Guys. Omg. GUYS. It's been so long since I last updated, I'm so sorry! DDDD: But I have a feeling I'll have less distractions for a while, so I'm determined to finish this story! Here we go!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Rocket Power, or the settings.

Sorry for errors!

Chapter Four

-Twister's POV-

A few days passed, and things had mostly gone back to normal.

By now, everyone had moved on from the almost-drowning incident, and people had stopped asking Reggie how she had survived, and who had saved her (always resulting in the looks of disbelief in my direction). Which meant Reggie and Trent had more time to be their clingy, mushy, couple-y selves all around the school. And the Shack. And the Rocket house.

Lars had gone back to college after the weekend finished, which was a relief for me, because it meant having a free couch and TV to come home to after a day of having to deal with the happy couple. After the first day of Lars being there, he and I had fallen back into our regular pattern of alternately insulting each other and ignoring each other as often as we could. It was our way. I actually preferred that more than being civil, being civil with him almost felt like he wasn't even my brother.

The only thing that hadn't gone back to normal, though, was my parents. After Lars had pointed out their behavior to me, and after he had left, the cold atmosphere in our house became glaringly obvious to me. Every night at dinner, they either both, or separately, talked to me, or they didn't talk at all, and at all other times of the day they were never seen together at all. If Dad was in the living room, Mom was upstairs. If Mom was in the kitchen, Dad was in the garage. The only other time they were together, it was in their room, and once when I walked past their open door, they were turned away from each other, on the very opposite sides of the bed.

I tried to tell myself not to worry about it—they were adults after all, and if they were going through something, they could deal with it on their own—but I couldn't help but start to feel uncomfortable about it. But I didn't say anything about it to anyone.

Friday, after school, I had come straight home to my refuge, i.e. the TV, but when I discovered there was nothing on that I wanted to watch, I turned to the Internet instead. It kept me entertained enough for a little over two hours, and then the quietness of my house was starting to get to me, I decided to go somewhere else for a while.

Grabbing one of my beanies and yanking it over my once again slightly wavy hair (I'd given up on straightening it for now. Reggie had noticed, but I had felt pathetic for doing it for her in the first place, and now my bathroom permanently smelt like burnt hair), I breezed down the stairs, grabbed my skateboard by the door, and left the house.

I boarded down the sidewalk, leaving Ozone Street, and down the giant hill leading to main Ocean Shores. I liked boarding like this sometimes, just on my own, without Otto's regular hamming of my camera, Squid's whining, and Reggie and Trent's chronic clinginess. Just me, my thoughts, and the salty smell of the ocean in the breeze. It was nice. I would've liked to take a short trip to the beach too, maybe would have surfed off some of my burdens, but going in the ocean at that moment in time would've just reminded me more of Reggie.

That's how it always was, wasn't it? Eat a certain kind of donut for breakfast, remember that Reg liked bagels better than donuts. Hear a song on the radio, remember that Reg either loved or hated that song. See the color purple, remember the bright shade of violet that Reg's hair was. I sighed aloud. I really needed psychological help.

Maybe I could hire Squid to be my therapist, I thought dryly. He seems like he'd be good at that type of thing. Science and all that.

I took a sharp turn, heading toward the Shore Shack, and then stopped in my tracks. Some guy who'd been jogging behind me nearly ran straight into me, and he ran past me with a disgruntled noise and an impolite gesture over his shoulder at me. I ignored him.

I'd been planning on going to the Shore Shack to get something to eat, but I realized with this mood of mine, it would be plain on my face, and Tito would ask me what was wrong and I would have to talk about my problems. I appreciated this personality trait of Tito's, I really did, I just wasn't in the mood to pour my guts out.

After considering dropping by Madtown instead, I decided that hanging out at Otto's house might be better. I trekked all the way back up the hill leading to our street, and after making it back to Ozone Street, sweaty and having trouble remembering why I had bothered coming all the way back in the first place, I opened the front door to the Rocket house and received the shock of my life.

Reggie, on top of Trent. On the couch. With his hands up the front of her shirt and her bra next to his discarded shirt, next to them on the couch. Making out. As if their lives depended on it. So busy that they didn't even hear the door open. When my skateboard dropped with a sharp clatter, however, they jumped apart, turning around to see who the intruder was.

"Oh my God, Twist," Reggie said, sighing as relief poured over her face. She pressed a hand to her chest. "It's just you. You scared us."

