The Last Song

"Keep talking. You're just so fascinating. I'm going to get something to drink."

"Get me a bottled water, will you?"

As Will walked off, something white flashed by him, heading in Scott's direction; Scott saw it, too, and instinctively lunged out of the way, dropping his cheeseburger in the process.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Scott demanded, spinning around. On the ground lay a wadded-up box of French fries. Behind him, Teddy and Lance had their hands stuffed in their pockets. Marcus was standing between them, trying and failing to appear innocent.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Marcus answered.

"This!" Scott snarled, kicking the box back at them.

It was the tone, Will would later think, that made everyone around them tense. Will felt the hair on his neck prickle at the palpable, almost physical dislocation of air and space, a tremor that promised violence.

Violence that Marcus obviously wanted...

As if he were baiting him.

Will saw a father scoop up his son and move away, while Ashley and Cassie, back from the pier, froze on the outskirts. Off to the side, Will recognized Galadriel--she called herself Blaze these days--circling closer.

Scott glared at them, his jaw clenching. "You know, I'm getting sick and tired of your crap."

"Whatcha gonna do?" Marcus smirked. "Shoot a bottle rocket at me?"

That was all it took. As Scott took a sudden step forward, Will pushed his way frantically through the crowd, trying to reach his friend in time.

Marcus didn't move. Not good. Will knew he and his friends were capable of anything... and worst of all, they knew what Scott had done...

But Scott, in a fury, didn't seem to care. As Will surged forward, Teddy and Lance fanned out, drawing Scott into their midst. He tried to close the gap, but Scott was moving too quickly, and suddenly everything seemed to happen at once. Marcus took a half step backward as Teddy kicked over a stool, forcing Scott to jump out of the way. He slammed into a table, toppling it. Scott caught his balance and balled his hands into fists. Lance closed in from the side. As Will forced his way forward, gaining momentum, he vaguely heard the wailing sounds of a toddler. Breaking free of the crowd, he veered toward Lance when all at once a girl stepped forward into the fray.

"Just stop!" the girl shouted, thrusting her arms out. "Knock it off! All of you!"

Her voice was surprisingly loud and authoritative, enough to make Will stop in his tracks. Everyone else froze, and in the sudden silence, the cries of the toddler sounded shrill. The girl pivoted, glaring at each of the brawlers in turn, and as soon as Will saw the purple streak in her hair, he realized exactly where he'd seen her before. Only now she was wearing an oversize T-shirt with a fish on the front.

"The fight's over! There is no fight! Can't you see this kid is hurt?"

Challenging them to contradict her, she pushed her way between Scott and Marcus and stooped to the crying toddler, who had been knocked over in the commotion. He was three or four, and his shirt was pumpkin orange. When the girl spoke to him, her voice was soft, her smile reassuring.

"Are you okay, sweetie? Where's your mom? Let's go find her, okay?"

The toddler seemed to focus momentarily on her shirt.

"This is Nemo," she said. "He got lost, too. Do you like Nemo?"

Off to the side, a panic-stricken woman holding a baby pushed through the crowd, oblivious to the tension in the air. "Jason? Where are you? Have you seen a little boy? Blond hair, orange shirt?"

Relief crossed her features as soon as she spotted him. She adjusted the baby on her hip as she rushed to his side.

"You can't run off like that, Jason!" she cried. "You scared me. Are you okay?"

"Nemo," he said, pointing at the girl.

The mother turned, noticing the girl for the first time. "Thank you--he just wandered off when I was changing the baby's diaper and--"

"It's okay," the girl said, shaking her head. "He's fine."

Will watched the mother lead her kids away, then he turned back to the girl, noticing the kind way she smiled as the young boy toddled off. Once they'd moved far enough away, however, the girl suddenly seemed to realize that everyone in the crowd was staring at her. She crossed her arms, self-conscious when the crowd began to part for a rapidly approaching police officer.

Marcus quickly murmured something to Scott before melting back into the crowd. Teddy and Lance did the same. Blaze turned to follow them as well, and surprising Will, the girl with the purple streak reached out to grab her arm.

"Wait! Where are you going?" she called out.

Blaze shook her arm free, walking backward. "Bower's Point."

