Chapter 21: Beach Trips and a Crash

Haiku

Remember this day

When love isn't bittersweet

And loose ends are tied

It's the Wednesday of the first week of June. Ian, Anthony, and Fiona are hanging out at Ian's house, playing with a deck of cards until Anthony has to go to work later in the afternoon as a sales associate at Hollister. With the plan set to go into motion on the weekend of Dan's 17th birthday, the boys now have to do their part to ensure that Fiona will be at the beach.

Ian shuffles the cards in his hands. "Fiona?"

She looks up at him. "What?"

"Are you free this Saturday?"

Fiona shrugs. "Jess wants to hang, but I don't have any specific plans."

Ian puts the cards down on the table. "Great. A bunch of our friends are going to the beach on Saturday. Ant and I are wondering if you want to come?"

She gazes at him in curiosity. "What's the catch?"

"There's no catch."

She raises an eyebrow in skepticism. "I'll be the only high school chick there."

"We're sure," Anthony assures her. "Pam and Mari are excited to meet you, and I'd like to see you show David and Joshua that girls aren't noobs."

She laughs. "When you put it like that, sure!"

Ian grins. Sorry Fi, but you'll have to wait on meeting our friends. "Fantastic! We'll pick you up at 8."

She smiles. "Can't wait."

~:~

It's 7:45 AM on the morning of the beach trip. The seven teens are outside of PJ's house. PJ's blue Range Rover, courtesy of his uncle as a congratulations gift for getting his driver's permit, has everyone's belongings in the trunk. Alfie has also brought his motorcycle for him and Zoe to ride on since PJ's car isn't large enough to fit everyone inside.

PJ twirls his car keys in his hand. "We're all set. Ready to get the day going?"

Joe raises his fist in the air. "Beach babes, here I come!"

Dan chuckles, his hand comfortably holding Phil's. "I can't wait to see that six-pack beneath that shirt," he whispers in Phil's ear.

Phil grins, his cheeks tinting pink. "I can't wait to see yours too."

"Hey gay princes! Tone down the PDA!" PJ calls out.

"Fuck off!" Dan answers.

Alfie wraps his arms around Zoe's waist. "That's not PDA. This is PDA." He plants his lips firmly on Zoe's mouth. The kiss lasts for more than a few seconds, eliciting wolf-whistles from Louise and PJ.

"Tone down the PDA," Joe says, repeating PJ's words. "I'm too young for this."

Zoe pulls her lips away from Alfie, turning her head toward Joe. "You weren't too young when you were jerking off to dad's porn magazines."

"That doesn't count!"

"Yes it does!"

"Pictures don't move."

"Yeah, but Alfs and I don't have our private parts showing."

As Phil's witnesses the Suggs' banter in amusement, his phone vibrates in his pocket. He takes his phone out. It's a text from Anthony. Ian & I on our way to fetch Fiona. We'll meet u all there.

This Phil master plan is about to go underway.

~:~

Fiona is riding at the backseat of Ian's car as Ian searches for a place to park at the beach's parking lot. The sky is clear and the waters shimmer from the sunlight cast above the horizon. She's looking forward to meeting the rest of Ian and Anthony's friends. Ian has mentioned Mari and Pamela several times since they've met. Anthony once talked about a party that the duo went to at their friend David's house. Plus, whoever this Joshua is, she's going to show him that she's just as good a gamer as a typical boy.

Once Ian finds a parking spot, he stops the engine of the car and looks at Fiona in the rearview mirror. "You excited?"

Nerves swirl in Fiona's stomach. She's about to officially meet Ian and Anthony's college friends. She has a doubt that they'll mock her as soon as they see her and tell her that she's too young to be with them. The people that she'll be around today are adults. She's a minor. It doesn't matter if she's only a few years younger than them. As long as she's still in high school, she's in a different world compared to them.

"Anxiously excited," she replies. "Your friends seem cool, but I'm scared they won't like me."