Trent, who had looked considerable rattled just seconds ago, now looked at me with a cold sort of smugness. "Yeah, Twist. You scared us." He leaned back on the couch cushions again, leisurely. "Close that door, will you?"

Gaining back some of my composure, I reached behind me and threw the front door shut. "You're lucky it's just me," I told them, my voice gruff. "If it were Ray, he'd throttle both of you. Especially you, Trent. He'd probably make you into a nice winter coat." I tried very hard not to smirk as I said that last part, but I'm pretty sure I did.

Reggie laughed, thinking I was joking. "Yeah, probably." She turned to Trent and rubbed his knee. "We should probably go up to my room, babe."

"Yeah, okay." Trent got up, stretching, and I had to turn my face away from his half-nakedness before I projectile vomited all over the carpet. "But first, babe, can you make me a sandwich?" He patted his stomach and grinned, but it reminded me of a rattlesnake's face. "Your man's hungry."

"Sure," Reggie said cheerfully, and immediately jumped up from the couch, and I was horrified by how unlike her she was around him. The Reggie I knew once would never be ordered to do something, much less ordered to cook. 'You've got two legs that work,' she would've said. 'Make it yourself.' I wanted to say that to him now myself, but that would just make her upset at me. That was probably the last thing that I wanted.

"Oh, and, Reg," Trent stopped her before she walked away to the kitchen with one hand, glanced at me snidely, and then picked up her bra from the couch and handed it to her. "Put this back on for now."

Reggie giggled, and my face had turned so red from embarrassment and anger that all I could do was spin around and stomp upstairs to Otto's room.

I reached his door, turned the doorknob and pushed my way into his room, already starting my tirade. "Dude, Otto, I feel obligated to tell you that Trent's down there practically boning your—JESUS, COME ON!"

Otto and Clio, who had been almost in the exact same position that I'd found Reggie and Trent in, jumped apart, Clio screaming and covering herself with a blanket even though she had on all of her clothes and Otto swiping some of Clio's red lipstick from his own lips and laughing.

"Freaking God, what is the matter with everyone in this house? I'm sorry, is it a house rule to make out with people all the time here? Because if I had gotten the memo, I would've brought over some chick from school!" My face was even redder than before, and I threw my hands up when Otto continued to laugh even harder. "Yeah, laugh. Laugh at me, Otto. It's funny, it's so funny."

"Sorry, bro. I didn't know you were coming over." Otto started another round of laughs, pointing at me. "You should see your face right now, though. It's hilarious."

Clio clucked her tongue. "Otto, stop laughing at my poor baby cousin. Look at him, we've scarred him." She held her arms open for a hug. "Come, Maurice."

Of course, her use of my real name just made Otto laugh even harder—he was shrieking in laughter now, falling over onto his side and holding his stomach. I grit my teeth together, groaning. "Clio, please," I said.

"Oh," she said, miming a smack to her forehead. "Sorry. Twister. I still forget sometimes." She finally dropped the blanket she'd been holding over herself and scooted over on the bed, patting the space next to her. "Come on, hang out with us."

I snorted and glanced over at Otto, who had abruptly stopped laughing to shoot a death glare at me. "No thanks," I said, starting to slowly back out of the room. "I'd rather go eat my weight in chili fries. In fact, I think I'll go do that."

Clio pouted at me, and from behind her, Otto nodded and gave me a thumbs up. I quickly left the room, shutting the door behind me and passing Reggie and Trent on the way down the stairs. Yes, I decided in my mind. 139 pounds of chili fries was exactly what I needed at the moment.

-Otto's POV-

"I wonder when he'll stop being so freaked out by us together," Clio said to me after Twister slammed the door shut behind him, half-jokingly. She turned her face half toward me; straight nose, full lips, sharp cheekbones. "At least enough to stop running away whenever we're in the same room as him."

I shrugged and leaned back against the pillows behind me. "Eventually, probably." I chuckled and nudged her butt with one of my socked feet. She had a cute butt. "Don't worry yourself about it. He just needs to get laid."

She turned to face me completely now, glaring at me. I knew the look was supposed to intimidate me, but the way she did it, under shiny bangs, through thick black eyelashes and a steady brown-eyed gaze, I was anything but intimidated. "Otto."

"I'm kidding," I said, sighing. "He's probably just pissed off because he saw Reggie and Trent at it. He was already in a pretty bad mood from seeing them together all day at school, so no wonder seeing that set him off. I would have warned him about them down there if I'd known he was coming."

