My Recycled Soul (A Sample)

While clipping in his safety belt he tells Aaron and Jane to buckle up.

He starts the car and we drive off with Connell leading the way out of the school yard. We drive through the traffic in the village and then down the steep, winding back roads toward the beach.

I turn myself as much as I possibly can, within the constraints of the safety belt, so I can speak to Jane in the back seat. After a while, Aaron joins in and we laugh and joke about school, especially Mr. Halpin, with his little, eccentric habits.

I am fully aware that Jared does not speak at all. He only smiles now and again at something one of us say and when he does, he glances in my direction. This makes my stomach muscles clench in onto themselves and a flush of heat creep up my cheeks. I cannot believe how each thread of my body is aware of him.

Too soon, we stop at a parking area with high square shrubs surrounding it.

Everybody gets out of the cars, and start to stroll toward an almost hidden pathway. I walk away from the Jeep first. I did not want it to look as if I am waiting.

When I step onto the beach out from between the bushes, the first thing that strikes me is the view. It is beautiful and peaceful. The water is translucent blue, with the waves calmly rolling in onto the white pebbled sand curving around the beach in a semi-circle. Hugging the beach are huge expansive cliffs.

I stop walking and look up at the cliffs, feeling small and insignificant. From the corner of my eye, I notice Connell and Jared walk out from the pathway together. It looks as if they are discussing something important, and Jared looks stubborn in his decision.

Then Jared is looking at me and despite how silly it sounds I am stuck in the gaze of his eyes. Like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car, I feel a strange sensation of excited panic, but I cannot move.

I smile at him shyly, and then feeling mortified I start to turn around toward Jane further down the beach.

Jared starts running in my direction.

I flinch and turn my back to him when it looks as if he is going to run into me, but he folds his arms around my waist and lifts me off the ground. With my feet dangling in the air, he twirls me around. His voice from behind me suggests amused, "I think we should give you a proper Irish welcome and dunk you in the sea."