.:Chapter Two:.
"I still can't believe that you guys managed to convince Gustavo and Kelly that the only people that you needed to come as chaperones was Mrs. Knight and Ronan," Patrick said as he lowered his sunglasses down over his face. He then smiled. "Not that I'm complaining, a while of Gustavo not screaming at us is what I've wanted since I first met him."
"Where are Mama Knight and Ronan anyway?" Carlos asked, turning away from the large bay window that overlooked the hotel suite that he, Kendall, Logan, James, Katie, and Mrs. Knight were staying in. "We have to get going or we're going to miss the boats.
"Mom's sleeping," Kendall announced as he walked out of one of the bedrooms. "So is Katie, but she said that she was going to stay in the suite and use the mini-fridge, the big screen LCD TV, and the room service all day anyway, so I didn't think she was going to come with us." He put his hands on his hips. "And Ronan, I think he said that he was going to go into town?" He turned to Patrick as he sat up.
"Yeah, he said that he was going to do some sightseeing while we're out," Patrick agreed. He scratched his bare chest before pulling up the waistband of his swim trunks. "And the others are waiting for us outside so can we get going please?"
"Yeah, we're going," James laughed before shouting over his shoulder, "Logan, come on, we're waiting on you!"
"Ready," Logan smiled as he walked out of the bathroom, a small black bag in his hands and a black hat backwards on his head.
"Logan, what's that?" Kendall asked, pointing to the bag that was in his hands.
"Oh," Logan looked down at the bag before unzipping it. "A first aid kit." He showed off the contents before zipping the bag back up and tucking it under his arm pit. "You never know if someone is going to step on some coral-"
"Logan, we're in Hawaii not Australia," Patrick pointed out.
"You don't know if you're going to step on a sea-urchin, a jelly fish, get stung by a manta ray," Logan continued, ignoring the looks and rolled eyes that he was getting. He gave a smug smile. "Don't come crying to me when your foot swells and falls off."
"All right," James shrugged. "We'll just chop off one of your feet and sew it onto our leg to replace ours." He laughed along with Kendall and Carlos as they all walked out of the hotel suite and got into the elevator. They rode it down to the bottom floor and met up with Riley, Rhuben, Noah, and Sydney, who were waiting patiently for them by the front door.
"Finally," Sydney cried. "Let's go! We're going paddle boarding and snorkeling today!" He reached up and gripped the dog-tag necklace that was around his neck. He had gotten it from his parents before they died, and on each side had an 'S' printed on it. "We haven't tried paddle boarding, but it sounds like it should be fun."
"You can paddle board all you want, but I don't plan on going snorkeling," Riley commented, pushing up the sleeves of the jacket that she was wearing over her bikini top.
"Why?" Logan asked, looking confused. "You guys are always so gung ho when it comes to water sports, how come this one is different?"
"Gee, I don't know," Rhuben pretended to think about it. "Maybe the fact that you're underwater with a stupid tube in your mouth, trying to remember not to breathe in when you're down there." She shrugged. "But, I don't know, there could be a number of other reasons to not want to go snorkeling."
"Oh, don't worry!" Carlos grinned. "I'm a certified SCUBA instructor," He said. "So I can rescue you if you're drowning."
James then reached out and shoved Carlos out of the way, knocking him to the floor. "And I can give you CPR." He said. Kendall chuckled as he reached up and patted James on the arm, grinning as well.
"Well, then I'll be sure not to drown," Riley said and laughed along with her siblings. "C'mon, we got the keys to the jeeps that we're renting." She pulled a pair of car keys out of the pocket of her swim shorts and jiggled them around. "And you know what the best part is?"
"What?" Carlos asked as Noah helped him up off the floor.
"Since Logan is the only one with his license, that means that he, Riles, and I get to drive the whole time that we're here!" Rhuben laughed and high-fived Logan, who took an extra set of the keys to the jeep as well.
"Oh come on," James groaned. He motioned to himself, Carlos, and Kendall, who were pouting as well. "We have our permits and we're getting our licenses, like, the week we get back home."
"Well, unless you find a DMV here that will be bribed with coconuts, you're not driving." Rhuben said. "Now come, you guys said that you were going to film this for your music video, so let's get filming." She nodded over to Sydney, who pulled a hand-held camera out from a bag that he had around his neck. "Syd brought his video camera too, just in case you guys want a different sort of shot. And, of course," she pointed to her own bag. "I have my digital camera."
"Photo-Op!" Noah said. The two bands shuffled together as Rhuben went over to a person at the front desk, asking if they could take a picture of them. Once they agreed, she went back over to her friends and siblings and smiled along with them as they took the picture. "All right, let's go!"
