The Azuli by Cassidy Shay (best beach reads of all time TXT) 📕

Because of how late the party lasted, I woke up pretty late the next day. I slept until the early afternoon, and even then, I only woke up because someone was violently shaking my shoulders.
“Penny, wake up,” I heard a familiar voice say. I peeled open my right eye to see Jack standing above me. “We brought you some lunch.”
I sat up and studied my room. There was a plate on the table, but other than that, nothing had changed from the night before. “Thanks, Jack,” I said. Suddenly, I remembered Collin. “Jack, is lunch over yet?” I asked, desperation in my voice.
“It’s been over for a good hour now. You were really out, weren’t you?” He gave a small laugh, and then he realized the reason that I had asked. “Don’t worry about Collin. None of the sanitation people came by at lunch. I know because I stayed behind to check. My guess is that everyone slept in, so they’ll be coming by while everyone’s at dinner.”
I let out a sigh of relief, and then I glanced at the plate of food. All of a sudden, I realized how hungry I was. I hopped off the bed and climbed into a chair, immediately digging in.
After a few bites, I slowed down and turned to face Jack. “How was your first night of matrimonial bliss?” I asked, not making any effort to hide the sarcasm in my tone.
“It actually wasn’t that bad. She even offered to let me sleep on the bed and said she’d take the floor. There wasn’t any of the normal Mary there. Of course, I took the floor and let her have the bed. Judging by the looks of everyone’s faces as they said their vows, I’m guessing that each of the couples had someone sleeping on the floor. It would be awkward otherwise, wouldn’t it?”
I nodded slowly, thinking about how different my night had been from his. He began talking again, saying, “This morning, she was out of the room before I was even awake. What about you, sis? How is it to be married?”
I shrugged. “We must be pretty special, because no one slept on the floor last night. I was as close to the wall as I could possibly get, and he was as close to me as possible. He also had his arm around me. And you’re right. It was awkward.”
“Oh.” He cut the single syllable off quickly. “Well, you guys are special, I guess. You’re both in love. Just not with each other. Well, he is. You, on the other hand, are not.” Suddenly, I felt the need to defend myself.
“Who said I’m in love?” I demanded.
He just laughed. “No one has to say it, Penny. But you two didn’t try very hard to hide your feelings toward each other last night. I notice that you’re still wearing that necklace that he got you.” He reached over and read the back. “’Love, Collin.’ Nope. Not in love at all. Not to mention that dance. You didn’t at all look like you just wanted to run away with him.” I chose to overlook his blatant sarcasm, mostly because I knew he was right. “You’re lucky none of the parents said anything about it. You would have had hell to pay.”
I nodded, knowing that, as always, there was no way to even pretend that he was wrong. “I’m still going to see him tonight at dinner,” I said. “I promised him.” Jack nodded, but didn’t say anything. When I was done eating, I stood up and hugged my brother. It had been a while since I’d given him a hug, but everything felt so familiar, so right. “Thanks for everything,” I said, and then we walked out of the room together.
We strolled through the nearly empty hallways to Jack and Mary’s room, where we ran into a group of girls. Jack rolled his eyes, and then charged through them to get to Mary. I pressed myself against the wall, remembering an event involving these girls that had changed my life.
It had happened years ago, when I was nine or ten. I was taking my weekly shower when a big group of girls came in. I heard them giggling and whispering, but I couldn’t hear what was being said. When I turned the water off and stepped out, though, everything was silent.
“Hey, Penny,” said Martha, the leader of the group. I quickly wrapped a towel around myself before they could get a good look at my naked body. Then, I turned to face them. I did not slump my shoulders or hang my head. I looked Martha right in the eye and said nothing. Even though my body language might not have shown that I was scared, I knew that my eyes must have. There were seven of them, and only one of me. They were all two years older than me, except for Bea, who was three years older. You would have been scared too, if it had been you.
“Hello, Martha,” I said calmly and evenly. Even though I knew my eyes betrayed me, I held her gaze for as long as I could, until she looked away. She looked down at my towel, my small legs, and my cold, bare feet. “Is there anything I can help you with, or can I go back to my cell?”