"They'll like you," Anthony tells her with an assuring grin. "Because if they don't, Ian and I will give them shit."

She smiles. If they don't like me, at least I still got my boys here.

Ian opens his car door, she and Anthony follow suit. Exiting the car with their belongings, the trio leave the parking lot. Fiona lowers her perched sunglasses atop her head over her eyes. You'll be fine, Fi. You're a Lester. Lesters don't care about what people say about them.

Her hands become clammy when she sees a familiar group of teens farther down the sandy area. They stand under three large rainbow-colored umbrellas. When they spot her and the three boys, her breath hitches as they wave and gesture for the trio to join them.

"What are you doing?" she asks Ian and Anthony in a hushed tone. "Don't go there! Where are your friends?"

"These are our friends," Ian says.

"What." She yanks her sunglasses back up to the top of her head. "Don't fuck with me, Hecox. Where are your college friends?"

"Doing whatever." Ian rubs the back of his head awkwardly. "Sorry, Fiona. We're doing this for you, not for us."

"For me? What are you talking about?"

"Hi sis." Phil waves at Fiona hesitantly, then looks toward the boys. "Thank you."

Anthony steps away from Fiona. "You're welcome."

She darts her eyes between the boys. She has no idea why this is happening. "Wait. Back up." She glances back at Phil and the others. "Someone give me an explanation for this."

"It was another Phil master plan," Alfie starts. "We had to figure out a way for you and Phil to be at the same place at the same time so you two can finally talk."

"We had to tell a little lie to be certain you'd come with us," Anthony finishes. "We had to make you believe that you'd be meeting our friends at college."

"Fuckers," she mutters. Now I have a different thing to be nervous about.

"We do intend for you to meet them," Anthony quickly says. "Today's just not that day."

She massages her temples with her middle and pointer fingers. "This is my worst nightmare come to life."

"We're your nightmare? I thought that was Hannahconda," Joe retorts.

Dan punches Joe's shoulder. "Dude!"

"What? It's true!"

"We succeeded in getting Fiona here. Let's not ruin that," Dan tells Joe through clenched teeth.

Fiona huffs. "I'm not staying here. I'm going home."

"You can't." Ian twirls his car keys in on his pointer finger. "We're your ride home and we're not leaving till you talk to them."

"This is so unfair!"

"Life is unfair. Deal with it."

She glares at the two older boys, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'll only talk to Phil if you take me home before noon."

"Fiona-"

"That's my offer. Take it or leave it."

"Are we seriously doing this?"

Well duh. "I'm trying to compromise. Now do we have a deal?"

Ian hesitates with his response. She can see the conflict in his eyes. It doesn't matter if you say no, Ian. I have money in my wallet. I can take a bus home.

Ian puts his keys back into the pocket of his shorts. "Fine. But you're buying us lunch later."

~:~

Tension is in the air as the friends, now in their swimsuits, scatter through different places of the beach, leaving Phil and Fiona to sit on blankets beneath the beach umbrellas that Louise and PJ had set up. Zoe and Alfie wandered by the coast, their feet splashing each other with the water. Louise and PJ are playing volleyball against Ian and Anthony. Dan and Joe are sitting cross-legged on a blanket, sunglasses over their eyes as they watch their friends' game.

"I wish I was good at sports," Dan comments. Binge-watching sports-related anime has made him interested in joining team sports. If he didn't have his butterfingers or he isn't a klutz in general, he would have wanted to join the game in a 3 vs. 3 match. Unfortunately, if he was the one that had to serve, he would either be that annoying player that accidentally aimed the ball at the back of his teammate's head or be the failure of a player that can't even get the ball over the net.

"Everyone sucks at something. You know how much I suck at math," Joe says.

I'd trade sucking at math to have the decent ability of kicking, throwing, or hitting a ball with my bare hands. "Who doesn't?"

"People who don't know how to have fun."

