"Cheer up honey, your almost home" Mrs. Hading said optimistically to her brooding seventeen year old.
"It doesn't feel like home anymore" Said Dani pushing a section of her blond bangs out of her eyes. She gazed out the window as they sped by palm tree after palm tree. She blinked her long lashes dully.
"Well you didn't think you were going to stay out north forever did you? New England was far too small for you dear." Her mother said reassuringly.
"I had friends there Mom. I had a job, I had school" Danielle said taking her cheek off the warm glass of the window and resting her head on the back of her seat.
"Well after the summer you will have all of those things again. Remember your old friends the Rockets? They're still there. You can find work no problem it's the summer after all. Trust me honey, you need Ocean Shores again."
"But in Boston I had Dad..." she said turning her head and looking at her mother's profile. Danielle could see the vague lines of a frown wash across her mothers lips. Whenever Dani mentioned her Father things turned out bad. After all thats why her mother moved back to Ocean Shores a year ago and sent for Dani.
"But you get to surf and see all of your old friends again" said her mother. "All your little friends from years ago."
"I haven't seen he old gang since I was eleven" Dani whined. "I bet they don't even remember who I am" she said crossing her arms.
Leaving her friends all those years ago was the hardest part of leaving Ocean Shores. She her mother and her father moved across the country to Boston when Dani was eleven. Her friend Reggie, was ten, Sam, Twister and Otto were all nine. They had been friends since birth practically and then she moved away. For six years Dani and her family lived in Boston. Despite the fact she missed her friends Dani adjusted to the city life and fell in love with it. But then her mother and father got divorced and her mother moved back to Ocean Shores. Her mom took a year to settle back in and then sent for Dani to come back too. She didn't want to leave but she didn't have a choice, her mother had full custody. So it was back to California for her.
"Why would yo think something like that?" her mother exclaimed. "Nobody forgets Daniela Auriela Hading."
Dani winced. She hated it when her mother used her full name. It embarrassed her. Her father never called her Daniela... always Dani. "I've changed a lot mom... I look and sound a lot different."
"Hah! Thats for sure" her mom laughed at she opened up her wallet and took out a picture of Dani and the gang the day they moved. She handed it over to Dani and she laughed hysterically. Her short brown curls ended at her chubby chin and her braces plastered grin looked faker than it ever was before. Her big amber eyes looked too big for her face and her eye lashes stuck out awkwardly. Her skinny arms and legs were bony and she had no chest or butt at all.
"I was such an awkward kid..." Dani sighed. "Man was I ugly."
"But look at you now, your beautiful" replied her mother taking her eyes off the road for one minute to look at her daughter.
Dani looked out the window, she wasn't going to deny the fact that she was pretty. She had let her hair grow long, to about her mid back. She had long volumous dark brown curls or "sex kitten hair" as her friends back in Boston liked to call it that was always slightly messy no matter what she did. Her face had grown to her eyes were still large but not out of proportion with the rest of her face. And she could wield mascara like the best of them so her long lashes were no longer crooked. Her teeth still slightly large but white and braces free. Her freckles no longer overtook her face and were lightly sprayed over her nose and the apples of her cheeks. She prayed it would remain this way even though they were back in the sun. She body had filled out quite nicely, her skinny frame had been replaced with soft curves. She had grown a little bit. She stood now at 5'6'' and 125 pounds. A little short for her liking but she fit nicely into a size 4. If she was lucky she could squeeze into a 2 but her round butt prevented that most of the time. Much to her dismay as soon as her family moved Dani's chest began to develop. And it didn't stop! The five year growth spurt began to wind down in high school and she ended a half a decade in a big way. The tags on her most recent bras all read the same thing; 36D. This got her plenty of unwanted attention in school but to think, now she would be in a bikini year round.
Dani turned back to the picture. From left to right it was Reggie, Sam, Otto, Twister and Herself arms around each others waists. And of course somebody was giving her the classic bunny ears. Lars Rodriguez stood his side to the camera but the full front of his hand, pointer and middle finger up, in the back of her head. That was very like him, to ruin a nice photo of her and her friends, probably laughing about it to his friends all the while. She put the photo in her pocket, it would go on her wall as soon as they got home. She turned her face to look out the window and she was greeted by a familiar sight. Her old neighborhood.
"Now I got all the furniture you sent me. You just have to unpack your clothes and you little gadgets and doo dads" her mother said as she pulled into the driveway.
Dani rolled her eyes, the only gadgets she had were her Macbook and her ipod. She stepped out of the car with a few bags of her clothes. Her mother followed her in with the rest. Together they brought them up to her room and Dani crashed on her bed. All she wanted to do was fly back to Boston. She wanted to get away from this place, from her mother. She sat up and rummaged through her bags until she found some suitable clothes. She grabbed a pair of denim shorts that didn't leave much to the imagination and a white tank top to layer over her black string bikini. She grabbed her roller blades and ran downstairs. She hopped past her mom and sat on the stoop lacing her skates.
"Did you unpack?" Her mother asked.
"Nope" Dani said with a grin as she began her decent to the beach. Her first stop? The Shore Shack. If she was going to get reacquainted with her old friends it might as well start soon. 'Perfect timing' she thought to herself as she saw four familiar figures sitting at the counter.
She skated up to the counter and hopped up and sat amongst her old friend's fries and milkshakes. They all stared at her like she was crazy but one by one they all came to realization.
