Authors Note;
Firstly, would like to thank you all for the reviews. They mean a lot! And secondly, the beginning of this chapter will take place where I left off with the Nelson sisters.
Hope you enjoy the chapter. Remember to Review, Favourite or Follow. Thanks!
~...Chapter Three...~
Ethan gaped, his mouth opening and closing repeatedly as he thought of something to say. Quinn wasn't angry as much as she was worried. If there was something going on with Ethan and the seemingly 'bad-boys' of the Boardwalk, then she and Peyton deserved to know about it. The last thing she wanted was for her and her sister to be used as pawns in whatever fucked up game Ethan was involved in.
"Well?" She repeated, hands on her hips. She looked at Peyton, who glanced between the two with anxious eyes.
"It's kind of a long story." Ethan finally managed to say with a light shrug.
"Yeah, well, we have-" Quinn quickly grasped Peyton's right arm and lifted it, her eyes scanning over her older sisters watch. "Three hours until we have to be home. So explain." She said with finality, and Ethan sighed.
"Okay, okay, I'll explain. But not here." His gaze roamed the crowd that surrounded them, as though he were afraid the guys he'd been hiding from would suddenly jump out and grab him.
"Then where?" Peyton asked as she crossed her arms.
"Follow me." He muttered, and both sisters just managed to hear.
No more than five minutes later, Quinn found herself down on the beach, near a garbage can that'd been turned into a fire. She was surprised by the amount of people down on the sand, considering how dark it was, and many of them appeared to be drinking or dancing. Ethan, it seemed, had dragged them to somewhere he was sure no one could overhear him, but also a place with enough people around in case something bad did happen.
"No one really knows what they're called. I mean, everyone knows their names, you'd have to be new or really oblivious to not know," Ethan started, staring out at the nearing tide.
"Why were you hiding from them?" Quinn asked quietly, her earlier anger pushed aside. For now at least.
Ethan ran his long fingers through the sand, occasionally picking up a handful only to let it fall back. "My big brother, Greg, started his own 'gang' a few months back. The Surf Nazis."
"Sur Nazis?" Peyton laughed, leaning back onto her forearms.
"I know, I know," Ethan smiled for a moment, though it soon fell from his face. "The boys run this damn Boardwalk, it's ridiculous. They get away with so much shit, and I guess Greg was tired of it all. So he started a new gang, someone to show the boys that they didn't own the damn place. Anyway, my idiot of an older brother decided to do something stupid."
"What did he do?" Quinn asked, after Ethan stayed quiet for a few seconds.
"He kicked over their bikes." As he explained to them what his brother had done, Quinn noticed the slightly saddened expression that appeared on his face. It made her wonder if his brother was still alive or not. "They weren't around, so Greg thought that they wouldn't know. But they did. And about half an hour after that, the boys came for him and the other Nazis. My brother and his friends were beat to shit, and somehow those assholes left without a scratch. Greg was put in the hospital for a while. He had a broken nose, cracked ribs and way too many bruises."
"Is he still..." Quinn found herself unable to ask him, but thankfully Ethan caught on to what she was implying.
"God no, no he's still kicking. It takes more than some stupid gang-fight to take down my big brother. But ever since then they've hated each others guts, and they're always looking for a way to one-up the other. There's no fights, mainly because neither group wanna get kicked off the Boardwalk, but I'm always worried that they'll try somethin'." He explained.
"Are they dangerous?" Quinn asked curiously.
"I think they are."
Her suspicions had been right. Ethan's older brother was part of a gang, and was in some kind of rivalry with another. It meant that with her and Peyton being friends with Ethan, they were most likely deemed 'Surf-Nazis' themselves. And if that was what the other gang thought, then she and her sister were royally fucked.
"Would they hurt us?" Peyton spoke up, and Quinn tensed.
"I don't know. I mean, I've never seen them hurt a chick before. Then again, they never seem to have trouble with the women around here. Girls always love a bad boy." Ethan muttered towards the end, and Quinn found herself sympathetic.
"We don't." She felt a slight feeling of relief when Ethan shot her a grateful smile. "Anyway, I think I've had enough excitement for tonight." She declared, getting to her feet. She then turned to Peyton. "You coming?"
"Yep."
"Wait," Ethan called as they headed towards the stairs leading onto the Boardwalk. "I'm sorry tonight wasn't that great. I'll make it up to you. Tomorrow afternoon, three o'clock, meet me here on the beach."
"Ethan," Quinn sighed with a small head shake. She wasn't so sure that she should be hanging around with him anymore, considering what he was involved in.
"If it helps, the boys are never here in the day. I guess they party so hard in the night that they take their days off. It'll just be me and my brother...and his group." He assured, but that didn't really help Quinn's fear.
"Okay." She finally agreed, though there was a small, nagging voice in the back of her mind telling her that she'd regret it later. "We'll be there."
