Free The Sound by Sarah Alderson

giggling.
    I shift awkwardly and step backwards. It feels wrong to be gossiping, giggling and kissing on the spot where a poor dead girl was found floating face down in the surf. But the thought reminds me
of what Brodie told me when I first arrived about the Sound and people dying there all the time. I stare at the ocean for a while before turning back to Sophie.
    ‘How did she die?’ I ask.
    ‘She was strangled,’ Matt answers, his hands snaking around Sophie’s neck and play-squeezing. She pushes him off, still laughing.
    ‘God, that’s awful,’ I say, my hands wrapping instinctively around my own neck.
    We start trudging back across the sand towards the others. This part of the beach is almost deserted, as if out of some unspoken rule amongst beach-goers to leave any ghost undisturbed. Sand
dunes roll away in the distance and it’s fringed with thick woods. I shiver despite the sun beating down on me. It’s a lonely place to die. I wish Sophie hadn’t taken me there. I
don’t want to disturb ghosts. I glance ahead at the packed beach – children digging castles in the sand, people slathering on sunscreen and messing around with boogie boards in the
waves. It’s hard to reconcile this whole scene with the image that’s now in my head of Nantucket: Murder Central.
    I can’t wait to tell Megan.
    As we get closer to the others I see that Eliza is now standing talking to Tyler. Her breasts are having their own conversation with him, one hand rests on her jutting hip bone and the other
plays with a loose lock of hair.
    ‘What’s the deal with Tyler and Eliza?’ I ask.
    Sophie looks at me and gets that sparkle in her eye which I’m learning signifies she’s about to gossip download. It’s like she’s an android or something and I can see the
panel lighting on her retinal scanner. I note Matt rolls his own eyes and detaches as she launches in – ‘Well,’ she begins, ‘he hooked up with Paige last summer after she
broke up with Parker, but he also hooked up with half the island last summer – he’s hardly into exclusive dating, if you know what I mean.’
    Do I know what she means? Hell yes. Isn’t she describing most of the male population of earth?
    ‘I think Eliza’s trying to see if she can tame him. You know? It’s kind of funny to watch.’
    I glance at Matt.He doesn’t say anything even though it’s his sister and his friend that Sophie is talking about. He
is
frowning however and then, without warning he takes
off. ‘I’ll catch you later,’ he says over his shoulder, running down the beach towards the boys.
    Sophie shrugs and then links her arm through mine. I’m not sure why Sophie has taken it upon herself to adopt me and be nice to me but I am grateful and I lean into her to show her that I
appreciate how nice she is being.
    ‘And you and Matt?’ I ask, hoping that we’re now officially friends enough for me to ask this question.
    She giggles, but I can see the warmth in the smile on her face. ‘Oh, you know,’ she says. ‘We’re just having fun. I’m going to college in the fall. So’s he.
This is like, just casual, you know?’
    I eye her sideways. Unless I’m mistaken – which I’m usually not on these things – Sophie likes Matt more than she’s letting on. Way more.
    ‘He’s nice,’ I say.
    ‘Yeah,’ she answers. ‘He’s different to the others.’
    I suppress the cynic in me that wants to tell her they’re all the same and not to trust a single one of them as far as you can throw them because as soon as someone with bigger boobs comes
along they’re off but then I realise that maxim might not hold entirely true. I mean, Bex had smaller boobs than me, and I can’t imagine anyone with bigger boobs than Sophie. I sigh.
What do I know about men or boobs?
    ‘And Jeremy?’ she asks. The android light pings as she readies herself for gossip input.
    I aim for innocence. ‘Jeremy?’ I ask.
    She nudges me with her elbow. ‘I saw you guys. Did