Meanwhile...
Out of every single location in the entirety of Simport, the beach and Boardwalk had to have been the area that was probably damaged the most; it was almost as if a tornado came by and struck it overnight. Almost a large majority of the shoreline was covered in trash, driftwood that presumably came from somewhere out in the ocean, and different types of boats that most likely came from other nearby harbors along the coast. The Boardwalk itself, or any of the stores that were lined across it, were thankfully not damaged; however, there was still a random boat that was unfortunate enough to find itself on top of one of the buildings anyway. Needless to say, for someone to claim that this is going to take a lot of work would be an understatement.
"What the heck do you mean it'll take you guys an hour or two to get down here?!" Summer asked someone, who was presumably a maintenance-worker, over the phone; and it was clear from the tone of her voice that she was very patient right now. "My boss was expecting at least three of you guys, and your trucks, down here to help us clear out the debris that's littering our shore!"
"Well, I'm sorry for the inconvenience, ma'am; but in case you haven't noticed, it's not just the beach that's been damaged by last night's storm." The man on the phone reminded her, his voice was calm, with a slight hint of irritation that can be somewhat heard as well. "I can only assure you that we will make it there when we get finished with most of the-"
"Is there a chance that you can at least one of your guys down here?" Summer asked, interrupting the mechanic in the process.
With a heavy sigh, the man on the phone proceeded to talk. "I'll tell you what, ma'am; one of my men should be on his way to the junkyard as we speak. Now, I'll give him a call to see if he's willing to come down and lend you guys some assistance instead; and if he doesn't, I'm afraid there's nothing else much I can do for you at the moment."
"Well, that just sounds dandy..." Summer then muttered while rolling her eyes. "I'll call you again if your guy actually comes." Once that was said, the lifeguard proceeded to end the phone-call there so that she can get back to helping the locals clean up the shoreline.
Upon exiting her tower, Summer walked down the ramp and eyed two of the locals off in the distance; Goth Boy and Yuki, who were both attempting to push one of the washed-up boats back into the ocean. She wanted to laugh when she first saw this, but she found herself completely unable to thanks to the large amount of work she had to deal with today; and the fact that she had to deal with this after the nasty break-up she went through last night wasn't making her feel any more motivated to do it either. Speaking of which, now that she was reminded of the utter travesty that was her break-up with Chaz again, the only motivation that the lifeguard has inside of her now was to go up and reveal the photo from the 'Halloween Party' to Goth Boy; and finally reveal to him what his girlfriend was doing with Crystal last year.
'Screw this...' Summer thought as she pulled her Smartphone out of her jacket. 'If that stupid bitch wants to go and play games with me, then I hope she's happy with the fact that I'm about to put an end to her friend's relationship...' She then glared at the photo from the party she had saved since last year. 'You could've just sat back and waited for me to break up with Chaz; but no...of course you couldn't help but treat me like crap. It's time for me to return the favor, you fucking son of a-'
"Summer!" A voice called out from a distance, startling the lifeguard out of her thoughts; it was Luke.
The moment she heard the surfer's voice calling out her name, Summer gasped; she wasn't approachable at the moment due to the fact that, earlier today, she had placed bandages on parts of her face, neck, and shoulders in order to cover the bite and claw-marks that were made by that rabbit last night. Believing that there was no other option, she quickly placed her phone back into her jacket and immediately went back inside her tower; but unfortunately for her, Luke still followed her up the ramp. Once the surfer entered her tower, it seemed like she had no other choice but to now face him.
"Hey, Summer, I was trying to call out for you back there; I was hoping to see if you were-" Luke's sentence was soon cut short upon seeing the bandages that were covering the lifeguard's face. "Holy shit...what the heck happened to you, dude?" He asked, his usual laidback tone now replaced with that of concern.
"I-It's nothing." Summer told him. "You see, I got this way during my date with Chaz last night, and-"
"Woah, Chaz did this to you?!" Luke asked, interrupting his new friend mid-sentence.
