"Hey Ronnie!" For the second time that day, Veronica was brought out of
her memories by a familiar voice. She faced the direction where the voice
was coming from and saw Michael, her best friend's brother, walking
towards her.

     "You've been here all morning and I thought you might be hungry so
I brought you a sandwich." he said, as he sat beside her in the sand.

     "That's really sweet of you Michael. Thanks." replied Veronica, taking
the sandwich.

     "We all missed you at breakfast. I even made choco-chip pancakes
for you."

     "Yeah. Meg told me. I'm really sorry for not showing up."

     "Hey, it's alright!" he smiled.

     "Where's Johnny?" asked Veronica.

     "He's with Meg. They wanted to spend some alone time together so I
left them and then I decided to check up on you. Meg said you didn't look
so well this morning. What's up?"

     "It's nothing, Michael." lied Veronica trying to blink away the tears
that were forming in her eyes.

     "Ronnie, you and I both know it's not nothing. It's about time you
said something. You can't keep all your feelings bottled up. You need to
let them out and you need to talk to someone."

     "And say what?! There's nothing left to say and there's nothing left
to do. I think all of you should just leave me the way I am." All her
attempts to blink back her tears failed and Veronica started wiping away
the drops that were now rolling down her cheeks as she looked away
from Michael.

     "Ronnie look... I know it's really hard for you to forget all that Mark
did but you do know that you have to move on right? You can't spend
your life like this and I'm sure you'll find someone better, much better. He
didn't realize what he was losing when he hurt you and that's really his
loss. You can't keep crying over him because honestly, you're better off
without him." Michael sounded really earnest and although his voice was
calm and steady, it really pained him to see Veronica so broken.

     "It's so easy to tell someone to move on right?" choked Veronica as
she finished drying her face.

     "I know it's easier said than done but you've got to give it a try and
the first step in trying is letting your feelings out. Talk to someone. You
know we're all here for you."

     "I know that but I don't know if any of you understand what I'm
going through. I probably look like a pathetic loser to you guys."

     "We can only understand if you talk to us Ronnie. None of us are
psychic you know."

     "I just don't understand what went wrong. I tried so hard to make
things work but I guess I wasn't good enough right?"

     "You're perfect just the way you are and if Mark failed to see that
then that's really his problem."

     "I don't know what to do anymore Michael. It's not that I don't want
to move on, it's just that I can't seem to."

     "You've got to go out and meet other people Ronnie. You can't allow
Mark to ruin your life. He doesn't have the right to do that."

     "I know! But --"

     "You know what? I know exaclty what you need. You're going out
with all of us for dinner tonight, it'll be the start of your getting-over-
mark therapy, and you're gonna enjoy the rest of this trip, okay?"

     "But --"

     "No if's and no but's -- Oh! and no no's either! You're coming and
that's decided." said Michael. His decision was final and Veronica knew
there was nothing she could say that would get her out of going to dinner
that night.