Hey guys! Long time no see! Well I'm back with this new chapter! Enjoy!

I headed down to the pool for one of my midnight swims the night that Daniel left. I couldn't stop missing him and I was hoping that a swim would clear my mind. I was surprised however to see that Cody and Dolph were sitting on lounge chairs with one of the neighbors, Sheamus. He lived down at the end of the beach and he been coming to Santa Cruz for as long as we had.

The boys never actually liked Sheamus. He was a huge player. Like bigger than Cody and all the girls knew he was a total creeper. When I saw him I stiffened a little and tightened the grip on my towel. I didn't want it to fall down because it'd be awkward that I was the only one not fully clothed. I wondered for a quick second if I should turn back but then I scoffed internally. I did not spend all year trying to become more confident to be scared by some random person.

"Hey guys" I said as I walked over to the edge of the pool. Sheamus looked up and sneered at me.

"Well well. Little Katie. All grown-up. Come join us" Sheamus stated as he patted the lounge chair next to him. I sighed and sat down. Sheamus leaned in and gave me a hug. He smelled like alcohol and cigarettes.

"So, how've you been lassie?" Sheamus asked leering at me. I opened my mouth to answer but Cody interrupted.

"She's been fine and now it's time for her to go to bed. Night Katie" Cody stated. I rolled my eyes at him.

"I'm not going to bed yet. I'm here to swim" I retorted. Dolph looked a bit nervous.

"Maybe you should head back up. Trish will kill you if she sees you drinking"

"Um hello. I'm not drinking and neither are you" I reminded him. Sheamus smirked and offered his beer and winked. I hesitated. I never liked the smell of alcohol and I wasn't sure if I wanted any.

"Don't give her that!" Cody growled, "For god's sake, she's just a kid!"

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you were my father!" I glared at Cody. For a second I almost took the beer but then I realized I'd being doing it just to spite Cody and I didn't want any of my decisions to be based on him anymore.

"No thanks Sheamus. I'm good" I told him. Cody nodded as though I needed his permission to drink.

"Now go back to your room like a good girl" Cody said patronizingly. I raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me? I'm only like two years younger than you"

"Two and a quarter" Cody corrected. Yeah. Big difference. Sheamus laughed and I could smell the alcohol again.

"Shit. My girlfriend JoJo was fifteen. Well ex now" Sheamus stated. I smiled weakly. Honestly I could not care less. Sheamus was just as creepy as I had always heard. Normally I would have left by now but I liked the way Cody was watching us. Like he was jealous but also nervous of something. I liked it a lot.

"So… Are you coming to my bonfire tomorrow night?" Sheamus asked me.

"Um sure. Why not?" I answered, trying to stay calm. The boys went to the big Fourth of July bonfire every year but I was never invited. Sheamus had it at his house because there were a ton of fireworks on that end of the beach and his mom always put out stuff for s'mores. I once made Dolph bring one back for me, and he did. It was rubbery and burnt, but I still ate it, and I was still happy that Dolph remembered. It was like a little piece of the party. They never let me go with them, and I never tried to make them. I watched the show from our back porch, in my pajamas, with Trish and Stephanie.

"I thought you came here to swim" Cody interjected suddenly. Christ. What was going on with him?

"Geez Cody. Give her a break. If she wants to swim, she will" Dolph laughed. We exchanged a look like Why is Cody acting so weird? Cody looked sullen as he flicked his cigarette into his half-empty can.

"Whatever" he replied annoyed. I rolled my eyes and stood up, throwing off my towel. I could feel three sets of eyes checking me out: one shy, one creepy and one admiring. You can guess who was who. I walked near the edge and did a perfect swan dive into the pool.

The next day I was really excited to go the bonfire and I thought about my outfit all day. Since I had never gone to these things I had no idea what to wear. It might get cold but who bundles up for a bonfire? I didn't wanna be too dressed up but also didn't wanna be underdressed. In the end I chose a black tank top with slits along the sides, camo shorts and black boots. That was safe, right?

When we got to the bonfire I realized I chose wrong. The other girls were wearing sundresses and skirts and cute shoes. I was so embarrassed! If I had girl friends here, I would have known this!

"You didn't tell me that girls got dressed up for this!" I hissed to Dolph. Dolph raised an eyebrow.

"The hell are you talking about? You look hot" he told me, winking as he walked away. I blushed a little. I looked hot? I glanced around and noticed there was a keg. I'd never seen one before in real life! I started to walk away but Cody grabbed my arm.

