KOREY "Lord, why is she still not waking up? It has been more than two weeks now, and there are no signs of her coming back to us. Please, bring her back in God's name. Amen," I utter, my voice echoing through the chapel at the hospital. “I've never prayed before, so I'm not sure if I did it correctly," I confess aloud, sitting alone in the chapel. “Korey, I hear someone calling my name," I exclaim, momentarily thinking it might be God speaking to me. However, I quickly realize it's just someone behind me as Kasey rushes towards me. "Oh, what's wrong?" I ask, standing up from the pew. “She's awake, Korey!" Kasey shouts. “What?" I gasp in disbelief. “She's awake, man," Kasey says, a wide smile spreading across his face. We sprint out of the chapel and make our way to Dakoda's room. “Thank goodness," I whisper under my breath, and Dakoda looks at me as if I'm a stranger. The three of us exchange bewildered glances. "This isn't good," I whisper. “Nope," Kasey whispers back. “W
DAKODA "Where am I?" I wonder as I wake up to the sight of lights all around me. The last thing I remember is saying goodbye to my friends back home before boarding a plane to Hawaii for my dad's job. We needed a break from all the chaos our family had been going through since my twin sister got hurt at a party during summer break. "Oh God! Did we crash? Are my parents okay?" "NURSE!" I call out, and a nurse along with three guys rush into my room. "You're awake," the nurse smiles at me. "Thank goodness," I hear one of the boys whisper. Who are these guys? Were they on the plane with us when it crashed? Is that why they seem so concerned about me? "Where are my parents?" I ask the nurse. "Your parents went out to grab a bite to eat," one of the boys speaks up. Okay, so my parents are safe. But who are these guys? And why are they in my room? "So, they're okay after the accident?" Before the nurse can respond, the door opens and my parents and sister walk in. What on earth
DAKODA "Koda Bear, are you prepared for school?" Stella rouses me from a terrible dream. "No, go away." "What are you afraid of?" "What if I hate it there? What do I do then, Stella? I can't just give up and go home." "First of all, you've never quit anything in your life, so that's not an option. And secondly, you'll see that most people love you. Even though you don't know these amazing guys yet, they won't let anything happen to you." "Promise?" "Promise." "Okay, let's get going then." Our parents left a note apologizing for not being here on my first day back at school. "Do they do this often?" I ask Stella. "Yes!" "Does it have to do with what happened back there?" "Yes," Stella responds with a sad expression. "I'm sorry, sis. I didn't mean to upset you." "You didn't. I just wish it was over, that's all," she says. Ugh, I feel like the biggest jerk on the planet. I'm lucky that my injuries and memory loss were minor, and yet I'm crying over insignificant things. My
DAKODA I glance over to see what he finds amusing, only to regret it as he locks eyes with me. "You're mine," he whispers, and in response, I definitely flip him off. He mouths the words "when, where, what time," but I simply shake my head, unsure of how else to react. Stella laughs and remarks to Mac, "This is going to be fun to watch." "You guys aren't helping me at all," I complain before storming off to my next class. Finally, school is over, and we make our way to Stella's car. As I reach the curb, someone shoves me, causing me to fall onto my knees by Stella's car. "Damn it," I growl. The baby-faced guy is there again, offering to help me up, but I push him away. "Just leave me alone," I whisper through gritted teeth. "I've told you three times that I need time and I don't want to play your stupid game. Now back off." He raises his hands and starts backing away. "Okay, I'll leave you alone," he says, but I don't believe a word he says. "Move along. Nothing to see here," Ma
GAGE "Well, damn, that went smoothly." "I'd say it went about as well as last time," Kasey says, glancing at Dakoda as she walks away towards her locker after our argument in the classroom. "Yep." "What's our plan with her?" I ask Kasey. "We'll do what we did when she first moved here," he replies. "Make her fall for us." "We were jerks to her when she first arrived, bro." "We were, but we also got her attention. Remember the first day we brought her into the classroom? We made her furious, but she was also attracted to us." "Alright, what's your idea, man, and should we involve Korey at this point?" "Don't involve him and let's see what happens," Korey says from behind us. "How did you manage to escape from your clingy girlfriend?" "Told her I needed to use the bathroom and to go to class and save our seats." "How long do we have to keep this up with her, man? I'm already feeling uncomfortable, and it's only been a week." "As long as it takes to get her to open up and
KOREY "Where do you think you're going, Dakoda?" I inquire, reaching out for her elbow and swiftly turning her around to face me. I plant a kiss on her, but she pushes me away. Undeterred, I grab her again as she attempts to elbow me, but I am too close for her to be effective. "Not so fast," I assert. "You are going to talk to me." "And how on earth do you expect to make me talk to you if I don't want to?" she retorts. I simply smirk at her and proceed to lift her up, throwing her over my shoulder. "What are you doing? Put me down!" she squeals. I guide her back to the house and, upon opening the door, I instruct Gage to call Stella and inform her about Dakoda staying with us for a couple of days. "That's a great idea," Kasey chimes in, "but there's one problem: Harlan." "I'll take care of her," I assure them. "You put me down right now! This is kidnapping, and I will call the police!" Dakoda yells at me. "How are you going to do that, D? You don't have your phone." "My paren
KASEY Man, it feels so good to have Dakoda's fingers wrapped around mine again. She looks up at me and smiles, and I smile back at her. "What the fuck are you doing holding that haole's hand? Harlan yells. Am I missing something here?" he continues. "Yeah, bitch, we're done with your shit. Dakoda remembers everything," Korey tells her. "What is he doing?" Dakoda asks me. "Shit, if I know, babe," I reply. "I thought you didn't want her anymore, that's why you came back to me?" Harlan pouts, rubbing her hand up and down Korey's chest. Korey bends down in Harlan's face. "None of us wanted your sorry ass. We wanted to get Dakoda back. We knew she would get upset when we were with you, so we used your ass." "Yeah, you weren't saying that last night when I was riding all three of your dicks," Harlan says, smiling over at Dakoda. Dakoda laughs so hard I think she's going to piss herself. "What's so funny?" Harlan sneers at Dakoda. "You and your pathetic excuse for a comeback? News
DAKODA "Holy shit!" Stella just punched Harlan square in the nose. "You go sister." "Let's get to our classes," Kasey tells us, and we all head to our first classes of the day. Of course, I have it with Gage, and now that the guys know I'm still into them, they are on me all the time. Everyone keeps telling me that's how it was before my surfing accident and at first, I hated it, but after a while we were all joined at the hips. I can see that to an extent because when we are all at work away from each other, I'm constantly wondering how they are doing and if they are thinking of me, too. Boy, this cannot be healthy for any of us. I need to get some sort of balance going on here. "Dakoda, have you heard a word I've said to you?" Gage asks me. "Sorry, no, I was off in dreamland. What was it you were saying?" Gage just shakes his head and smiles at me. "I was asking you if you had to work this weekend." "Yes, I have the morning shift all weekend. Do you guys have to work?" "No,