Hey guys. I want to start out this chapter with something very important so I hope you all are reading. We do have a gay character in this story and, in life, gay people face a lot of prejudice and hate. I just want to make it clear that I am not expressing my feelings in this story, and I'm not trying to offend anyone. If any of you take offense to ridicule that may come up in the future, PLEASE let me know. We do have some meaner characters in this story and it is an interesting plotline to have someone struggle with their social status and their sexuality in that way. Thanks for understanding.
Personally, I believe that people who be themselves and people who love openly are beautiful no matter what, but like I said, this is not a place to express my opinions.
I won't say anything that is just downright bad, but if I hint at it I'd say like "he muttered something that was extremely offensive to this person" and I wouldn't actually SAY it. It won't come up in this chapter but I just want to warn you for the future.
It was Aaron who came up with it.
It was brilliant, devious, conniving, so simple but perfect, and everyone was so excited to put their plan into action that they wanted to do it that day. But Sandy, ever the voice of reason, reminded them that today was their day off and they had plenty of time to get their plans into action. Besides, they needed time to gather all of the needed materials for their plan.
So, the revenge plot was soon forced out of everyone's mind by the excitement of the day to come. Basically, as soon as the students woke up, they changed straight into their bathing suits, maybe ate a little breakfast, and headed down to Smarba's private beach.
That is, all except for Bethany Collins, who had to finish up her business as head of the school paper. She got her sports expert all set to write about the game last night, and told him strictly to make it completely honest and not trash talk Ravla (well, at least not too much). She finished up a story on the current stats of the Penny Wars race, careful not to expose how much they'd raised so far so it'd be a surprise, and finally, she was ready to hit the beach after hours of early morning prep. She sighed; the beginning of the year was always the toughest.
Bethanystopped in at one of the food court areas to grab some fruit for a quick breakfast, unable to get some before she went to work that morning. She then took off toward the ocean, eating as she walked. Once she arrived, she searched around for someone she could hang with. She decided on Claire, who was practically dragging Sam into the water. He would not go without a fight.
"Didn't you ever swim in Spain? Or France?" Claire was saying as Bethany arrived.
"Well…yeah, but..." he protested, struggling to come up with a good argument.
"Dude, you're in California,"Bethany joined the conversation, offering a warm smile. "It's the law to go swimming in the Atlantic."
"I find that very hard to believe," he said but it was obvious that he was beginning to give up the fight now that Claire had reinforcements.
Bethany, too, was eager to get out into the ocean. The water looked inviting on such a hot day. "Race you there," she said, though none of them ran, they all paraded slowly into the waves.
"Dang," Sam said as his toes touched the waves. "It's cold!"
"You get used to it," Claire shrugged, diving headfirst into an oncoming wave so she was completely under. She resurfaced, laughing. "See? Feels great already."
"If you say so," he said, standing knee-deep in the waves awkwardly. Claire would not stand for that, and Bethany noticed the evil glare on her face. As if she read her mind, the girls simultaneously bent down, cupped their hands under the water and pulled upward, sending torrents of water into an unexpecting Sam's face.
He sputtered and stepped backwards, shaking his now-wet light brown hair and blinking repeatedly. "That wasn't very nice," he said, but nevertheless he managed a chuckle.
Eventually they got him to loosen up and have fun a little and ended up body surfing in the waves until they got tired. Soaked, they dragged themselves out of the waves and onto solid group but with their feet still in the water. "It's almost depressing to think we're still at school,"Bethany laughed as she looked up at the orange buildings above them.
"Don't talk about that," Claire warned her, as she laid down on the sand and closed her eyes. "I'm having too much fun to think about school."
Bethany laughed again as she let the sun rays dry her body. "I am going to be so burned tomorrow," she sighed.
"Bethany, don't even talk," Claire said, sitting up again. "I'm so pale… I think I'm burned already. At least you tan a little!"
"Yeah, but then I look like some mess of pale, tan, and burned, and that is not a pretty sight," Bethany argued.
Claire laughed. "Well, there's nothing wrong with a little variety…" she noticed that Sam had been particularly quiet during this discussion. "Sam? What's up?"
He seemed alarmed at the sound of his name, snapping out of whatever reverie he happened to be in as he stared down the seemingly endless coast of California. "Nothing…"
"Oh, it's something," Bethany grinned. Being an expert at people's personal lives without being particularly nosy, Bethany knew that it was something. She followed the path of his gaze before he moved.
