Hundreds of miniscule raindrops streaked down my bedroom window. I had been cooped up inside the house all day yesterday thanks to the storm, but the rain had finally lessened and the lightning ceased just in time for school this morning.

"Wonderful," I grumbled as I shoved my feet into my worn Converse. Every bone in my body yearned to be back in the ocean. I wanted to return to the secret cave and see my mother's message again. Thinking about her made me both excited and sad at the same time. I knew she was alive, and that gave me hope that I would find her someday.

But for now I had to deal with reality. I sighed as I grabbed my backpack and headed downstairs, still sullen after my visit with Kimmie. It hadn't gone as planned—in fact, it had gone completely wrong. I had expected everything to magically go back to normal, as if I had never moved away and we were still close as ever, but that wasn't what had happened. The truth was inevitable: we had drifted apart. Two weeks with nothing but the occasional text and phone call had driven an invisible barrier between us. Kimmie was obsessed with this Zach guy, and though she was genuinely interested in my life at Shady Cove, she wasn't broken over the fact that I had moved away. Where I used to have an aching hole in my heart, I had filled it in with new friendships in Sage and Marley—and Luke. Had Kimmie done the same? Had we broken our promises to each other? Was that why everything had seemed so forced and indifferent on Saturday?

I was still deep in thought during my bike ride to Shady Cove High, and my mind continued to wander during my first four classes. I went through the motions of buying lunch, taking a seat in the cafeteria, and listening to the chatter of multiple conversations. Sage was as cheerful and bubbly as ever, completely oblivious to my strange behavior. I snuck in a few words here and there during our conversation with some girls from the swim team, but other than that, I remained silent.

The rest of the school day passed in the same manner, with most of my classmates assuming I was disconsolate because the authorities had suspended me on Friday. But that wasn't it at all—in fact, I could care less about my trivial punishment. What really made me anxious was a combination of my dwindling friendship with Kimmie and the mounting urge to swim in the ocean. Both were consuming my thoughts, but the closer the school day grew to dismissal, the more the desire for the ocean overpowered everything else.

I just need to wait until after tutoring, I told myself, knowing that Luke was counting on me to show up. But my throat was parched and my whole body tingled with the need for salt water. It was insufferable.

Finally, the last period of the day rolled around, and I joined Sage in the walk to the pool deck. She had been uncharacteristically quiet all day, and I had a feeling something important was on her mind.

"Well, I found out where Marley has been all this time," she said, surprising me with the sudden conversation.

"Where?"

"Sick." She shook her head sadly. "I guess she has a really bad fever."

"Oh," I replied, not knowing what else to say. We lapsed into another pregnant silence.

Sage turned to face me, wrinkles creasing her forehead. "Is something wrong, Rayne? You've been acting really sad lately."

"Nothing's wrong. But what about you? Is something on your mind?"

"You're still upset about the fight, aren't you?" she asked, skirting my question.

I laughed. "No, of course not."

"Then you're upset about getting suspended."

"It's not that either."

Sage sighed. "Well, it has to be something. What is it?"

I stared at her for what seemed like minutes. There were dozens of answers: I recently found out that my Mom never really died—she only disappeared before leaving me a secret message in an underwater cave. Then there was the fact that I'd developed some crazy and insanely abnormal features like gills and seeing underwater. Plus, my best friend from Newland was slowly slipping away from me, and there was nothing I could do about it except watch as she replaced me with some dream guy.

Sage blinked. "Well?"

"Like I said before, nothing's wrong." I continued walking to the locker room.

Sage groaned and jogged to catch up with me. "Fine—if you don't want to tell me, then you don't have to. But..." She paused, a strange look crossing her face. "Just know that I'm here for you, okay? We're friends, and friends help each other out."

"Thanks." I smiled as we headed over to our lockers and started undressing. "It's just that it's personal," I added. "Some crazy things have happened over the weekend."

"Oh." Sage frowned and glanced away for a second. "Does it have anything to do with...Luke, by chance?"

"Luke?" I started, but caught myself in time. "No. Why?"

"No reason," she said quickly, looking away. I felt my pulse pick up.

"What about Luke?" I pressed. "Sage..."

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then turned to face me. "I'm not supposed to tell you this," she admitted, "but he texted me last Friday night, telling me that he had some big plans for the next day. Are you following?"

"Yes..."

Sage gave me an undecipherable look. I had no clue why she was acting so strange all of a sudden. "Look, Rayne, please don't tell him I said this—but he was going to ask you out."

"He what?"

But Sage was silent. I didn't know whether to shriek in excitement or blush like a fool, so I did both. "Oh my gosh, Sage, are you serious?" I gasped. "He's really going to ask me out?"

She gave me a wry smile. "I knew it. You do like him."