~...~...~
The morning after, Quinn found herself wide-awake by ten thirty. Her morning mostly consisted of drinking multiple mugs of coffee, to her moms slight disappointment, and finally unpacking her boxes. She knew Peyton was still sleeping, if the lack of music was anything to go by, and wanted to get as much of her room done as possible.
As she placed her clothes onto hangers and put them up into the wardrobe, Quinn realised she'd gotten the better deal when it came to the bedrooms. Whoever had lived in the house before them must have had a daughter, as her room was a warm lilac colour. Peyton's, however, was a navy-blue. They'd had to play 'rock-paper-scissors' countless times until Peyton finally gave in and realised that she wasn't going to win the game; or the cool bedroom. Quinn had promised her sister that, when they had enough money, she'd help her re-paint the bedroom, to which Peyton had grumblingly accepted the offer and trudged through the hallway into her new room.
It took a long hour for her to fully sort everything out. And, once she was done, Quinn stood in the doorway. She crossed her arms with a proud smile on her face, content with how her room had turned out. She'd made her bed, organized her perfume, hair brush, jewellery box and other necessities onto her dresser. All of her clothes were in the large closet, all ironed and hung up neatly. The white bedside table on the left-hand side of her bed held a cream lamp and a photo of her and Peyton that had been taken back in '83.
All in all, everything was perfect.
"Wow, you didn't waste any time."
Quinn looked back to see Peyton behind her. Her sister blinked and ran a brush through her brunette curls, wincing every time she tugged at a knot. "It's good, right?" Quinn grinned, walking further into the room to sit on her bed.
"Better than mine." Peyton murmured with a slight roll of the eyes.
"I told you, when we have the money I'll help you decorate." Quinn recapped her moody older-sister, who merely shrugged in response. "You coming to the beach later?"
Peyton nodded and lowered her brush, moving towards the mirror Quinn had placed atop the dresser. "Of course. What else am I gonna do?"
Quinn shrugged and said, "I don't know. Maybe clean your room out, or unpack something."
"Please, I'm not touching that room until I've repainted."
"Hey sis," Quinn said, and Peyton mad a small 'hmm' noise to show that she was listening. "You think we'll be safe? With the Surf Nazis, I mean."
"You mean 'cause of the dumb war thing?" Peyton inquired, and Quinn nodded. "I guess so. It's not like we're actually part of the gang, we're just hanging out with Ethan. It's no big deal."
"Still," Quinn sighed, "you're not worried? Ethan said they were dangerous."
Peyton let out a loud groan and turned away from the mirror. She quickly approached Quinn and took a seat on the bed. "Look, if you're that nervous about it we won't show up today. We'll just stay home and watch movies." She offered, and Quinn gave her a grateful smile.
"I'd love to just stay home and do nothing. Except we already told Ethan we were going. And as much as I'm nervous about this whole 'gang-war' thing he seems like a really good guy, and I don't wanna leave him high and dry like that." Quinn said.
"I guess so. Tell you what," Peyton shuffled closer and threw an arm around Quinn's shoulder. "We'll go to the beach, and we'll meet up with Ethan and his friends. But at the first sign of trouble we're out of there. Sound good?" Quinn nodded in agreement and Peyton smiled. "It'll all be fine."
"Girls?" It was their mom. She hung in the doorway, anxiously chewing at her thumbnail, and it made Quinn wonder if something was wrong.
"Hey mom, are you okay?" She asked, her brows furrowed.
"Yes, of course." Their mom attempted to reassure, though she couldn't hide her tone. Not from them.
"Mom, what's going on?" Peyton asked with a small tilt of the head. She wasn't very good with patience.
"Max asked me on a date."
Everything went silent. Quinn wasn't quite sure how Peyton felt about the sudden, and rather out of the blue, revelation. She herself felt more shock than anything else. When had Max asked her on a date? It must have been the night before, when she and Peyton were at the Boardwalk with Ethan. Her mom must've gone back to the video-store that night. Quinn could vividly recall her mom telling them that she'd had something to do, but she hadn't told them what it was. Apparently she'd gone to see Max. And clearly he'd taken the opportunity to ask her out. But Quinn couldn't find a clear reason why Max had asked out their mom. They'd only been there for two full days, and Max barely knew them, so going on a date was a bit sudden.
"O-okay." Quinn managed to mutter. She couldn't think of anything relevant to say in that moment. She was still trying to let it fully register in her mind.
"No."
Both Quinn and her mom turned to Peyton, who stared at their mother with a small expression of annoyance. "I'm sorry?" Their mom asked loudly.
"I said no." Peyton repeated, crossing her arms and sitting straight. "You barely know this guy. We barely know this guy," Peyton gestured to herself and then Quinn. "I don't think it's a smart thing to do."