"But which something is it?" Claire inquired.
"Micah? Or Nix?"Bethanyasked.
"I didn't even see them," Sam argued.
"Bullshit."
"Look, they're all the way over there," Sam pointed out. "Doing…whatever the heck they do…"
"Alright Sam," Claire admitted defeat though she knew she was right. "But when you come crawling to us about advice for girls, there's only one thing we're going to say to you…"
Bethany joined in and she and Claire said simultaneously, "I told you so."
…
Micah and Nix, as it turned out, were finding shells and weird sea creatures because they would rather do that than play volleyball, or swim.
"How do you poke a hole in them for earrings without breaking them?" Micah asked curiously, holding up a perfectly sculpted sand dollar and referring once again to her hand-made earrings.
"Not easily," Nix admitted. "Usually with a pin. Those tend to work."
"Hey, look at that!" Micah was distracted, as she usually is, but that's okay because Nix's attention immediately swerved as well. She scooped up a tiny crab that was scuttling around in the shallow water. "He would make a good friend for Howard."
"Who's Howard?"
"My pet squirrel," Micah said casually, stroking the crab that was panicking and running wildly around her hand.
"You have a pet squirrel and I am just finding out about it now?"
"Oh, yes," she said brightly. "He's very friendly. You can meet him."
"I will definitely have to," Nix agreed, and at this point Gabe ran over to them to round them up.
"Hey, girls, we're - ," he paused in the middle of his sentence, looking at the creature in his sister's hand. Sighing, he said, "Micah, put that down."
"Why? He's cute."
"Because we're playing truth or dare, that's why," Gabe said, smiling. Micah and Nix actually enjoyed that game, for whatever reason, and immediately set the crab back in the sea and hurried over to the designated spot in the sand to play the game. A circle was beginning to form and they took seats in the opening spots.
"No limits truth or dare!" Dmitri was saying, waving around a bottle of something alcoholic to get attention. "Actually there are limits… nothing LAME… we wanna have some fun!"
"Amen!" Hunter yelled, giving him a high five.
"Ground rules…" Dmitri said, trying to think but he ended up deciding it was too much work. "No rules!" Some people cheered, others looked as if they were seriously regretting their decision to be there. "Melody! Truth or dare?"
"Truth," she shrugged.
"You ever had sex for drugs?" Dmitri asked. She nodded.
"Well ask something that we don't already know!" Reggie yelled, earning a slap from Melody, though no one really could argue that.
"Dean, truth or dare?" she then said. He said dare. Her eyes glinted maliciously. "How's that gum?"
"Um, fine?"
"Cool. Maybe Emma wants some. Put it in Emma's mouth… but you can't use your hands."
Dean looked pleased with his dare but Emma immediately began to protest. "Come 'ere, baby, my foot's hurt, don't make me walk!" he grinned as the group roared with laughter, watching Emma trudge over to where Dean was sitting. He leaned toward her and their mouths touched for the briefest of seconds before she pulled away.
"Rejected," Dmitri coughed as Emma opened her mouth to prove that she had, indeed, taken the gum from his mouth. She sauntered back to her place in the circle, annoyed.
"Fornell, truth or dare?" Dean asked. DJ looked up and said truth, dreading to know what Dean would come up with.
"You and…" he looked around at his classmates. "Sandy. You and Sandy are the last two people on Earth. You going to reproduce to save the world?"
Both subjects blushed wildly. "To save the world… sure," he grinned.
"That a boy," Hunter clapped him on the rolled her eyes.
"Claire, truth or dare?" DJ asked. After she conceded to dare, he said, "When we all go to get pizza in a while, go up to a complete stranger and talk dirty to them. But in casual conversation."
"Derek!" she reprimanded, shocked that he told her to do that. He shrugged and grinned. "Fine, fine… Nix, truth or dare?" she said truth. "Worst boyfriend. Tell us about him."
Her face grew red very quickly. "Umm, well when I lived in Massachusetts…I dated a guy and turned out he only dated me to make someone else jealous. That someone else was also a guy…" Her friends burst into laughter and she joined in too. "Gabe, truth or dare?" He picked dare. "Call someone pretending to work at a strip club."
He laughed and grabbed his phone. "Who?"
"Our cousin," Micah suggested. "Brendan!"
