They started to circle each other slowly glaring at each other, completely forgetting that I was there. Cody lunged at Dolph, shoving him away roughly. Dolph shoved back at him in retaliation and Cody responded with a punch to Dolph's face. I started to scream at them to stop. But these were Stephanie's boys. Stubborn to the last breathe. The boys started to wrestle around, grabbing, hitting, cursing and breathing heavily. They knocked over a vase and blood started to drip onto the sand in front of the beach house. I realized I was screaming hysterically. I had never seen the boys like this before and I knew whatever was happening, was bigger than me.
But wait. I should start at the beginning. The beginning of summer that everything changed. The summer I turned pretty.
We were driving to the Santa Cruz beach. I was sitting in the passenger seat, my brother driving and my mom passed out in the back. I was dying. We had been driving for what felt like years when in actuality it had only been a day and 2 hours. There was only 1 hour to go and I could not wait to climb out of the car and stretch my legs!
"Can we go any faster Daniel? I'm dying!" I begged my older brother. He spared me half-a-glance before shaking his head grinning.
"You've said that every hour on the hour since we drove into California" he reprimanded. I shrugged and started to fiddle with the radio but Daniel slapped my hand away.
"Stop! I was listening to that song!" he stated. I slapped his hand away and lunged to change the radio.
"Nooo! That song makes me want to rip my eardrums out!" I responded. We started to bicker which awoke my mom.
"I just closed my eyes for a second and you two are already arguing!" my mom, Trish, laughed. I stuck my tongue out at Daniel and he made a face at me.
Daniel and I have a love-hate relationship: as in we love each other from a distance but when we spend too much time together, we end up wanting to stab the other's eye with a fork. Daniel just turned eighteen this last May and he's headed off to college in the fall. This may even be the last summer he spends in Santa Cruz…
Anyway, we drove on for a while and soon enough we were in Santa Cruz. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding and rolled my window down to breathe in the ocean air. Houston was nothing like this! Daniel elbowed me.
"What are you doing? Lost in thought again huh Katie? Is it Cody again?" he teased. I shoved him back. For once, the answer was no.
"First of all, you KNOW how much I hate it when you call me Katie and second, NO!" I snapped. Trish leaned forward.
"Do you still like Cody, Kaitlyn? I thought after last summer there might have been something going on between you and Dolph?" she asked. I blushed.
"What? You and Dolph? When did that happen? Jesus sis. Is there any guy you aren't into?!" Daniel moaned. He always hated when the McMahon boys paid me any attention. He felt that they were only his best friends and although he's dating my friend, I shouldn't even look at his.
"There's nothing going on there! We're just really good friends! Sheesh mom. Just because two people hang out, doesn't mean we like each other!" I stated annoyed. Trish shrugged.
"Okay okay. I'll let it go!" she smiled. Daniel looked like he wanted to say something more but held back. I was telling the truth. Nothing did happen and nothing ever will.
Cody and Dolph were Stephanie's sons. Stephanie McMahon, aka the most powerful but sweet woman ever. Trish and Stephanie have known each other forever. They had started out both liking Stephanie's husband Hunter and were bitter enemies but my mom slowly stopped caring about Hunter and they became fast friends. Sisters almost.
Stephanie told me that when I was born, she knew I was destined for one of her boys. She said it was faith. Trish, on the other hand, laughed and said that was fine as long as I had plenty of lovers before I settled. Imagine that coming from your mom. Yeah, I cringed too.
Trish, Daniel and I had been going to Santa Cruz every summer since I was a baby, since before I was even born. For me, Santa Cruz was my world and my whole life was measured in summers. It was as though I wasn't living until it was June and I'm at that beach. The McMahons had owned the beach house on Santa Cruz for generations and it practically became tradition to go there every summer. Since my mom was an honorary McMahon, the tradition was passed onto us too.
Cody and Dolph are brothers but they couldn't be more different. Cody is the older one at seventeen. He is tall with dark brown hair and brown eyes. Some guys look at you like they want to have sex but he was one of those guys that looked at you like you two already had sex and he couldn't care less about it. He had this smirky mouth, the kind that you want to kiss away. Cody is the one I've been in love with since forever.
