• The one at the beach, the surfer, the beach bum; no one knew my name when I was fourteen. I was a fresh man at Del Dorino High on the coast of Kauai. Where no one knew that I could belly dance or skate board. Or that I had straight A’s last year. I could be anyone I wanted. I could be Cori the innocent. But why the hell would I want to be that? I loved being me, undefined, and unknown. They’d get to know me sooner or later. I would fit in here, like the natives I was tan and had a good body. Only I had brown hair and an American face. Big blue eyes, a petite nose, and full lips. But anyone who saw me could tell I was no prep. I was no goth though. I really didn’t believe in labels.
    Being the new one in town didn’t stop me from already having friends. Kona, a boy I’d met surfing, was a kind, and funny person. I already liked him and could imagine him as a brother, even though we looked nothing alike. He had black hair, and almond shaped brown eyes. He was fully Hawaiian when I was only a third. He showed me around he island down to turtle cove where a big bat ray came every day at sunset, legend had it that if you threw a flower and it landed in his mouth you would find true love within a month.
    I also had met a young girl- Nia- from England, here with her grandma. She had short blond hair and soft blue eyes, she was shy and thirteen. But she was nice and got along well with Kona. I was sure that she had a crush on him.
    Kona had a secret, Nia knew about it, probably from stalking him, but she knew it. I heard her whispering to him about it. What ever it was they didn’t want me to know, at least at the time