"Oh, man," he muttered, dialing his cousin's number after making sure Brendan wouldn't be able to tell it was his number. "Hello, Mr. Hill? Yes, it's Mr. Jones, I'm sorry to bother you but at what time did you want the strippers to arrive at your address?" The others could not hear his replies, but Gabe got really into it. "Yes, you did, sir, three male strippers. Yes, 4815 North Hydra Blvd. You gave it to us, Mr. Hill, when you ordered the strippers."
At this point, Dmitri got impatient, or bored, or something, and shouted, "COME ON! I'm already all buttered up!"
The group could no longer contain their laughter and they all cracked up. Gabe powered his phone off. "He hung up. By the way, next time, we have to put it on speaker phone. Marissa, truth or dare?"
She, too accepted the challenge of a dare. "Post a picture of yourself on one of those hot or not websites for three days… and be sure to show us your responses…"
"Gabriel!" she laughed, not expecting this coming from him. Everyone else laughed too; Gabe was supposed to be the sweet, gentle one. "Alright… Sawyer, truth or dare?" Surprisingly he picked truth. "Boxers or briefs?"
"How about neither?" he winked at her.
"Ew. I'm sorry I asked."
"Scar, truth or dare?" he asked. She picked dare. "Your bikini has much unnecessary material," he noted. She looked confused; it was a normal bikini in her eyes. "When we go out for pizza, stop at a store and buy a skimpier one. Then wear it for the rest of the day."
"Only if you close your eyes for the rest of the day," she joked but agreed to the dare anyway. "Alice has to come with me… where is Alice, anyway?"
"She went to go get Russ, because she was mad that he really decided not to come," Dean told her.
"Alice can get a new one, too," Sawyer suggested.
"Umm. No. I won't let you put my best friend through the same torture," Scarlett said, but once again she smiled as she said it. "Zoey, truth or dare?" When she answered dare, Scarlett smiled evilly and said, "I dare you to flash the security cameras at the mall."
"Fine," she shrugged. "But I'm wearing a blonde wig when I do it, and when I get caught I'm telling them my name is Scarlett Luciano."
"Okay. I take it back."
"Don't take it back," Dmitri whined, taking a swig from his bottle. "Or you'll both have to do it…"
"Ugh… then we'll work something out."
Shrugging, Zoey turned to Matt. "Mike, truth or dare."
He looked confused at being addressed this way. "My name's Matt."
"Whatever. Truth or dare?"
"Uh, dare."
"Okay," she thought for a second. "You have to say 'in bed' after everything you say for the rest of the day. And anything else that deserves an 'in bed' after it, for that matter."
"Sounds like a plan," he laughed. "In bed," he added quickly. "Greenberg, truth or dare? (in bed.)"
"You want the truth?" Reggie said, pushing himself off the sand dramatically. Everyone stared at him. "Truth is, I'm hungry. Let's get pizza!"
The group agreed, and also concluded that they'd be putting the game on hold until they get back later. They threw clothes on over their bathing suits and began their walk to the pizza place.
They worked out what they were going to order and DJ approached Claire. "Claire? Don't you have something to…do?"
She sighed, hoping he would've forgotten but knowing he wouldn't have. "So who you gonna seduce, Claire?" Kate laughed as she asked.
"Umm…" she looked around the restaurant for a candidate. "Oh, he's kind of cute, actually," she saw a kid about their age standing across the room. Kate laughed, and shoved her in his direction. She trudged over there; the rest of them followed, looking nonchalant while also listening intently.
"Hey there," Claire said, putting on her best enticingly flirtatious voice. He nodded casually, not thinking she wanted to talk. "So. I couldn't help but notice how extremely tight your pants are."
He looked down at his own skinny jeans, back at Claire, and said, "Umm… Uh, thanks?"
She nodded her 'you're welcome.' "Oh yes, they really do accentuate the lower half of your body."
Micah nearly burst out laughing at this and just barely stifled her laughter. Nix elbowed her. The boy now looked downright alarmed at what she said. "Okay…" he said, his face red.
Claire let the awkward silence sit for a while before continuing again. "So… come here often?"
"No," he said, shifting on his feet awkwardly. "I don't live around here. Just visiting."
"I see," Claire said, feeling slightly bad that she was probably causing this kid to never want to return to California again. "Well, the food is great. I always love coming here when I'm feeling hungry and need to be satisfied."
At this point, it wasn't as much what she was saying as how she was saying it. The raised eyebrows and the soft, sultry tone of voice just made the conversation what it was. "Yeah... that's nice," he said, looking rather uncomfortable and wanting to get away as soon as possible.