Clio shook her head slowly, and then brought her knees up and rested her chin on them. Her long hair, straight, burgundy red, and down to her hips, swung forward with the movement. I swallowed hard. I had to get it together, concentrate on our conversation. But thinking about what Twist had interrupted was making it damn hard.

"When is he going to tell her?" She sighed too. "She must know. Doesn't she?"

I sat up, feeling my dreads brush against my arms when I shook my head at her. "No. She doesn't."

She groaned. It was a very, very attractive noise. I tried not to let my mind wander. "I'm worried about him, baby. You know how much I worry about him. He looks so lonely."

Real guilt stirred in my gut. I would never admit it to anyone, but I was worried too. I hated seeing him so angry about her all the time. "He'll be okay. He'll be fine." I reached up and pushed some of her hair back behind her shoulder. Some of it spilled back over, cascading down again like water.

Clio looked up into my face, her eyes soft and sad and it gave me the overwhelming urge to kiss her. "I hope so," she said.

I couldn't stand to see that wounded expression on her face any longer, so I quickly changed the subject, turning on the charm. "So," I leaned back, folding my arms behind my head and flexing my biceps, a smile creeping onto my face. "Where were we?"

She smiled, as if she couldn't help it, and hit her fist lightly on my stomach. "Could you stop being horny for like, two seconds? I was having a moment, here."

I caught her hand in mine and sighed. "Sorry, it's just that you're really hot. Can't help myself." She was though. After three years, you'd think I'd be used to her illegal levels of sexiness by now. Apparently not. I twined my fingers with hers. "Plus, we were kinda interrupted by your dumbass cousin."

"We were, weren't we?" She pursed her lips and crawled back toward me, purring, "I wonder what we should do about that?"

Yeah. So hot. "I think you should get back over here."

She crawled back over to me and straddled my lap, and my hands found their way up her spine and tangled into her hair. The rest of it fell around our faces, curtained us, as she grabbed my face between her hands and crashed her lips down onto mine.

-Sam's POV-

"Twist?"

"Don't talk to me." He snapped, picking up a long, sloppy chili cheese fry from his basket and shoving it into his mouth.

I watched him chew angrily for about a minute, blinking, then tried again. "But Twister, you seem upse—"

"Shh."

"But do you—"

"No."

"If you want, we can talk abou—"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"But I'm here for yo—"

"Please," Twister said, finally turning and looking at me directly for the first time since he'd stormed into the Shore Shack five minutes ago. "Please, Sam. I just don't want to talk about it. I just want to eat in peace. Is that okay with you?"

My eyebrows raised. Wow, he was really riled up. Something must have happened with Reggie. I wouldn't ask, then. "Okay, Twist. I'll leave you alone then." I gave him a feeble smile. "Enjoy your fries, I guess."

Seeming satisfied with my reply, he grunted and turned back around on his stool, going back to glaring at nothing in particular and mechanically shoving chili cheese fries into his mouth. I nodded to myself, shrugging and taking a sip of my milkshake, turning my attention to the Surf Channel playing on the television in the corner.

After maybe ten minutes of watching The Greatest Wave: The History, there was a commotion when a group of about seven girls our age poured into the restaurant, hooting and giggling and their roller blades' wheels squeaking as they all came to a stop. I saw her almost immediately.

Long, straight black hair down her back, a fair complexion for living in a place so sunny all the time, dark eyes, and a calm, cool exterior—especially compared to the noisy girls she'd come in with. The redheaded girl next to her said something, and her lips curled upward in a subdued chuckle.

How long had it been since I'd first met her? Years. I'd lost track. It felt like I moved here from Kansas and then after I met her, there wasn't one moment when I forgot about her. I'd always seen Trish. Always.

She was super involved in surfing, becoming something of a local celebrity after she'd won the annual National Women's Surf Competition twice in a row, and it was amazing. And it had permanently sealed the fate that she would always be untouchable. To me, to anybody, unless she wanted them too. But she already belonged to the ocean.

Of course, before she'd become a local celebrity, guys had already wanted her. Guys pined after her, sent her gifts and showed up on her doorstep asking her out, but she turned down them all. She never directly told them why, but it was easy to see for those who knew her. She belonged to the ocean, and the ocean was hers. Anyone else would just get in the way of that. There was nothing, at least for now, that she would ever want more than surfing.

