Chasing Atlantis Read Online Free Page A

while still keeping them in my peripheral; I didn’t want to get caught in their penetrating stares again. My fingers twirled my hair furiously. I glanced over out of the side of my eyes to see the two boys whispering diligently between each other. Every now and then would stop to glare alarmingly at me.
    I realized with horror that every female that had once been watching the lifeguards had now turned to look at me. They grew more excited with agitation as the boys continued to ignore them, and stare angrily at me. Lucky them. Each pair of eyes turned to scrutinize me, trying to decide what terrible secrets I held, making me more uncomfortable by the minute. It’s like that terrible dream where you realize you don’t have pants on and everyone is staring at you, unfortunately this isn’t a dream.
    Then I couldn’t breathe.
    The last and most familiar of the boys had finally noticed what half the beach was staring at by now. Our eyes locked, in that second I felt that intangible urge to throw my arms around his perfect body and never let go. My head throbbed like it had never hurt before. I felt dizzy, sick, and breathless.
    Slack-jawed and clearly agitated he gracefully leapt from the chair onto his feet. Both boys grabbed him and whispered urgent messages I couldn’t begin to understand. He brushed them off with a simple wave of his hand. H e started towards me.
    If I was nervous before I was completely erratic now. I tore my eyes off his face and pretended to look at the ocean. I placed my hands in my lap and interlocked my fingers. I didn’t want to take any chances with this strange feeling. My breath quickened with every approaching step. My stomach was practically in my feet it had crashed through my body. My throat tightened.
    Is he still coming towards me? What does he want? What if it’s not me? I’ve lost my mind. Vero Beach has actually made me crazy in the few hours I’ve spent here.
    All too soon he was there. He bent down so we were eye level.
    “Hey.” The word was simple enough, but he wasn’t smiling. The sunglasses prevented me from seeing his eyes.
    “Hi.” Was all I was able to mumble in return. It was so soft it may as well have been a squeak. His mouth was set in a grim frown.
    “Um. Please understand I never thought it would come down to this, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” His voice had a soft edge to it, he was pleading with me. My mind couldn’t focus. I was incredibly confused by his tone and his actions.
    “Uh…I don’t…excuse me?” I felt my eyes widen in shock as his words finally sunk in. “Did I do something wrong?” I could feel my face turning red from embarrassment.
    “NO! It’s not that you did anything wrong. I’m so sorry it’s just that….”His words came out like a flood, one word slamming into the other in an almost unintelligible string. Then whatever he was going to say was lost forever as he changed his mind.
    “Your kind isn’t welcome here.” My head spun. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. How could he have so much power over me? I should feel angry. I should tell him that this is a public beach. I have a right to be here just like everyone else, but I wasn’t angry at all. I was overwhelmingly sad. All my insecure ideas that I wasn’t welcome anywhere suddenly came to a head.
    “I’m sorry. Do you have me mistaken for someone else? I really don’t know what you mean by your statement.” It was my last thread of hope that this beautiful person didn’t hate me.
    In a move so light it didn’t match his usual lethargic movements he ripped off his sunglasses. I gasped in surprise. Boring into my eyes were the most beautiful blue-green eyes I have ever seen. The ocean’s beauty was only mediocre compared to them. His eyes scorched my own with deep sadness, which was quickly replaced with an anger so intense I flinched like I had been burned. I couldn’t fathom what I had done to deserve either of those two