（外文电子版资料）reunion.doc

In memory of J.V.C. Reunion Jenny Carroll Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 About the Author C H A P T E R 1 Now this, Gina said, is the life. I was forced to agree with her. The two of us were stretched out in our bikinis, taking in the rays and balmy seventy-five-degree weather on Carmel Beach. It was March, but you wouldnt have known it by the way the sun was pouring down on us. Well, this was California, after all. I mean it, Gina said. I dont know how you do it every day. I had my eyes closed. Visions of tall, icy Diet Cokes were dancing in my head. If only they had waiter service on the beach. It was the one thing missing, really. Wed already finished all of the sodas in our cooler, and it was a really long walk up the stairs from the beach to Jimmys Quick Mart. Do what? I murmured. Go to school, Gina said, when youve got this fabulous beach just a mile or so away. It is hard, I admitted, my eyes still closed. But graduating from high school continues to be considered one of lifes important achievements. I mean, Ive heard that without a high school diploma, one doesnt have a hope of acquiring one of those high-powered service positions at Starbucks that I know Ill be angling for upon graduation. Seriously, Suze, Gina said. I felt her stir next to me, and opened my eyes. Gina had leaned up on her elbows, and was scanning the beach through her Ray Bans. How can you stand it? How, indeed? It was gorgeous. The Pacific stretched out as far as the eye could see, turquoise blue darkening to navy the closer it got to the horizon. The waves were huge, crashing up against the yellow sand, tossing surfers and boogie boarders into the air as if they were pieces of driftwood. To our far right rose the green cliffs of Pebble Beach. To our left, the h