"SQUID," Twister said, and it jangled my nerves so badly that I had to scramble to catch my milkshake glass that I'd almost knocked over. "What were you doing? I've been talking to you for like thirty seconds. You were out of it, man."

I pushed my thick rimmed glasses back up the bridge of my nose, smoothing down my pale hair and glancing back quickly to see if Trish had seen. She hadn't. "Sorry," I said. "What were you saying?"

He sighed hugely. "I was asking if you could run to the kitchen and get me some more chili fries. I'm out, and Raymundo and Tito are talking to the chatty girl pow wow over there."

I drew in a shaky breath. "Sure, Twist." I took his fries basket and hopped off of my stool, going back to the kitchen to refill it. I had only been back there a handful of times, but I easily found fries frying in the deep fryer, and I cringed away from the heat as I put more fries in the basket, and I found the chili and put extra on top, dumping some cheese over it. It looked like it was an extra chili day for Twister.

I came back out of the kitchen, and when I did, I saw the group of girls that Trish came with huddled around her, and Trish, who sat in front of a birthday cake with birthday candles all lit up. I stopped walking. That's right. It was her birthday. There was a giant '18' candle in the middle of the cake.

They sang 'Happy Birthday' to her, her friends recording it on video on their phones as she blew out her candles, and they all clapped and cheered as she blushed, looking slightly embarrassed, but still happy. "Thanks guys," she said.

Realizing I was just standing there and watching them creepily, I hurried back over to Twister to give him his chili fries.

"Took you long enough," Twister muttered, snatching the basket out of my hand.

"You're welcome, Twist." I said under my breath.

He side glanced me, first in slight annoyance, and then his expression lightened up and he smiled slightly. "Thanks for the fries, Sam."

I smiled with some satisfaction then. "No problem."

Twister went back to digging in, and that exact moment, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I wasn't sure who I was expecting when I turned around, but when I saw who it was, I couldn't keep my jaw from dropping open momentarily.

"Hi, Sam?" Trish, hesitant looking and a slight blush still on her cheeks. And positively adorable. At this distance we were almost the same height, though I might've been taller by a couple of inches. "I'm sorry to bother you…I just wanted to ask if you could take a picture of me and my friends."

It took all of two seconds for me to unscramble my thoughts enough for a response. "Yeah…yeah! Sure. Of course!"

Seemingly surprised I agreed, a grin appeared on her face as she handed me her camera. It was a dark, sparkling blue. Like the ocean. I followed her over to her group of friends as they posed around her, and she smiled modestly in the middle, holding up her cake. I lifted the camera and snapped the picture, making sure I held my hands as still as I could manage with seven girls staring in my direction, so I wouldn't make the picture blurry. After I took it, I switched it to viewing mode and handed it back to her.

"Good?" I asked.

She looked at the camera's screen and then looked back up at me, smiling brightly. "Perfect. Thanks!"

"You're welcome," I said. I started to turn away as her friends began chatting up a storm again, and then I stopped, a wave of courage coming over me. Just do it, I thought. Just do it before you chicken out. I spun back around. "Trish?"

Trish's glance jerked up again, looking slightly surprised. "Yes?"

I breathed in slowly, and then smiled at her. "Happy Birthday."

She held my gaze for a moment, then returned my smile, genuinely. Her smile was always genuine. And sweet. "Thank you, Sam."

I nodded once, and then turned back around and headed back to where Twister was sitting, shoveling fries into his mouth.

Untouchable, yes. But maybe she wasn't ever meant to be touched. Mystical, beautiful, delicate. Like a maiden from the sea. We were worlds apart. Maybe I was only meant to watch.

But as long as she stayed happy, stayed with her ocean that was a part of her as much as her blood and her flesh, as long as she stayed Trish, I was okay with watching. I could watch forever.

The plot thickens, eh?

Omg you guys. I'm so mortified. Somehow, in the beginning of this story, I thought Cleo was named Violet? So I called her Violet for some reason? Even though it makes no sense because Violet is their middle aged neighbor? Omfg. So, yeah. I had to go back and fix it. I'm so sorry for any confusion this had caused, hahaha. Oh man. So embarrassing. As a side note: do any of you know for sure if it's spelt Cleo or Clio? Because I've seen it spelled both ways, and I'm not sure which one to use. :S

Thanks to all of you that waited for this chapter, I'm sorry again for the wait! I plan on finishing this story before continuing with Losing Control, though, so expect the next chapter of this pretty soon! :D

Please review! Thanks guys!

-MsButterFingers