"Like right now," she went on. It now seemed as if she was thoroughly enjoying the dare and was having fun with it. "I really just want to shove the whole thing down my throat. The pizza, that is," she added a couple seconds later. He didn't even seem to have a response to this. "It's your turn," she said cheerfully, pointing that it was in fact his turn to place his order. He did not hesitate to jump over to the counter and order.
Claire, too, disappeared from the scene quickly; the fun she'd been having was forgotten and she grew red with embarrassment as she scurried into the bathroom until further notice. Her friends, meanwhile, were doing all in their ability not to laugh at this behavior.
Soon, they, too, sat down with their pizzas and Claire emerged from the bathroom once she knew it was safe to come out. Being teenagers, they devoured their food in record timing and were returning to the beach in no time.
They were met with a surprise.
"What the Hell?" Reggie, never the one to use his 'inside voice', shouted at the sight of the people on their beach. Emphasis on "their." Normally, this wouldn't concern them so much, and they would just politely tell the intruders that this was a private beach and to please pay attention to the No Trespassing signs. But in the case of Ravla students coming and intentionally crashing their beach party, there was no politeness to be had.
There was pretty much an uproar as the students charged onto the beach. There was a parade of Smarba students and only six from Ravla, but they admittedly held their ground rather well.
Leading the pack, to no surprise, was Tracey McQueen. Immediately, the blonde queen bee bitch locked eyes with one Alice Williams.
Standing stupidly by her side was Rocky Stellan, the enormous linebacker who'd taken Russ down the previous night. On the other side was Jone Fort, the culprit of Dean's ankle.
With a smug smile on her face was Alli Rockchester. It was blatant that she had caused all of the technical difficulties from their day of sports and that she was proud of it.
Surprisingly, another member of the group was Tamara Addams. She had a strong and lasting friendship with Emma and they quickly exchanged smiles before Emma grabbed Dean's arm; he needed the support, and she couldn't let him run off and attack Jone.
Finally there was Olivia Wyllie. She was a fierce competitor on the soccer team – for both the guys and girls. Needless to say there was a bit of tenseness with her presence as well.
It was Alice who spoke up first, her hatred burning so brightly that it outshined her usually bubbly, cheerful attitude. "Don't they teach you to read at that damn school? No trespassing," she pointed at the wooden sign.
"Then maybe you shouldn't be here either and get back to your street corner," Tracey sneered in what she believed was a good insult. "Oh, wait, I must have mistaken you for a hooker. I bet it happens a lot."
Melody, apparently, thought it was a good joke too. As Alice stood in her rage, Melody raised a hand for a high-five. "Well said!"
Tracey looked her up and down disapprovingly, then scoffed. "Please. You don't deserve to touch me."
Melody was taken aback for a moment, but her raised hand then turned to a fist and she punched Tracey – right in the face. She let out a bloodcurdling shriek. "My beautiful face!" she sobbed as she ran off.
Many in the crowd were confused at what just happened but they all assumed it was a good thing. "One down, five to go," Hunter said optimistically.
"How's the foot, Luciano?" Jone said triumphantly, sending boastful glares in his direction. He clenched his fists and didn't move. "It's not permanently damaged, is it? That would be a tragedy…"
"No, thanks for asking," he said, his voice dripping with anger and sarcasm.
"I'll have to try harder next time, then," Jone said. "Still got one more game this season to do it."
"Good thing your electricity worked fine," Alli piped up in fake concern. "I heard you had a bit of trouble with it. Not looking good for sports this year, is it?"
"Yeah, we did have some trouble," DJ shot a glare in her direction, but smirking slightly when he saw that she had a lot of coverup on her right eye that was obviously hiding a black eye. "Would ask you to help us out, but what do you know about electronics?"
She dropped the false friendliness at this. "Surprised you haven't tried anything for revenge yet. Given up? 'Bout time…"
"Go fuck yourself," Russ spat venomously, and the others were grateful for this crude comment. None of them wanted to divulge their genius plot of revenge.
"Don't take him seriously, Alli," Tamara warned. "He's had a serious head injury recently and probably doesn't know what he's saying." Rocky laughed stupidly. Russ started forward forcefully, but Alice held onto his arm, pleading for him not to go get himself hurt again. Whether he was going for Rocky or for Tamara, she didn't know.
