Beach Trip Part 2

Lawrence was surrounded by darkness. The last thing he could remember seeing, besides the pitch black around him, was Chio’s face. Anything after that was just darkness. His body felt cold and heavy, at least he thought it was his body, Lawrence wasn’t really sure what was happening. He could feel things, the temperature, the wind, his wet hair, but he wasn’t there. He was somewhere else, but he didn’t know exactly where. However before he could become accustomed to this place, light started to peer into the darkness.

Lawrence slowly forced his eyes open, everything was a blur as he did so, but eventually he was able to see again; he had regained consciousness. The first thing that came into his vision was a wall. Due to the rigid structure and other unique features Lawrence definitely knew it was not man made. A drop of water hit his head. Lawrence didn’t have the energy to look up but wondered why it was only a single drop instead of hundreds. Was the storm over? No it wasn’t. He could still hear the loud raindrops all racing each other to reach the ground first. Lawrence knew he was still outside, but there was some sort of shelter above him.

Chio! Lawrence’s eyes sprung wide open remembering everything that had taken place before he woke up. This was no time to figure out where he was or how he got here, Chio was still in danger. Lawrence struggled to shift his body forward trying to get up from his sitting position. He placed his hands onto the rough ground below him in order to push himself up. He slowly managed to come to a lean but before he could accomplish more, a hand was placed onto his chest and sat him back down.

“Lawrence! Are you okay?” the person said, worried.

To the right of Lawrence was thankfully Chio, unlike before, she was fully awake and moving. Her hair and clothes were still fully soaked, and she had gained a few minor scrapes and bruises, but other than that, Chio was fine. Lawrence sunk down into a relaxed position seeing her finally moving.

“Lawrence! Hey are you okay? Lawrence!” Chio said.

“I’m fine.” he exhaled.

Instant relief tackled Chio, finally hearing Lawrence talk. She backed away from him in order to give him some space, and sat down against the wall only a few feet from him. She grabbed her legs and curled up into a ball. “I'm glad.” she whispered.

“Chio, is this a cave?” Lawrence said finally getting a good look at the surroundings.

“It is. Once I woke up I saw you laying next to me, I was really surprised at first but slightly understood what happened.” she balled up tighter. “I found this cave nearby and brought us here to get out of the storm, although it's nothing like the hotel, and it’s pretty cramped.” Chio let out a slight laugh.

Lawrence could tell Chio was upset by the situation, she was making the same face she had the first time she stared out of the pane in the lobby. He knew there was something else bothering her, and he was confident in what it was.

“You should just tell Maple and the others to stop picking on you. The more you push it off the worse it will get.” Lawrence let out a soft sigh. “Why do you even put up with them?” he asked.

Chio forced a small smile. “Why do you think they are picking on me, Lawrence?” she said.

Lawrence thought for a second before answering. “I’m not sure, I guess it would come down to their personality or something.”

Chio giggled. “Maybe so, I'm not sure either. Honestly I don’t think they have a reason. Most people don’t. It may just be human nature, or it may be something entirely different. But for some reason people enjoy picking on the weak.” she said.

Chio quickly broke her serious tone and started to wave her hands around frantically. “Sorry that sounded bad! I’ve never really been bullied before, even at my old school, I promise! It’s just more like they were having fun picking on me, you know? It was just teasing here and there, nothing horrible! Even now, I don’t count this as bullying or anything close to that! It doesn’t bother me really!” she said finally calming down.

“Ah, mhm, I understand.” Lawrence said, confused by the sudden mood change.

Chio faced her attention away from Lawrence and looked towards the wall. “Thank you Lawrence.” She said, smiling slightly. “I would honestly rather not deal with them either. But I think the best way to handle people like Maple is to just accept what they say. Act like you're laughing with them even if they are laughing at you, or however the saying goes.”

“If you can’t beat them, join them?” Lawrence said.

“Yeah that!” she said. “Usually when I do that they end up stopping and sometimes we even become friends. That’s why I think there is never really a solid reason behind any of it. So I never hold any grudges against them for what they do.” Chio let out a laugh. “But Maple has been pretty hard to deal with, she’s kind of stubborn.” Chio said.

“She’s been that way for as long as I have known her.” Lawrence said.