“No, no, you can go. We don’t make habits of associating ourselves with your kind.” She leaned in towards me, a smile on her perfect lips. “You know what I mean. The outcasts.” She had a look of mock pity in her eyes and a sneer in her tone. She didn’t say anything else, but instructed the group to move aside and clear a path to the door. I didn’t say anything, but clenched my hands into fists and headed for the door.
Her comment had cut me deep. While it was true that I didn’t have many friends at the Academy, it wasn’t because I couldn’t get them. It was quite the opposite, actually. I had always had a habit of pushing people away and refusing to become close to them. While I was nice to most people, I only trusted a select few.
They formed a long line from Martha to the door, but as I passed the last girl she reached out and grabbed my towel. I tried my best to cover myself, but it didn’t work. My arms were too skinny and short to hide the parts that need to be hidden. I looked around, but I couldn’t find any towels. Not knowing what else to do, I sprinted out the door and down the hallway. Everyone stared, and some people even laughed. When I got to my cell, I climbed under the blanket and cried until Macy came in. I told her what had happened, and, like she always had, she took care of me as best she could.
Now, looking at this same group of girls, I noticed how they had changed. Mary had been transferred to our floor after the incident, so she hadn’t been one of the ones to humiliate me. Bea and one of the other girls were missing because they had been transferred to another floor after they had repeatedly bullied a little girl. A couple of the girls were new, and I didn’t know their names.
They started to leave the room when Martha spotted me pressed against the wall. “Well, hey there, Penny,” she said with a mean, sarcastic smile. I hadn’t seen Martha very often since the incident, but whenever I did, she always brought up that day. “Looks like you decided to wear clothes today.” She turned to Mary. “Why is she in here?” she asked.
“She’s Jack’s sister,” Mary answered, rolling her eyes. “Otherwise, she wouldn’t be allowed near me. But since I have no choice but to put up with her, she can be in here. Only until our parents leave, though. After that, I don’t want to see her.” She looked at me as she said her last sentence, driving her point into my brain. I don’t like you, her look told me. I threw a look back at her that told her I liked her even less.
Martha said her good-bye’s and then left, and Jack’s face started to get red. “Mary, I know you don’t like me or my sister, but was that necessary? She’s already been taunted by that group enough, hasn’t she?” He spoke in a quiet, even voice, but you could hear the anger.
“What are you talking about? When have they tormented her?” she asked. “I knew that they know who she is, but I didn’t know that they’d done anything to her.” She looked at me with pity, and I almost believed that it was real. However, I couldn’t believe that she didn’t know what had happened. Whether she knew or not, I decided to tell her.
I stepped up to her, my face only a couple inches away from hers. “When I was a little girl, they tore my towel away from me after I took a shower, and I was forced to run down the hall naked.”
She took a step back, and when she recovered, she looked me right in the eye. “How old were you?” I told her that I had been nine, and she waved her hand casually in the air, as if it was no big deal. “Oh, you’re fine, you big baby. It could have been worse. At age nine, you hadn’t begun to develop up top, and I’m sure you didn’t have any embarrassing hair in any unwanted places.” She patted my head lightly. “Honey, you really need to toughen up. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go talk to my friends.” She left the room, and I looked at Jack.
“What was that?” I asked. “Why does she hate me? I did absolutely nothing to her! And she has the nerve to talk to me like that? What the hell is wrong with her?”
“I don’t know, Penny,” he said. “I don’t know why she did that. Maybe she’s just gone crazy.” He went to sit on the bed, but I stayed in the middle of the room. We both sat there for a few minutes, not saying anything. We were both thinking, and it was probably about the same thing
“I can’t believe that I’m actually married,” I said, voicing my thoughts. “Especially to Carl. Six years ago, this would have been a dream come true.”
I remembered a day, back when I was nine, when I had a longing to kiss Carl. It started when I drew a Memory of a girl’s first kiss. The feeling that was left behind when I was done had been a wonderful combination of love, happiness, and compassion. The experience seemed so great that I wanted to try it for myself. I don’t know if I chose Carl because he was simply the only boy, besides Jack, that I’d ever