Chapter 2

Heart-filled laughter soared through the chilled beach air while two cousins ran around the open land of sand together. For the first time in months, they both laughed with one another and not at the other. The wind and freedom of the space they had all to themselves at the beach made them feel relaxed – allowing them to enjoy each other's company. Together they ran after each other, taking turns in who was 'it' in a game of tag.

The sun was just over the water along the horizon. Its rays penetrated clouds that threatened to bring rain, and broke them away. The sky was beginning to get dark from the lack of sun, and the long fight for control between the sun and moon was coming to an end.

At the moment, Ben was 'it', and it was his job to tag Gwen. He chased her around the vast beach area, trying his hardest to get close to her and tag her. She was fast, but Ben had once been in a track run, so that must count for something.

Finally, he began to gain on her and she almost screamed when she saw how close he was. Barely two feet apart from her, Ben reached his arm out and tagged her. When Gwen felt his cold, soft hand land on her exposed shoulder she almost jumped.

"Can we take a break for a little bit? I'm a bit tired of all this running," Gwen said while putting her hands on her knees and breathing heavy breaths.

"Oh come on. You're just mad because I got you!" Ben retorted, almost angrily.

"No, I'm serious. I've got a cramp in my side."

Ben looked at her with curiosity. Was she being serious?

"Alright, fine," Ben managed to say over his thoughts. "Hey, do you wanna go look for some seashells over by the shore?"

Gwen - still breathing a bit heavier than normal - stood up straight and looked at him with a big smile. "Well, at least it doesn't involve anymore running. Sure, why not."

They both walked through the yards of soft sand, getting nearer to the beach shore and where Grandpa was sitting on the ground. The air began to get colder the closer they got to the ocean water. Neither of them showed any sign of feeling cold, though.

Once they got close enough to the shore, but not so close as to get wet by the incoming waves, they each started to look around on the sandy ground for a shell. Most of them were broken into shattered pieces, but a few of them were whole and seemingly untouched.

Ben began to dig into the ground to see if he could find any hiding under the layer of sand. In the first minute of digging he almost knew there would be nothing buried beneath it all. Nevertheless, he continued digging with hope of finding something.

His hopes led him to the right place. Just beneath a bit more sand, a large conch shell decided to show itself to him. Quickly but gently, he pulled it out and held it up. There was sand covering most of it and he couldn't make out the color or if it had any minor damages.

Ben moved closer to the thrashing waves and held the conch shell down so the water would come up and wash it off. Gwen noticed him by the shoreline and decided to investigate her cousin's motives.

"Did you find anything, or are you just playing in the freezing water," she asked with one eyebrow higher than the other.

Ben almost laughed at her remark. Almost. However, he decided to ignore it and continue washing the shell.

"Actually, yes I did," he spoke with sudden delight as he finished cleansing the seashell. Gwen came over to see exactly what Ben had found. When she was close enough to him and the object he was holding, she realized exactly what it was he wanted to dip in the water.

In his hand was a conch shell two times the size of her hand. It was a beautiful gloss white that shined in the moonlight. The surface of it was smooth, and there was absolutely no roughness to it. The shell was the most amazing thing she had ever found buried in the sand, and it was the most amazing seashell she had ever seen.

Gwen raised her hands to meet the level Ben was holding his hands and the shell up. Slowly, entangled in the beauty of the shell, she moved her hands to cup the amazing phenomenon of nature. However, she stopped suddenly when she realized two things. One, Ben was allowing her to just take the shell from him without a fuss. Two, her hands were not just cupped around the conch, but around Ben's too.

With embarrassment quickly overcoming her, she withdrew her hands from around the seashell and her cousin's. The awkward silence that followed was just too awkward for Gwen. She had to say something, even if it was off the subject.

"Hey Ben…can I ask you something?" Gwen looked at Ben with her hands behind her back – obviously still embarrassed.

Ben wanted to make some snappy remark, but he could sense there was no annoyance or taunt in her voice. It was a sincere question, which was certainly odd for Gwen to be asking anything of him.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"I was just wondering…in the passed few days – almost week – you haven't done any sort of mean prank on me. You don't even embarrass me in public anymore. Is…is everything okay?"

