Callie, Bradin and Lucas were sitting on the beach. The three of them had just been surfing. Lucas had been off all day, no doubt thinking about Emily.
He looked at his cell phone. 5:30. It had been over 5 hours since she had left to go meet her dance team captain. He had been so worried about her all day; he kept messing up his moves, which pissed off his coach, who eventually made him stop before he hurt himself. Suddenly his phone rang. He jumped. He looked at the Caller ID, it was her.
"Hey Em" He said, relieved she was able to call
"Hey Babe" She said in a weak, quiet voice.
"Oh My God, Em, are you ok?" he sounded worried
"Yea, I'm fine, what do you think they did, kill me?" He voice sounded stronger, but not like her at all. "Listen, I can't do anything tonight. I'm under probation for not coming last night and for insulting Chris. You understand, right?"
"Yea, I get it. You sure you're ok? I don't want you to be in trouble because of me."
"Lucas will you stop worrying! I'm in trouble because of me, not you. And I'm fine, I'm just tired. I'll call you when they let me go home, k?"
"Yea, I'll be waiting. If you need me call, ok?"
"Yea, I will." In the background he heard a girl yell "That's enough. Get off the phone, back to work!"
"Gotta run baby, talk to you soon" she responded quickly. …Click
"Is she ok?" he heard a voice say. Lucas had forgotten that Bradin and Callie were with him. Callie's voice sounded worried.
"Yea, she's fine, or so she says. She just said she can't hang out tonight." He was worried, but tried not to show it.
"Lucas, I'm sure she's fine. She's a strong person. And she seemed pretty able to deal with her friends last night." Bradin said.
"Last night?" Callie and Lucas asked in unison
"Yea, she almost ran me over with her car while she was helping her sick friend. I don't trust those people, she said that if she went to the party she would have been a drunk as this girl was and she was totally wasted." Callie shot him a glare; she didn't like him hanging out with Emily, not without her being around.
"Yea, she's called me from those things totally smashed, but she goes so she doesn't end up doing what she's doing today. They're horrible to her, especially because of me."
"Don't think that Lucas. Do you want to out to eat with us?" Callie asked, trying to cheer up her friend.
"No, it's ok. You two go, Tanner's home so I have to go anyway."
"Ok, call us if you need anything, ok?" Callie looked at him. He could tell she was worried about him.
"Yea, I will. Don't worry Callie, I'll be fine." He smiled at them and turned around and walked down the pier, with his head down.
"Bradin, he's a wreck, we can't let him go." She looked him in the eyes
"We have to Callie, he needs to be alone. I'm sure she's fine, and I'm sure deep down he knows she is too." They walked towards the movie theater hand in hand.
It was about 10:30 when Bradin and Callie got walked out of the restaurant they were at. She had a huge smile on her face which quickly faded as she saw Emily walk across the pier to the parking lot.
"Emily?" She exclaimed. Emily looked totally different from the girl they had seen leave this exact same spot many hours ago. She looked exhausted, her hair was tied up in a messy bun on the top of her head, her head was down and she looked as if she was about to pass out.
"Huh?" She looked around and saw them walking toward her. It took all her strength to raise her head. "Oh, hi guys. I was just getting my car."
"What happened to you?" Bradin asked.
"Nothing, why?" She replied in a defensive tone.
"No offense, but you look like crap." Callie said.
Emily laughed. "Well thank you, it's nice of you to notice. You would too if you'd been workin your ass off for the past like 10 hours."
"How bad was it, Lucas was really worried about you" Bradin responded.
"Well I danced for like 5 hours straight, then they let me call Lucas, then I danced for like another 4.5 hours straight. It was a lot of fun." She rolled her eyes
"Can they do that?" Callie asked.
"I dunno, they did though and it wasn't even real dance it was technique, which is like 10 million times worse. And Brittany sat there and barked orders and I did 'um, and when I didn't, she threatened to kick me off the team, It was great! And to make matters worse, they made me beg Chris for forgiveness for what I said to him. Legit, Beg. I hate them all, what I'd give to go to your school."
"Oh man, that's horrible. I would have walked."Callie replied, wondering why she would go through all that for a team
"Oh, trust me, I considered running when they let me call Lucas, but I love to dance, and in some twisted way, they had me thinking all that crap was worth it."
"Ouch. You probably should call Lucas. He was a wreck, he blamed himself." Bradin told her.
She sighed. "No matter what I tell him, he won't listen. It's not his fault, I have a big mouth and I continually pay for it. But I will call him just so he knows I'm alive." She sighed and took out her phone.
"Do you think you can drive? You look like a wreck and a hazard." Bradin said as she turned her phone on remembering how she drove the night before while she was perfectly awake.
"Yea, I guess I am" She laughed. "But I can't leave my car here, my mom will kill me, then she'll call my dad and he'll come and kill me. It wouldn't be a pretty sight." Bradin and Callie laughed.
"We can drive you and then walk from your house." Callie replied.
"Oh man, no I couldn't ask you to do that. My house is so far away from everything. You can drop me off then take it as long as you promise to bring it back" She looked at them slyly.
"Don't you need it? We can't just take your car." Bradin said. Emily hesitated
"No" She said finally, " I don't need it. I have another one I can use. Now before you go calling me spoiled, my mom bought me one and then my dad tried to one-up her by buying me a more expensive one. I didn't ask for either."
Callie just looked at her with an amazed expression. "Where do you live?" she questioned, almost sure she knew the answer.
"Admiral's Bay." She noticed the disgusted look on Callie's face. "Yea, I'm just another stuck-up rich kid, right? Ya know what, I don't need a ride, I can drive myself. Thanks for offering though." She turned and walked toward her car, shaking her head.
"Callie that was really mean. All she's been is nice to you. That was so horrible!" He walked away in a huff.
"Bradin, wait!" She called after him. He stopped and let her catch up to him "I know that was really mean, I didn't mean to, it just kinda happened. I'll apologize, I swear. Please don't be mad at me."
She looked at him with the apologetic eyes and his heart melted. Why did she have to do that he thought, I would have been able to resist if she didn't do that
"Ok, but you better be nice Callie, that was horrible." He grabbed her hand and they started walking home. Callie talked to him, but he wasn't really paying attention. All he could think of was Emily.