They went outside and got into the two jeeps that they had rented for the time that they were going to be on vacation, and climbed inside both of them, Logan behind the wheel of one, and Riley behind the wheel of the other one. Once they were all buckled in and were sure that they had everything that they needed, they started the cars and were on their way to the docks, where they were going to meet up with some locals to take their boats out so they could go snorkeling and paddle boarding. Once they were on the road, Kendall, James, and Carlos had turned on the hand held cameras that Gustavo and Kelly had given them (after making sure that they were water-proof and they had insurance on anything else that the guys could do to ruin them) and were leaning out of the cars, filming each other as Logan blasted their song, Windows Down, from his jeep's speakers and everybody sang along to it, having to practically scream it at the top of their lungs as the jeeps had no windows other than the front windshield.
When they pulled up to the dock, they practically sprinted out of the cars and went over to the docks. "Hey," Kendall greeted the two men that were waiting for them with a light wave. "I'm Kendall, that's Carlos, Logan, James, and the Jacksons-"
"How come we're never introduced by name?" Noah asked, tilting his head to the side as he looked at his siblings. "They're always mentioned by name and we're just grouped together."
"Trust me; Buddy, when I say that it's better than having to worry about people trying to remember our names," Patrick patted Noah on the shoulder as Sydney smiled and laughed to himself. He turned back to the others. "Hi, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you all too," The man on the left said with a wave. "I'm Jordy and that's Hank." He clapped his partner on the shoulder. "We're going to be your captains for today. I understand that you all want to try paddle boarding today."
"That's right," James agreed. "We heard that it's the number one thing that you should try when you go on vacation to Hawaii. And we thought that we'd give it a go."
"Awesome!" Jordy clapped his hands together. "We're going to take you guys out a little ways on this boat and then you can try your hand at paddle boarding. So we'll get you on board, go over a few safety precautions and then we can be on our way." Jordy and Hank climbed onto the boat and the others got on as well. Hank started up the engine and they pulled away from the dock, heading out into the open water. "Ok, first thing that you guys have to know," Hank called over the roar of the engine as Jordy steered them. "Is that once you start Paddle boarding, you're going to be addicted to it as soon as you try."
"That's what we're hoping," Noah said, putting his sunglasses down over his face.
"To learn how to paddle board, you start out by standing up on the board and holding the paddle with one of your hands about one-third of the way down the shaft of the paddle and one hand on the handle of the paddle." Hank instructed by holding onto a paddle in his hands. He was standing up in the middle of the boat, not seeming to be bothered by the rocking motion that it made as they zoomed out into the ocean. "When you paddle on the left side of the board you hold the paddle with your right hand, and then switch hands for the other side." He explained. "Put the blade about one and one-half feet in front of you on the side of the board in the water and then smoothly pull the blade of the paddle through the water."
"Just like you would do if you were kayaking or canoeing," Logan spoke up. "In fact, did you know that paddle boarding is closely related to-"
"Shhh!" Carlos shushed Logan loudly, slapping a hand over his mouth. "I'm trying to hear!" Logan frowned at Carlos and opened his mouth, running his tongue over Carlos's palm. Carlos pulled his hand away and wiped the saliva off on Logan's shoulder, causing him to make a face of disgust and horror.
"When the blade reaches a point that is about one foot behind your body, that's when lift it up from the water and put it to the front again," Hank continued. "And that's how you paddle board. But the key to being able to stay up is if you figure out how to balance your body weight over the board."
"Oh so kind of like surfing," Riley said.
"Exactly, Little Lady," Hank replied, causing Riley to make a face and looked over at her sister, who laughed lightly. "You might want to paddle several times on one side before alternating hands and sides, just so you don't get tired too quickly. But it also depends on the weather and currents in the water."
Sydney shot his hand into the air. "We're all really big surfers, we like it a lot." He said. "Can you use these things to surf too? Or is it harder?"
"You can use paddle boards as an alternate way for you to surf," Hank placed his hands on his hips. He started to pace back and forth, his expert balance obvious from the way that he didn't wobble at any turn or slight jump of the water as a wave rolled under their boat. "In fact some people prefer it because you have a higher view point when it comes to be seeing the waves that are coming closer. And you also have a paddle to keep you afloat and to keep your balance, since you're not strapped onto the board."
"Cool!" Kendall rubbed his hands together. "So when can we get started?" he asked as the boat slowed down.