"Look, you don't belong here," Reggie said. "So you better have a damn good explanation for the cops."
Tamara looked at him, scrutinizing. "Like you'd ever call the cops on us, you've got more to be busted before than any of us," even the Smarba kids had to admit that was true.
"Besides, Liv does belong here," Alli spoke up again, nodding in Olivia's direction. She did not look particularly happy about this. "She'll be transferring to your school in – what is it, Olivia? Two weeks?"
"Yes, two weeks," she said sadly.
All the students hid their surprise at this news, and instead Dean said, "Well sucks for you then. You lose your best soccer player."
"Like she'll ever play for you!" Alli laughed at the idea. Olivia, however, looked unsure at this statement; the expression on her face read, sorry, but I couldn't give up soccer if I tried. "Anyway, let's split guys. Get well soon, boys," she said, retaining her fake concerned tone as she, Tamara, Olivia, Rocky, and Jone walked off laughing in the direction of Tracey.
Two things happened the moment they were out of hearing range. The first, was that Shannon whined, "My God, that Tracey McQueen is such a bitch. She really thinks she's all that."
The second thing: Alice, flared up by this confrontation with Tracey, rounded on Melody, taking her crap for the last time. "Okay, look, I don't know or care what your problem is with me, but when they get involved, you'd better be on our side."
Additionally, the conversations that followed happened at the same time. Scarlett, clad in her new skimpy bikini, could not help but say, "Well, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?" to Shannon's statement.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" her eyes narrowed.
"Are you really as stupid as you look?" Scarlett said with surprising poison.
Meanwhile, Melody was not going to take this from Alice. "Who said I wasn't on our side?" she crossed her arms – a bad sign. "Just because she said something funny – and true – I had to laugh."
"Like you have any right to be calling anyone a hooker,"Alice snapped.
And then, at the same time once again, Melody snapped, as well asShannon, and pounced. Before anyone really gathered what exactly was going on, the girls were clawing, punching, kicking, anything they could of each other. Shannon's well-manicured nails punctured Scarlett's skin, but Scarlett's revenge was had when she kicked sand into her competitor's eyes.
Similarly, Alice was dealt with a blow similar to the one Tracey received, while Melody suffered a knee to her stomach.
"Girls fighting in bikinis, how hot does it get?" Hunter muttered to Brian, who burst out laughing and agreed.
Boone, Sawyer, Dean, Russ, and Nick did not agree, however. "Dude, go do something!" Dean ordered Sawyer, pointing at his sister, unable to get over there quickly himself. He did not need telling twice. Sawyer grabbed Scarlett by the shoulder and pulled her away while Boone did the same withShannon, dragging them a safe distance away from each other as they struggled to get away from the strength of their captors.
Meanwhile, Nick showed surprising strength while pulling Melody away from Alice, and Russ dragged Alice away as well, both girls struggling like the other pair of fighters. In her attempt to have one last blow at Melody, Alice drove her arm backward – right into Russ's face.
Startled, he let go of her. Alice, now free, instinctively moved toward Melody before she fully processed what had just happened. She immediately whirled around when she realized it; Russ was clutching his head, looking just as dazed as he did the day before.
"Oh my God!" she shrieked, rushing over to him. "Did I hit your eye?"
It took a couple seconds for him to answer. "Yeah… you nailed me pretty good…"
Matt, just as his dare had required him to do, could not help but add, "in bed." To Russ's statement. People laughed, glad that there was a little humor in the atmosphere, but Russ did not find it that funny.
"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" he snapped.
"Russell!" Alice said scoldingly, punching him on the arm.
"Ow! I'm abused."
"I'm so sorry," she crowed sadly.
"Yeah, you better be!" Sawyer said angrily. "You could put him out for another week!"
"Is that ALL you ever think about?" Scarlett decided to get involved. "Leave her alone, Sawyer, it's not like she meant to do it!"
"Seriously?" Gabe – thank God for the peacemaker – intervened now. "The second they leave we start fighting amongst ourselves. I doubt they do that." Everyone watched him with interest. "I don't expect all the students in a school to get along but this is just ridiculous. This shouldn't be happening. Isn't this our day off? No worries? Leave each other alone and make everyone's lives easier."
An awkward silence followed. Slowly, everyone clustered around their friends, trying to make things less awkward again.