“That’s exactly why.” Chio curled up into a tighter ball and rested her chin onto her knees. A few droplets of water rolled off of her silk black hair and hit the cold surface below. “That’s why I knew I had to do Maple’s dare. I thought that maybe, just maybe if I was able to make it back with an actual picture.” She paused. “Maybe we could eventually become friends and put everything behind us.”

Lawrence was once again surprised by the amount of positivity Chio had. But quickly, all of that positivity was gone. It was washed away just as the storm had washed away their senior trip. Completely unpredictable.

“Now I’ve only caused her and everyone else trouble.” Chio started to shiver from the cold. No, she has probably been shivering the entire time, but Lawrence only just now noticed.

“I’m sorry Lawrence…I thought the buoy was a person. Can you believe that? I actually thought it was someone drowning.” Chio started to tear up while at the same time trying to laugh it off.

“I know. I thought that may have happened, that's how I was able to find you.” Lawrence said, trying not to look at Chio as she cried.

“Of course you knew…that just shows how much of a failure I am.”

“Hey, that's not what I sai-”

“It’s true!” Chio lashed out.

The Chio Lawrence once knew was gone. Sitting next to him instead was someone whose mind was only swarmed by negativity. Locking the door that positivity would usually enter. She had lost all self worth in herself. Maybe she never actually had any and was struggling to put on a front. Or maybe not. Lawrence didn’t know; he didn’t know anything about Chio. But what he did know, in this very moment, this very second, was that Chio was not okay.

“I forced you on this trip…” she said, starting to cry more than the rain outside of the cave. “I made you come…even though you didn’t want to…even though you wanted to study…” she said.

Lawrence knew he had to steer the conversation in a more positive manner. “Don’t worry, something like this doesn’t bother me.”

“You liar…” she said under her breath. “I woke up at some point during the bus ride. You were barely able to keep yourself awake while studying weren't you?” Chio let out a few sniffles, the worst part of her crying hopefully being over with. “You probably stayed up all night before the trip, that's why you were so tired this morning.”

Lawrence didn’t answer, he knew anything he said would be an outright lie and would only make things worse.

“I’m right, aren't I!” Chio said, mainly yelling at herself. “I forced you here even though you wanted to study! Even though you had no desire to come here in the first place! I just thought that maybe you would change your mind once you were able to see the ocean. Me, you, Brett, Livi and Maple too. We could all enjoy the beach together…we could laugh, have fun, do things friends would normally do. Then you might have actually enjoyed the trip. You might have enjoyed it…” Chio started to cry again. “But the storm came, I was mad, mad that I took away your time only for it to be wasted. I should have thought more about what you actually wanted, not what I thought you wanted.” She became more fed up with herself than before. “You got hurt because of me…because I couldn’t tell the difference between a person and a buoy because of my colorblindness. I made you pass out…I’m sorry…I didn’t know your asthma was that bad…I should have known from the P.E classes.” she shook her head. “No, I should have known before that. I should have never forced you to do anything, I should have never forced you into being my friend. I’m…really stupid…” Chio buried her face into her knees. Attempting to hide herself and hopefully stop the crying.

Lawrence was doing his best to stay composed, but he had never been in a situation like this before. He wasn’t sure what to do, and even if he did, he didn't know how to do it. His dad always said girls were delicate but Lawrence just blew him off. Although he would maily mention that whenever he would ask Lawrence if he had a girlfriend or something of the sort. Chio was just a friend, a friend, right? That's what she said herself, so that means they are friends, isn’t that how it worked? Even if it was, Lawrence couldn’t understand why someone like Chio would even want to be friends with him. I mean look at the situation: he couldn’t even stop her from crying. There was no reason to be his friend, someone like Brett or Livi was better, so why him? Why did she plan this whole trip for him to have fun? Asking the teachers to allow him to go. Thinking about it now, there was no way the three of them being in the same group was a coincidence. Her and Brett had probably begged the teachers into letting the three of them be together so they could watch over him in case something happened with his asthma. The storm too, the reason Chio looked so depressed at the time, was because he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the beach, that was the case, wasn't it.

How is it that people like her and Brett would do so much for someone like him, and he can’t do anything in return. Just like last year, just like the year before, all the way back into his childhood. Lawrence had been a bystander. Just watching as everyone else lived their lives, while he just spectated. His only goal has been to graduate and pass his entrance exam, and because of that he has blocked everyone out. Lawrence was ashamed of himself, he thought he knew what was best for him but he didn’t. What could he do though, he wasn’t able to enjoy the things everyone else did, it was impossible. Today had proved it.