"Where's that?"

"Just head down the beach. You'll find it." Blaze turned and rushed after Marcus.

The girl seemed unsure what to do. By then the tension, so thick only moments before, was dissipating as quickly as it had arisen. Scott righted the table and headed toward Will just as the girl was approached by a man he assumed was her father.

"There you are!" he called out with a mixture of relief and exasperation. "We've been looking for you. You ready to go?"

The girl, who'd been watching Blaze, was obviously unhappy to see him.

"No," she said simply. With that, she strode into the crowd, heading for the beach. A young boy walked up to the father.

"I guess she's not hungry," the boy offered.

The man put his hand on the boy's shoulder, watching as she descended the steps to the beach without a backward glance. "I guess not," he said.

"Can you believe that?" Scott raged, pulling Will away from the scene he'd been observing so closely. Scott was still hyped up, the adrenaline surging. "I was about to pound that freak."

"Uh... yeah," he responded. He shook his head. "I'm not sure Teddy and Lance would have let you."

"They wouldn't have done anything. Those guys are all show."

Will wasn't so sure about that, but he didn't say anything.

Scott took a breath. "Hold up. Here comes the cop."

The officer approached them slowly, obviously trying to gauge the situation.

"What's going on here?" he demanded.

"Nothing, Officer," Scott answered, sounding demure.

"I heard there was a fight."

"No, sir."

The officer waited for more, his expression skeptical. Neither Scott nor Will said anything. By then, the condiment area was filling with people going about their business. The officer surveyed the scene, making sure he wasn't missing anything, then suddenly his face lit up with recognition at the sight of someone standing behind Will.

"Is that you, Steve?" he called out.

Will watched him stride off toward the girl's father.

Ashley and Cassie sidled up to them. Cassie's face was flushed. "Are you okay?" she fluttered.

"I'm fine," Scott answered.

"That guy's crazy. What happened? I didn't see how it started."

"He threw something at me, and I wasn't going to put up with it. I'm sick and tired of the way that guy acts. He thinks everyone's afraid of him and that he can do whatever he wants, but the next time he tries it, it's not going to be pretty..."

Will tuned him out. Scott was always a big talker; he did the same thing during their volleyball matches, and Will had learned long ago to ignore it.

He turned away, catching sight of the officer chatting with the gi

rl's dad, wondering why the girl had been so intent on getting away from her father. And why she was hanging out with Marcus. She wasn't like them, and he somehow doubted she knew what she was getting into with them. As Scott went on, assuring Cassie that he could easily have handled the three of them, Will found himself straining to overhear the police officer's conversation with the girl's father.

"Oh, hey, Pete," the father said. "What's going on?"

"Same old stuff," the officer responded. "Doing my best to keep things under control out here. How's the window coming?"

"Slowly."

"That's what you said the last time I asked."

"Yeah, but now I've got a secret weapon. This is my son, Jonah. He's going to be my assistant this summer."

"Yeah? Good for you, little man... Wasn't your daughter supposed to come down here, too, Steve?"

"She's here," the father said.

"Yeah, but she left again," the boy added. "She's pretty mad at Dad."

"Sorry to hear that."

Will watched the father point toward the beach. "Do you have any idea where they might be going?"

The officer squinted as he scanned the waterline. "Could be anywhere. But a couple of those kids are bad news. Especially Marcus. Trust me, you don't want her keeping company with him."

Scott was still boasting to a rapt Cassie and Ashley. Blocking him out, Will suddenly felt the urge to call out to the police officer. He knew it wasn't his place to say anything. He didn't know the girl, didn't know why she'd stormed off in the first place. Maybe she had a good reason. But as he saw the concern crease her dad's face, he recalled her patience and kindness when she'd rescued the toddler, and the words were out before he could stop them.

"She went to Bower's Point," he announced.

Scott stopped talking in midsentence, and Ashley turned to him with a frown. The other three studied him uncertainly.

"Your daughter, right?" When the father nodded slightly, he went on. "She's going to Bower's Point."

The officer continued to stare at him, then turned back to the father. "When I finish up here, I'll go talk to her and see if I can convince her to go home, okay?"