I don't know why I have to wake up so God forsakenly early just to drive to Oregon. I suppose it's my fault. It's my family's timeshare and it was my idea to get "an early start" but it doesn't mean I'm not kicking myself.

It's still early, the sky is just starting to bleach out in the promise of morning. I am getting the urge to throttle myself for mentioning the timeshare on the beach because no one wanted to get up and they're all voicing their opinions. Those who are awake anyway.

"I can't function without my morning latte," Skittery complains almost petulantly. "Can we stop at a Starbucks on the way?"

"Or a McDonalds!" Jack pipes up. "I need food!"

My sister, Sarah, who happens to be his girlfriend (more of his keeper if you ask me), prods him angrily in the side.

"Jack, no," she squawks, not a pretty sound at five in the morning. "You can't have all that grease. You went up, like, two pounds since last month."

Jack—who, in all truth, is built like a God—pouts. "Shut up, Sarah."

I rub my temples tiredly as a pair of arms snake their way around my waist.

"Morning, sweetie!" the ever chipper voice of my boyfriend chimes in my ear. How Mush can be so perky this early is beyond me but I'm thankful for him amongst the grumbling masses.

I turn my head slightly so he can kiss me before dropping his duffel bag in the arms of his brother, Blink. It's rather a sick joke amongst us with the two of them because they're brothers but they obviously don't have the same father. Everyone knows this except for them, it seems.

I yawn massively and put an arm around his shoulders.

"Hey, is your friend coming?" I ask him. "What is it? Cara, Kayla…"

"Christie," he corrects. "And she is. I told her five but I guess she heard wrong."

"Great," Claudia chimes in from her permanent position at Spot's side. "The new girl who, why the hell is she even coming, is late."

Spot elbows Claudia who elbows him back. She's possibly the only one who can get away with that but that comes with being his best friend.

"Hey," Mush says. "You may wanna be nice, Claude. She's a lezzie too and you two could end up dating."

She rolls her eyes dramatically. "As if."

I nudge him with my hip. "Stop trying to set people up."

Okay, aside from the migraine of getting everyone up, I really can't wait to get to the house and cuddle with him by the fire…there can be fires in April, or reenacting From Here to Eternity on the beach…

"You know, this is my van, so shouldn't we leave when I want?" Specs.

"Your van looks like you're going to entice children to enter it with candy," Blink puts in.

Jack elbows him lightly and the two of them snicker. Specs rolls his eyes and rests his head on Dutchy's shoulder. Probably from sheer habit since the two of them haven't really been Jack and Diane as of late.

"I want my latte!"

"I want food!"

"I am not enticing children into my van!"

"Where is this chick? I wanna go!"

I rub my sinus area tiredly with my free hand and groan. Mush puts his lips on my temple and kisses me lightly. Thank God for my perfectly normal boyfriend…usually perfectly normal boyfriend…sometimes perfectly normal boyfriend. Okay, he's perfectly normal right now so shut up.

"Seriously," Claudia repeats, shoving away Spot who's tugging on her ridiculously curly brown hair. "Where is this chick? Mush-head, you said that she lived in our dorm block so what's taking her so long?"

Mush shrugs. "I dunno."

Dutchy opens his mouth for the first time since we've gotten down, shrugging Specs off of his shoulder.

"Maybe that's why she's running late." He points across the parking lot toward the blonde girl tugging a huge suitcase behind her while trying to balance a backpack on her shoulders and a duffel bag on her other arm.

"Dude," Claudia says with a definite hint of annoyance in her voice. "We're only going away a week. It's not like we're fleeing the country or anything. I already don't like her."

Spot hits her. "Don't make snap judgments."

She hits him back. "Shut up, Mr. Hypocrite."

I roll my eyes while Jack and Blink go to help her with her bags.

"You know," Sarah says. "I need to talk to Jack about this. About how women should be able to carry their own bags without men doing it for them."

"Shut up," Dutchy says to her, rolling his eyes towards Specs and then stopping halfway through when he realizes what he's doing. "David, tell your sister she's no longer allowed to take women's studies. It makes her act like a raging, bull dyke."

"Hey!" Claudia says, most likely for the dyke thing.

Sarah opens her mouth to go into a rant but decides to shut up since Mush's new friend has joined us.

I notice her looking at Sarah and Claudia and remember Mush's lesbian thing. Ah, so she's on our side. Good. The last thing we need is another hetero girl hanging around with us. Even if Sarah doesn't act like one half the time. I notice her paying special attention to Claudia but it's probably due to her insanely curly hair and the fact that she has the height and proportions of a twelve-year-old.

Mush extracts himself from me to give his friend an exuberant hug and nearly knocks her over.

"This is Christie Brinks," he says with a huge grin on his face.

Dutchy starts cackling insanely, falling against the white side of Specs's van and convulsing. Laughter is erupting from his body, sending tremors up and down it and he sounds like a mentally retarded hyena.

"What?" she asks in a confused voice.

"Christie Brinkley," Specs explains.

"Uptown giiiirl!" Dutchy manages between laughs. "She's been livin' in her Uptown wooorld—"

Spot silences him by whacking him soundly in the shins with his backpack. Claudia and Blink start to laugh. I give a sigh.

"Everyone, let's get the introductions out of the way please?" I ask. "So we can go. Okay, that's Christie. That's Thomas—"

"Spot."

"Spot Conlon, Jack Kelly, you know Mush and that's his brother, Blink."

"My real name's Will," Blink supplies.

Christie looks from the curly-haired boy with his arm around to her to the grinning blonde. "You're brothers?"

They share a confused look.

"Yeah," Mush says, still confused. "You know…everyone is always surprised when we say that."

I give a small laugh but it's a dry one. Mush decides to continue the introductions. He leaves Christie's side and puts his arms around me.

"This is David, my boyfriend. That's his sister Sarah. And Lindsey—"

"Skittery! Not Lindsey! Lindsey is the evil, devil name!"

"Okay, that's Skittery Newcomb. And Claudia Samms, Daniel Hornstone—"

"Horenstein," Specs corrects. "And just call me Specs."

Mush stamps his foot a little so he can continue. "And Anton Aarden."

"Dutchy," he clarifies.

Christie blinks her eyes as if she's incredibly confused. I can't blame her. Not only do you have a bunch of people you've never met, you have a bunch of people you've never met with multiple names.

"Okay, we've met, let's go," Claudia, the impatient little git, pipes up. "Come on, Thomas, I want the back."

Spot kicks her as the two of them get in Specs's van. I force a grin at her.

"We're normal, really…"

"Jack, no! You're not bringing your lighter!"

My grin becomes even more forced if that's possible. "Really. We are."