Lawrence shook the thought out of his head. He didn’t have time to look back at the past. The only thing he should be worried about was his studies. “I just don’t think you’ll be able to get in with your grades.” The talk his teacher had with him still echoing in his head. It was permanently engraved in the back of his mind as a reminder of his failures.

Lawrence bit his lip, a habit of his whenever he is faced with a tough choice.

He was still going to prioritize studying above everything else, he was more than sure of that; he was positive. If he wasn’t able to get into that college, his life would be meaningless. He knew no matter what he had to study, but, maybe he could start prioritizing the people around him a little bit more, just a little bit, only a small amount.

“We never got to finish truth or dare, did we?” Lawrence said releasing his lip and relaxing his body.

“All because of me…” Chio said, still blaming herself and hiding her face.

“Then, do you mind if I go?” Lawrence asked.

Chio let out an audible sound of agreement but never looked up.

“Truth or dare? I recommend you pick truth since I can’t really think of a dare with the storm still going on.

“Truth…” Chio said.

Lawrence took a deep breath, one he desperately needed.

“Chio, who do you think is more stupid? An athletic girl, who happens to be colorblind, jumping into an ocean hoping to save someone from drowning, or an antisocial kid with asthma who can barely do three push ups jumping in after her.”

Chio let out a small laugh. Lawrence couldn’t tell if it was forced or not, but he hoped Chio was starting to lighten up.

“In my opinion, I think they are both stupid.” Lawrence paused, and threw his rain jacket around her for warmth. He waited for the moment the rain wasn’t as loud to say this. “That's also why I think the two of them need each other. I guess it’s not such a bad thing if they relied on one another more often.”

Chio raised her head slowly, tears still falling out of her eyes, but a small smile across her face. One that made Lawrence’s worries wash away.

“Honestly I agree, both of them are insanely stupid!” Brett said standing in front of the cave. A large grin grew on his face. “I finally found you two!”

The first night of the long awaited field trip had ended. Brett managed to find both Lawrence and Chio and was able to bring them back safely. The teachers made sure to keep the situation under wraps since no one was badly hurt. Therefore, the only other people who knew what happened that day were the three of them including Livi, Maple, and Zoe. Chio and Lawrence both had a harsh talking to about leaving the building without permission and especially in a storm, but the teachers couldn't stay mad long. They were glad both of them had made it back uninjured. They were instructed to go to their rooms and head to bed. Lawrence and Brett gladly did so. Once Chio entered her room, she was quickly hugged by Livi who had been waiting for her to come back even though she would have been sleeping by this time.

While managing to avoid a tragedy, and with Lawrence slightly growing as a person, the first day had ended, and the next soon came upon them along with clear skies and a bright sun.

“Remember we only have a short amount of time on the beach today!” the homeroom teacher said while leaning back in a beach chair positioned perfectly under a wide yellow umbrella. “In a few hours , we will be heading to the shopping center! So try to have as much fun as you can now!” he told the class. Although just like the bus ride no one was listening. The ocean that had looked so previously fierce and angry, now was calm and encouraging. The sky was pure blue and the waves were cold to the touch, a fresh reminder of a summer get away. The class was doing their best to enjoy it to the fullest. The beach was littered with people and the ocean even more. Sand castles were being built, the sound of a volleyball being hit would occur repeatedly until it was dropped, and screams of joy could be heard from any point of the beach you were standing on.

“Chio, I'm not really sure about this.” Livi said nervously, holding onto a large green float.

“It’s fine, it's fine! You can’t fully enjoy the ocean from the shallow end anyways!” Chio said, dragging Livi deeper into the ocean.

“I was enjoying it plenty enough Chio I promise!” Livi said, holding onto the float for her life.

Chio giggled. “Don’t worry, I swear I won’t let you go! Now onwards to the other side of the ocean!” she said, pumping her fist in the air.

Livi could only hold on tight and hope Chio was just joking around.

"Help! I'm drowning!" Lawrence screamed, thrashing about in the ocean.