Dan chuckles. This is the first time that he's having a one-on-one conversation with the younger Sugg. Since Dan's first day of school, he viewed Joe as more of a 16 or 17-year-old than a 14-year-old. Joe's age is the only difference that he has with the rest of the group. He acts more maturely than an arrogant freshman (or sophomore in the upcoming school year). He doesn't act as if he owns the school. He behaves like a typical teen, minus being pressured to drink or smoke (sex always remains to be an interest to any male teen).

"I'm smart and know how to have fun," Dan muses.

Joe beams. "And that's why you're one of us. We love you. Phil loves you."

Dan's face grows warm. "Oh stop it."

"It's true." Joe uncrosses his legs, bringing his knees up to his bare chest. "I still don't get why you didn't have friends at your old school. You're super cool."

"It's not that I didn't have any friends," Dan clarifies. "There were these two siblings, Barry and Bryony, I'd eat lunch with and go to their house sometimes. But we weren't really close. I haven't spoken to them since I moved." He mirrors Joe's new sitting position. "I chose to be friendless. Most people back home didn't care about being book smart. If you were a geek, you were uncool. If you were uncool, you're an easy target to be picked on. All my classmates knew me as the kid desperate for attention. I was the nerd with the good looks, but my nerdiness overshadowed my looks. It's hard being a loner, but I'd rather have a friend I'd trust my life with than being around a bunch of people that aren't my true friends. Honest, I was excited when my dad told me we were moving. There wasn't anyone back home I'd miss and I had that hope that my new school would be a place where I could meet people like me."

Joe grins. "And you did. The heavens blessed Phil with a boyfriend and me with a friend that I can relate to."

"Relate to? In what way?"

"Well, I was a bit of an outcast before I was friends with Peej, Alfs, and Phil."

"I didn't know that." Dan is intrigued by the prospect of hearing Joe's childhood. He doesn't know too much about what Joe experienced as a child, other than how Joe is as close to Zoe as Phil is with Fiona.

Joe smiles wistfully. "Now you do."

"If you were an outcast, how did you and the guys become friends?"

"It's a long story."

"I've got time." The volleyball match doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon, it would be rude to intrude on the Zalfie moments in the water, and the twins need as many minutes as possible to talk things out.

"Alrighty." Joe lies back on the blanket. "This is what happened.

"Since I was born, Zoe has looked after me. She was the kind of protective older sister that didn't want anything bad to happen to me. She always let me play with her and snuck snacks from the pantry when our mom wasn't looking. Once she met Louise and Fiona in kindergarten, she insisted that I'd have to be their friend too if they wanted her to hang out with them. But they didn't mind. They didn't treat me like a third wheel. I was as much a part of their little group as Zoe.

Of course, being around girls all the time made boys think I was gay when I finally went to school. Keep in mind that I was five and the only friends I had my entire life were girls that were older than me. Because the girls were two grades above me, they couldn't defend me anywhere other than where we had recess and when we weren't at school. For three years, I prayed to have some guy friends to go along with my girl friends. Louise and Fiona were like my extended sisters, but I wanted to have one boy around my age that could be like a brother.

I wanted that from Phil. Back then, the girls and the guys were their own groups. Phil would hang out with the girls sometimes, and I learned he was just as sweet and caring as the girls in his own male way. He was always with Alfie and PJ, who I saw around school and seemed just as nice as Phil, even if Zoe always said that he was her best friend's brother's friend who vied for her romantic affection." Joe pauses with a chuckle. "That was what I liked about Alfie. He knew what love was as a little child and his feelings were never borderline obsessive.

Anyway, I was in 3rd grade when they really noticed me. It was a lunch recess in November and I was sitting down taking a break after playing tag with the girls. The girls were still playing when these four boys approached me. They were 5th graders like Zoe and I heard they were pretty popular among their year. I was alone, so they asked me if I wanted to join them. I told them that I was fine, but they kept encouraging me, telling me I'll be too bored for the rest of recess.