This question almost caught Ben off guard. He knew she would notice it sooner or later, but this was definitely a little too soon. Ben stopped teasing her because he was afraid that she wouldn't even want to talk to him if he continued. Gwen was really the only person his age that would even think of talking to him. Although, he didn't understand why he was worried about Gwen not talking to him. Wouldn't that make everything better?

"Uhh, well you see," Ben began without thinking, "it's…a funny thing. I want to…uhh…stop teasing you."

Gwen was surprised by what she just heard. "You what? This has to be a joke so I will let my guard down. Right?" She sounded almost worried.

"No," Ben said with all seriousness and confidence back, "when I tease you or make fun of you…it makes me feel like a bully. Believe me, that feeling isn't good. I know what it's like to be bullied and made fun of, or even embarrassed." His head sunk down at the memories of Cash at school. Gwen was stunned and had absolutely no words to counter what Ben had said to her. He was speaking in a way that just didn't seem like Ben. Could there be someone mature and smart behind the obnoxious and careless appearance he outwardly gives? For some unexplained reason, a warm tingle was brought to her gut by the thought of Ben actually doing something for her.

"And I really don't want to keep pretending I can't stand to be around you…because…" He cut his own voice off and let out a heavy breath. An icy breeze passed by, wiping away the final traces of any warmth in the air. Gwen's eyes were locked onto the side of Ben's face as he looked straight ahead at the ocean

"Because what, Ben?" Gwen's voice let Ben know she was focused and ready to listen, but Ben wasn't willing to talk anymore. He stood there, continuing to look out at the vast ocean of salty water.

"Here," he said and handed her the pearlescent-conch. After giving the shell to her he moved away – towards Grandpa – and sat beside him; leaving her standing alone by the shoreline with a cold seashell in her hands.

Gwen stood still, rooted in that spot for several moments until her mind kicked back into action. She put the conch shell down on the ground by her feet and began to search for more seashells, completely taking her mind off of what just happened.

Ben was sitting next to Grandpa Max, who seemed quite cold. Ben had always wondered, though it was none of his business, where exactly his grandfather got the money to pay for all the things they do? Even if groceries and stops to amusement parks didn't kill his bank, then gas for the Rustbucket must.

"About ready to go, Ben?" Max asked his grandson.

"Almost, Grandpa, but I wanted to ask you something first."

Max was more than willing to listen to and answer any question he had.

"Of course, Ben, what is it?"

"Well, I know it isn't any of my business, but where do you get all the money for the things we do?"

Max gave a slight laugh after hearing what Ben had to say. He then leaned back and put his hands behind him, digging them into the sand – something Ben thought his grandfather would never do because of his disliking of sand.

"You see, back when I was in my glory days, we got paid quite a bit to do what we did. No one else would take those jobs, because of the dangers there were in doing it. We were set for life after our first couple of expeditions. After that, we continued doing our plumbing job for many years to come, but after we had dealt with Vilgax all the jobs just seemed to die out. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, because financially we were secure; although, it would've been nice to do just a few more things with some of my old friends."

"So, you're basically saying you're extremely rich?" Ben's mind was a bit boggled by what he heard.

For the second time, Max Tennyson let out another small laugh. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Just don't tell your parents"

Ben and his beloved grandfather both laughed. Even though Max laughed along side Ben, he was being serious. Ben knew what his Grandpa meant, and he had no plans of exploiting any secrets they shared to his parents – or anyone else.

The two of them sat staring at the open water for a few more minutes. In those minutes, Gwen had decided to give up on searching for anymore amazing seashells. She sat down next to Ben and her grandfather with the white conch shell Ben had found in her hand.

Nightfall had set in long ago and it was probably almost ten o'clock.

"Alright, let's go back to the Rustbucket and get some shut-eye. I want to get started early on the road so we can beat the morning traffic."

It was a good thing Max had said something, as Ben and Gwen both were starting to fall asleep. Lazily, they got up and began to follow Max back to their mobile home with Ben in the back of the line.