"Lawrence, you're still in the shallow end." Brett blandly informed him. "Would you like one of Livi's kid floats?" he chuckled to himself.

"... I'd rather drown." Lawrence said.

Lawrence eventually abandoned the ocean and made his way to the spot in the sand the group had picked. Four towels laid on top of the sand with a large umbrella keeping them from getting too hot.

Lawrence sat down on his mat and looked towards the ocean. Chio and Brett were having a swimming race, and it was a close match. Lawrence was glad Chio wasn't afraid of the ocean after what happened last night. He reached into his bag sitting beside the umbrella and pulled out his flashcards.

"You really are a study freak like Chio said." It was Livi, she had on a purple one piece that Brett had made fun of when he first saw it. Livi had made sure to punch him in the stomach for it.

"The semester is almost over, is it that odd for me to be studying?" Lawrence said, continuing to flip through his cards.

Livi sat down beside him.

"Are you done with the ocean?" Lawrence asked.

"I can't keep up with Chio." Livi said "She's too out there."

"I would like to say you get used to it, but honestly, you don't." Lawrence said glad someone could understand his pain.

Both of them went quiet, not really continuing the conversation. Lawrence was focused on studying as always while Livi was getting over the traumatic experience Chio had just given her.

“Lawrence…” Livi said avoiding eye contact. “Did anything happen last night while you and Chio were in the cave?”

Lawrence could hear the serious tone in her voice. He thought it would be best if he refrained from telling her what exactly went on that night. “Nothing really, I just found her and we waited for someone to show up.” Lawrence suddenly remembered what he had to do when he first found Chio, in the heat of the moment he didn’t think too much about it but now that everything had calmed down, he technically did kiss Chio.

Livi caught the red streak that sprung upon his face. “Something did happen!” she said.

“N-no I’m telling you-”

“It was about Maple and Zoe wasn’t it!”

“Huh..?” Lawrence had realized she wasn’t talking about anything happening between the two of them, he was slightly embarrassed that he thought she was talking about that in the first place.

“I noticed it back when Chio first transferred, Maple and the others would pick on her around the clock. I guess it was nothing bad since the teacher never stepped up to stop, but still! What Maple is doing just irritates me, I mean why does she even do harsh things like that to Chio?” Livi said.

It was this question again, against Lawrence's better judgment he decided he would tell Livi a few things about what he and Chio talked about. “People pick on other people without reason, that's what Chio thinks. She said she has experienced a lot and found out that there is never a set reason for what they do.” he took a breath, not for dramatic pause or anything of the sort, but because he needed to. “I don’t think that is the case though.”

“What's your view on it then?” Livi asked.

“Humans are cooperative by nature. Countless studies have proved that. Because of this we sometimes feel inferior to others, or maybe want to impress someone else. Chio may be right about them not having a direct reason, but they most likely have an indirect one.”

“Eh? What are you talking about?” Livi asked, not understanding a thing.

“Maple is probably picking on Chio because she has a weakness, Maple takes advantage of that and asserts her position of power, not only to Chio but to the people around her. It’s like when you are with a group of people and one person starts to jokingly make fun of another. The people in the group may not think anything at the time, but they are unconsciously placing the person making the jokes above the others.” He took a breath. “That is the same thing Maple is doing, although I don’t really think she knows she is.” Lawrence finished.

Livi sat and thought about what Lawrence said, but she wasn’t confident in his answer. “That may have been how it started, but it’s like Maple has a different reason now.”

Lawrence thought about the conversation Chio and him had in the cave. Her positivity and even the fact that she wants to make friends with Maple came to his mind. “Whatever it is, Chio will be able to overcome it.” Lawrence stuffed his flashcards into his bag. “That’s just how she is.”

“Don’t you think it’s unnatural?” she asked.

“What is?”

“The fact that Chio is able to smile so often. I haven’t met her for long but she's extremely positive, probably too much so.” Livi said.

“I don’t know anything about her or how she can smile constantly like that. She has probably been that way since birth.” he shrugged.

“Do you really think it comes down to birth, if it did, wouldn’t she be the opposite?” Livi was referring to her being born completely colorblind. “You would know better than anyone, how hard it is to stay positive in those conditions.”

Lawrence didn’t say anything. He remained silent. Livi had been in his class for more than a couple of years, but he had never really spoken to her since she was always sleeping or dozing off. He was surprised at how perceptive she was despite that.