Hanging out with girls taught me how to know what kids I should trust, and those boys were the kind of people I knew I shouldn't be with. But this was something that never happened to me before. No boy has ever asked me to play with them. If I passed up their request, I could be missing out on an opportunity to make some guy friends, even if they were bad. As long as I had the girls as my friends, the good would balance out the bad, you know? So I agreed. They were happy with my answer, but one of the boys, the ringleader of the group, told me I had to do something first before I could be with them. All I had to do was climb high up a tree. It was their way of testing me if I'm a man.

I should've said no. I could get hurt and Zoe would never let me hear the end of it. But what did I do? I climbed that tree. I had to prove to these guys that just because I have female friends doesn't mean I can't be a boy. So I climbed that tree. I climbed that tree to the highest branch. When I got to the top, I felt invincible. I felt like I could do anything. I was the happiest I've ever been. And then I looked down and saw those four guys gone.

My happiness was rapidly replaced by fear. I didn't realize I was so high up. I was scared I'd slip when I climbed down and break a bone. I started crying and realizing I was so stupid to let my desperation for male friends get me to that point. I stayed stuck atop that tree for a while, all the way till after the bell rang. I thought I'd be stuck there forever until I heard my name being called. When I looked back down, I saw Phil, PJ, and Alfie standing at the bottom. They questioned why I was up there. I told them about my predicament, and man, you should've seen how pissed PJ was. He wanted to hunt after those guys and beat them up. But Phil held him back and said what mattered more was getting me down.

The three of them talked me out of my fear. They told me they'd be there to catch me if I fell. One careful look at them and I could see the sincerity in their faces. I gave them my trust and slowly climbed back down. They had their arms stretched out in case I did slip. I didn't, and when my feet touched the ground, I immediately thanked them for being there. I apologized for making them late to class, but they told me they didn't mind getting a tardy. They had wanted to give me a helping hand. It would be foolish of them to leave me there for the rest of the school day.

PJ told my homeroom teacher what happened and those four boys were given a warning by the principal. They apologized for their actions and didn't bother me again for the rest of the school year. As for Phil, PJ, and Alfie, they walked me home after school on that day. I ended up telling them my personal reason for climbing the tree – all I longed for was at least one male friend in my life. I thought they'd tell me stuff like 'you'll find that friend one day.' But no. They asked me if they could be those male friends for me. I thought they were doing it out of pity, but Alfie swore that after the incident, they couldn't bear to see me let me do something stupid again in an effort to make friends. Phil followed up by confessing that if it wasn't for Zoe and my age, he would've tried to befriend me a long time ago. And PJ added on to what Phil said, telling me I was much better to be around than other boys in their year.

I was touched. I couldn't believe the guys I looked up to genuinely wanted me to be their friend. I told them yes, and since then, we've been the best of friends. Fiona and Louise were glad they took me in. Zoe was a bit annoyed that it meant I'd be spending more time with Alfie. I grew closer with Phil, PJ, and Alfie over the several months, and by the time they graduated from elementary school, I saw them as older brothers rather than friends. Spending a lot of time with the boys gradually brought the girls and the boys. Our groups fused and I had the best of both worlds. By the time I was in middle school, the people in my year stopped teasing me and became envious because I had older friends.

My friends mean so much to me because they showed me that age shouldn't define friendship. Two years isn't a huge age gap. It's a bonus they were good influences. Because of them, I didn't become a troublemaker. I learned to ignore what people think of me and to always choose school over sex. It's why I really want Fiona and Phil to make up. Fiona's absence for the last several weeks left a hole in our hearts. Fiona and I are the only ones without a significant other, not counting PJ since we can all tell Christy likes him too, though he's chicken to say anything. But I'm fine without love because the love from you guys is all I need to be happy. I just hope Fiona can let go of her discouragement and be the same."