"Woah, n-no! He didn't!" Summer immediately assured the surfer. "Chaz is an asshole and an idiot; but the one thing that he's not is an abuser, especially towards me." Her look of anguish turned into that of anger now. "It was Crystal who caused this to happen to me..."
"Crystal did this to you?" The surfer asked, receiving a nod from his friend as an answer. "Damn...did you guys get into a fist-fight with each other or something? What happened?"
"It's a very long story; but to keep it brief, Chaz and I were on a date, and then she somehow was able to sabotage it with just a rabbit, as ridiculous as that sounds..." Summer paused for a second so that she can take a deep breath, before proceeding onward with her explanation. "In the end, Crystal pretty much got want she wanted out of it: my relationship with Chaz is finally be over."
Luke then noticed the depressed look on the lifeguard's face after she said that last part. "You seem pretty bummed out about it..." He commented. "I thought you told me you that wanted to break up with him the other day."
"I know I did, but...there was a small part of me that was hoping that things wouldn't be as bad as I had already expected; but as always, the world decides to prove me right." Summer paused for a second so that she can let out a depressed sigh. "Honestly, I should've just been upfront with Chaz and broke up with him instead of go on that stupid date in the first place...I can't believe I was dumb enough to believe that there was a single shed of hope that things would've ended on a good note for us..." She then turned to glare out the window, shaking her head in disappointment. "Well, I guess one good thing came out of this: the world allowed to have my wish granted..."
"So, what happens now?"
"Well, I guess this is supposed to be the part where I ask you out, forget my previous relationship had ever happened, and we're now together; but...somehow, I don't feel happy enough to go through with all that..."
"It sounds to me that you might need some time before you actually consider dating again." Luke commented, his voice both sympathetic and empathetic.
Summer then let out a frustrated sigh; she knew Luke was right. As much as she wanted to feel happy and relieved that she no longer has to date Chaz and deal with Crystal's bullshit anymore, she still couldn't help but feel empty inside due to how the breakup actually went out; and here she thought she'd be much happier in this position. She hates it when reality has to kick in when she wants to feel glad about something.
"Summer?!" A male voice shouts from somewhere outside the tower. "The maintenance-workers have arrived!"
"It took them long enough..." Summer then muttered, before facing the surfer standing in front of her. "We should probably be getting to work now; it's gonna be one long ass day for all of us."
"Oh, believe me...I know..." Luke muttered, we both he and Summer exited the tower.
"Goth Boy, you work here too; so that means you gotta help pick up all this bullshit that's littering our shore." Goth Boy said in a mocking tone, as he and his girlfriend were both carrying large wooden planks that they had found lying on the beach moments ago. "What do we look like, a bunch of janitors? Tad and his own crew could've handled this shit on their own."
"It could've been worse, Goth Boy." Yuki assured her boyfriend, as the both of them dumped the boards they were carrying into a nearby dumpster. "Tad could've had us actually assigned to push those boats back into the water with just our bare hands."
"Yeah; well, I'm grateful that the maintenance guys are here to do that for us..." After Goth Boy tossed his last board into the giant green bin, he then proceeded to go off and collect some more with his girlfriend following him from behind. "It's such a shame that no one from our own clique were able to come out here to help us out, but of course all of them had to be busy with other things right now..."
"Everyone?"
"Yes." The male goth answered as he started collecting some more planks off of the ground. "Violet had to make sure that her family's flower shop wasn't ruined; Ray wanted to hang out with that Stacy girl that he's apparently 'buddies' with; and Raven had to go to work today-"
"What about Crystal?"
"I texted her an hour ago to see if she's willing to help us out, but she couldn't; she had to fill in for Blaine at the pharmacy today." Goth Boy answered as he stood up from the ground, five wooden boards now in hand. "Also, she told me that she didn't want to face Summer right now; because she apparently sent out some photo of her out to everyone."
"Oh, Yuki knows about that photo..." Yuki then said as she took her phone out of her pocket, before turning it on and showing her boyfriend the photo in question. "She sent this out to every single girl we've been classmates with back then."