I blushed again and looked down at the floor. "Yeah," I admitted, "I guess I do."

"What a bummer. He was going to ask you out."

"What do you mean? Is he okay?"

"Oh, he's fine. Just suffering from a broken heart," she said melodramatically.

My head was spinning. "Okay, you lost me. What are you talking about?"

She gave me a disappointed look. "If you can't figure it out, then don't bother asking me. But I suggest you have a nice, long talk with him in tutoring today."

I gaped at her as she finished dressing and headed out of the locker room. I was completely, totally lost. Sage wasn't one to beat around the bush, and she certainly gave me more than enough hints for whatever she was trying to tell me. But for the life of me, I couldn't figure it out. And was she actually serious when she said Luke was going to ask me out? What could have changed his mind?

I shook my head and slipped my new racing suit on. It was nowhere near as pretty as my old one, but Dad and I had bought it at a sports shop in Newland the other day on our way home. I grabbed my new goggles and swim cap as well before hurrying out onto the pool deck. Sage gave me a sad smile but said nothing when I slipped into the same lane as her.

Something is definitely up, I thought, my mind racing with questions. I had the horrible feeling I had done something wrong to hurt Luke, but what? Why was Sage trying to catch me in a guilt trap?

For the first time since I'd moved to Shady Cove, I wanted to see Luke more than I wanted to swim in the ocean. If he honest-to-goodness liked me as more than a friend, then I wanted to find out why he had changed his mind. I had never had a boyfriend before, and the prospect of entering this uncharted territory thrilled me as it would any teenage girl. I had a sudden glimmer of light: was this is how Kimmie felt about her relationship with Zach? Was she just as confused as I?

My attention was diverted when Coach Hansen strode onto the pool deck. He immediately launched into our warm-up and said we were going to be busy today. I was thankful for the hard workout that took my mind off everything, but as soon as I dragged myself out of the pool and headed back to the locker room, my worries came flooding back. Sage was still in her weird mood over Luke, so I didn't bug her with questions, even though I was drowning in them. She gave me an anxious smile when I left.

I immediately made a beeline for the library. Anxious and exhausted, I sat down at the first vacant table and watched as the librarian studied me over the rims of her cherry-colored glasses.

Five minutes later, Luke still wasn't here.

Thoughts swirled through my mind. What if something had happened to him—something that I should have known about, but was too blind to realize?

The next ten minutes were pure torture. I suddenly had a horrible feeling that this was all my fault. Maybe I had done something to hurt Luke, and Sage wanted us to talk things through. But what could I have done? I couldn't remember any times we had fought or yelled at each other. Luke was one of the kindest, most patient guys in the entire school, and I hadn't known him to hold a grudge.

I pulled out my water bottle and gulped down the remaining saltwater inside. It soothed my parched throat for the time being, but I knew that if Luke didn't show up within ten more minutes, I was going to have to leave. I couldn't stand the suspense any longer.

Finally, just as my mental breakdown was escalating, the library door flung open, and a composed-looking Luke Sanchez strode in. He smiled casually at the librarian before shoving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and glancing around the room. Since I was the only student in the entire library, his gaze automatically flitted over to me, and I felt the color rise in my cheeks. Should I smile? Wave?

Fortunately, Luke covered the distance between us quickly, leaving no time for minor complications. "You're here," he said, shocked.

"Well...yeah."

His surprise suddenly morphed into angst. "Well, could we talk for a minute?"

I gave a hesitant nod. His movements had become tense, his demeanor guarded. "Sure," I said.

Luke pursed his lips and glanced over his shoulder at the librarian. "How about we take this outside?"

"Oh. Right." I clumsily hoisted my backpack over my shoulders and followed him out the door, nearly tripping over a table leg in the process. My heart was beating so rapidly I was sure everyone within a fifty-foot radius could hear it. I swallowed nervously as Luke led me to the bleachers behind the football field. Once he was satisfied we would have some privacy, he cleared his throat.

"Look, Rayne, I don't know what you're thinking, but I can't handle this anymore," he said, exasperated. "I can't do this tutoring anymore, and I certainly can't keep following you around, even after—after—what promised to be a good friendship," he finished lamely.

"What?" I cried. "Luke, what are you talking about?"

His eyes narrowed. "Oh, so now you're going to play dumb?" He seemed flustered, dancing between anger and desperation. "I was expecting an apology, even an excuse, but to stay indifferent about the whole situation? That's pretty low, even for a nice girl like you."

His words stabbed my heart. He had never been sarcastic and angry before—especially not with me.

"Luke, please believe me when I say I don't have the faintest idea of what you're talking about," I pleaded.

"Really," Luke scoffed.

"Yes!"

"I can't believe this." He shook his head. "I thought you were different."

