the side window and noticed that we just passed my street. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” I screamed at him. He smiled dangerously at me, “I am taking you on an ‘extended’ trip. I just have to get my credit card from my room.” I was horror- struck, and it didn’t help that he was driving like those crazy car chases in the movies. Rubber was burning on the street as he whipped the car around back toward his house. Oh, no! What have I done? I heard a click and noticed he locked all the car doors. I glanced over at the speedometer and watched as it moved past the numbers toward 100m.p.h. Well there is no stopping him now, I guess this a good thing.

Three minutes later we reached his house. He stormed out of the car and ran to my side and dragged me out of it. He clenched my wrist and drug me to the front door only to loosen his grip as he passed his mom. He left me there and I heard him rummage through his room for some things. He must be serious about this. I hope he doesn’t get caught. Minutes later, he came back with a backpack over his shoulder and looked at his mom. “Hey mom, Jackie and her family are going on a trip and they leave tonight; they invited me to come along. It’s okay if I go right?” The way he said it sounded like his mom already said “yes”. She glanced over at me and I saw the questioning look on her face, I wonder what she was thinking just then. “Um sure I guess so, just make sure to check every so often,” she said absently. “Yah, whatever. Bye mom!” he shouted back behind him as he drug me back out to the car. I felt like that woman who got kidnapped by King Kong. I was really scared; this was not the Zach I knew. He threw his backpack in the trunk and climbed back into the Mustang. He pulled out of his driveway and raced back down his street, heading for the highway. He looked over at me and smiled…why was he smiling? This was not funny at all.
“So, Jackie, where do you want to go? I think New York would be pretty cool.” I hesitated to answer, “Sure, but it doesn’t matter, and you’re the one driving. Couldn’t I at least have gone home to grab some clothes so my mom doesn’t get suspicious? I could have snuck out later tonight.” Zach fell silent; he was most likely thinking about that. “I guess you’re right, so, what’s for dinner?” he asked. It took me a moment to figure out what he meant, “Spaghetti I think.” We raced back to the house, I looked at the time, crap I’m late. Five minutes later we reached my house. I walked inside the front door and prepared for what was next. “Jackie! Where were you…,” she noticed that Zach was with me and closed her mouth and was all the sudden in a lighter mood. “Hey, Zach! Did Jackie invite you over for dinner tonight?” He smiled and looked at me to reply for him. “Oh yah I did mom, sorry for the short notice,” I told her smoothly, showing no hint of worry in my voice. We all sat down at the table, my dad was at the TV watching the game hollering across the house about how bad the other team was. Dinner was silent aside from the few remarks Zach said about the food. Guys and their food, I thought to myself.
When dinner was over, I said bye to Zach, and went to my room for a few hours. I dug through my overstuffed closet and found my old backpack from the previous year. It was in pretty good shape and could hold a lot, thank goodness. I stuffed enough clothes in it to last me a week, plus a jacket. I found my hair stuff in the bathroom and put those in the backpack also. I looked at the clock, only a few more minutes left. One thing I could not leave behind was my blanket; it was a gift from my 14th birthday three years ago. Next thing I knew, I heard a tapping on my window above my bed. I practically hit the ceiling with fright. I opened up the window after I realized it was Zach. He hopped in and grabbed my backpack. “Oh my goodness! How much stuff do you need? Well, you’re a girl, I can’t say more than that.” I blushed, “Sorry I don’t know how long you’re abducting me.” He hopped back out the window and I grabbed my teddy that I got when I was just a baby. After I climbed out the window I walked over to his silver Mustang again. Saying goodbye to my home, I climbed inside and shut the door. “Okay, I’m ready…hey who are you calling?” After he hung up his cell phone, he looked at me and grinned, “Well we don’t want our friends to worry do we? Plus the guys would like to know what happens if we get caught.” Great; tell it to the world why don’t you!