"Dani!" Reggie screamed grabbing her old friend and pulling her into a huge tight hug. Dani hugged her back, it felt good to be accepted the way she was. She figured it would be more awkward than that. She took a good look at Reggie. She was tall, around 5'8'' and athletic looking. She had muscles out the yin yang for a girl. She had let her hair grow a little longer, a hair past her shoulders and straightened it. She wore makeup and wore slightly tighter clothes. Reggie was a woman.
"Dani, my girl! What are you doing back in the old OS?" asked Otto. Dani turned to look at him, he grew too! 5'9". Aside from a fresh ear piercing he still looked like the same O-Man. The O-Man aged a few years but the O-Man none the less.
"I'm here to live with my mom. I'm here to stay" she said. She wasn't expecting a reception such as this one. She whipped around to see Twister filming it all. He had let his hair grow and had gotten a bit more muscular but still wore the same stupid hat. Dani reached over and gave him a noogie. "How are you Maurice?"
"Don't call me that!" he whined and Sam laughed. He had changed the most out of all of them. He stood at the same height as Otto and Twist and he let his blond locks grow out to a cute surfer shag. He got contacts and lost a little bit of weight. Dani hugged him tightly.
"Dani I can't get over how much you changed!" Sam said to her after their hug ended.
"Your one to talk!" exclaimed Dani.
"Seriously though" Reggie began. "You got so hot!" Danielle laughed and sat down with her old friends.
"Well so did all of you. Geeze guys...I'm kinda glad to be back now" Dani said grabbing one of their shakes and taking a loud slurp out of it.
"You weren't?" asked Twister.
"I had a brand new life back in Boston. And I miss it a lot... a lot a lot. A great school, friends, a Job. Im not sure how long it will take me to re-adjust."
"Well we're always here for you" said Sam.
"Say" said Twister. "What if we all go back and hang out at my place? We got a brand new half pipe. It's awesome!"
"Sweet idea" said Otto. "You up for it Dani?"
"Duh" she said grabbing a handful of fries and shoveling them in her mouth. "Lets get going."
They skated back to Twisters house to tear up the backyard half pipe. Danielle ran into her house to grab her board. Boston had tons of parks so the only thing she needed to get back into the swing of was surfing. She sighed, that only made her miss Boston more. Maybe seeing her old friends was just a temporary rush. After leaving her house again another familiar sight greeted her amber gaze. Lars whomping his little brother over something or other. Lars hadn't changed much since she left. He grew taller, her was around 5'11" give or take. He was still pretty lanky if not a little more in shape. He still kept his dark brown hair long and under a grey beanie. Dani got closer to them and sighed. "And in six years nothing much has changed."
Lars whipped around and glared at her, but then looked taken aback. "Who the hell are you?" he asked. He had gotten much better looking, and he still had the little gap in his teeth that Dani had always secretly found adorable.
"Dude" said Reggie angrily. "And I thought Twister was the dumb one."
"Can it Rocket Dork" said Lars. "Just because your a girl doesn't mean I won't beat you!"
Dani sighed. "Same old Lars. And as for who I am I'll give you two guesses but you'll only need one." After saying that she gave him a huge smile, the same over the top, geeky smile she had as a little girl. Instantly he recognized her.
"Dani" he said wide eyed. He bit his lip as he allowed his eyes to wander from her chest back to her face. "You look uh... different."
"Huh, you don't" she fired back at him shifting her weight to one side.
"Of course I don't!" He shouted. "Why screw with perfection?" he said throwing his arms up into the air.
"Oh of course" she said rolling her eyes. "Because poor dentistry just rings with perfection!"
"Hey guys break it up!" said Sam. "It's only been a few hours and you two are already going at it."
"Whatever" Lars said burying his hands in his pockets, his posture slumping. "But beat it. Animal and Pi are coming over later and we want to use the pipe."
"Buzz off Lars we just got here" said Otto.
"And you know who else just got here?" threatened Lars as he balled his hand into a fist. A little ways in the distance Pi and Animal were skating up towards the house.
"You know what, we have a lot of better stuff to do anyway" said Twister defensively.
"Yeah right" said Lars shoving his little brother down. "since when do you ever have plans."
"Since... Dani got back into town and we're throwing her a party" Reggie interjected. Dani looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"A party?" questioned Pi his dark eyes flashing with interest.
"Yeah a pretty epic one" said Reggie. "We're getting a keg and everything." Dani stared at Reggie with an open mouth. What the hell was she talking about? How could she get a keg with this little notice and no fake id?
"Who else is going?" asked Animal.
"Like... everybody" said Otto. "Whoevers cool and can make it. It's bound to be a good time."
Lars looked completive. "What time?" he asked.
"Who says your invited?" asked Twister brushing himself off.
"I said I was you fucking dweeb!" Lars shouted grabbing twister by the neckline of his baggy shirt. "What time?"
"Swing by around seven. At the old Stimpleton place. Sammie can get the pool in working order by then" said Reggie.
"Fine we'll be there. Now get the fuck off our half pipe" Lars said pushing Twister into Sam violently.
The gang began to head out as Dani just stood there in disbelief. They had a few short hours to set up an "epic" party in her name. 'What the hell did they get me into?' Dani thought to herself.
"Dani hurry up! We have stuff to do!" Otto yelled at her. Dani followed biting her lower lip.