Emma hung the portrait in the entrance of the Employee House. She had spent her first two paychecks for the gift, and was hopeful that everyone would like it. She had gotten it for a secret reason, but she didn't want to tell everyone right away. She hoped that they would be able to figure it out for themselves.

As the day ended, the employees had gathered around the large photograph, slightly surprised.

The picture was, in one word, horrible. It was as if none of the employees were ready to take the picture. Most even claimed that they didn't remember the picture ever being taken. No one recalled the photographer counting down to the click of his camera. Every surfer was surprised by how much could happen in less than three seconds.

"What a drag," Lo said, looking over the portrait yet again. She rolled her eyes and continued, "Emma, this probably cost a lot of money, so why did you buy this crummy copy?"

"There has to be some meaning behind it," Ty said, rubbing his chin with his index finger and thumb. Emma blushed slightly. At least Ty knew what she was getting at.

"Bra, I have noo idea what you're tryin' to tell us," Broseph said as he shook his head.

"I know what it is!" Reef practically screamed. No one wanted to hear what he had to say, considering he hadn't even looked at the picture yet.

Fin rolled her eyes and asked, "What on earth could you know, Coral-for-brains?"

Reef only smiled and said, "Well, Emma obviously wanted to show off how awesome the Reefster is!"

Lo and Fin laughed. Reef looked at them annoyed, thinking they were laughing at his 'charm'.

"If anything," Fin said through her fits of giggles, "Emma wanted to show how much of a kook really you are!"

Reef looked at the portrait for the first time, alarmed to find that he didn't look half as good as he expected. He was crouched over to the right of Fin, who had supposedly punched him in the stomach moments before the snapshot. Reef didn't remember being punched by the blonde. Then again, she abused him so much that it was hard for him to remember certain times she caused him pain.

Emma just shook her head. "Nope, not for either of those reasons," she said.

"Well," Lo said, pointing at a furious Kelly in the background, "I'm sure Emma wanted to show Kelly in her true form." She smiled triumphantly as the whole group burst out laughing

Emma giggled, but shook her head again.

Ripper tilted his head. "Well, it's obviously showing the best surfers on this side Canada!"

"Righteous!" Lance yelled back as they high-fived each other.

Emma frowned. At this rate, her coworkers would ever figure out the message she was trying to send.

Johnny sighed. "Emma, we really don't know why you bought it."

"It's a horrible picture."

"Plus, it makes no sense!"

"What was seriously going through your mind, bra?"

Emma gave up. "You guys!" She said, smiling at last, "This picture is all about what we do all the time. We act silly, we goof off, and, in some cases," she said as she looked over at the boys, "we wreak havoc."

"So, this is what 'chaos' looks like?" Johnny said, more to himself than to everyone else.

"No," Emma replied, smiling brighter than she had that night. "This is what 'best friends' look like."

Everyone looked at the large photo once more, and this time everyone understood what it meant. Being best friends wasn't about how long they had known each other or what they did together, but rather how long they planned to know each other and the means they took to do those crazy things together.

And as the sun fell over the trees, they still stood there, thinking about the friendship they all shared. During those last few seconds that the sun filled the sky, the picture they disliked at the beginning of the evening became priceless to each and every surfer.