"Don't drink tonight! My mom will kill me if I let you drink" he warned me. I shook him off.

"You're not letting me do anything"

"Come on. Please?" he begged.

"We'll see" I replied, walking toward the fire. I didn't think I wanted to drink, just like yesterday but Cody had no right to command me to do anything. I glanced around the bonfire. Even though I had seen Sheamus drinking yesterday, I still expected smores'…. Coming here had sounded nice in theory but in actuality it was kind of boring. Dolph was hanging out with a couple of guys and Cody was with a really pretty brunette. Of course he was…

I was standing by the fire when I saw him. He was standing alone too, drinking a bottle of water. He looked to be about my age but what I really noticed was how attractive he was. He had dark curls that were going in all directions and dark brown eyes. His jaw was very pronounced and he had clear smooth skin. To me, everything about him looked perfect. He was taller than Daniel and Dolph and maybe even Cody. He caught me looking and he waved, just slightly. I flushed a little but decided to head over.

"Hey. I'm Kaitlyn" I introduced myself. He smiled and I melted a little.

"Derrick. Derrick Bateman" he replied.

"So. Do you live around here? I've never seen you around" I asked.

"We're renting the house two blocks down and yeah. This is my first summer here" Derrick stated, "What about you, Lynn?"

I was startled when he called me that but it just rolled off his tongue. It sounded right. "I live down on the other side of the beach actually"

"So what do you think of this?" he asked me. I shrugged.

"Ehh.. It's kind of lame" I finally said. I had thought about lying but decided against it. This really wasn't my type of scene.

"Yeah same. I think I might leave soon… Will you be fine on your own?" he asked me. I blushed. Was he offering to walk me home?!

"Nah. I came with those two guys" I told him, pointing out Dolph and Cody.

"Mhm. I figured, the way your brother kept looking over here" Derrick stated as he nodded in agreement. I almost choked.

"My brother? Who? Cody?" I asked as I pointed at Cody. He wasn't looking my way. He was still flirting with the brunette, laughing even and he barely ever laughed.

"Hm? Oh yeah"

"He's not my brother but like's to act like he is" I told Derrick before changing the subject, "Are you really leaving before the fireworks?"

Derrick blushed. "Um.. would it be lame if I said yes?"

"Nah. Maybe I will leave too. Hold on a second" I smiled at him, flirtingly. I walked over to Cody and could feel Derrick's eyes on me.

"Hey. I'm going head back home" I told Cody. The brunette looked me up and down. She had bigger boobs now that I saw her closer.

"Um hello" she stated snottily.

"Is someone walking back with you?" he asked. I pointed over to Derrick.

"Yeah, he is"

"No. You're not walking back with someone you don't even know" Cody stated flatly.

"I know him. His name is Derrick" I stated smugly back. Cody rolled his eyes.

"Wow. You know his name" Cody stated.

"Whatever. It doesn't really matter if I know him or not. You don't get to decide who I can walk back with. I was just telling you out of common courtesy" I stated before turning to walk away but Cody grabbed my elbow.

"It's not going to happen" Cody said causally but his grip was tight, "If you wanna go back, I'll take you"

I took a deep breath. Cody was starting to bother me now.

"Seriously. I don't want your permission. Besides, aren't you a little um busy?" I asked nodding to the girl. She glanced between the two of us.

"Is she your sister?" she asked. We both said no at the same time.

"Then who is she?" she questioned. Cody shrugged.

"Her mom is best friends with mine. Now go back over to there and wait for me to come get you" Cody said harshly. Was that all I was to Cody? His mom's friend's daughter?

"Listen you asshole…" I started but before I could finish, Dolph strolled over.

"What on earth is going on here?" he asked as he wrapped an arm around me. I rolled my eyes but leaning into him slightly.

"Your brother is being an ass. He's throwing a fit because I wanna walk home with some guy" I told him. Dolph's eyebrows went up but he didn't say anything.

"Don't even think about leaving with that guy!" Cody repeated. I growled.

"God Cody. Chill out. I don't know what's up with you recently. Katie won't leave! Right sweets?" Dolph asked me. I pursed my lips but finally nodded. I shot Cody the dirtiest look I could and walked back to Derrick. I held my head up and set my shoulders back but on the inside I felt like shit. How could Cody just reprimand me in public like that?!

"You okay? That looked tense" Derrick stated when I was close to him. I shrugged.

