The Beach

Another week. Another Chapter. Enjoy!


"I don't know what's going on but young lady you're coming with me." Max grabbed onto Gwen's hand and dragged her out of the room.

"Wait Grandpa Gwen didn't-!" Ben suddenly shouted.

"Ben I don't want to hear it, if the two of them are going to fight it's best just to separate them."

"What? But Grandpa! Wait! I don't want to…" Gwen trailed off when Max glared daggers at her. She turned back to a saddened Ben and a neutral looking Cherry "Ben don't you dare do anything while I'm gone!"

Max continued to pull Gwen along even though he really didn't need to. It took all her self-control not to break from his grip and busting through the house ready to give Cherry a butt-kicking. She waited until he brought her to the Rust bucket before she spoke another word.

"Now young lady, could you explain to me what was going on in there?" Max fumed as he finally let her hand go. He crossed his arms and waited patiently for her answer.

"Cherry just annoys me," Gwen said shortly.

"What did she do that annoys you so much that you almost destroy her house for!"

"She wouldn't stop flirting with Ben even though I asked her too. She kept reading my mind, I like my privacy! I could go on but you get my point." Max slapped his face gently and sighed heavily. This was about her new relationship with Ben, he had hoped that they wouldn't get this far. He had to put an end as soon as possible.

"Just…just go take a shower or something," Max groaned, he opened the door and sat down in the driver's seat. Gwen was surprised. She honestly thought that Max would have exploded with anger. Maybe he accepted us? Gwen thought. She stood there before she went inside and took a long shower. When she exited the bathroom, she noticed that Max had fallen asleep with a small black device sitting right next to him. She didn't know why but she got a strange vibe from the device like it was something dangerous and to avoid it at all costs. She ignored her gut feeling and grabbed the device. It was a small slick black object in the shape of an ordinary phone with 5 slots on it. Feeling a bit curious she moved the second slot to the number ten. Just then, Max woke up and noticed what Gwen possessed in her hands.

"Wait Gwen don't-!" Max reached out for the device so suddenly that it frightened Gwen into pressing the large black button on the device. A bright flash of white light erupted from the device and all was quiet.

"What did she do that annoys you so much that you almost destroy her house for!" Max suddenly shouted.

"Huh? Grandpa we already talked about that..." Gwen was taken aback, she knew Grandpa Max was old but not this old "She flirted with Ben and she kept reading my mind…"

"Ugh…Gwen just go take a shower or something…" Déjà vu much? Gwen thought. Just then she looked to the device and she figured it out bit by bit.

"Grandpa…what was the last thing you remember?"

"What kind of question is that? I just dragged you to the Rust bucket…wait how did we get on?"

"Grandpa what does this thing do?" Gwen flashed the device in Max's face. He turned pale and tried to grab it from her hands "What does it do?" Gwen hopped backwards avoiding his hand.

"Gwen that's…classified plumber Intel I can't talk about it."

"…Just now you said something you said ten minutes ago!" Gwen flashed her eyes to the device "It wipes out memories doesn't it?" Max didn't say anything. Gwen instantly thought of her relationship with Ben "Grandpa you promised!"

"Gwen I can't let you two go on like this! Think of the situation your causing! What will your parents think about this?" Max argued.

"I don't care! I love Ben and that's all there is to it!" Gwen's eyes flashed pink and crushed the device. Max looked disheartened as his only granddaughter ran past him out the Rust bucket and into the house.


"So that's what happened…" Ben spun and swirled Gwen's hair.

"Yeah…after that I met up with you and Cherry," Gwen tried not to think of what they were doing when she got there "I haven't really talked to Grandpa since." Gwen nudged her head closer to Ben's chest. Ben sat on the bed, while Gwen rested her head on his lap nuzzling ever so closely as she could. Ever since they left Cherry's house, the two were locked up in their room not really trying to make contact with their Grandpa. Ben was incredibly mad at him for even trying to pull something like that over them and Gwen felt indifferent about the whole thing. She didn't know what more she could do to convince him.

"Guys," Speaking of the devil, Ben thought. "I'm sorry about the Electrostatic Brain destabilizer. I know you're mad but I'm only worried about you. I won't pull anymore underhanded tricks and I won't try to convince you guys about why you two shouldn't be together, that would be like talking to a brick wall." He laughed to himself "I know you guys don't want to talk to me right now but I was thinking that we could go to the beach, it's not much but it's a small step to show you guys how sorry I am." After a few seconds of silence, he sighed and went to his room. Ben and Gwen sat in the silence pondering about what he just said. Eventually they gave up and fell asleep.

