Chapter 4
Her First Night Out
"Hey Kay." He smiled as she walked down the stairs. "Hey Bradin." She smiled back. "Ready to go?" He asked. "Yeah." She felt so nervous. "Mom I'm leaving!" She said as she was walking out the door. "Have fun!" She yelled. "So…" She said as they walked down the stairs onto the beach. "Don't be so nervous, I promise you I don't bite." He smiled. "Ok…" She said a little more unnerving. "It must be hard getting used to California huh?" He asked. "Yeah I mean New Jersey was so different, my friends are there, they understand and know me, and it's so sad sometimes." She said. "Yeah I feel the same way about Kansas." He frowned. "So what brings a pretty girl like yourself to Cali." He smiled. Pretty…Yeah…Right. She thought. "Well, my mom got a job transfer over here and she really likes what she does. At first it didn't seem like a bad idea, but then, well you know." She smiled faintly. "What about you?" She asked. "Well my parents died in a flood, and my brother, sister, and I have no relatives that we know of, but my Aunt Ava, and she lives here." He said. "That really sucks, not only do you miss your friends, but you miss your parents too." She said sincerely, but she didn't feel bad for him. That's probably the last thing he wanted. "Yeah and it was all so fast, when I came here it was no more of my mom calling us for dinner at 6, and nothing was rushed. We never have even seen an ocean until now. Aunt Ava always came to visit us. When I came here I thought I'd never fit in. I met this girl who was extremely popular, but they do stuff that requires getting in trouble, and so I got in trouble for a while. But, then we broke up." He said and smiled. Then I met this other girl Callie, and we went out for a while but we decided we'd be better off as friends. So we're best friends. And then this guy Tanner, who is a real jerk, we got into a couple of fights. Stay away from him, but I became friends with his brother, Lucas. So they are my friends right now." He smiled. "Well at least you got used to it." She said. "I did make one friend. Her name is Nicole, and she is from Vermont. I was so happy she was from the east coast too." She smiled. "I like it better when you smile." Bradin said softly. "Well that's funny because I do too…" She said and he leaned in and kissed her. When they pulled away they just stared at each other for a minute. "Hey Bradin, hey Kay!" Jake said running up to them with Callie and Lucas. "Hey! What are you guys doing here?" Bradin asked the 3. "Well, we wanted to meet your new friend!" Callie said kindly. "Hi, I'm Callie." She smiled. "Kayla." She smiled back. "So do you guys want to hang out or just chill together?" Jake asked. "We're gonna just chill right now guys." Bradin said. He figured he'd introduce her to new people tomorrow. "Ok see you later!" And the three ran off towards the boardwalk. "So, what did you think about our teachers on the first day of school?" She said. "Uh, they were boring, but it's going to be a hard year." He said. "Why's that?" She asked. "Because Algebra is the hardest thing in the world for me." He laughed. "Well I could always help you if you want. The teachers are boring, but I learned a lot of this stuff last year." She laughed. "Cool. That would be good." He said. "Come on, I want to take you somewhere." He said and grabbed her hand. "Where are we?" She asked. "It's called Spanish cove." He said. "Wow it's so pretty." She said. "I know I come here a lot when I wanna just think." He said. "I can see why." She smiled. Just then, her phone went off. "Hey hon, Alex just called. She wants you to call her back she has to get to bed now." She laughed. "Ok. This is so weird. See you later." She said. "I want you home by 10 the latest. You have to go to school tomorrow and I'm sure you aren't used to the time difference yet." She said. "Yeah, bye mom." She said then hung up. "Bradin can you hold on one second I have to call my friend before she absolutely has to go to bed." She said. "Yeah." He laughed. She flipped open her phone. "Hey Alex." She said when she answered. "Hey! Oh my god I'm so tired." She said. "I know I'm sorry it's only 8 here." She laughed. "You must be tired too!" She said. "Kind of, I'm getting used to it." She said. "It's so weird knowing that I can talk to you all I want on the phone but you aren't just 10 minutes away anymore." Alex said sadly. "Yeah tell me about it. I called your house today when I got home from school, you know like we used to, but you were at practice because it was 6 by you." She said with a single tear falling from her eyes. Bradin saw her tear and wiped it away for her. She looked at him and smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "God I miss you like hell girl…" Alex said. Kayla could tell she was crying. "Ally don't cry. I will totally see you again." She said. "I know but it's just not the same. You are my best friend you're 10 days older than me. You watched me be born even though you don't remember and now you're…gone." She said. "Alex you talk to me like I'm dead. I don't want to make this a sad thing. I want to be able to know that we'll stay best friends forever. Just think of this as a test ok? I'm out right now. And you need sleep so I'll let you go. LYLAS. Bye!" Kay said. "Bye. Love ya!" She said and she hung up. Tears welled up in her eyes but she wouldn't let them fall. "It's ok to cry you know." Bradin said. "I know but I'm getting used to it, slowly." She said as another tear fell from her eye. He wiped it away again. "No matter how many tears you cry, I'll make sure I catch every one of them." He said. "And I knew that you were someone I wanted to get to know the first time I laid eyes on you in school." He smiled. "I really like you." He smiled. "I like you too." She smiled and hugged him he kissed the top of her head lightly. "Let's go get food." He said. "Ok." She laughed. They headed over to the boardwalk and grabbed food. They ate and when they were done the just talked about anything and everything. Then they heard someone laughing. They turned around. "Westerly has a girlfriend. A very pretty one too, might I add…" He sneered at Bradin. "Go away Tanner." He said. "Oh and what are you going to do about it." He said angrily. "Nothing, you aren't worth it." He said. "Bradin." She said. She gave him a small smile. "Hi I'm Kayla." She said and stuck her hand out. "Tanner. What are you doing with Westerly? He's no good. Hasn't anyone warned you?" He said. "No but I have been warned about you." She said unphased. "Really? From who?" He said glaring at Bradin. "Well no one really told ME but I heard a bunch of kids talking about you at school." She said non-chalantly. "Who?" He said getting even madder now that he thought people didn't like him. He thinks people don't like him…big shocker there. She thought to herself. "I don't know I'm new." She smiled a small smile at him. Half- scared, half- relieved that he wasn't getting pissed at Bradin she said, "Well we better get going. I'm supposed to be back home by 10. See you around Tanner." She smiled and walked away. "Not good. Now Tanner will beat up everyone in the school now that he thinks people talked about him." Bradin said. "But thanks he didn't go after me for once." He kissed her on the cheek. "Nah, he won't think about it. He doesn't want to look like a jerk to other people, just a strong cool one in front of some. Besides, I wasn't kidding when I said I heard people saying that about him." She laughed. He laughed too. "You have to be a genius to get Tanner mad without him beating anyone up." He laughed. "I better get you home it's almost 10." He said. They got back to the front. "Well I'm really glad you came out with me tonight." Bradin said. "I'm glad I came." She smiled. "See you tomorrow." Bradin said. He kissed her on the lips then took off down the beach. She walked in the house and said goodnight to her parents. She brushed her teeth and got clothes out for school and then she hopped in bed. After all, back home it was 1 A.M.