"Right now," James replied. He and Logan grabbed onto Kendall's arms and legs and tilted him backwards, knocking him over the side of the boat and into the water. The Jacksons, Logan, Carlos, and James laughed as Kendall disappeared in a large splash of water and then resurfaced, shaking out his blonde hair, spitting water out of his mouth. "Oh, that was classic!" James declared, clapping his hands together. "Did you get that on tape?"
"Got it!" Sydney replied, waving his video camera around.
"You know, it might have been a good idea if you waited for K-Dawg to get his shirt off first," Rhuben remarked as Kendall pulled the soaked object off of his head and tossed it into the boat with a loud smack. "That way we wouldn't have to worry about him possibly drowning."
"And miss that look on his face?" Carlos replied. "I don't think so. Whoa!" When Carlos wasn't looking, Kendall had grabbed onto his arm and tugged him into the water as well. "That wasn't funny," he pouted as he popped back up, treading water.
"It was funny to me," Kendall shot back before sloshing a wave of water at him,
"All right, go out there and have some fun then," Jordy said as he killed the engine. He turned and started to throw some paddle boards and paddles out into the water as Hank moved to drop anchor. "We're just going to be sitting here in the boat, call us if you need us."
"No problem!" Patrick replied as he stood on the side of the boat. He did a flip into the water, landing beside Kendall and Carlos with a big splash. "Ooh, the water's warm too!" He floated on his back and lazily kicked his feet up and down as he moved towards a paddle board.
"You didn't pee did you?" Noah asked and then laughed before he, Sydney, Riley, and Rhuben jumped into the water as well. "It wouldn't be the first time," he added to James as he climbed onto a paddle board.
"Ha ha," Patrick rolled his eyes.
"Logie-Bear, aren't you coming?" Riley asked as she got up onto a paddle board and crouched low; balancing herself to be sure that she didn't knock herself out into the water. When she was sure that she had her balance she slowly stood up before grabbing the paddle. "What are you doing?"
"Making sure that I have everything that we could need in the First Aid Kit," Logan replied, moving through the contents of the small black bag. "I'm not sure, but I think I forgot about the water proof bandages."
"Logie, come on!" Sydney called. He was already standing up on his board, paddling a little bit away from the boat. He turned and started to circle it as the others got up onto their boards as well. "This is fun, you're missing out."
"All right, I'm coming!" Logan rolled his eyes before climbing out of the boat and sliding into the water. He swam over to the last paddle board and grabbed the paddle before climbing on top of it. "But if any of you guys get stung by a jelly fish, don't expect me to pee on your foot."
"Trust me, Logan, we wouldn't want you to." Rhuben replied.
Carlos laughed loudly as he put his paddle in the water and started to follow his friends through the water. Small waves rolled under their boards, threatening to knock them over. That just caused them to make a game of lifting their paddles and try to knock each other off of their boards. Sydney laughed the hardest when James tried to knock him off and he just grabbed onto James's paddle and pulled hard, knocking James off of his board. Carlos couldn't keep the grin off of his face as he watched his friends. The sky was a brilliant shade of blue, there was hardly a cloud in the sky, the sun was shining, there was a light breeze, the water was crystal clear, and they were going to be there for the rest of the week. He couldn't think of a better place to spend a vacation with his best friends to make a music video.
"Oh no!" Carlos cried, as he accidentally dropped his paddle. He got down onto his stomach and started to paddle back towards it, but his frantic movements caused the paddle to move further away from him.
"Carlos," Kendall was sitting on his knees on his own board, making faces into the camera that Noah was holding onto. He turned away when he heard Carlos's cry. "What are you doing?"
"I dropped my paddle and I can't get it back!" Carlos cried.
"That's because you're pushing it away from you," Logan said, laughing as Carlos continued to windmill his arms, trying to get to the paddle. He moved forward and reached out, latching onto the back of Carlos's paddle board. "You have to move forward in slow, even strokes to get there." He sputtered and spit water out of his mouth as Carlos continued to do what he was doing before. "I said slow, even strokes, not spastic strokes!"
"I'll get it," Patrick offered, putting down his own paddle. He took a breath before diving off of his board and into the water.
"Have you noticed that he got the show-off gene in the family?" Sydney asked as he tilted his head to the side, watching as Patrick swam over to the paddle, watching him underwater as he went as far as he could without having to come up for air.
"It took you that long to figure that out?" Kendall snorted. "I've known that since I met you guys."
"And yet he still has friends," Rhuben shook her head. "That's a shock." She leaned over and held out her had for a high-five as Kendall laughed.
"Nice one, Benny," he said, giving her a high-five.
