"The only liar here is you. You are lying to yourself." She replied, "Everyone could see how jealous Stone was when you were speaking to Chase and Biology Boy."

Looking out to the waves, I pretended to feign confusion "That is ridiculous—"

She did not stop her accusation there "I think you were jealous too."

"Jealous of what?" I blurted out.

"You should have seen your face when you saw Lacey talk to him."

I muttered, "I could not care less who Stone speaks with."

"She tried to speak with him." Lana spoke again "He didn’t even say anything to her. He was watching you the whole time. She was extremely flirty, but he never once strayed from you. His eyes were on you as soon as you came into the cafeteria. Just like it was at Chase's party."

A small smile made its way onto my face, and I could not fight it.

Lana noticed it and pointed to my face "See. You are happy about it."

"No. I am not!"

"It is safe to say that the green eye monster came out today." She joked.

My jaw unhinged at her choice of words "Did you just quote Shakespeare and use it in the right context?"

"So, you were jealous then?"

"Typical that this is the conversation you choose to do it." I uttered, still shocked at her Shakespeare remark.

"Oh my god." Lana squealed "You have a crush on Stone."

I cut her off by shouting but it came out all high pitched "No!"

The word crush did not feel tight. It sounded immature and insignificant. Which was not what I felt for Stone.

It was more than that.

We sat down at a random place on the beach. The sand was warm on my legs and bottom as I relaxed into the texture, not hating the way it felt.

My best friend's face contorted to more of a baffled expression as she tilted her head "You seem much more at ease than the last time you were at the beach. You seem calmer and happier. What has changed?"

It was because the last time I was at the beach I was with Stone. He helped me dip my toe in the water and then he helped me to jump into the deep end. He supported me and made me face my deepest fear.

I had not even noticed that I was not panicking or anxious about behind here.

Everything felt more than okay.

I answered her vaguely "I had a little help."

Looking around at the stunning scenery in front of me, I thought of my mother. When I was younger and my dad was at work, she would take me here. She would build great big sandcastles and let me bury her in the sand. One day when she was teaching me how to swim and when told me that I was ready to take my armbands off, she said to me Ella, it normal to have these feelings. You can’t fear your emotions. You can only embrace them.