(Untitled)

[teenagerenegade]

Some days are better than others.

Charlie still feels like a monumental fuck up, but he's not letting it get to him. He's got a hut now, which is pretty sweet, even though there's not a lot of him in there, yet. It's not like he's got a lot of stuff, although he has pinned the photograph of him and his Mom to the wall where he can see it when he

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[whatkindofgirl]

Juno had been on the beach earlier and was still wearing a bathing suit underneath a pair of cut-off jeans that hit just above her knees. And since she'd gotten her hair wet and then let it dry in the air, there was no sign of her mohawk.

She stops at the waterfall mostly because she sees something floating there, and for a split second thinks it's a body. But no, it's Charlie, the guy who'd been smoking pot on the dock the other day.

She walks up to the edge of the pool and looks down at him. "I once took a life saving class at the Y," she said. "Except they wouldn't give me a certificate because I refused to save Owen Barker when he was fake drowning. He kept groping the girl lifeguards' tits while he was flailing around."

[teenagerenegade]

Charlie lifts his head, treading water and looking up at her, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. His black eye has darkened into a spectacular shade of purple.

"I don't need saving, Juno" he points out. "But thankyou."

[whatkindofgirl]

"Nice shiner," Juno said, stepping right to the edge. "What's the other guy look like? Or was it a girl? Girls fight dirty, but you don't have any scratch marks."

[teenagerenegade]

"You can't see the rest of me," says Charlie, both eyebrows raise, swimming over to where she comes to stand.

"...It was a guy. It was an accident, though."

[whatkindofgirl]

"Dude, his fist accidentally ran into your face? I hate it when that happens. How's the water? I was in the ocean earlier, my skin feels like one of those bath and body works salt scrubs."

[teenagerenegade]

"Get your ass in here," says Charlie, easily, holding onto the rock with both hands.

"He didn't punch me, Juno. Christ."

[whatkindofgirl]

"Well how I am I supposed to know? Sorry if our fifteen minute conversation didn't clue me in your exact level of physical violence." She looked down at the water and finally toed off her neon green flip flops.

"Okay, stand back," she said as she shimmied out of her jeans. Her bathing suit was what she'd heard annoyingly referred to as a "tankini" whatever that mean. It wasn't like she exactly had a hot bathing suit bod, especially with her fabulous new stretch marks (though to be fair, they'd faded in the past six months - along with her termporarily humongous pregnancy boobs).

[teenagerenegade]

"My exact level of physical violence is zero," Charlie assures her. "Absolute zero. Less than zero. I'm pathetic."

When she strips out of her jeans, Charlie does what most seventeen year old boys would do and applauds, grinning.

"Very nice," he says, and at the back of the head, he's thinking about the birth record that he found, and her name next to it. Surely, they can't be another Juno McGuff on the island?

[whatkindofgirl]

"Oh, shut up," Juno said, rolling her eyes, but the corners of her mouth twitched just a touch, as if she were fighting a smile.

She backs up a few steps so that she can get a slight running start, and then does a cannonball into the water.

She emerges a couple of seconds later and grins, pushing the hair out of her eyes.

[teenagerenegade]

Charlie waits patiently for her to resurface, idly kicking his feet in the cool water. He tilts his head back and looks up at the sky. When she comes up, he squints at her with one eye.

He idly probs his bruise with his fingers. It's turning into a bad habit.

"Enjoying yourself?"

[whatkindofgirl]

"More than you," Juno said, treading water and frowning a little now that she'd gotten a better look at his eyes. "You actually look kind of miserable. Though maybe this is your default and you just seem happier when you're high."

[teenagerenegade]

"What? No!" Charlie forces a grin onto his face and he's a good enough actor that it actually touches his eyes.

"I'm fine. Really. Dandy."

[whatkindofgirl]

"Whatever, dude," Juno said with a shrug. "I know teenage moodiness when I see it. And you were having a mood." She pushed backward with her legs and floated on her back

[teenagerenegade]

"I'm seventeen," points out Charlie, pushing away from the rock. "I'm pretty sure that I'm allowed a mood. And I don't know what you're talking about. You're sort of permanently bitchy, Juno."

[whatkindofgirl]

"I'm not bitchy, I'm real," Juno said, making a vague gangster sign with her fingers. "And besides, you're the one who said you wanted someone to listen. Here I am, listening."

[teenagerenegade]

That makes Charlie laugh, and he honestly feels better than he has in days.

"Real? Seriously? Jesus." He grins, shaking his head. "And listening only woroks when somebody's got something they want to talk about."