Dolph on the other hand, he's my best guy friend. At sixteen years old, he's all blonde and blue-eyes. His smile lights up a room and you will rarely find him in any other mood but happy. He lives to make other people smile.
We finally pulled up in front of the beach house and the boys were sitting on the front porch. I leaned over Daniel and honked the horn twice. Come help with the bags, stat!
I stayed in the car and watched Daniel step out. Dolph jumped up from the porch and met him halfway in a man-hug. Cody, on the other hand, played it cool and ambled up to Daniel slowly before giving him a head nod.
Trish was next out of the car. She gave me a look before she stepped out and I nodded her ahead. I just wanted to step back and breathe in the summer air and take in the house before I was swept away by Dolph and Cody.
"Hey boys! Where's your mother?" Trish asked.
"Trish! How are you?!" Dolph grinned as he hugged my mom.
"She's upstairs. Taking a nap" Cody answered avoiding Trish's hug. Hmmm that was odd. Usually Stephanie would fly out of the house the second our car pulled up. Trish nodded at the boys before telling them to bring our bags into our rooms before disappearing into the house.
I stepped out of the car then and slung my bag over my shoulder. I took a deep breath in order to prepare myself for when I saw them. They didn't notice me at first but then they did. They really did and in two different ways.
Cody gave me a glance-over, the kind of way that boys in a mall check you out. His eyes lingered at my cleavage, which had practically grown two sizes from last summer. I could feel my heart starting to pound in my chest. Cody had never looked at me like that before in my whole life, like I was a woman and not just Daniel's kid sister.
Dolph, however, did a double take. A real double take. He was staring at me like he couldn't even recognize who I was.
Cody hugged me first but it was a careful hug. He was trying not to get too close to me. He smelled like his signature cologne. His cologne, which he had saved up all summer three years ago to buy. That scent was burned into my brain and anytime I smelled it, I always pictured Cody.
"What the hell did you do to your hair?" he asked, his lips close to my ear causing shivers to go down my spine. I touched the end of my two-toned hair, a touch self-conscious. I was still getting used to my new hair. All my life, I hated my boring brown hair and I had always wished to do something different. Something rebellious. Something to get Cody to finally notice me.
"What? You don't like?" I asked teasingly while I tried to hide my need for his approval. Cody smirked.
"I think I preferred you with brown hair" he said finally. That stung. I shoved him away from me a little.
"That's too bad. My hair is here to stay" I retorted but before I could even turn around, Dolph came up behind me and lifted me up.
"Little Katie is all grown up!" he crowed spinning me around.
"Shut up! I'm only like a year and a half younger than you! Now put me down!" I squealed, giggling. I always put up a big fuss when he lifted me, but honestly, I loved it. Dolph was the only one I allowed to do this. The way he held me…. I just trusted him. Dolph, in comparison to Cody, always smelled like the ocean. He practically lived in the water and didn't care for colognes or aftershave.
"Same old Katie!" Dolph grinned, but he was staring at me like he didn't know who I was.
"Something's different about you" he said. I glared at him.
"Alright alright! I dyed my hair! Move on!" I snapped but Dolph smiled and shook his head.
"No… it's not that. It's something else. You're just different…" he told me. I shrugged and headed back over to the car. All three boys followed me and we unloaded the car quickly. I grabbed my things and headed up to my room. After seeing Cody and having him look at me the way he did, I needed a second to breathe. I grabbed a stuffed bear from my dresser and hugged him close to my chest. Everything was the same but also not. The boys had finally looked at me as more than just the kid sister.
Hi loyal Fanfic readers! I'm back with a new story; one that is based on the Summer I Turned Pretty book by Jenny Han. Now I apologize if I take some lines straight from the book but I will be changing the storylines in the book so give it some time before you judge! I hope you like this so far and let me know if you think I should continue or not! What do you think of Cody and Dolph? Who would you prefer Kaitlyn with right now?
By the way, hopefully the ages of my characters weren't too confusing but if they were, here they are again. Daniel Jericho is 18, Cody McMahon-Helmsley is 17, Dolph McMahon-Helmsley is 16 and Kaitlyn Jericho is 15. Trish is Daniel and Kaitlyn's mom and Stephanie is Cody and Dolph's mom. You will meet more family members and friends in later chapters.