I studied the same ground I had been studying for weeks now. I still couldn't find any evidence to support either of my theories. I stared at the spot where they had found my father's mutilated body.
"Find anything interesting?" I whirled around and stared into the eyes of Annie. She cocked her head and gave me a questioning look.
"You okay?" She asked. I nodded. She snorted and I raised my eyebrows.
"You jumped at least five feet in the air like I was an axe murderer or something." I shook my head and laughed.
"No, I just didn't expect to see you here at eight am on a Saturday morning."
She shrugged. "Hey, I wanted to work on the paper. I guess I should have known you'd be here." I just looked at her.
"How'd you get here anyways?" I asked suddenly remembering she didn't have a car.
She smiled. "I stole some guys Lexus." She said. I gave her a look.
"I thought we were past that part of your life?" I replied.
She gave me a serious look. "Well last time I checked "What happens in Malibu stays in Malibu" was your idea and I don't believe I agree to any of it."
I rolled my eyes. "That's nice."
Annie started grinning. "You know Jace I know you're a lot of things, but I didn't think gullible was one of them. The Lexus is my parents car, I even asked if I could borrow it."
I nodded again. She smiled and walked closer.
"So were you examining the ground or are you looking at ants?"
I looked at her and went hard. "lord she's gorgeous." Annie looked at me then gave me a weird look.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
I stepped forward and took her face in my hands. I gazed into her eyes then slowly lowered my head until my mouth met hers. The kiss started out slow but pretty soon we were both grabbing at each other. If a branch hadn't suddenly broke jolting me into wariness. I'm not so sure I could have kept our clothes on.
Both of our breaths were labored and Annie was flushed. She looked around then shuddered.
"Maybe we should leave. I don't think that was an animal." She said and I quickly agreed.
The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up and I felt watched. I sighed. All I wanted was to go back to kissing Annie. Annie turned around and headed to the cars. I followed her and ran my eyes over her figure.
She did have a great body. It took all of my efforts to think of something else. It took me a minute to realize Annie was talking.
"I'm sorry what?" She smiled. "I said that I could drive back to my house and you could follow me. Then we could both take your car from there."
I nodded still distracted. She sighed.
"Are you listening? Or are you just going to keep zoning out?"
I grinned. "I was listening and I think we should do that."
She gave me a look that clearly said she didn't believe me. When she headed over to a dark blue Lexus I gave a low whistle.
"You're folks must be rich." I said in appreciation of the car.
Annie rolled her eyes. "Puh-leeze I would know if my parents were rich. Anyone can save up and buy a Lexus."
I just shook my head. "So I'm following you?" I asked.
She nodded and got into the Lexus. I followed her all the way to the house and waited as she parked the car. She went into her house for a minute then came back out with her book bag. As she got into the car she gave me a small smile.
"I had to tell my parents where I was going." She said. I raised my eyebrows.
"I want my car back." She simply said.
I put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway. After we had been driving for about five minutes I looked over at her.
"So you think checking in with them will get you your car back?" I asked.
She didn't look at me. "No, I don't think doing just that will get me my car back. I gotta start somewhere though." She stared out the window.
"Do you miss your friends?" I asked.
She still didn't look at me. "Honestly they were never really my friends. I mean they wanted to be my friends but only because I was popular. Even the ones that felt like true friends always gave me a reason to think otherwise. School makes being a teenager so much harder because everything is rated on looks and popularity. It's ridiculous. Once you're labeled, you're labeled for the rest of high school. I'm glad I moved before I went too far."
We drove in silence on our way to the library. I used the time to think over what Annie had said. Once we got there Annie heave a sigh and looked at me.
"Do you want to ditch the paper for today? It is the weekend." I shrugged. "Sure whatever you want." I said and she nodded.
"Let's ditch for this weekend I really don't feel up to it." Annie suddenly brightened and turned to me eagerly. "Is there a beach near here? It can't be too far. I don't think my parents would approve of me going out of state."
I grinned. "You do realize like half of Massachusetts is surrounded by the ocean? It will probably be really cold."
Annie shook her head. "We should go anyways, I mean it is June."
I laughed. "Well June is like November in the ocean around these parts."
Annie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What does that mean?" She asked.
I grinned. "How about you find out for yourself and I won't ruin it?" Annie slowly nodded. "Okay fine, but be warned I don't like surprises."