"Hey," Gwen shouted, "don't spit on me!" She turned to face Ben with a tired, but angry, glare.

Ben looked at her with a confused expression. He was completely clueless as to what she was talking about. He held his hands up in a gesture of peace. "I didn't do anything."

"Oh yeah, then what got my arm wet?" She pointed to a spot on her arm with a small drop of water.

Grandpa was the one to answer her question. He pointed up at the sky and simply stated, "That's your culprit."

The three of them looked up at the sky. Barely visible were large fluffy clouds that, if it were daylight, would probably be very dark and grey.

Gwen looked back at Ben and then at her own feet. "Sorry…" she muttered, feeling a bit ashamed.

"It's alright, but let's just keep going so we don't get drenched."

She nodded and the three of them continued to move in the direction of the RV. Just as the rain began to start pouring down, they made it to the door.

The two cousins rushed inside as their courageous grandfather held the door for them. Once they were inside Max rushed into the safety of the mobile home right behind them. They were all fairly soaked in rain water. So, one at a time, they took turns changing in the uncomfortably-small bathroom.

Once the trio got comfortable in their warm night clothes, they decided that it was time to tuck themselves in for the night. They each went to their designated beds and Max made sure to shut off all of the lights. The Rustbucket was completely dark, save for the bleak moonlight shining through some of the windows.

Ben could hear the rough snores of his grandfather, but they were barely audible over the sounds of thunder, rain, and strong wind. The whole RV shook slightly each time a gust of wind blew and rattled each time a crack of thunder made itself known.

Thunder, Ben thought, I bet Gwen is still awake. She has always been afraid of thunder. I'm not sure why. I mean, it's only noise. It's not like it can hurt you.

"Hey, Gwen, you awake?" Ben spoke in a loud whisper, but it was almost drowned by the ambient sounds of the weather.

For a long moment, she didn't speak. Eventually, her voice came back sounding a bit frightened by the suddenness of someone speaking.

"Y-yeah," was all she said.

"Are you alright?" Ben didn't sound all too concerned, but he tried to make himself care. He never understood how to care about things that didn't bother him. He never understood how to be selfless.

"Of course I'm alright, why wouldn't I be?" She retorted in a suddenly hostile tone that made Ben throw away all sincerity for her. He turned on his side and closed his eyes, giving up on trying to help her for the night.

Gwen lay on her bed with the covers pulled to the edge of her chin. She was frightened of the thunder, and the way the Rustbucket rattled each time didn't help her cope with it. For a moment she started to forget all about the noise. Thinking, instead, of how Ben's been acting lately.

He doesn't seem to be himself anymore. Maybe he's finally maturing? She laughed at the thought of Ben ever maturing. He might be maturing, or maybe something in his life is making him change.

Before she could try to think of a hundred more reasons for the way Ben is acting, an extremely loud crackle of thunder broke through the sound barrier. Bringing with it, lightning that lit up the night sky.

"Hey, Ben," she loudly whispered into the darkness, half expecting no answer.

After a long drawn-out moment of silence and a few more burst of thunder, an answer returned to Gwen's ears like a messenger bird.

"Yeah, what," came a young boy's hoarse voice.

"M-maybe…I am a little bit scared." Gwen didn't want to admit her fear directly to Ben, but she thought he might be able to help. Maybe one of his aliens could change the weather?

Gwen heard the sounds of the bunk bed creaking beneath her followed by two feet land on the floorboard of the RV. Out of no where a fluffy stuffed animal landed beside her face. She turned to face the soft intruder and found out it was Ben's bear he slept with.

"I don't know if it will help, but you can sleep with Furry Freddy. He will keep you company."

Feeling overjoyed that Ben would do something like this for her, she had a sudden urge to jump out of her bed and give him a hug. Instead she just took the stuffed animal and tightly embraced it in her arms.

"Thanks, Ben." They both smiled, and Ben got back into his bed below hers ready to fall asleep.

Gwen held the bear with a tight grip. It did make her feel better, but it wasn't the bear itself that made her feel safe. She thought it as part of Ben, and that he was right beside her in the storm.

This chapter was inspired by the song Storm and the song Everything by Lifehouse.