I don't own anything familiar:)

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At dinner a few days later, Mack's grandfather suddenly announced news she didn't expect to hear, making her drop her burger back onto her plate in surprise.

"Your Aunt called earlier," he said, furrowing his gray eyebrows.

"What?" she glanced up at him. "Why?"

"She was…um, reminding me about the deal you two made before you came here."

Mack blinked, forgetting all about it during the fun time she was having. The past week was made up of her tanning on the beach with the new book Brady had bought for her, watching the surfers have the time of their life on the waves, and helping out her grandfather the best she could. She honestly was having a lot of fun, and the deal she had made didn't cross her mind once.

"Oh," she said simply, looking down at her half-eaten cheeseburger at a loss of what to say.

"She's coming at the end of August to pick you up, Mack," her grandfather prompted, standing up to clean up the finished plates.

"I know," she mumbled softly.

Before she came to stay with her grandfather for vacation, her Aunt Antoinette made a deal with her. She got to spend the summer with her grandfather, but after that, she would have to attend this fancy schmancy academy Mack had no desire to go to.

Sure she loved the city, but an exclusive academy? Even Mack had her limits. Besides, the California life was growing on her, and Mack couldn't really imagine leaving her grandfather and seeing this relaxing vacation coming to an end.

The atmosphere grew somber, and Mack struggled to change the subject fast.

"Um, so what's up with that Brady guy?"

'Really, Mack? You had to bring him up out of everything else you could have said?' she berated herself as she helped her grandfather clean the dirty dishes.

He raised an eyebrow up at her question and smirked to himself.

"Brady?" he asked. At her apprehensive nod, he continued. "He's a good kid. He helps out a lot."

"How come you never mentioned him or anything when you came to visit?" she wondered, elbow deep in the sudsy water of the sink. She handed off a wet plate for him to dry off and put away.

"He didn't always help out," he explained. "But he's lived here his whole life. Surfing and the beach is pretty much everything to him."

"I still don't get the appeal of standing on stupid surfboards all day, no offense," she added at the indignant look on his face. He did own a surf shop after all…

"Brady loves it. You should have him show you sometime," he grinned sideways at her. She scowled and quickly shook her head.

"Yeah, no thanks, Grandpa. I'm good on land," with that, she bid him a good night and headed off to bed.

"I can't believe I agreed to this," Mack muttered to herself as she walked along the beach, observing the teenagers and young adults surfing on the intense waves. Some completed them successfully, while others fell off their boards with a distinct splash.

The sun glared in her eyes, making her cover them with a hand as she trudged down the shoreline with a glower.

Her grandfather had convinced her to watch the surfers, Brady especially, do their thing on the waves. He convinced her it would be fun and she might even learn something. Mack highly doubted it, but did as her grandpa wished anyways, much to his happiness.

When the sand began to burn her feet, she suddenly heard a voice ahead of her.

"Mack!" Brady called, jogging over to her. She fought hard not to let her eyes stray from his excited expression and down to his exposed chest. Didn't he have a shirt?

'Beach, duh…'

"Hi, Brady," she smiled, and his eyes lit up at her friendly greeting.

"What are you doing here?" he wondered, shaking off the water from his soggy blonde hair. It stuck to his neck and forehead, so he quickly pushed it all out of his face.

"Grandpa wanted me to watch people surf," Mack tried not to frown, for the sake of the experienced surfer standing in front of her. He seemed to not notice her unhappiness.

"Oh," Brady answered. Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her with him as he hurried down the beach.

"Hey! Where are we going?" she tried to squirm out of his grip, but he was surprisingly pretty strong. "Brady, let go!"

"Okay," he stopped at a spot where not too many people were walking by. Annoyed, Mack fixed her yellow sundress and crossed her arms.

Looking back up at him, she quickly noticed his eyes darting back up to meet hers and a dusting of pink spreading over his cheeks.

'Was he just checking me out?' she wondered to herself. Shaking off his strange behavior, she frowned at him.

"What are you doing?" she barked.

"You came to see surfing, so watch this."

With that, Brady slipped on a rash guard she hadn't noticed was tucked into the waistband of his swimming trunks and grabbed a surfboard lying on the ground. It was yellow and blue, with ridge designs lining the sides. Mack had to admit it was a cool looking board.

She watched as he splashed into the surf, jumping onto his stomach on the board and paddling out into the ocean.

A few snips of people's conversations beside her made her whirl around. A smattering of teenagers lined the shore next to her, pointing out to Brady with anxious smiles. They seemed excited to see him surf.

"He can't be that good," Mack said, knowing nobody could hear her. She looked back at Brady grabbing his board and diving under a big wave. For a second, there was no sign of him, and Mack felt panic rise in her chest.

Seconds later, he resurfaced and continued paddling.

Only moments passed when a huge wave began coming toward him. Mack watched intently as he regarded it determinedly and turned around, timing it perfectly.

He stood up on his feet with expert grace and began dropping in a wave, turning to surf along the tumbling water.

Mack had no idea whatsoever how to phrase the tricks Brady was pulling off. She figured the people near her knew though, since they were shouting out random words that Mack only heard in surfing movies.

When the wave died down, Brady fell back into the blue water and paddled back in. A large, enthusiastic grin spread over his features and he splashed back onto the sand.

Halfheartedly thanking the people who congratulated him on a good ride, Brady had his eyes set on Mack and her opinion.

"So?" he leaned forward, hoping to hear every word to come out of her mouth.

"It was…impressive," Mack realized she was being completely honest, much to her surprise. It was true. Brady seemed to have a lot of skill in the activity, and Mack found she wanted to learn as well.

"You thought so?" Brady seemed way too happy about her reaction, and she figured if his smile grew any larger his face would split in half.

"Yeah, actually," she smiled back.

"Why don't you go and try?" he suggested, motioning to the wave behind him.

"Well first of all, I'm not even dressed," she gestured to her dress and sandals, but Brady waved his arm as if it was a minor setback.

"And I've never surfed in my life," she shrugged.

"What!" his eyes popped wide open and regarded her with shock. Even his mouth dropped open and the ginormous smile finally disappeared in his disbelief. "But, your grandfather works in a surf shop!"

Mack shrugged once again.

"There's no way you can stay here and not know how to surf," Brady shook his head, as if the idea was totally preposterous. "No way at all."

"I'm fine just sitting here and tanning, Brady," she tried. He was barely listening.

"Nope! No way," he shook his head so fast she thought it would fly off. "I'm teaching you how."

"What?" a gasp escaped her lips. "No, seriously, it's fine!"

"I'm not taking no for an answer, Mack," he grinned cheekily. "So, tomorrow morning at nine?"

Mack stared in disbelief at the boy in front of her. She could tell he would literally force her out the door and into the ocean if she didn't agree with him. Even though Mack made her own decisions and didn't get forced into anything, she sagged with defeat.

"Fine, you can teach me how to surf."

Boom! Mack agreed to learn!:D Does anyone remember in TBM when Mack told Lela that she learned everything she knew from Brady? Well, that's basically what I'm basing this on;) I figured I would mention that before I forgot if it wasn't obvious.

Please review!:) I'll continue if there are enough reviews on it. I don't want to keep writing if nobody likes it !