"Look," their mother sighed gently, "I know you guys don't know Max. And I know that I don't know him that well. But, he seems like a really good guy, and I wanna give him a shot. Can you understand that?"
When it looked as though Peyton wasn't going to reply, Quinn did it instead. "Did you agree to the date?" She asked.
"Not yet. I told him I needed to think about it, which really meant that I wanted to talk to you girls first."
"Uh, okay. I don't want you to say yes." Her mom opened her mouth, clearly about to object, and Quinn proceeded quickly. "He hasn't even met Peyton yet mom. Don't you think we should full get to know this guy before you go jumping into something again?"
"I guess so." Her mom shrugged.
"Look, tomorrow night invite him over for dinner. That way we get to meet him and decide if he's good enough for you." Quinn suggested, and her mom smiled widely.
"That sounds good. Peyton?" She turned to her other daughter.
"It sounds great." Peyton finally said, though the look of slight irritation didn't go away.
~...~...~
Due to the overwhelming amount of awkwardness in the air back at their new home, Quinn had decided to drag Peyton out and onto the boardwalk a lot sooner than they'd planned.
Obviously her big sister had an issue with their mom dating video-store Max and, if she was being completely honest with herself, Quinn could relate. She clearly wasn't as angered by the situation as Peyton was, but she was a little anxious. After all, their mom hadn't had much luck with men since their dad, and maybe she never would. But that didn't mean she couldn't try.
"Look, I hate to ask, but why are you so dead set against mom dating video-store Max?" Quinn asked her sister.
"I'm not dead-set against mom going out with this guy." Peyton sighed, toying with the sand beneath her fingers. "I'm just not...happy, about it."
Quinn nodded and said, "I guess I can understand that." It wasn't a lie. Their mom's past relationships hadn't done any of them any good. "But it's not her fault if she likes this guy," Quinn continued, "I mean, what if this one's different? What if this one's better?"
Peyton turned her head, staring straight at her little sister. "And what if he's not?" She suggested. "What if he's a huge asshole? I can't watch her go through all of this again."
"Okay," Quinn choked out a small laugh, "I'm gonna reassure you now that this guy is not an asshole. He seems a little...nerdy. But that's about it. If anything mom would end up hurting him, not the other way around." She was relieved to see a small smile grace her sister's face. "Besides, there's nothing we can do. She won't listen to us about it, she never does." Quinn had muttered the last part towards herself more so than her big sister, but Peyton heard it none the less.
"I guess you make a good point." Peyton shrugged as she spoke, turning to look down at the sand.
"Look, worst case scenario," Quinn paused as she thought, "we have to move again. Mom will probably get over it, eventually, and we'll be back to doing the same old crap. We'll move on with our lives in another town, stick with each other and make new friends, and repeat the same ol' cycle all over again." She knew she sounded a little bitter, but no one could blame her. Being the optimistic one all the time was exhausting.
"I don't want to repeat the same thing over and over again." Peyton lightly exclaimed, and Quinn could clearly hear the annoyance in her sister's tone. "I wanna break this stupid cycle. It's not fair to mom and it's definitely not fair to us. We need some kind of stability. I mean, I'm not so worried about me. I can get a job or something wherever I go, but you're still in school, Quinn. Mom can't keep shuffling you around. I'm sure being the 'new-girl' all the time is annoying as hell."
Her sister had a point. Their mom could find a guy or a job in whatever town she decided to move them to next, and so could Peyton. But Quinn was still in school. She had two more years left before she was free from the learning system, though she was sure it'd be more than that if Santa Carla didn't work out for them. She was already sure their mom was ready to put her into the local high-school, and that didn't make her feel any better. Quinn was worried that, with their moving around, she would be held back a year. But it wasn't as though their mom were moving them around during the school year, only in the summer. Still, it wasn't a normal life to live, and even Quinn was ready to admit that she wanted the same thing as Peyton.
"Until I'm eighteen mom has the power to drag me around. You could go, you know. You could go back home and be with (Enter OC's name here). You could stay there, get a job, get married, have kids. All that stuff that girls want. Why do you keep coming with us?" Quinn asked Peyton, hoping she'd masked her curiosity.
Peyton didn't speak for a minute or two. She was clearly thinking it through, what with the way her eyes stared out at the ocean and her hands absentmindedly fiddled with the warm sand.
"I don't really know." She said finally. "I guess I just don't want to be alone."
That answer made Quinn shudder. Being alone. It was the exact same reason their mom kept searching for another man to love. She wanted someone to spend the rest of her life with. Someone who wouldn't leave, and who certainly wouldn't die before she did. After all, how bad would her mom's luck have to be to find another person to fall in love with, only to have them die from some kind of accident? It wasn't possible. But Quinn was startled to realise that her big sister may have been turning into her mother.
