It had started out mostly like any other day. After I'd gotten up, and dressed, I ate my usual bowl of dry Cheerios. Mostly because that's

all there really was in the house to eat.

Then I took a quick look around front thru the window, before I went out, to see if I spotted the landlord, Mrs. Shields, anywhere

around. Being as we were late with the rent, and also since she didn't know Gramps wasn't even there, it wouldn't do for

her to see me, and start asking a bunch of questions. When I didn't see her, I slipped out, locking the front door, and ran to the side of the house to grab my bike.

I pedaled to the beach, where I was supposed to meet up with Sasha, my not-really friend, and partner in petty crime. She as usual,

was late. We'd arranged to meet at a different section of the beach today. We'd worked the other sides of the beach, until

we were now familiar faces to the regulars that frequented those areas. It wouldn't do to keep going back to the same places. Somebody

was bound to be getting wise to us, if they hadn't already. I felt a shiver go down my back, at the thought of getting caught by the

police.

Since I had to wait for Sasha anyway, and since it was really too early for the sun-worshipping beach fanantics to be out yet, I parked

my bike up out of the way, and walked down to the edge of the water. I don't usually get to enjoy everything the beach and ocean

have to offer, because Sasha and I are always trying to hustle somebody. And when we're not doing that, I'm trying to find a way

to go see Gramps at the rehabilitation center. So I sat down in the sand, watching the waves for a few minutes, and then, when

a glance up towards my bike showed no Sasha as yet, I got up, and took off my sandals, and walked further down the beach.

I was kind of lost in my own thoughts, and that's when I first saw him. He was coming out of the water, shaking his head a little. He

picked up a towel that was lying there on the sand, and started rubbing his wet hair with it.

I was going to pass by without saying anything, but he looked at me, and smiled. He had the whitest, straightest teeth

I'd ever seen in my life. And a killer smile.

"Hullo," he said, with what I thought was an English accent.

"Hi."

"Are you going in?" he asked, gesturing to the water. "It'll wake you up."

"No, I'm not going in," I said.

"Yeah. It's a bit on the nip."

I didn't tell him that it wouldn't make any difference in whether the water was balmy or ice cold. I couldn't swim. Everybody in California

can swim. So I wouldn't admit that to a good friend, if I had one, let alone a total stranger like the one standing in front of me. Even

if he did have a killer smile.

"New 'round here?" he asked me then. "I haven't seen ya around before."

Since I obviously couldn't tell him any truths about myself, I shrugged and just said, "Yeah," which, really, he could interpret to

mean anything at all.

He looked a little puzzled, but didn't lose his friendly persona. "My name's Davy," he said. He turned to point to a house up the side

of the beach. "That's our pad. Me and my friends."

Since he was so obviously waiting for me to tell him my name, I said the first thing that came into my head. I wasn't going to tell him

my real name.

"I'm Sasha," I mumbled, and then heard yelling, and when I turned, Sasha was waving and calling to me from up near the bike.

I turned to run up the beach, towards her, and he called after me, "Bye."

I didn't answer or turn around to wave.

I was out of breath by the time I reached the point where Sasha was standing. "Who's the dude?" she asked me.

"Just a guy," I said vaguely.

"He looks cute from here. Was he?"

I could have told her that yes, he was very, very cute. And nice, too. But I didn't feel like talking about it.

"He's alright," I said. "Come on. Let's go."

That morning, we pulled one of our now familiar routines. Sasha would pretend that she was just a casual beach-goer,

and that her wallet had been stolen, while she was swimming. She would begin to cry, or pretend cry, which she was very good at.

Then she would pretend rising hysteria at losing money that was to be meant for food for her little brother.

Getting louder and louder, she would gather sympathy from other beach-goers, who would leave their own blankets and belongings,

to try and comfort her, leaving enough time, supposedly, for me to grab a few wallets.

I took the three wallets, and pocket watch that I'd managed to snag, and ran up the beach to wait on the bench beside my bike.

While I waited for Sasha to get done with her stolen wallet routine, I looked back down towards the beach.

The guy I'd been talking to earlier was still there, in approximately the same spot as before, sitting at the edge of the water. As I

watched, another guy came down the stairs from the house and, after some playful scuffling and what looked like sand throwing, he sat

down in the sand beside Guy 1. Guy 2 was a little taller, and had what looked like from this distance to be a mass of curly hair.

