Waves of crippling fear, washed over Erin as her foot tapped anxiously against the tile floor. The teacher's hand continually pointed at the things written on the board. Erin's mind swirled with thoughts that drowned out the teacher's excited voice. Suddenly, a loud ding rang throughout Valley High. School was out for the summer.

Erin jumped up from her seat. Her painted nails wrapped around the purple backpack strap that hung over the chair. She swung the bag over her shoulder as her left hand tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. She walked out of the classroom. She rounded the corner for her locker. Erin quickly did her combination and opened her locker. A large blue sheet of paper was taped to her top shelf.

"What?" Erin grabbed the sheet and opened it cautiously, not knowing what to expect. Inside were the words, "WE'LL MISS YOU, ERIN!!!" with balloons and hearts carefully drawn in with colored pencil.

"Surprise!" hands wrapped around her eyes concealing all light, "Guess who?"

"Katherine, let go," Erin giggled.

"Not until you guess who else," the voice played.

"Katherine and Stephanie, what are you up to?" the hands released her eyes, allowing the smiling faces of Erin's friends to be seen.

"We thought it would be a great if we threw a little goodbye party before you went," Stephanie smiled, as she pulled a present from behind her back. The pink wrapping paper covered a small, box shape topped with a purple bow.

"Aren't you going to open the package?!" The sixteen year-old girls screamed. Erin's eager hands pulled the ribbon off the present. Her nimble fingers grabbed a piece of paper and unwrapped the gift. A grey jewelry case laid silent in Erin's hand. She gently opened the lid. Inside one third of a heart was attached to a silver chain.

"Where are the other parts?" Erin asked her smiling friends.

"We have them," Katherine and Stephanie reached for the chains around their necks and pulled out the completing two-thirds of the heart. "If you put them together, they become a solid heart," the three friends leaned together all holding their piece of the heart. With the chains stretched as far as they could go, the hearts slid together.

"There! When we see this, it will remind us that, wherever we go, we will always be friends," the girls set the necklaces back against their chests. "Goodbye, Erin. I'm going to miss you so much." Katherine threw her arms around Erin and gave her a hug.

"Erin, don't forget about us. You've been a great friend," Stephanie hugged Erin, "Can we all pray together for the last time?" Erin nodded her head. "Dear God, please help Erin to stay safe on this trip and devoted to You. In Jesus name, Amen." In the distance, a horn honked.

"That's my mom," Erin said, as she slowly led the her two best friends out the building to see her off. "Thanks so much. I won't forget!"

"Remember your Spanish!" Stephanie chuckled. "Adios!"

"Oh, yeah. All the Spanish we learned in Note Writing Class," Erin said. Her sarcastic humor made Stephanie and Katherine giggle then start to cry. "Bye!" Erin shouted.
***


Erin's stomach turned as they took their seats on the airplane. A wave of heat washed over her as she strapped in and waited for takeoff. The knuckles on her hand began to turn white.

"Mom," Erin's gentle voice started to speak then paused. "I am so nervous."

"About what, Honey?"

"Everything!"

***

The morning light glistened over the Cordillera de Talamanca, the mountain range of Costa Rica. Erin raced to their new orange-painted kitchen.

"Mom, I need to go!"

"Erin, calm down, doesn't school start at eight?"

"A girl was throwing rocks at my window and hastily pointing at her wrist. "

"Maybe you should go out quickly and see what time it starts. Say, 'A que hora empieza la escuela?'"

"Thanks. Be right back." A little girl waited outside the welded steel fence.

"Hola, a que hora empieza la escuela?"

"¡Siete y media! ¡Rapido! ¡Rapido!" Within a second, the girl rushed away. Her long dark brown hair flopped against her back.

"Mom, I think she said seven thirty."

"Siete y media?"

"Yeah."

"Erin, that's in five minutes." Erin rushed to her room to grab her purple backpack. She snatched her hair band and tossed her hair up in a ponytail. "Take some toast to eat while you're running. Have a great day! Love you!"

Erin's tennis shoes trotted against the paved street. A white school house stood off to the left of the long street. A dirt path led to the front of the school. Children of all ages jogged into the school, laughing and kicking a soccer ball. Erin stopped at the gate.

"Sorry, no foreigners allowed, especially blondes." Two girls with medium brown hair and dark brown eyes glared at Erin, not letting her enter through the gate.

"¡Aitana y Nerea, dejala entrar! Sorry about that. Come on in, it's Erin right?"

"Yeah."

"You can sit next to Marta. She's your age, sixteen. Marta has your school books and everything you need. She's in the front row. Go ahead and take your seat."

"Class, please find your seats. We'll begin shortly."

"Hi, I'm Marta."
Erin strode over to her new desk. "Hi," Erin sat down. "Do you have my books?"

"Yeah, right here. There's history, language, reading, and literature. They are almost all in English. That's how we're learning the language. Do you know much Spanish?"

"A little bit, aqui, aqui."

"Nice! I don't know how much you have to do today, but I thought it would be cool if we went to the beach together."