When they woke up the next morning, Grandpa Max had disappearing leaving behind a note that read 'I've gone for a walk, be back in the afternoon. Try not to have too much fun. I made breakfast, so for today relax and have fun, Love Max.' Ben stared at the note blankly then threw it away. Gwen noticed Ben's glum mood and tried to cheer him up.

"Come on! We're going to have fun today!" Gwen gave him a reassuring smile.

"This is what you call fun?" Ben remarked.

"Yep," Gwen replied putting her shades on and letting the sun do its work. She lied flat down on her towel and sunbathed while Ben made sandcastles. Well tried too, it wasn't going so well since he didn't have much of an interest in it. After a while he became so bored studying seemed good at the moment. Well, not really. Ben looked over to Gwen who had completely fallen asleep at this point. A sinister smile grew on his face.

"Huh…?" Gwen woke up "What…? Why…? BEN!" Gwen screamed realizing the situation she was in. She was buried up to her neck in sand.

"You were so asking for it falling asleep like that!" Ben rolled on the floor laughing "You're the one who told me to have fun."

"Yeah, but not at my expense!" Gwen struggled "Get me out of here!"

"What if I say I don't want to?" Ben smirked. Gwen's eyes glowed bright pink and Ben gulped. Just then a huge eruption of sand shot Ben and other innocent beach-goers straight into the ocean. Moments later, Ben emerged and crawled onto the shore gasping for air. I should really think my pranks through…

"Hmph," Gwen passed Ben without even looking in his direction and hopped into the water. Ben sat up and watched Gwen swim until she pulled herself out of the water. Ben couldn't take his eyes off her. Maybe he was too bust thinking of his Grandpa or he just didn't have the time to notice. It's not like he hadn't seen her in that swimsuit before, but now she looked good, really good; the gentle sway of her hair, her dazzling green eyes, her slender figure. He was looking at her in a new light.

"What?" Gwen took notice of Ben insistent staring feeling a little embarrassed by it.

"Nothing! Nothing at all, um are you hungry? I'll go get us ice-cream." Ben scurried away not being able to take it anymore. If he stood there any longer he wouldn't be surprised if steam came out from his ears. After Ben got the ice-cream, he saw a bunch of guys surrounding Gwen. They looked no older than twelve. Ben suddenly became tense, Gwen didn't seem like she was enjoying their company.

"Who is he?" The tallest of trio spoke shooting an intimidating glare at Ben "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Nah, he couldn't be." The second guy had a smug look on his face "A midget like him should be her brother."

"Run along now, we have some business with your sister." The third pushed Ben away.

"Oh that's it," Ben threw the ice-cream to the ground "Bring it on punks!"

"You think you can take all three of us?" The three boys ganged on Ben.

"No, but WildMutt can!" Before Ben could touch the watch he noticed Gwen in the back shaking her head from side to side. Ben gritted his teeth and brought his fists up once more "Bring it!" The tallest one lunged at Ben attempting to punch him straight on which Ben easily dodged by stepping to the right. Ben shot his foot straight forward kicking the boy directly in his shin, putting him to ground as he held his leg screaming 'My shin!'. The second attempted to punch him again but he easily grabbed his hand and threw him to the ground. Suddenly, Ben felt the third hold him in a headlock move preventing him from escaping. The leader stood up groggily and took the chance he waited for and punched Ben directly in the stomach.

"Get away from him!" Gwen screamed as she kicked the goon holding Ben in the face causing him to release Ben and stagger backwards. She then punched the leader in the stomach, and followed up with a rising uppercut. Her assault didn't stop there, "Duck!" she yelled and Ben followed. Soon her leg swept above his head, where the third goon returned knocking him down into the sand. Ben noticed the second one behind her, and slid on the sand kicking him on his legs nudging him forward but before he could fall over Ben kicked him in the face. When he got up, he noticed the leader was still standing looking like a frightened little cat.

"He is my boyfriend! Not my brother! My boyfriend, get it!" Gwen shouted and the boy stiffened.

"No way but he even looks like you…your eyes…" He replied weakly and Gwen groaned.

"Fine! Proof," Gwen turned to Ben and held his face with both her hands and roughly pressed her lips against his. At that moment, Ben's brain stopped functioning and nothing made sense "There, you happy?" The boy nodded and ran off crying.