“Hey Livi! Hurry down here we found a jellyfish! It’s super squishy! Chio yelled.

“W-wait don’t touch that!” Livi said quickly getting up and rushing over to her.

Lawrence took a breather from the random intense conversation and stood up. He decided to head towards the nearby café that was placed on the edge of the sand meeting the concrete. It wasn’t anything special, just a wooden building with palm trees growing around it for flair. Lawrence went inside and ordered four drinks. He paid the employee and stood there for a few minutes as they prepared them, regretting not bringing his flashcards.

“Here is your order, sir!” the lady behind the counter said.

Lawrence wrapped his arms around the four cups and uneasily picked them off of the counter.

“Lawrence! Let me help you carry them!” Chio said joyfully, standing next to him.

Lawrence was startled by her sudden appearance and almost dropped one of the drinks.

“I saw you walk off and was curious where you went, I was hoping you weren't heading back to the hotel.” Chio laughed.

Her hair was still slightly wet from the ocean. Along with her usual red hair clip, Chio wore a pure white two piece swimsuit that made Lawrence slightly rethink being mad about Brett choosing the beach.

“If the teacher allowed us to be separated, I would.” Lawrence said, handing her a couple of the drinks.

“Hey Lawrence.” Chio said while taking the beverages.

“Yeah?”

A bright smile sprung onto Chio’s face. “Thank you for saving me!” she said. “Also the teacher bought a watermelon for each group, can you believe that? We need to hurry before Brett eats it all!”

Chio exited the building with both drinks in hand. Lawrence however remained inside. He placed his hand onto his chest like he normally would when his asthma would act up. Although this time it wasn’t his asthma that was bothering him, for some reason, Lawrence’s heart was beating insanely fast and he had no clue why.

After returning and eating watermelon with Brett and Livi, the homeroom teacher announced that it was time for the class to make their way to the local shopping center. Since the storm canceled the first day of the trip, the second day was changed to the morning being spent at the beach and the afternoon at the shopping district.

The four of them stayed as a group while exploring the unique stores and cafes spread around them. Chio was the most excited and dragged them along wherever she pleased. Lawrence could have sworn he had been to two ice cream shops so far and they had just arrived at their third.

After indulging in numerous amounts of ice cream and buying souvenirs here and there, Livi had fallen asleep on one of the benches nearby.

“She really lives up to that nocturnal thing doesn't she.” Brett said.

“Well she did stay up most of yesterday.” Lawrence said.

Chio laughed a tad seeing Livi passed out on the public bench. “I’ll stay with her until she wakes up, you two go on ahead.”

“Sure I guess we can let the kid sleep.” Brett laughed.

“Are you fine with meeting back at the hotel?” Lawrence asked.

“Yeah that’s fine!” Chio responded.

With this, both Lawrence and Brett continued to explore the shopping center, this time not being dragged around and moving at their own pace.

“I really hated doing that.” Livi said grumbling while sitting up.

“Thank you again Livi, I really appreciate it.” Chio said, putting her hands together.

“It’s fine, but if Brett calls me a kid one more time I swear!” She said angrily. “Anyways, didn't you say you wanted to buy Lawrence a gift?”

“Yeah I want to pay him back from the other day and making him come on the trip, but the thing is…I haven’t seen anything he would like. I was hoping you would know what I could get him!”

“Unless there is studying material at a beach, then you’re out of luck.” Livi replied.

“Then we will have to start from scratch.” Chio said disappointed.

The two of them went into one of the nearby shops and searched around for a few minutes.

“It’s no use, I couldn’t see him using any of this.” Livi said in defeat.

She didn’t receive an answer. Chio was too busy staring into a row of containers near the register. Livi walked beside her and had to strain herself on the front of her toes to see what was inside since she was so short. The containers were filled to the brim with good luck charms ranging from Love to Success.

The charm that said “Academics” caught Livi’s eyes. “Oh that one would work, I think he will like this one the best.” she said pointing directly at it.

“Ah, I was thinking about it but he doesn’t really need any help with studying does he?” she laughed.

“Then what else is there to get him? Livi asked.

Chio intensely looked into every crate until finally finding the one she wanted, the perfect gift for Lawrence.

“Lawrence…” Brett said. “Do you plan on buying anything today?” he asked.