Dan listened attentively and stayed silent throughout Joe's story. As the younger Sugg spoke further through his backstory, Dan understood why Joe cared a lot about their friends. The two of them are more alike than he thought. Joe knew how it feels to be different than his peers, yet powered through his inner demons and gradually found the right people in his life to be his friend.

"You're wise beyond your years," Dan tells Joe.

Joe sits back up. "'Tis better to be wise than a high motherfucker."

Dan laughs. That's why I love these guys.

~:~

While Joe opened up to Dan about his past, Phil and Fiona are initially slow to jumpstart the flow of their conversation. Before their sibling fight, choppy conversations were far and few. Awkward conversations is a territory that Phil isn't used to doing with his twin. Their conversations are usually seemingly endless. Between the two of them, long durations of silence is unheard of.

"How have you been?" Phil starts. Fiona was an expert at avoiding him, both at home and at school. He saw her less once he moved in with Johnathan and she began hanging out with Hannah.

"Good."

"How's mom?"

"Good."

"Are you keeping up with schoolwork?"

"Yes."

"You want to go swimming?"

"Later."

He sighs. Her one-word answers aren't getting him anywhere. "How's it like hanging out with Hannahconda?"

Her mouth forms a mix between a grimace and a smile. "What do you think?"

He smiles. That's better. "She's still a devil up close?"

Her grimace disappears, leaving behind a hint of a smile. "She's more than a devil. She's hell herself."

He chuckles. "Is it like that with Katie and Jessica too?"

"Katie. Not Jess. She's okay."

"Jessica doesn't give you a hard time?"

"She's the most human out of the three."

At least one of them isn't too bitchy than I thought. "How do you handle being around them if you hate them?"

"I don't." She removes her sunglasses and drops it in front of her. "They snark at me, I snark right back. Katie likes to rile me up, so she does it as much as she can."

"And that doesn't make you want to start a catfight?"

"I have some self-control."

He likes where this is going. This is the most they've spoken to each other since their friends found out about his and Dan's relationship.

"Fi, while you're still here, I'm tremendously sorry about what I've done to you." She turns her head to look at him, and he continues. "I'm sorry I didn't keep our promise. I'm sorry I didn't put you first over me. I'm sorry I couldn't restrain from my feelings. I fell in love with your crush and stole him away from you without meaning to. You went through all that hurt alone and you were forced to spend your time with people you loathed the most. Love almost tore our parents apart, and I feel horrible for letting love be the same feeling that came between us. I don't like fighting with you, and I hate being physically and emotionally distant from you for the last two months."

Every muscle strains in his body strains as he waits for her reaction. Her silence makes him worried. What if his apology is all for nothing and she's unable to forgive him? What if his relationship with Dan means giving up his close relationship with his sister? He doesn't want to have to choose between two people that he loves. He doesn't know what to do if it comes down to a "one or the other" decision.

"I still don't like you and Dan together," she remarks following a few minutes of the silence.

He nods. He didn't expect her to make a complete turnaround regarding her opinions about Phan.

"I haven't entirely forgiven you too," she proceeds. "I still like him, maybe might even be in love with him. I don't know. But I do know it's pointless to stay mad at you forever. Dan loves you. There's nothing I can do to change that. I'm not 100% accepting of you two as a couple, but I don't want to stand in your way. I don't have any intentions of breaking you two apart."

Hope fills his chest. "So… does that mean I can go back home?"

The corners of her mouth lifts up slightly. "Why not, bro."

He beams. These are words from Fiona that he waited weeks to hear. Without hesitation, he twists his body and lunges toward Fiona to give her a hug.

"I've missed you so much, sis."

He can feel her mouth form a full-out smile. "I've missed you too, Phil."

~:~

Meanwhile, after about a half hour swimming in the water, Zoe and Alfie are treading back to shore, water droplets sliding down their bodies and onto the sand. The couple are holding hands, heading back to where Phil and Fiona are.

"No more playing tag in the water," Zoe says, using her unoccupied hand to squeeze water out of her hair. "You almost drowned me."