It looked like they were laughing. I was so intent on watching them that I didn't hear Sasha until she was right beside me.

"Hey," she said, and I jumped.

"How'd we do, Beth?" she asked me.

I held out the wallets, and the watch to show her.

"How much money?" she demanded.

"I don't know. I didn't look yet," I said, and she rolled her eyes.

She grabbed the wallets and started pulling out the cash. I didn't tell her the reason I hadn't looked the first thing was because

I was watching Guy 1 and his friend.

7

We split up the money. Approximately fifteen bucks apiece. And the watch.

"You take it," she told me. I knew it wasn't from any spirit of generosity on her part, though. Sure enough, a moment later,

she added, "There's a new pawn shop on Carter Avenue opening up. Take it there and pawn it. Better wait a couple of days, though."

"Why don't you do it?" I asked her. I planned to use my time going to see Gramps.

Sasha gave me a look of superiority. "Because. I've got things to do. Let's meet up again day after tomorrow. A little further down

the beach this time. About ten?"

I knew I shouldn't let Sasha bully me, and boss me around. But sometimes, it just took too much effort to argue with her.

"Fine," I said shortly.

"Later," she said, and was gone. I watched her go, not liking the way I felt. I'd met Sasha earlier in the summer, when she and another

girl were doing what we were doing now. The other girl, Rhonda, got caught by some guy whose wallet she was lifting. Sasha, however,

managed to slip away. I'd asked Sasha once what would keep Rhonda from narcing on her. She'd given me a cold look.

"She knows that wouldn't be very smart of her."

"Why?"

"It wouldn't be good for her safety."

I hadn't known just what she meant, but I'd felt a chill go down my back. I'd told myself that it didn't matter, really. I was only going

to do these things, hustling and stealing, for a short time. Just long enough to keep myself afloat, and off of the Children's

Services radar. Until Gramps got back home. Then I'd go back to being me. Which was the kid that Gramps had raised. A good person.

Then, I always told myself, we'd find another way to get by.

I planned to go to the house, and grab my backpack, and then catch the bus to go see Gramps. They're kind of strict about the

visiting hours at the rehabilitation place. It's a pretty long ride on the bus, and I needed to get started soon, or I wouldn't be

able to find a bus to get back home.

When I was getting ready to get on my bike, I saw that the patch job I'd done on one of my tires was done for. I sighed.

Now I'd have to have that fixed, before I could even do anything else.

I was suddenly hungry. I focused on the snack shack up the beach. I'd grab a hot dog or something, and then push my bike

to a service station to have the tire repaired.

I took my sandals off again, and walked down to the little white food stand.

"Just opening," the guy said to me. "It'll be a few minutes."

"Okay," I said, and walked on. I found myself in pretty much the same vicinity that I'd met Guy 1 in earlier that morning. There

was a volleyball net set up in the sand, and near the steps of the house he'd pointed out, there was a grill set up. Guy 2, the one

with the curly hair, was flipping hamburgers. Guy 1 was fooling around with a volleyball, tossing it into the air, and then trying to

bend his knee to bounce it.

When he saw me, he waved. "Hullo, again," he called.

I gave a half-hearted wave, as he walked over to me.

"It's Sasha, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said.

He turned to Guy 2. "Hey, Micky, this is Sasha."

"Hey," the one called Micky said. He smiled in a friendly way.

"We're goin' to be havin' a game here after a bit," Davy told me. "A group of the kids around here. Want to join in?"

"I'm not very good at volleyball," I said, feeling shy.

"That's okay. It's all in fun. We're goin' to have a bit of lunch first. You hungry?"

"I couldn't just come and eat off you guys," I said.

Davy waved away my concerns. "Sure. It's alright. Right, Mick?"

Guy 2, or Micky, turned and grinned at me. "Sure. The more, the merrier."

I suddenly, inexplicably, wanted to stay. Very, very much.

"Okay," I said. "Thanks." It wouldn't hurt anything, I rationalized to myself. I could eat, and hang out for awhile, and then

be on my way. No harm, no foul.

Later, much later, I thought to myself, how different my life would have been, how bereft of friendship and love, if I

hadn't said that I'd stay.

monkees4ever

This is my first attempt at writing for The Monkees fan fiction, although I've written other Fanfiction stories. Please leave

reviews and let me know if this story should continue, and if you are interested in learning more about Beth, and how the friendship

of four special young men changed the course of her life.