Some days passed. Almost all of the relationships were growing stronger, and even Sourward was starting to warm up to Citrusella a little. Matlow and Candlehead were also growing closer, until Matlow found that he actually liked Candlehead instead of disliking her. He also had met her pets Sweetie and Clucka and grew to like them as well. They in turn liked him back.

The only relationship still 'cold' was Graham and Crumbelina. It wasn't too bad, Graham was still a gentleman towards Crumbelina and was also very generous towards her. He was extremely romantic too, giving her small but meaningful gifts like roses along with complimenting her and giving her French pet names. Crumbelina even had to admit that at least this time the guy who liked her actually knew how to treat a lady. However she still resented the fact that he had tricked her into dating him, and tried to be as distant as possible towards him. But much to her surprise, he wasn't offended by her distant behavior. Instead he seemed to enjoy it. Crumbelina just shrugged it off as his love for her blinding him to her resentment.

But speaking of the stronger relationships: close to the end of July Bodhivian had gotten really good at skiing and snowboarding, almost as good as Adorabeezle even.

"Well, you've made wonderful progress this month." Adorabeezle smiled one day after the Roster Race. "Would you like to move up to Adam and Swizzle teaching us how to ski and snowboard better?"

"Nope, I have something else in mind." Bodhivian smiled. "How would you like to go to the beach today instead? I did hear that Sugar Rush has a beach."

"Yeah it does, it's called Sour-Sugar Beach." Adorabeezle nodded. "Haven't been there often since I'm more of a winter person...I do like some things about the other seasons though...oh what the heck? I'm in."

"Sah-weet." Bodhivian grinned.

They headed to Sour-Sugar Beach and Bodhivian headed for the surfboards/water-skis rental shack.

"Why are we going there?" Adorabeezle asked.

"Because I want to thank you for teaching me how to ski and snowboard by teaching you how to water-ski and surf." Bodhivian smiled.

"Really?" Adorabeezle smiled. "I'd really like that."

First up was water-skiing. Bodhivian and Adorabeezle had loads of fun doing that and Adorabeezle even became good at water-skiing.

After dropping off the water-skis they rented they picked out a couple of surfboards.

"What happened to your surfboard?" Adorabeezle asked.

"I left it at home so I wouldn't be tempted to surf all the time instead of trying inland sports." Bodhivian explained.

"Ah."

"Crikey surfs up!" Bodhivian said excitedly.

Adorabeezle turned and saw some choice waves out in the ocean.

"Come on let's takeoff and shoot the curl!" Bodhivian ran towards the waves.

"Hey wait up!" Adorabeezle laughed.

"Banzai!" Bodhivian said happily as he went through a tube.

Adorabeezle didn't start too bad, but after she followed Bodhivian into the tube she started to lose her balance. Bodhivian looked back and saw this.

"Bail out bail out!" He called.

It was too late, she wiped out.

"Adora!" Bodhivian gasped.

He was worried because it had been a really nasty wipeout. She had disappeared under the water. He proned over and caught up to her as soon as she got her head above the water.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah I'm fine...was a little scared for a moment but I'm fine." Adorabeezle grabbed her surfboard and got back on it.

"No Neptune Cocktail?" He asked.

"No." Adorabeezle smiled, having learned lots of surfing terms from him before.

Bodhivian was relieved.

"Let's try that again." Adorabeezle grinned.

"Chaa, let's go." Bodhivian nodded.

They did surf again...but Adorabeezle kept wiping out quickly. Finally on the fourth try she did get a Neptune Cocktail. That is she got quite a bit of seawater in her.

"Okay, come on it's okay." Bodhivian helped her onto the beach.

Adorabeezle obviously felt very sick.

"Okay, now you have to sell a buick to get it out." Bodhivian said gently.

Adorabeezle did. That is she managed to throw up. After doing so she felt a bit better.

"Okay, no more surfing for you today." Bodhivian said seriously but caringly. "I just want you to lie down on your blanket and rest for the rest of the day."

Luckily they had brought basic beach gear with them.

"Oh man..." Adorabeezle groaned.

"I know, Neptune Cocktails can be an uber bummer." Bodhivian agreed.

They rested until it was nighttime, and then headed back. They decided to just water-ski the next day and did. The day after that Adorabeezle wanted to try surfing again. She did but kept wiping out badly. Fortunately this time she did not get a Neptune Cocktail, but by the end of the day she was frustrated. The same thing happened the following day.

"That's it, I quit!" She said, in tears, as she went back onto the beach.

She sat down on her blanket and sobbed. Bodhivian went over, sat down on his blanket, and rubbed her back.

"It's okay, not everyone is good at surfing." Bodhivian said gently.

"No it's not okay!" Adorabeezle cried. "I...I really like you Bodhi, and I wanted to be good at surfing so that I could surf with you but I'm a failure. Oh you must think I'm a dweeb..."

"No, I don't think you're a dweeb, kook, or anything like that." Bodhivian shook his head. "I think you're cool in your own way. After all you're...you're not the only one who's failed at something."

Adorabeezle calmed down and looked at him.

"You too?" She guessed.

"Chaa...inland sports. At least the ones that use balls." Bodhivian finally admitted. "I've been wanting to try them ever since I first watched Stormberry play beach volleyball. She was so good at it that I wanted to play as well...but every time we went to the beach I'd head immediately for the surf. Or rent water-skis if the waves weren't surf-worthy. Anyway, when Swizzle and Adam offered to teach me and Stormberry how to play ball sports I was excited to learn and couldn't wait. But then...but then I kept failing at them. Swizzle and Adam were sympathetic about it, but even so I was embarrassed. Especially since Stormberry became good at them. I later gave up not long before you asked me to hang out."

"How come you didn't tell me before?" Adorabeezle asked.

"Because I was ashamed...until today." Bodhivian smiled. "After watching you fail at surfing I realized that no one can be righteous at everything. And I also realized that failing at something doesn't make anyone a loser as long as they really tried to be good at it. You failing at surfing didn't make you a loser in my eyes after all, actually I'm proud of you for continuing to try even after that bummer of a first day."

Adorabeezle smiled at him, feeling a lot better.

"How about we just stick with both skiing and water-skiing? With a little snowboarding on the side?" She suggested.

"Sounds off the wall to me." Bodhivian grinned.

So that's what they did. They also let Adamec and Swizzle teach them how to ski and snowboard better.