Aubrey is sitting on her towel, staring at the ocean, and at all the little kids having fun in the ocean. It seems like every single one of them has a friend to play with. She just has her brothers, who would never play with her. Not that I need to play with anyone, anyway, Aubrey thinks. Not that she would ever have the opportunity. No one ever wanted to play with her. Even though she is only eight, Aubrey Posen carries herself like a miniature lawyer.

She's contemplating her friendlessness and how it doesn't bother her at all, a redheaded girl about her age walks up to her and taps her shoulder. Her hands are sandy, and Aubrey flinches. She hates sand.

"You wanna build a sand castle with me?" The girl asks, smiling brightly.

"I don't really like sand," Aubrey answers.

Most girls would have walked away, but this girl stays put. "Why not?" She seems honestly curious.

"It's all grainy and messy, and it takes forever to wash out," Aubrey explains.

The girl shrugs. "I like messy. And sand castles are so much fun! Will you please, please, please help me build one?"

The girl sticks out her bottom lip and opens her hypnotizing blue eyes wide; the perfect puppy dog face. Aubrey goes to her last resort. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers. Or play with them," she adds.

"I'm not a stranger," The girl says, puzzled. "I'm Chloe."

"I'm Aubrey. And I guess I'll help you with your sand castle—as long as I don't have to get too sandy."

Chloe claps her hands, and grabs Aubrey's wrist. "Come on! My towel is right over there! See the big pink umbrella, the one with the flamingos?"

Aubrey sees it. She also sees, to her dismay, her now sandy hand. Sandy hands are the worst, because then you can't eat anything.

"Here's a shovel," Chloe says, placing a shovel in her hands. "You dig a moat in front of the castle while I build it."

This seems like an easy task, and Aubrey works hard, making sure the moat is perfect. In contrast, the castle is mainly just a huge mound of sand. "Aren't you going to make towers?" Aubrey asks Chloe.

"Nope," Chloe responds. "You are." She hands Aubrey a sand tool for making towers.

Aubrey looks at her hands, which, despite her best efforts, are completely covered in sand, and shrugs. She levels out a patch of sand, and is almost done making the tower when an older boy bumps into her and knocks her to the ground. She lands hard on her butt, and takes a deep breath. Tears rise in her eyes, and her throat closes, but she will not cry. Posens don't cry.

"Greg!" Chloe calls after the boy. He doesn't even turn around, just keeps running until he's in the water. Chloe kneels down in the sand next to Aubrey. "Are you okay?" Aubrey nods, not trusting herself to say anything without her voice wobbling all over the place. "If Greg knocked me over like that, I'd be sobbing."

Aubrey clears her throat. "I don't cry. My dad says crying is the sign of a weakling."

Chloe wrinkles her nose. "Your daddy sounds mean."

"He's not mean. He's just strict."

"Okay." Chloe doesn't sound convinced. She extends a hand, and Aubrey grabs it, and pulls herself up. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes. Just a little shaken. I'll be fine."

"You're so brave, Aubrey." Chloe says admiringly.

Brave? No one has ever called her brave before. Boring, yes. Sensible, yes. Mean, yes. But brave? Never.

"Thank you, Chloe." They continue building their sand castle until Aubrey's mother comes looking for her.

"So this is where you've been! Aubrey, you really should have told us where you were." Aubrey's mom tells her.

"Did Chloe drag her away? She does that sometimes. I'm sorry. I'm Jeanette Beale, by the way." Chloe's mother puts her hand out, and Aubrey's mom shakes it.

"Kristine Posen."

"Mrs. Aubrey's Mommy?" Chloe addresses Kristine, who turns around.

"Yes, dear?"

"I'm Chloe, and Aubrey is my very best friend in the whole wide world." Aubrey's heart soars. No one has ever been Aubrey's friend, let alone best friend, before.

Kristine laughs. "I'm glad, but Aubrey has to go home now."

Chloe's face gets a panicky expression on it. "No! She can't leave! Can't she at least have dinner with us? Please please please?"

Kristine looks around nervously. "Well…"

"Please, Mommy!" Aubrey begs. Aubrey never begs.

"It's all right with us, if that's what you're worried about," Jeanette assures Kristine.

"Well…we'll have to ask your father, Aubrey, but if he says yes, then I don't see why not."

"Yay!" Aubrey and Chloe jump up and cheer.

Aubrey rushes over to her father immediately. "DadcanwehavedinnerwithChloe'sfamilypleasepleaseplease?" she asks in one breath. Chloe's catchphrase seems to have wormed its way into Aubrey's vocabulary.

"What?"

Kristine steps in and explains the situation. "They seem like really nice people, Julius." She finishes, hopefully. Both her and Aubrey wait anxiously while Julius thinks it over.

"Oh, I suppose so." He says finally. "I can't see the harm in it."

Aubrey jumps up and down. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She runs back to the flamingo umbrella to tell Chloe the good news. "I can go!"

"That's awesome! We have to get cleaned up and stuff, but we made reservations for a BIG table at this place at 7:00." Chloe hands Aubrey a piece of paper with a restaurant name, directions, and a phone number. "That's my mommy's cell phone number."

"Okay! See you at 7:00."

They go back to the beach house they're renting for the week and shower off. Just as Aubrey had said, it takes forever to get all the sand off. When she gets out of the shower, she insists her mother blow-dry her hair. Normally, she hates blow-drying her hair, and would just let it air-dry, but she wants to look nice tonight. For Chloe.

After putting on her best sundress, Aubrey and her family head to the restaurant. Chloe's family is already there. They enjoy their meal together, Aubrey and Chloe's brothers getting along well. When the meal is drawing to a finish, Jeanette says, "We were thinking of getting some ice cream after this."

Aubrey makes puppy dog eyes at her dad. So does Chloe. Julius sighs and says, "All right. Why not?"

So soon after, they are eating ice cream. The adults are in one corner, the boys in another, and Chloe and Aubrey in another. Aubrey has Mint Chocolate Chip, and Chloe has Cotton Candy. They lick their ice creams in comfortable silence for a while, until Aubrey breaks the ice by saying, "Chloe?"

"Yeah?"

"How come you asked me to help you build your sand castle?"

Chloe shrugs. "Because I needed help."

"But why did you ask me?"

"Because you looked lonely." At that, Chloe sets her ice cream down next to her, and leans her head on Aubrey's shoulder. And Aubrey has never felt more content.

A/N: Well, that probably sucked, but I had to get it out there.