Lawrence was passionately staring at one of the pairs of flip flops hanging on the wall. “Hey Brett, they had the same pair two shops back for twelve cents cheaper.”

“Are you going to buy it?” Brett asked again.

“No, I don’t have the money to spend on whatever I want, but if I did need a pair of flip flops I wouldn’t buy them from this place.” he said.

“Oh okay…” Brett said wondering why Lawrence was invested in the flip flop market. “By the way, do you plan on getting Chio something?”
“Huh? Why exactly would I do that?” Lawrence asked.

“Because she is the one that begged the teachers to see if you could be allowed to come on the field trip. She worked really hard for you to have fun. It is common courtesy to return the favor” Brett said.

“Yeah but I didn’t really have any fun…” Lawrence said, remembering the lack of studying and breath. “I guess I can look for something though.” he said.

“If you want to get her something special there is a jewelry shop across from here.” Brett suggested.

“She isn’t worth that much!” Lawrence told him. He looked over to his side and picked something up. “I think this would work.”

“Are you sure about that?” Brett asked, confused by his choice.

“It’s something she needs, it’s good enough.” Lawrence said taking it over to the employee and purchasing it.

The two of them made their way back to the hotel and met up with Livi and Chio who were already there. The second day of the field trip passed by quickly and the morning of the day they would return was upon them.

Chio had just woken up and gotten fully dressed into her class uniform. She made her way into the lobby to buy a drink from the vending machine. The sun had just barely made its way above the ocean so everyone was still inside of their rooms. They were either still sleeping or just now starting to pack, at least she thought.

“You’re up early.” Lawrence said, sitting in the lobby by himself surrounded by notes and binders.

Chio jumped out of her socks and bumped into the vending machine. “Ah! Lawrence!"

"W-what is it?" he said, startled by her reaction.

"I-It's nothing." She calmed herself down. "I just didn't expect anyone else to be up at this time."

“Oh that, Brett has a bad snoring problem and kept waking me up so I’ve been out here for a couple of hours now.” Lawrence said, yawning. “What about you?”

Chio giggled a bit. “Livi brought a video game from home and she has been playing it non stop all night. I’m surprised you guys couldn’t hear her through the walls.”

Chio put some money into the machine and received her drink. She stood there holding it as she worked up the courage to give Lawrence the gift she had bought him. But he beat her to it.

“Chio, here.” Lawrence said, tossing the small gift to her.

She almost dropped her drink but managed to catch the gift. She opened up the hand she caught it in. Lawrence had given her a small red good luck charm that read “Academics.” on the side.

“That's for getting permission from the teacher so I can be here.” He said “But I don’t really believe in good luck, I think people that do are only hoping for something to happen rather than working hard towards it.” Lawrence stood up and walked towards her. “So here, this is the real gift.'' He handed her a large stack of notes stuffed inside of a binder. “Make sure you put them to actual use.”

Chio sat her drink down and opened the binder, as she flipped through it she saw all the past week's notes neatly written inside of it. But more than that, everything was organized by shapes instead of color. Lawrence had gone through the trouble of organizing it just for her. Chio slowly started to glow. “Thank you Lawrence!” she said, smiling like crazy.

Lawrence didn’t understand why, but every time Chio wore a genuine smile like the one before him, he felt weird. He felt uneasy, but not in a bad way. His heart would start to beat fast and he couldn’t think of what to say. “It’s fine really, Brett kept me up a lot so I wasn’t able to do much, don’t mention it. It’s totally fine” he said, saying more than he needed to.

“Oh yeah!” she said.

“Y-yes?” Lawrence said, still unable to speak clearly.

Chio reached into her pocket and then after pulling something out quickly grabbed Lawrence's hand and dropped the item inside. “Thank you Lawrence, for helping me have an amazing field trip!”

Lawrence opened his hand and saw something very familiar, it was a small red good luck charm, but instead of the one he had given Chio, the word “Athletics” was written on the side.

“This has to be some new form of bullying.” he said, giving off a slight smile.

The morning soon flew by and the class all loaded onto the bus leaving behind their last school field trip, but keeping the memories they had made with them. This time Lawrence was the only one to pass out on the ride home.

Chio looked at Lawrence sleeping, then back at her charm. She smiled slightly.