"Cody threw a little bit of a fit. Apparently I'm not allowed to leave with someone I don't know. Whatever" I told him before sitting down on the sand. I was trying to choke down my anger. Derrick glanced at me before back at the bonfire.

"You know, I think I'll stay here and hang out for a while" he said before sitting down next to me. I smiled sweetly at him. That was sweet of him to want to spend time with me. The fireworks went off around us and it looked like millions of gold flecks, like confetti, above our heads.

We spent all night sitting together and talking and flirting. I had a lot in common with Derrick and he was the sweetest guy. We talked about stupid things like my favorite food, cheese and peanut butter but not together because that would be totally gross, how I liked to watch wrestling, Goldberg was my favorite wrestler, and how I lived in Houston. Derrick told me about how he was a vegetarian. I could feel Cody watching us the whole time and I was tempted to give him the finger. I hated when he won.

Halfway through the night, it started to get really cold and I started to rub my arms. Derrick smiled and took off his hoodie before giving it to me. It was sort of a dream of mine… getting cold and having a guy give his hoodie to you.

"I hope you know. You're probably never going to get this hoodie back" I flirted. He grinned and looked me over.

"Well then it's a good thing that you look much better in it than I do" he flirted back. I really wanted him to kiss me then but he didn't. Maybe an hour or two later, Dolph started to walk over to us.

"Hey Katie. We're going to head back now" he grinned at me. I smiled and nodded before turning back to Derrick.

"Well. I guess this is it" Derrick smiled. I took his hand and wrote my number on it.

"Call me" I winked before walking away with Dolph who looked like a mix of surprised and impressed.

"Wow. You really like that boy, huh?" he asked me thoughtfully. I shrugged.

"Maybe. We'll see" I told him honestly. As we were leaving, a girl stopped me. She was kind of short with dark black long hair. She was wearing a tight, low-cut top.

"You and Derrick, huh?" she asked. I raised an eyebrow.

"Well I barely know him…" I started glancing at her jacket that read Maxine. She relaxed a little.

"Also I saw the way Nikki spoke to you. Don't worry about her. She's a bitch" Maxine stated.

"The girl with Cody? Yeah. She seemed like a bitch" I agreed. Cody made his way over to us and we headed back home. Cody checked out my hoodie but didn't say anything. We also didn't speak to each other during the walk back. Dolph tried to make some jokes but both of us were quiet. I was thinking Derrick but I had no idea what was going on in Cody's head.

I was brushing my teeth in the upstairs bathroom when Dolph walked in and sat on the sink.

"What's going on with you and Cody? Why are you guys mad at each other?" he asked. Dolph hated when people fought. That was why he always played the clown in the hope that he could loosen the tension in any situation. It was sweet but also kind of annoying.

"Um because he's an ass who thinks he can control my life?" I answered. Dolph swung his legs back and forth.

"Don't be so hard on him. He's going through some stuff" Dolph told me. That was news to me.

"What? What's going on?" I asked. Dolph hesitated.

"It's not my story to tell" Dolph said finally.

"Come on Dolph! No secrets remember?" I told him. Dolph smiled.

"I remember but I still can't tell you… It's not my secret"

I frowned. Of course he would take Cody's side. They're brothers.

"You always take his side" I finally sighed.

"I'm not taking his side. I'm just telling his side" Dolph answered.

"Same thing" I shrugged. Dolph reached over and turned up the corners of my mouth. It was one of his oldest tricks. It always made me smile no matter what.

"No pouting gorgeous, remember?" and I had the urge to punch him but hug him at the same time. No pouting was a rule Daniel and Cody had made up one summer. I think I was eight or nine. The kicker was that it only applied to me and to prove it, the boys even put a sign up on my bedroom door. I tore it down, of course, and I ran and told Stephanie and Trish. Anytime I acted the slightest bit sad or unhappy, one of the boys would start yelling, "No pouting! No pouting!" And, okay, maybe I did pout a lot, but it was the only way I could ever get my way. In some ways it was even harder being the only girl back then. In some ways not.

Gorgeous was something Dolph had started to call me back when I was six. I had confided in Dolph that I wished someone would call me pretty and Dolph took it to heart. All summer he called me gorgeous which of course Daniel and Cody made fun of and I pretended to hate it but actually loved.

As the summer passed, Dolph went back to calling me Katie. But he always remembered what I said. Anytime Dolph wanted to cheer me up or whenever he wanted something from me, he would call me gorgeous and I would just melt.

Sometimes I wished he would actually mean it when he said it.