"Holy shit...what the hell did she do to her?!" Goth Boy nearly exclaimed, his usually stoic expression becoming that of horror and surprise; an expression that was rare for Yuki to see out of her boyfriend. "I-I mean, Summer Baxter's a bitch, but...this is just-"
"Something that she should've done the moment she saw her..." Yuki muttered as she placed her phone back into her pocket.
Goth Boy then shot a glare at his girlfriend, becoming rather unnerved by the goth girl's uncaring tone regarding this situation. "Seriously, what the hell has gotten into you?"
"Nothing." The goth girl answered. "Yuki's just saying her thoughts on the-"
"I'm not talking about the photo or Summer right now." Goth Boy interrupts, causing his girlfriend to become baffled. "These past few days, I've been noticing that you and Crystal have been acting extremely weird, ever since we've stumbled upon Stacy at the mall the other day; it's as if you guys are, like, trying to hide something from the rest of us, especially me." He paused for a second to take a breath, before proceeding to talk a little more calmly this time. "Look, I don't know what exactly happened at that party last year when I stood you up; but whatever you guys did, or whatever she did, or whatever you did, I'll understand completely-"
"It's not easy for me to tell you about it, Goth Boy; it really isn't." Yuki muttered in a depressed tone, turning her head towards the ocean so that she can look away from her boyfriend. "If Yuki were to say that she slept with some other guy, you would want nothing to do with Yuki anymore."
"Did you cheat on me?" Goth Boy asked, now raising an eyebrow at his girlfriend.
"N-No; Yuki would never cheat on you with anyone."
"Then what did happen at that party, Yuki?" Goth Boy asked, sounding more sincere than agitated this time. "Please be honest with me."
It seemed like there's now no other option but to tell her boyfriend the truth; because at this point, if Yuki attempts to lie or deny that anything had happened at that party, it'd be doubtful that her relationship would last any further afterwards. Since she didn't want Summer to interfere with their conversation, she decided that she will tell the truth; but under only one condition. "Can we talk about it together inside Yuki's scuba-stand?" The goth girl asked. "Yuki doesn't feel comfortable telling you out in the open like this."
"Are you sure Tad will be okay with that though?" Goth Boy then asked, turning to look behind himself to see if the lead lifeguard was anywhere in sight.
"He'll probably be more focused on cleaning up the beach instead of wondering where we are." Yuki then gently held her boyfriend's hand, ready to guide him over to her shop. "Come on now, sweetheart."
As the two goths began to walk away, Summer peeked her head out from behind one of the nearby beached fishing-boats. Now, obviously, she was about to come over and tell Goth Boy about what happened at last year's Halloween party; but upon approaching them, she heard the two talking about Crystal, she couldn't help but eavesdrop on their conversation. She didn't know if Yuki was going to tell her boyfriend about what actually happened at that party, or if she was gonna lie or twist the truth; but either way, she decided to restrain herself from confronting them until further notice. In the meantime, Summer decided to go back to cleaning up the beach.
Note: So, as stated in the last chapter, both Summer and Yuki's relationships were focused on in this chapter here. Unfortunately, I feel like this one might be one of my least favorite chapters here, not because of the fact that this was one that was somewhat delayed, but mostly because of how short this one may be to the rest. Heck, I've wanted to add a third part this one revolving around James and Jenny; but decided to go back on it due to how short the part was. Hopefully, the next chapter will a lot longer than this one here.
Anyways, let's take a look at the reviews that we have for tonight...
lordgemini: The way I see it with Jenny saying 'unicycles' in that situation, I'm picturing the pronunciation being slowed-down at the very first syllable, as if she's saying 'I love you' to James. Also, I guess I just personally thought the 'Secret Admirer' plot was convoluted, but you are right; and not to mention, and now that I'm thinking about it some more, with them being friends since childhood (as this story now implies), one would think Jenny would have noticed her best friend's handwriting.
Since I've been mentioning them a few times here, James and Jenny might as well be focused on next; and I believe a certain someone is going to be thrown into the mix. For now though, I'll see you guys in the next chapter.