…
As the day wore on and earlier events were forgotten – or at least put aside – the talk amongst students was that Olivia Wyllie was to be joining their student body within the next two weeks. That hadn't happened ever before, a Ravla student transferring to Smarba. DJ, Marissa, Matt, Kate, and Claire headed over to the Crème Glacée Parlour, eager for a cool treat on the hot day. They were greeted by one Tommy Jacobs, who sat reading on a stool behind the counter.
"Hey!" he said eagerly, standing up and looking happy that people had arrived to get rid of his boredom. His long blonde hair gave him a clear California image. "Well if it isn't my favorite customers," he winked at them.
"I call BS on that one, Tommy," DJ said but grinned nonetheless. "I heard you say that to every person who walked in these doors last year."
He laughed, and shrugged. "You caught me," he admitted. Hopping over the counter, he delivered each of them a hug. "Wait, I actually don't know you," he said after he'd hugged Marissa.
She laughed as well. "Marissa Kuroki," she introduced.
"Tommy Jacobs," he beamed. He resumed his position behind the counter. "So what's the scoop, DJ? Not taking a job back here again?" DJ had worked parttime at the Parlour his previous year at school.
"I've also heard you say 'what's the scoop' a hundred times," he pointed out. "It's really not that funny."
"Not the point."
"I think I'll re-apply," he said. "I just didn't want to start working at the same time school started. One step at a time."
Tommy nodded in understanding and turned to Matt. "So what's all this gossip going on about Ravla? I was going to come to the game yesterday but I got caught up in work. College, y'know?" Tommy was in his 3rd year at UCLA.
"Oh, I don't want to talk about it," he groaned.
"That bad?" he raised his eyebrows at the other three.
"It kind of was," Kate said, sympathetically glancing at Matt, who clearly really didn't want to talk about it. "I'll bring you the paper when it comes out tomorrow. Should have a full story."
"Well, not the full story," DJ corrected her, snickering slightly.
"Ooh, tell, tell," Tommy said.
"Not until we get our ice cream," Claire smiled.
Tommy sighed and dished out their orders as they gave them. Then he walked with them to a table and sat down. They began filling him in on what had happened at Red and White, and what had happened just hours ago at the beach.
He scowled. As a college student, Tommy shouldn't care about high school rivalries but he usually took the side of Smarba. "Now, I get Ravla customers here too, so I shouldn't say this," Tommy said. "But they're all no good, them. I haven't met a decent one."
"Tamara is cool," DJ said.
"To you, maybe, but she didn't seem that way," Marissa said. As a 'newbie' she had an outsider opinion to put in. "Girl with the dark curly hair?" they nodded.
"Well… she and Emma are pretty much best friends," Claire explained. "So we know her through Emma, and we get along okay. But I guess when it comes down to it… she is one of them."
"So what are you going to do about it?" he inquired.
"Well…" Claire glanced at her companions.
"Go ahead," Matt shrugged and the others agreed.
"Ravla is a boarding school, like Smarba, right?" Claire began. Tommy nodded. "So people keep all their possessions in their rooms, 'cause we don't have lockers."
"That just makes our job easier," DJ said. Claire shushed him and went on.
"You know our friend Gunner?"
"No."
"Well, he's got a lot of money and friends in high places," she explained. "More like low places… anyway, he's getting us some quick-dry cement and some of us are going to sneak in and pour it over their locks. So they can't get in, or out, of their rooms till it's chipped off."
Tommy whistled. "Mean!" he chuckled. He gave each of them a high five. "Who's the evil mastermind? Eh? I bet it's you," he looked at Marissa.
She was taken aback. "Me? I'm completely innocent."
"Yeah, right," DJ rolled his eyes.
"It was Aaron Alastor," Matt explained.
Tommy nodded. "He's in here with Dmitri Arsov a lot. Pretty cool guys," he said. "I'm surprised more of you haven't come in yet today. Kind of disappointed."
"We were supposed to all come together, but we had a bit of a falling out among… everyone," Matt explained.
"Whaddya mean?" he asked.
"After the Ravla kids left, things got… tense," Matt struggled for the right word.
"If chick fights are tense, then yeah," Kate raised her eyebrows.
"Another story," Tommy sighed as the bell above the door rang, and in came Mary, Gabe, Micah, Sam, Nix, and Sun. Tommy jumped back to his post.
"Hey, we were wondering if you were here," Gabe said cheerfully as he pulled up a seat to the table of those who were already there.
"We're here!" Marissa announced. The others stared at her and laughed.
