Melani walked down the pier later that night. It was two days before school started up again and she was trying to enjoy the last bits of her summer vacation. Melani noticed Bradin inside the surf shop. "Hey Westerly" she yelled

Bradin walked out of the store to see the girl he ran into earlier walking toward him with a large group of people. "Hi?" he said uncertainly as she walked in front of him. "How do you know my last name?"

"I knew you wouldn't remember me"

Almost instantaneously he jumped in "Mel…Melani Lawrence. I knew I'd met you before"

"What the hell are you doing in Playa Linda, you told me you wanted to stay in boring Kansas." She said looking at him

"Some stuff happened and it didn't work out that way. Had I known you were here, I would have stayed with my friends" he replied

"You have those?" she replied slyly

"Its nice to see you haven't changed, still as bitchy as ever."

"And you're still as much as an ass as you were when I left 7 years ago"

"The best 7 years of my life" he replied

"Yep, still an ass. You look different, ya know that?"

"I hope I look different than I did when I was 10." He said "You look different too, you were never this skinny"

"Are you saying I was fat?" she said defensively

"Maybe, what are you going to do about it?" he replied

"Don't play that game Bradin, I'm the co-captain of the cheerleading squad and most popular girl in my grade. I have power"

"Why doesn't that surprise me? You always were the bitchiest one in the grade, obviously you became a cheerleader. Though I'm not so sure you can match Ellie Roberts."

"Don't play perfect with me Bradin Westerly, I know you were on Varsity Basketball freshman and sophomore year. You haven't changed since I left and I haven't either"

"I'm not sure if that's reassuring or scary. I guess I'll just have see. How do you know so much about me? I thought you hated me"

"I did, and I still do, but I still talk to people from home and they tell me stuff I really don't care about, like stuff about you. Claire had the biggest crush on you last year, but I don't see why" she said as she started to walk down the pier. She turned to see him still standing there "Are you coming?" she said staring at him with her hands on her hips

"Depends, where are you going" he said as he walked up to her

"There's only one more day of summer left after tonight, where do you think I'm going?"

"No clue. I've been here almost 2 months and I still don't have a clue what goes on around here"

"You've been here 2 months and I haven't run into you yet? Oh you're so doomed on Monday. Come on, it'll be to your advantage to come to this party with me, then at least people will know who you are. Maybe I'll even let you sit at my table." She looked at him up and down"maybe not" she started walking down the pier.

Bradin followed her "So why are you being so nice to me? We were the worst enemies when we were little."

"Who says we aren't now? Haven't you heard the expression keep your friends close and your enemies closer? If you're near me I can watch everything you do, so I can catch you when you do something I don't like" she smiled evilly

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel better, but I guess it's better to know someone at school even if they are an obnoxious brat from Kansas"

"Funny" she replied "I was thinking the same thing about you" she smiled as she walked down the stairs to the beach. "Come on farm boy, the party's not coming to you"

Bradin sighed and walked down the stairs. Melani grabbed his hand and dragged him down the beach toward a huge group of people. "Wow, talk about a big party" Bradin said

"Yeah, we do alright" Melani replied letting go of his hand "You better savor that moment; that was the last time I will ever hold your hand."

Bradin laughed, "You enjoyed it, don't lie" he joked

"Just like I enjoyed cleaning out the barn in Kansas." He replied "hey guys, this is Bradin, Bradin, this is the gang" A round of introductions followed. Melani soon disappeared into the crowd and Bradin was left with all his new peers

"You're gorgeous, you know that" one said "I'm Kelli by the way. Wanna go get something to drink?"

"Yeah, sure." He said following her. They walked toward the fire. Just as he reached the cooler he saw where Melani had disappeared to, she was sitting on a guy's lap happily making out with him and running her fingers through his hair. Bradin got a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach what the hell, he thought I can't have feelings for her, she's Mel. If I do, I'm so dead