Alfie laughs. "Maybe I should have. It would've given me an excuse to give you CPR."

She swats his shoulder playfully. "You can kiss me whenever you want now, dunderhead. You don't need an excuse."

"Can you kiss me right now?"

"Haven't we kissed enough in the water?"

He grins. "I'm never tired of Zoe kisses."

And I'm never tired of Alfie kisses. "I'm in the mood for drawing," she declares, changing the topic. She has her sketchbook in her bag and her hands are itching to draw a beach scene.

"Me too!" Alfie says. "It's a good thing you brought it up. I was wondering if I could draw you."

"Again? You drew me yesterday when I was at your house."

"I want to draw you like this." He ogles her body. "Wet, half-naked, and gorgeous."

She hits his shoulder again, this time harder and a little less playfully. "Don't say that out loud. Guys might think you're talking about something totally different." As if on cue, she catches a man in his 20's stare at her and wink suggestively. "Yeah, tone down the double innuendo when there aren't many guys in close range."

He chuckles. "Don't worry, lady love. I'll beat up any guy that tries to steal my girl."

She leans the side of her body closer to him. He's never beaten up anyone, but it's the thought that counts.

~:~

Ian leaves Anthony with the keys to his car at 12 PM. He called Mari to take him back home so he can get changed and report in time for work at 1:00. Now that Fiona is in better terms with Phil, she decided to take back what she said earlier and stay with the group until they head back home later in the afternoon.

Fiona talks to the rest of the group while they eat Louise's homemade sandwiches during lunch at 12:30. She apologizes for leaving them for Hannah, Katie, and Jessica and vows that her only friends are the people that she's spending today with.

"Apology accepted!" Alfie tells her with a mouthful of an egg salad sandwich.

"You're forgiven," Zoe seconds, then nudges her elbow against Alfie's hip. "And don't talk with your mouth full."

Alfie swallows the sandwich's contents. "Sorry, mom."

"Don't call me mom. This isn't a mommy kink," Zoe retorts.

"Is there such thing as a mommy kink?" Louise pipes in.

Joe grabs a slice of apple from the large container containing various slices of fruit. "There's porn for everything, so I wouldn't be surprised."

Dan groans. "You're not wrong about that. I'm still clearing my head of inhumane uses of a whisk."

PJ smirks. He and Alfie were the ones that found said porn video and showed it to Dan and Joe to see how far their minds can handle the raunchier side of porn. "You're welcome, buddy."

Fiona grins at the exchange. How did I go this long without this?

~:~

At 3 PM, Dan and Phil stroll along the edge of the beach's waters. Their arms are curled around each other's waists. Their cotton shirts are unbuttoned, letting the sun's rays reflect on their bare chests. Dan refused to go swimming to avoid an appearance of his hobbit hair, and Phil didn't care about giving up swimming altogether. The beach isn't the Bermuda Triangle. It's not going anywhere anytime soon. He can go swimming the next time the group goes on another beach trip.

"I was right. You do have a brilliant six-pack," Phil muses, eying Dan's abdomen.

"You must be thinking about someone else," Dan retorts.

"I'm serious! I still have no idea what I did to deserve you."

Dan smiles. "I love you because you're my sweet, straight-A, Muse-loving, Philly."

Phil smiles back. "And you're my sarcastic, all-so-fun, butterfingering Hobbit Hair."

"Oh stop it, you." Dan presses his lips to Phil's neck. "We're made for each other. I'm happy destiny brought us together."

Phil's hand tickles Dan's hip. "Are you saying I'm born for you?"

Dan snickers, recalling Louise's newest foreign TV show addiction. "Yes, and you were born for me."

"It's such a random world, but this," Phil turns his head to meet Dan's eyes, "This is clearly meant to be."

"Exactly." Dan halts his footsteps. "What we have is something the world can't take away." He brings his arm away and steps away from Phil. Phil gazes at Dan curiously, and he watches as Dan kicks off the black slipper to his left foot. Using his toe, Dan traces a heart into the sand, followed by his and Phil's name.