"Thanks, good to know," he chuckled. "Man, I have gone too long without a Parlour's Strawberry Sundae.
"So what happened to truth or dare?" Marissa asked.
"I think there was unspoken agreement not to continue the game," Mary said thoughtfully. "Everyone kind of went their separate ways."
"So much for our awesome beach party," Claire pouted.
"Well, everyone's having a good time in their separate ways," she offered to try and cheer her friend up.
"What's going on?"
"They're playing football, some volleyball, Sandy took some people and headed off to God-knows-where to play some cards," Mary explained.
"None of this surprises me," Claire sighed once again.
"Well, I heard the word 'volleyball,'" Marissa said, and stood up. She said bye as she and Kate hurried off to join the game.
Micah sat down with an ice cream and a Pepsi – then proceeded to mix the two together. Her companions stared at her. It took a few moments to notice their stares. "What? It's like a root beer float… only Pepsi."
DJ ignored this completely and decided to agree with Claire. "Yeah, I've got to give it to you… this day has been a failure."
…
Nick was talking animatedly with Elizabeth for a while. He played volleyball with her and the others for a while, but after failing miserably for a few minutes, he took a swim, and it felt so good in the heat of LA.
When he emerged, the first person he saw was his sister, who was laying on her stomach in the sand just fingering the sand absentmindedly. He walked over to her.
As she narrowed her eyes at his approach, he knew she must think he was coming over to reprimand her about the fight earlier. He was worn from all their fights, though. He had learned that their arguing is not going to get Melody to quit her rambunctious lifestyle. And it hurt him to be on such bad terms with her.
So when he sat beside her, he said, "Remember that one time we made a couch out of sand?"
Melody smiled at the memory. "And then someone else built a sand TV in front of it?"
Nick laughed. He'd forgotten about that. "If only there was a sand mini fridge too."
"For some reason I can't see that working out," she said.
The two of them began piling the sand together, recollecting memories.
…
Hunter sat on the beach, for once not worrying about getting stoned, wasted, or laid. All of that was important to him, yes, but it all took second place compared to music. And he LOVED Mirror Image – so he was not going to let this contest slip away from him.
It was simple. The first round of the contest was going to be in November. You could do cover songs, so he wasn't worried about that. He, Brian, and Reggie, knew plenty of songs between the three of them. And they were fast learners.
After elimination they pulled for originals. That was where Hunter saw a slight problem. He, Brian, and Reggie were okay at songwriters, but more often than not they'd end up arguing about how something should sound or try to make it perfect and it never sounded as good as they planned.
And this was all if they could find a bassist.
But Hunter was getting an early start. He sat in the sand peacefully with a guitar, not really writing any songs but writing down bits and pieces of lyrics or riffs that he thought sounded cool.
It was going smoothly until a shadow covered up his paper. He looked up and saw a good friend of his, Charlie, take a seat beside him. "Hey, mate," the cheerfulness in his voice seemed a bit forced. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why; he and Hunter, though good friends, had been competing for Claire's affections for the longest time.
"Hey," Hunter replied casually. It was just one of those laidback days. He wasn't too concerned about arguing with Charlie – yet.
"So Claire tells me you're thinking about entering the Roxy Contest," Charlie said all-too casually.
"Not thinking about it," Hunter corrected. "We've decided."
Charlie nodded. "Mirror Image. They're a pretty big deal."
"Yeah. I'm a huge fan," Hunter could not contain his excitement at this. "Josh McGregor is one of my all-time favorite vocalists. He's a huge influence on my own singing."
"Yeah, you know, I can kind of hear that in your voice," he said. Maybe Charlie did want to make small talk after all. "You know, Drive Shaft is entering too."
Or maybe not.
Hunter shrugged. "I figured you would."
"What's your band called?" he asked.
"We haven't really decided on a name," Hunter said uneasily. He wished Charlie would leave.
"I see," he said. "Who's in the band?"
"I've been meaning to ask you about that," Hunter said, turning the conversation around. "We're looking for a bassist. You must know one."
Charlie shrugged. "Not really. Hard to find a good one," he said. He didn't seem too concerned with helping his good friend out. "You know, if you're just forming the band now, you may not have enough experience to really get far in this competition."
"It's all for fun, dude," Hunter said through gritted teeth. He did not mean that at all. He wanted nothing more to beat Drive Shaft's ass in this contest.
