Chapter 1: Melody

I stood at the airport gate waiting for Tsarina, my best friend in the whole world. Impatiently I tucked a piece of brown hair behind my ear. Where was she? I scanned the passengers with my hazel eyes. Where the heck was she?

Finally I saw her. Her blonde hair was messy from the plane and her blue-grey eyes showed exhaustion. She wore her American Eagle capris and a white tank top. Her skin was extremely pale next to all the native Californians, but she still glowed.

I ran forward and hugged her. Of course, Tsarina is about 3 inches taller than me. She looked down at me. "Hey, did you shrink?" she joked.

I fake punched her arm. "No, you just grow every time you have a new crush." She laughed and picked up her one bag.

"We headin' out?" she asked, a big smile on her face.

"Oh yeah, and we're bringing Canada with us."

My name is Melody Keppel, but my friends call me MK. I'm 16 years old and starting grade 11 at a new school, in a new city, in a new country. That's right. I'm originally from Canada (That's above the Unites States.) and moving to San Clemente, California, was not on my list of things to do.

Tsarina Wynter, or Nina as she likes people to call her, is my best friend in the whole world, probably the universe too. We have been friends for 6 years. We lived near each other and went to the same school until my parents dropped the bomb: we were moving to San Clemente because of a job transfer. Sucks, hey?

I'm lucky though; Tsarina's parents are so chill. They're letting her stay for 3 months! That's summer vacation. I missed her so much and we have a lot to catch up on.

"So what's it like living here?" Nina asked, unpacking her bag into the drawer I cleared for her.

"It sucks!" I vented, "I haven't started school yet so I know no people my age. The only teenager on this block who's spoken to me so far is this girl named Taylor, but she's like 17."

"Is she cool?"

"Yeah, and really nice. Actually she invited us to come chill with her and her friends this afternoon."

"And you said?"

"Yes, because I know you want to see Californian guys."

Nina sighed. "You know me too well." I giggled. Actually, I knew Nina was more interested in the ocean. I'm the one interested in guys.

"That reminds me. They're skaters, so you're gonna have to dumb down a bit."

"You're so mean to the skaters! They could be smart!"

"I don't doubt that, Nina, but you're a frigging genius." She is, I swear. Nina is going to the top academic school in Canada. She literally will talk in gibberish if you let her. That's why I'm asking her to be a bit dumber.

"Yeah, I know. I'll try to be more in synch with my inner blonde."

I laughed. I missed Nina's sense of humour. She looked at the drawer full of her clothes.

"Um, Mel Mel?" I looked up shortly. Nina only used that nickname when she wanted something or she did something wrong.

"What?"

"I don't know what to wear!" Nina practically sobbed. I laughed; some people don't like Nina's dramatics, but I like them. They're just another quirk that makes her Nina.

We stood in front of a McDonald's, waiting for Taylor and her friends. Nina was wearing a black tank top with white booty shorts, and you could barely see the hot pink bikini she was wearing underneath. I was wearing a camo tank top with jean short shorts and underneath was my scarlet bikini. We were dressed for a fun day at the beach.

Nina stared out at the ocean while I applied sun block to my arms. Nina never wore sun screen. She hopes it will tan her skin. I personally am tanned enough. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a group heading towards us and I poked Nina.

"That's Taylor." I pointed at the only girl. She had long brown hair and was wearing a blue bikini with black shorts. A boy with curly hair and a nice smile had his arm around her waist.

As they came closer I felt my breath catch in my throat. The other two guys were gorgeous. One had skater hair and blue, blue eyes. He was extremely built. The other had dark hair and dark eyes and was also built. The third guy gave off a more flirtatious vibe, but I knew better than to go in for the bait.

"What's up, Taylor?" I asked when they arrived.

"Oh nothing much. Is this your friend?"

Nina brightened visibly. "Yeah, I'm Tsarina, but never call me that. It's Nina."

"Well this is Ryan, Tony, and Casey, my boyfriend."

"Sup?" Ryan nodded at us. Tony raised a hand.

"So what're we doing?" asked Taylor.

"I know this is kind of demanding, but I came from the land of ice and snow. Can we please go in the water?" Nina suggested.

Tony smiled. "I'm down with that."

"Me too."

"It's cool."

"Sweet!" Nina punched a fist in the air. "Let's go in!" She rushed into the ocean, peeling off her tank top and shorts as she went. I groaned and picked it up after her.

Taylor laughed. "You're friend's really energetic."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"What're you apologizing for? It's totally hip."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Casey answered, "she seems really cool." I thanked God in my head. Usually people thought Nina was weird, but thankfully not today.

Ryan took off his shirt and turned around. I noticed the huge tattoo on his back that said 'Scheckler'.

"Oh my God. You're Ryan Scheckler?" came Nina's voice. Everyone looked up at her. She'd come out of no where.

"Yeah…" Ryan mumbled.

"You are so good! You totally deserved better than fourth at X games. You pulled some wicked awesome tricks. My 180s are pretty off though."

Ryan visibly relaxed. "You skate?"

"No," Nina laughed, "I can only do ramps, ollies, and 180s."

Tony laughed. "Doesn't really qualify as skating, now does it?"

Nina blushed a pretty shade of pink. I don't know if I mentioned this, but if I could I would make a lipstick line using Nina's blushes. They are just so pretty! "No, I guess not. Anyway, I totally want get in the ocean. It's calling my name."

Nina ran off again and jumped straight into the ocean. Tony ran after her, a huge smile on his lips.

"Oh man, Tony is, like, the most girl crazed guy I know," Casey moaned as he saw Tony hit the water.

"What're you talking about?" I asked.

"He's totally hitting on your friend," Ryan warned. We all turned to face the ocean. There was Nina in her hot pink bikini, her small waist encircled by Tony's toned arms.

"Oh no," Taylor murmured.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. Just keep an eye on your friend."

"What does that mean?"

The others began to head to the water. Quickly I stripped off my clothes and followed them. "Guys, what did she mean?"