Patrick resurfaced by the paddle and shook the water out of his long black hair before holding the paddle up with his other hand. "Got it!" He treaded water over to Carlos. "Here you go, Carlitos." His eyes were shinning as he held the paddle out to him. "You guys should see it down there! The water's so clear; you can see the fish and everything!"
"Sounds good to me!" James grabbed onto the snorkel gear that he had hooked to the side of his trunks before doing a back-flip off of his paddle board and into the water. Holding his breath, he put the goggles over his face and the breathing tube in his mouth before he started to slowly swim through the water.
Patrick was right, it was cool.
Bubbles rose from James's mouth, to the surface, he swam past silver fish, past a turtle. The water was as warm as it was at the water line. He tried not to smile, knowing that he would just get water into his mouth if he did, as he looked around at everything around. The view was just spectacular; it was enhanced by the filter of sunlight that streamed in from above him. James rose to the top of the water, getting air. His eyes grew wide with excitement and amazement, as he ripped off the goggles that were over his face. Cool air moved across the shoreline, giving him the chills, but it still didn't dampen his mood.
"Oh my god, guys you have to get under there!" James said, brushing his hair back off of his forehead. "It's amazing!"
"I told you before, I'm not going under there," Riley said, shaking her head, her stringy hair plastered to the sides of her face. "And you can't make me." Her eyes widened when she noticed Logan and Carlos look at each other before swimming over to her. "I shouldn't have said that." She said before they grasped her arms and forced a pair of goggles over her face before pushing her head under water.
"You should try it too, Rhu," Kendall said as he put a pair of goggles over his face as well. "You could get some really good under water shots for your portfolio," he said in a sing-song voice.
Rhuben twisted her mouth to the side, thinking about it. "You guys aren't going to leave me alone about this unless I agree are you?"
"Nope," Sydney said as he slid off of his board and fitted himself with a pair of goggles as well. "You should know that by now." He raised an eyebrow. "How do you think that we keep getting roped up into their crazy schemes? I mean, remember what happened at the prom? That was the only time that we didn't help them and we were the ones that ended up having a good time and it was their prom."
"That's not funny," Kendall said, shaking his head.
"Yes it is," Rhuben said as she got herself ready as well. "I mean, you're the one that ended up being put on the watch list for the CIA, not us."
"And all signs pointed to us," Sydney replied.
Kendall rolled his eyes and stuck the breathing tube into his mouth before he ducked underwater along with his friends. He looked around and watched as Logan and Carlos, who were still holding onto Riley, were lightly swimming through the water, Patrick and Noah were swimming circles around everyone, and James, Sydney, Rhuben, and Kendall were treading water with them. Rhuben pulled her water proof digital camera out and turned it on, starting to take pictures of their friends as Sydney used his video camera to tape them.
The group of friends then started to explore the ocean, swimming over and under each other, twisting this way and that as they went. Kendall turned onto his back and looked up, fighting to stay still in the undulating surf. He wiggled forward to allow a tangle of seaweed to pass, bouncing across the sandy bottom like tumbleweed in one wave and then slinking along the ocean floor like a flounder in the next. He wiggled forward, lost in the pure joy of the water against his skin.
The group explored the ocean as long as they could before they got back up onto their paddle boards and started to play around on those again, knocking each other off and tipping their boards over so they continued to fall off. Soon Carlos was complaining about how hungry he was.
"Let's go back to the hotel and raid room service with Katie," he suggested, his eyes growing wide at the thought.
"And who do you expect to pay for it?" Noah asked, inspecting his pruned hands. "Because I'm sure that Mama Knight and Ronan wouldn't be too happy if we ran up a large bill on those Macadamia nuts." He lifted his head and grinned. "Though that would be so worth it."
"You're forgetting," Carlos said, holding up a finger. "That Gustavo is paying for our whole trip. And that includes the room service."
Kendall, Logan, and James all looked at each other before they started rapidly paddle back towards the boat as fast as they could pushing each other out of the way as they tried to grab onto the ladder to get back inside. Carlos hurried after them.
"How long do you think it's going to take for them to realize that if Mama Knight had woken up and she and Katie went into town with Ronan, they have no way for them to get into their suite?" Riley asked as she and her siblings slowly paddled after their friends.
"Considering how dumb they can be sometimes…" Sydney pretended to think about it. "I give them about an hour."
A/N: So I watched the music video to remember exactly what it was that the boys did in the video, so I'm going to follow that a little. I hope you guys liked this chapter, sorry it was more dialogue driven than anything.
Cheers,
-Riles