"I'll ask my parents after school. It sounds like fun!" The school day flew by.

"Wait outside my house and I'll quickly run in to ask my mom." Marta nodded her head and started jogging behind Erin as she hurried to her house. "Mom, my friend Marta shewants to know if I can come to the beach with her?"

"Do you have homework?"

"No."

"Okay, but be back before supper at six o'clock." Erin rushed out to tell Marta was allowed to go. Both girls went back to their houses to get ready. Five minutes later, Erin and Marta tossed their towels over their shoulder and headed to the beach.

"So, you just got here?"

"Yeah. We arrived last night."

Erin walked over to a log and tossed her towel down. Marta did the same. The warm sand pressed between their toes as they jumped into the water.
***

"Where'd our towels go? I put them right here." Erin looked around quickly to see if the culprit stayed.

"Aitana and Nerea! There, by the concession stand. Aitana just spilled her smoothie on my white towel!" Marta's face turned bright red as she started to pace over.

"Marta, wait," Erin said.

"No, Erin, I'm sick of them treating us like trash." In Marta's fury, she kicked a bucket load of sand onto a boy who was laying in the ground.

"I'm so sorry, I mean... pardon, uh..." Erin shut her eyes in humiliation.

"I speak English." Erin's face relaxed to a smile.

"I'm Erin. I just moved here from the United States."

"I'm..." the boy's voice was cut out by the yelling.
***

"I don't know what you're talking about. We never stole your towels." Aitana's glance shifted to Erin's. Her eyes narrowed. The very thing Erin didn't want to happen, happened. "Hi there, stranger. I want you to know something. The next time you talk to my brother, well, let's just say, it won't turn out well."

"¡Aitana, alto!"

"Hernando, no te metas en estoy."

"Regresales sus toalles."

"Por que," Aitana's sneered.

"Porque las toallas no son tuyas."

"Fine, here are your towels!" Aitana turned her back, "Oh, and don't think I'm ever going to talk to you again."
***

"Marta, wait up!"

"Hurry! " Erin jogged out of the house and joined Marta. Together, they journeyed to the beach.

"Hernando!" Erin shouted. His dreamy physique stood shirtless by the water's edge.

"Hola! Como estas? How are you?" A big smile started to form on the handsome junior's face.

"Good! How are you?"

"Fine. Can you believe it's been two months since the last time we met on the beach?"

"It feels like years!" Hernando's smile turned to fear. "What's wrong?"

"I heard a scream and it sounded like Nerea's. Nerea is always with my sister."
***

"Help, please, please, someone HELP!" Nerea arm's barely stayed above the water. "Aitana, where are you?!"

Whoosh! Crash! Splash! Whoosh!

Nerea surficed, grasping for air. "Aitana! Thank God! A rock" Nerea looked closely at the grey looking structure. "It's moving! SHARK! HELP! SOMEONE!"
***

"Hernando, look! A boat!"

"We can't just take it! I don't even know how to drive it!"

"I do! Get in!" Erin jumped in. The key lay on the seat. "How close is the shark?"

"From Nerea, about one hundred yards. I can't find Aitana."

"Calm down. Look harder. I'll drive up beside Nerea. You pull her in. Got it?" Hernando nodded his head. When Erin pulled close enough, Hernando scooped Nerea out of the water. "Nerea, I need you to talk to me, where's Aitana?"

"She... she got... swept too close to ... the rocks. I lost her."

"There! I see her!" As he looked around, he continued."The shark is swimming away. How close can you get to the rocks with the boat?" Erin's eyes searched for a closer route.

"I can't. Any closer and the boat will get ripped to pieces. I'll have to swim."

"I'm not letting you do that. I know these waters better than you. I'll go."

"You'll never make it! We're a mile out! I swam for the swim team, I would swim for hours at a time. I'll make it. Please, we don't have time."

"Be careful!" Erin nodded as Hernando bent down and kissed her forehead. "Be careful."
***

The water rushed over Erin as she neared Aitana.

"Help, please, I'm too tired." Aitana flailed her arms toward Erin vigorously.



"Turn around. I'll grab you by the waist. Relax."

Whoosh!

"We're too close to the rocks."

"Aitana stop freaking out! Kick!" Erin struggled to the boat and collapsed to the floor exhausted.
***

"Marta, I'm telling you, we should have joined the soccer team." Erin giggled.

"Are you kidding me? Have you see me play?" Erin chuckled.

"My friends in Virginia used to say that too." A patter of feet behind be made Erin pause. "Why don't I meet you in the classroom? I have to talk to Aitana and Nerea." Marta went on ahead.

"Hey, I heard you talking about the soccer team. Don't join, you'd be bad." Aitana looked away, expecting Nerea to do the same.

"Why can't you accept me for who I am? What's so hard about that?"

"You're right." Nerea exclaimed moving closer to Erin. "Erin has been nothing but kind. She saved our lives, and you still can't mutter a nice word." Nerea started to walk away.

"Fine, walk away then. You were never a good friend anyways." Aitana spun around and walked back home. When she was out of sight, she started to cry.