"Luke, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about! Can you please tell me what's going on?" Hot, frustrated tears sprang into my eyes. "What could I have done to make you so upset? Why are you so angry with me? I don't know what's going on!"

His gaze softened for a second. "Then you really don't know...?"

I shook my head vigorously.

"Rayne! Don't you remember our plans? The Café?"

I ran his words through my mind a few times, but still came up empty. "I don't know," I spluttered. "Luke, I honestly don't know! What—"

"You don't even remember our plans for Saturday?" He gave me an incredulous look. "Are you serious?" He threw his hands up in the air. "Rayne, how could you forget our date at the Shady Cove Café on Saturday? I had everything planned out—everything—but you never showed up. I texted you a dozen times and called you until midnight, hoping something wasn't wrong. I even called you on Sunday, too, but you never answered even once. And then you showed up to school this morning like nothing even happened!"

Oh no! How could I have been so forgetful? Our rendezvous...our meeting...our date. Luke had called it a date! Sage was right; he had been planning to ask me out! I had crushed his hopes, the poor guy. What had I been thinking?

"I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed as sincerely as possible. "Luke, I had no idea. I completely forgot about meeting at the Café. I'm so, so sorry!"

For a second, Luke looked like he was going to forgive me. But his jaw stayed firm and his eyes flashed with hurt. "So you went and hung out with some friends from your old town instead?" he retorted. "First of all, you never came to school on Friday, and then you pulled another fast one by not showing up to the Café on Saturday. As if that wasn't bad enough, you didn't answer your phone for two whole days! Do you even realize how panicked I was? Sage called you at least a dozen times too! Both of us were worried out of our minds wondering if you were okay. So when you showed up this morning like nothing had happened, I couldn't believe it. You had actually ditched me on Saturday and ignored me all weekend. That hurts, Rayne, especially when—" He paused, his face flushing between light pink and dark red. "Well, I guess my feelings don't matter now," he said bitterly.

Remorse hung heavy on me like a dark cloud. "Luke, I'm so sorry," I said again. "I completely forgot, and that was terrible of me. But honestly, I wasn't ignoring you!"

"Then why didn't you answer your phone?" he demanded.

"My dad grounded me and took it away."

He gave me a look of disbelief. "So your dad's version of 'grounding' is taking you to Newland to hang out with friends?"

"No, no—it's hard to explain!"

"Whatever," he muttered. "I hope you do well in Spanish."

"Wait, I'm serious!" I grabbed his arm before he could turn away. "This weekend was disappointing for me too. I haven't visited my best friend in almost in a month, but now I'm not sure we're really friends anymore...and before that I actually found out the truth about my mom, and even more things—crazier, unbelievable things—have happened to me in such a short time that I don't know what to do anymore!"

I sucked in a deep breath. My cheeks were stained with tears and my eyes pleaded for Luke to believe me. He had to believe me. As our gazes locked, I could see the hurt swimming in his chocolate-brown eyes, and I hoped he could see the remorse written in mine.

"Luke, you know how I feel about you," I said boldly.

"I don't know what to think anymore." He wrenched his arm out of my grasp. "And where were you on Friday? You didn't even show up for tutoring. Oh, wait, let me guess—you were hanging out with your friends from Newland on that day too."

"No!" I exclaimed. "Can you stop making accusations and just listen to me?" I was getting fed up with his attitude. Couldn't he understand that I was going through a hard time right now?

"I got in a fight on Friday," I explained. "With Madeleine Hansen. And it wasn't even my fault—she was the one who attacked me. But I got suspended on Friday anyway."

"You got in a fight?" Luke raised his eyebrows.

"Yes! I thought the whole school knew!" I sighed angrily.

He folded his arms across his chest.

"Luke, I'm sorry," I said, my voice breaking. "All of this has been one big misunderstanding. I know it's my fault that I forgot about Saturday, but—"

"But nothing. It's over." He glanced over his shoulder toward the parking lot. "Look, I don't know what to think anymore, or what to believe, or what to expect...it's all one huge mess. But we were never going to work out anyway."

He turned and started to walk away. "Luke!" I cried. "Wait! You don't understand..."

He ignored me and continued walking until he had turned the corner, out of sight. I clenched my fists and angrily wiped my tears away with the hard ridges of my knuckles. Fine. I guess we never were going to work out, not if he couldn't talk through a simple misunderstanding.

I knew it was my fault for missing the big "date" on Saturday, and I also knew Luke's high hopes had been absolutely shattered by my absentmindedness. He had legitimately planned on asking me out, so I deserved his accusations and yelling. But couldn't he take the time to see my side of the story, too?

I abruptly pushed off the ground and headed to the bike rack at the front of the school. There was only one place I wanted to go—only one place that could heal me and my broken heart.

Istarted to run.