“You are Maybelle Mason, and you can do hard things,” she whispered in my ear, and I hugged her back.
Kissing my mother’s cheek, I pulled away. “I love you. I’ll see you later.”
Then I wasleaping, exiting the car and making the terribly lonely walk down to the beach.
9 Mighty Dandy Right Hooks
Maybelle
I still wore my forget-me-not blue dress but replaced my graduation gown with my black zip-up to keep me warm against the cool ocean breeze. I wrapped my arms around myself as I stalked the outer shell of the social circle. Not in the least bit interested in inserting myself into the thick group.
Mom said take the leap. I took the damn leap, but throwing myself in the mess of bodies surrounding the fire was just suicide.
Instead, I bypassed the party to where the ocean met land. I stopped just outside of where the waves crested the sand, sitting myself on a dry patch. I slipped off my strappy sandals and dug my toes into the damp dirt. I loved the beach. I would’ve survived the night if I could’ve stayed right there. Unbothered to watch the waves and do all the people watching I wanted.
But that was, sadly, short-lived.
“Maybelle?”
I turned from the crashing waves to see a tall shadow of a boy. Deep eyes peered down at me, and his black hair absorbed the pale light of the moon.
“That’s me,” I confirmed.
He took a step closer. “Daniel, Daniel Aguilar? Wehad math together.”
I smiled up at him, recognizing Daniel for the quiet, ruggedly handsome boy who sat in the back of class. He drove a motorbike to school and smoked behind the buildings between classes. I shared my lunch with him once when I noticed he had nothing to eat. Other than that, we didn’t really talk. Our acquaintance mainly consisted of shared glances when passing in the hallway and, apparently, math class.
“Right, of course. How are you?”
He stuffed his hands into his front, dark denim, pant pockets. “I’m good. You?”
“Been mighty dandy,” I blurted, immediately berating myself.
What in the world, Maybelle? Mighty dandy?
Run while you still can, Daniel.
To my surprise, instead of cringing, Daniel smiled and chuckled before asking, “Can I join you?” He gestured to the area next to me.
“Oh, sure,” I invited, as I patted the sand at my side.
Look at me, taking the leap.
Daniel sat with his knees up in front of him and placed two tatted arms on top of them, with a leather jacket clutched in one hand. Daniel was obviously the type of good-looking that screamed “bad boy”.
He was tall, with black curly hair that hung loosely over his eyes. He had tattoos painted up his arms and a scruffy shadow along his strong jawline. I didn’t know much about him, but he’d always been kind to me.
Liam didn’t like him, which I never understood why. He mentioned something about Daniel and Liam’s friend, Penny, not getting along—that Daniel had picked on her or something like that. Despite what Liam said, I had a hard time believing Daniel had a talkative bone in his body, let alone a rude one.
To further prove my point, the next moments were spent mute. Because who would’ve guessed the two quietkids sitting alone would lead to a painfully awkward silence?
Frantically, I searched my brain for conversation topics, desperate to fill the stillness. “So, any post-graduation plans?”
Daniel shook his head. “No, not really.”
He wasn’t going to make this any easier on me.
I studied him from my peripheral, trying to see if he was as uncomfortable as I was. He seemed very content to watch the waves in the hushed moment.