After we pulled back on the highway for the second time, I glanced over at the clock. “Okay are you going to boast about this anymore, because I want to go to sleep.” Zach sighed, “No…I’ll save it for when you wake up. ‘Night.” I must have fallen asleep pretty fast, because I don’t remember anything after he said night. I felt someone shaking me, go away, can’t I sleep her?. It stopped for a little and I heard some quiet snickering…I felt something wet and cold running down my face. I sat up so fast I fell out of bed. When did I get here? I rubbed my eyes like I always did and attempted to open my eyes. Ow, the light was really bright. “Morning sleepy-head,” Zach choked out in between fits of laughter. I looked over at him sitting on a chair, “Why did you have to wake me up? I’m tired!” I got up and went the bathroom to look in the mirror. I almost died, My hair was a total mess and I didn’t take my make up off, so the water was making it all run down my face. “ZACH! YOU’RE DEAD MEAT,” I screamed as I stomped out of the bathroom. He was still laughing at me like it was a joke. I slapped him on the head, almost growling like a tiger. I calmed down after a three more hits on his head. That got him to stop laughing; he covered his head with his hands, “OW! Hey, why did you do that?” I walked to my backpack and found my brush and a hair tie. I walked back as I was trying to get the knots out of my hair, “Sorry, where are we?” He looked a little shocked from my outburst, “Oh, yah, we are in New York City.” That surprised me. “Oh, I’m hungry were can we eat?” Zach got up and went the bedside table and retrieved the hotel’s menu, “Well, we can eat here, or do you want to find somewhere else?” I thought it over in my head, “Here is good; give me ten minutes.” I grabbed my huge bag and dragged it to the bathroom. After I took a quick shower and threw on some shorts and a sweatshirt, I went back out and dropped my bag on the floor, which landed with a thud. “Oops,” I grabbed my hair tie and put my hair up real quick and put on some make up. “Ready, lets go Zach,” great now he is sleeping in the chair. I pushed him out of the chair but he woke up before he fell on the floor. “Nice try, Jackie,” he chuckled.
We walked down to the hotel’s restaurant and got our breakfast from the buffet. Almost all the tables were filled, but luckily we found one. I looked up at him and saw that he already had a third of his breakfast down. “Gosh! Slow down Zach, you’re going to choke!” He looked up at me with his mouth filled with food, and a piece of bacon in his hand. I couldn’t help but laugh so loud that everyone looked at me. Quickly I covered my mouth in attempt to help mute the sound. After he finished his mouthful of food, he sighed, “I’m sorry,” he said in a mocking tone, “but driving all night will do that to you.”
After we finished our breakfast, we walked back to the room. “So Jackie, where do you want to go?” After I gave it a quick thought I blurted out, “Shopping! Oh no, I forgot my money at home.” He reached into his back pocket of his jeans and took out his wallet and removed his credit card and fanned himself with it. “Zach, are you kidding? You do know that this might be a while…and might get expensive.” I commented to him. He stopped walking and reached for my hand. I stopped to and waited for him to talk. “Jackie…you do know that I am 18 and legally an adult, and your birthday is only two weeks away before you are too. So I was thinking…that...” He stopped there and looked at the ground bashfully. “You were thinking what? Come on spill it.” After a minute he began again, “I was thinking maybe we could live here… as a couple. Please?” That so caught me off guard. Hey, wait a minute; that’s why his mom looked at me funny that day. She must have known all along. What should I do? If I say no he will hate me most likely, but if I say yes… can I handle it? I noticed I was looking away from him now, I looked up and seen how desperate his eyes were. “I…yes, that sounds nice Zach.” He got so excited, he ran all the way to the end of the hall shouting joyfully about it. I hoped nobody was sleeping. Zach ran back to me and gave me such a big hug that I couldn’t breathe. “Zach… you’re…choking me.” I tried to blurt out. He put me down and smiled so big it looked like it would be stuck there for life.
Things started looking up a few moths later, surprisingly; New York City is the place my parents were moving to. I moved back in with them and also gained an entire three months of grounding…ew. Zach got an apartment near to my parent’s condo so he could stay closer to me. We both started school up again to finish out our senior year; Zach always kept a watchful eye on me, due to the many new guys in the school. He called his mom back as soon as he got his own place; apparently she did know what his actions would be while we where in New York during my ‘extended trip’, she was fine with it I heard, thank goodness.
Zach looked at me as we sat down in a Starbucks, “Well Jackie, I told you things would work out, didn’t I?” I laughed as I replied, “Shut up Zach.” He grinned playfully at me, “Who’s the smart one now?” We both laughed, as we remembered our trip up here. “Things always work out for you don’t they?” I commented.