Phil rushes over to Dan's side. He reads what Dan traced on the sand. "Dan + Phil." He shakes his head in amusement. "You are so corny."

"Am I?" Dan puts his slipper back on and moves to stand in front of Phil. He grabs his boyfriend's hands with his. "Remember what I told you during prom night? 'Forever isn't always, but always is forever.' What I wrote in the sand will eventually be washed away, but before then, it has already left its mark. That's what we are. You've left a mark in my heart, and even when the tides carry it away, the memory of it can't ever be erased."

"Dan, are you in 'going deep' mode again?" Phil chastises.

Dan laughs. "A little. But it makes me remember that we should never take what we have for granted. We're together now, but you never know if there's a day if we're ever torn apart. I just want you to know that if we're ever separated, I'll always love you. You, Phil Lester, are my one and only."

Phil glances down at their names surrounded by the heart. "I'll never let you go, but only if you promise not to fade away."

Dan grins, thinking how the lyrics from Starlight is fitting to where they are now and their relationship as a whole. You are my always, Phil. You are what I wish forever can be. "We are written in the stars. The powers of the universe conspired to make you mine, and I'm blessed you're born for me."

"Oh god, let's stop with the song puns." Phil touches his forehead against Dan's. "But you are the one that does electrify my life."

~:~

They sing along to Ariana Grande's Dangerous Woman, the radio set to their city's local pop and hip-hop station. It's 4:15 PM and PJ is driving the group back to their homes, his car currently along a deserted road. Louise is sitting in the passenger seat with the window at her car seat open. Dan, Phil, and Joe sitting in the backseats, Joe facing the window to avoid witnessing Dan and Phil kiss (he didn't mind the kissing, though he has seen enough kissing from Zoe and Alfie for the day). Zoe and Alfie are coming close behind on Alfie's motorcycle, and Ian's car is several feet behind Zoe and Alfie with Anthony driving him and Fiona.

Unbeknownst to the friends, a man wearing a black hoodie is driving a car toward PJ's vehicle. As his car drives closer to PJ's vehicle, a female voice speaks from the walkie-talkie on the passenger seat.

"Where are they?"

"I'm getting close," the man replies.

"Don't mess this up."

"Yes, 'mam."

The man presses his heel on the gas pedal, increasing the car's speed.

The five teens in PJ's vehicle are all smiles when PJ notices the car coming their way. He notice the instant lane-switch of the unknown vehicle.

"Peej! Is that dude drunk or something? Get out of the way!" Joe exclaims.

"I can't! We might get pulled over," PJ responds.

"There's no cop cars around!" Louise says, panic evident in her voice. "Break a law to save our lives, Peej!"

"But-"

"WATCH OUT!" Dan shouts.

PJ rotates the steering wheel. Their car swerves to the left.

The one motion of the steering wheel is one 360 degree rotation too much.

PJ loses control of the car. Screams echo in the inside. In a split second, the car drives off the side of the road, hitting a light post and flipping upside down.

The screams cease.

The hooded man in the other vehicle drives his car back into the right lane.

*cue dramatic music* Bet you didn't see that coming.

I was meaning to reveal Joe's backstory about how he became a part of the group, and I finally got to it in this chapter. I thought about doing as some sort of pre-IPY outtake, but it made more sense for me to just let Joe tell it to Dan in the main story.

Who else sucks at sports? I used to be pretty decent in basketball, but now I suck really bad. And as for volleyball, don't EVER make me play. I can't serve and I'll cower away if the ball is coming toward me. Idk how I survived PE when volleyball was a necessity hahah.

The song that Dan and Phil were referring to is Born for You by David Pomeranz. It's the theme song to a teleserye of the same name that ended a couple months ago. I thought that the song is another good representation of their relationship, so I went ahead and slipped it into the chapter.

~ AA