"Some boys can be such Dweebs, right Ben?" Gwen turned to Ben, who hadn't come out of the Daze "Um…Ben? You ok?" Gwen waved her hand in front of his face. Nothing. She brought her face closer to his and noticed how deeply he was blushing. She snapped her fingers and Ben began to shake his head. When he noticed how close her face was to his, he hopped back.

"What? What is it? Why are you so close to me?" Ben huffed.

"Why are you blushing so hard…?" Gwen asked walking closer to him.

"I'm not blushing! It's just the heat." Ben looked away trying to avoid her piercing gaze. What is wrong with me? It's just Gwen.

"Right…well since where at the beach why don't we try having more fun?" Gwen grabbed Ben's hand and pulled him along. Well since we're here might as well go with it, Ben thought following his girlfriend along the beach.

"It won't be girlie right…?" And so began their mini-adventures along the beach.


"So what exactly are we looking for here…?" Ben asked lifting a moss covered rock.

"I don't know. Something cool." Gwen noticed the few crabs that were scurrying across the rocky cliff.

"What can we find at the bottom of a cliff that's cool'?" Ben lifted a soggy wet patch of sea grass that appeared to be moving. He threw it away as quickly as possible.

"Oh! Ben come and look at this!" Gwen squatted next to a shallow pool of water and pointed at two starfish, one much larger than the other "Aww they look so cute like that." Ben stuck his finger in the pool and poked at the larger starfish. Ben leaned over to get a closer look at it, but as luck would have it he delved head first into the shallow pool.

"Ben!" Gwen cried as she pulled him out but as soon as she did she broke into snickers.

"Ahhhh! Get it off me!" The starfish attached itself to Ben face. He struggled to pull it off his face but it wouldn't come off. Gwen just held her stomach and laughed at him.

"Alright alright, just calm down." Gwen used her magic to detach the starfish from Ben. While she did, it gave her a great idea.


"Well what do you think?" Gwen twirled, putting emphasis on the star clip in her hair. Ben smiled honestly thinking of how cute it looked on her, but then he noticed the bunch of guys staring at her. Gwen did look amazing in her light blue one piece, so he could understand why they were staring but to put it likely; it ticked him off.

"Meh," Ben replied, turning away seeming unimpressed.

"Ah, come on Ben don't you think it makes me look cuter?" Gwen pulled Ben's gaze towards her, at first he blushed but he kept his unimpressed look "Fine then." Gwen fumed walking passed Ben, who felt slightly guilt. Before he could even apologize, a tall blonde guy walked over to Gwen complimenting her on her looks.

"Again?" Ben screamed running over to Gwen and forcefully pulled her away from him.

"Ben! What are you doing?"

"What's with you today? You're attracting every single guy on the beach!"

"Wha? How is that my fault?" Gwen crossed her arms and glared at Ben "First you didn't care how I looked and now you're all angry because of the way I look?"

"Well if you didn't look so cute I bet none of the guys would even talk to you!"

"Well-! Wait…did you just say I looked cute?" Gwen blinked and giggled "Ben…are you jealous?"

"No! I am not!" Ben blushed turning away from her "I just don't like all the staring and guys crowding up on you is all." Gwen gave a bright smile before she clumsily hugged Ben.

"Who do you think I try to look cute for?" Ben smiled and hugged Gwen tightly. "No matter how much those guys stare, I will always be yours alright?" Gwen could feel Ben nod and for that she gently kissed him on his cheek.


"Grandpa! We're back!" When the two returned to the Rust bucket, the sun was setting off in the horizon. It was already late in the afternoon "Grandpa? You here?" Gwen called again but there was no reply. Ben reluctantly searched every room in the rusty RV and found no signs of Max.

"Ben, I found something." Gwen pulled out a note from the front seat of the RV "Look at this," Gwen showed Ben the note which read 'Sorry guys, I'll be a bit late tonight. I left your dinner and ice-cream in the fridge. Sorry I couldn't be here tonight. Love Max.'

"Ben do you think Grandpa is avoiding us?" Gwen asked worriedly.

"I don't know and I don't care." Ben shrugged off Gwen's question and headed into the shower. The last thing he want to do was think about his grandpa.

Ben's trust in his grandpa is near nil. Gwen tries to make the best of the situation but she can't make it any better. Max, feeling guilty about the ordeal avoids his grandkids not knowing how to face them. How will the Tennyson family overcome this situation?