"True," Charlie said. Hunter didn't think he meant it either. "We've been working on a song, it's called 'You All Everybody.' I'm really proud of it. It's going to blow those judges away."
Hunter's fist clenched around the paper that he'd been writing on. "That's so cool, bro," he said. No more Mr. Nice Guy. "But too bad we're going to blow 'em away more."
"You think so?" Charlie said coolly.
"I know it."
"Well, I'll see you onstage, mate," he stood up again. He began to walk away, but then turned back. "Girls DIG the rock stars, by the way."
"You wouldn't know," Hunter snarled.
"Wait and see," Charlie said. "I'll try to get you front row seats to my concert."
"Pace, girls dig the winners," Hunter replied. "When I win, I'll be up onstage."
"It's on," Charlie said, and this time he left for good.
Hunter, full of anger, marched over to where Reggie and Brian were (it appeared that they were throwing sand at each other). "Get back to the room. We have some rehearsing to do."
…
Alice had been getting concerned. Russ kept nodding out if he didn't do anything for too long and was really sensitive to bright lights and loud noises. He assured her these were just normal symptoms of a concussion.
He also insisted on playing football with the guys.
In order to drag him away from the temptation of football, she took him toSanta Monicaas the sun set. The light didn't bother him as much now because the sun was setting.
He was always kind of quiet and reserved but as they sat on the Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel, he just stared out into the ocean blankly, not saying a word, and Alice was nervous. "You tired, Russell? I should take you home…"
"Yeah, but, I slept for 14 hours last night," he said as he yawned. "I think I'll be fine." And that was the end of that conversation.
There was another thing Alice was worried about, and her name was Melody. She knew that he messed around with girls constantly, and she wasn't exactly faithful either. But she didn't have to be, right? They weren't together.
But Melody seemed to be purposefully getting on her nerves. She predicted Russ's answer before she even asked the question. "So, what do you think about Melody?"
He shrugged, still staring out into the ocean as he replied. "I don't really know her. Seems pretty cool."
Her guess was right on.
"I think she has a thing for you,"Alice said teasingly, as she would to any normal friend, though really she wanted to know what he thought of this.
"It kind of seems that way," he said vaguely.
Now Alice was just frustrated. "I don't like that," she said, letting the annoyance in her voice show.
Russ finally turned to her at this. She wished he didn't; his eyes were unfocused still. "What?"
"The way she throws herself at you," she said bitterly. "I don't like it at all. I know she does it to annoy me, and because she just wants to jump in bed with you. I don't like anything about her. The way she sleeps around more than the strippers do, how she's always stumbling around high, and -," her rant was interrupted with a kiss. She had a feeling he had just kissed her to get her to stop talking but that was okay with her, for once.
When he pulled away, he asked, "Have you been drinking?"
"A little," she admitted. She managed to roll her eyes before he even made his reply, and beat him to it, "You are such a prude, Russ. Live a little."
"I'll pass," he scoffed as he continued looking out into the endless ocean. They were far enough from Los Angeles that the smog didn't ruin the view of the sky, the stars shone brightly against the dark sky and reflected, shimmering, in the ocean below.
They disembarked the Ferris Wheel as they reached the bottom and wandered the pier for a while. Suddenly, a body emerged from the crowd and slammed into Russ (he really wasn't having a good weekend) on its way to Alice.
Alice could tell she was out partying in the city – she had pulled out one of her short sexy dresses for the occasion, and had curled her hair. But it was all a mess now; her dress was torn and her hair frizzing up, tangled. Her green eyes were wide with fear, and her makeup was smeared on her face – and mixed with blood.
Needless to say, Sandy was a mess.
"What happened?"Alice demanded, her heart sinking for a second at the sight of the blood on her face. But she didn't seem to be injured; Alice grew queasy at the thought that it was someone else's blood.
In between sharp breaths, she managed to say in pure desperation, "I need your help."
Guys, I am SO sorry for the wait. I hope it lived up to your expectations, because it was a lot of fun to write.
And one thing: I know I said that the transfer students wouldn't be appearing until after Christmas, but Olivia is going to be the ONE exception because I want to use her in a plotline.
If your character wasn't in this one, I'm sorry, but they will for sure be in the next one.
Chapter title creds go to THE LAST VEGAS and their amazing song LOOSE LIPS. They're an up-and-coming band from Chicago and they TOTALLY rock so you should look them up.
You should also review. Please?
