The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

gonna take a turn on the Wave Runners today?”
    Violet followed Chelsea’s gaze and saw one of the brightly painted watercrafts pulling up to the dock. There were actually two Wave Runners, both belonging to Gabrielle’s parents, who left them at the house for most of the summer, where they stayed available and were used frequently. Violet loved riding them out into the water and trying to catch the cresting waves that were spit out in the wake of a boat speeding by, while the wind whipped at her hair and face. It was exhilarating.
    â€œProbably later, but I think I’ll just kick back for a while. Do you mind if I stay here with you guys?”
    â€œSure. But it looks like your boyfriend’s about to take a spin,” Chelsea said in her usual unimpressed voice.
    Violet saw what her friend was talking about. Jay was buckling up one of the life jackets and getting ready to take out the Wave Runner that had just returned. She saw a group of girls from another local high school follow him like lost puppies down to the dock. She’d seen them before, at parties she’d been to, and she wasn’t surprised that they were at the lake today. Everyone seemed to be there.
    One of the girls must have gotten up the nerve to ask Jay for a ride, because she too was picking up a life jacket and slipping it over her barely-there bikini. She bounced up and down excitedly as she waited for him to straddle the seat, and then she climbed on behind him, grinning widely and grabbing him tightly around the waist. Violet vaguely recognized the girl, whose name she thought was Savannah. She looked like she’d just won a beauty pageant as she waved ather friends who were still standing on the dock.
    Violet tried to ignore the sudden stab of jealousy she felt as she watched the girl wrapping her arms around Jay. She turned away so she didn’t have to see the two of them together. “Whatever…he’s not my boyfriend.”
    Chelsea just ignored Violet’s comment as she eased herself back down and slipped her sunglasses over her eyes. “If you say so.”
    Violet tried to follow Chelsea’s lead, as she stretched out on the towel that was more than big enough for the both of them. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds around her until she could no longer fight the exhaustion that was clinging to her after a long night of chasing sleep. Soon she began to drift away, and the sounds around her shaped her dreams. She dreamed of music and friends, and of sun and smoke. She dreamed of her best friend’s smile, and of waves and beaches.
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    She was dragged from the haze of sleep by something tickling her arm. She thought that an ant must have crawled onto her, and she tried to shake it off without opening her eyes to look. But when she laid her arm back down across her stomach, she felt it slowly moving from her wrist to her elbow and back again.
    She squinted, with one eye still closed, and lifted her head halfheartedly to see what it was. Someone was dragging a piece of grass back and forth along the sensitive hairs of her forearm. She followed the trail from the grass to the hand to the face and saw Jay grinning down at her.
    â€œHey there,” he said, tossing away the grass. “I thought you’d never wake up.”
    Violet sat up all the way. “How long was I sleeping?”
    Jay shook his head. “Not long, less than an hour probably. I wanted to see if you want to go out on one of the Wave Runners with me.”
    â€œWhat about your girlfriends?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Violet was embarrassed for sounding so petty. She tried to make it seem like she was only kidding as she added, “I thought maybe Savannah’s friends were all waiting for their turn down on the dock.”
    He just laughed. “No, Savannah was the only one. She wanted me to show her how to drive one.” Violet was glad that he hadn’t seemed to