"Call Cam," Amber begged. "I haven't seen him in months." "Why?" Nikki asked as they strolled down the pier. "Because I haven't seen him in forever. Ask him to come and hang with us!" Amber said pulling out her cell. "Why don't you call him?" Nikki said taking the phone. "Because we haven't talked in a long time and that would be weird." Amber said gigling with excitement. "Your crazy." Nikki told Amber as she dialed in the numbers. Amber just shrugged. "Cam? Hey its Nikki. Nothing. Hey, do you wanna come and hang with Amber and I, were at the pier?" Nikki saw Amber cross her fingures. "Kay. Bye." Nikki hung up the phone. Then nodded at Amber.
Bradin shuffled his feet around in the cool sand. He took out his phone and checked the time. It was two minutes after nine. Erika promised to meet him at nine. "Sorry I'm late!" Erika called as she ran up to Bradin. Erika looked beautiful, she was wearing a jean mini skirt and a tee shirt that read Hollister across the front in green. Her hair was shiny and her eyes sparkled it made Bradin forget about her being late. "No problem." Bradin shook it off and stood up. "Were you waiting long?" Erika asked starting to walk a little. "No, not really." Bradin said hanging his arm over her shoulders. "So what do you wanna do?" Erika asked sliding his arm off her shoulders and grasping his hand. "I don't care, as long as I'm with you." Bradin smiled. "We could go to Karen's party. Heard its huge." Erika said turning to face Bradin. "Sure." Bradin kissed Erika and then let Erika lead to the party.
Jay sat down on the couch by Ava. Ava slumped foward and her eyes were red and puffy. "Ava? Are you okay?" Jay asked finally. "He's gone. Gone!" Ava said tears streaming from her eyes and down her checks. "Whos gone?" Jay asked rubbing her shoulder. "Johnny." Ava whispered.
Nikki saw Cam and waved him over. "Hey." Nikki and Amber waved. "Its been a long time." Cam said smileing at Amber. "Yeah." Amber said nodding. "We thought we could use another companion." Nikki laughed. "So what do you guys wanna do. We've been sitting here all night." Amber said glancing at the people around her. "Hey did you here about that party. Karen's or something, a bunch of kids from our grade were talking about it." Nikki said. "Yeah. I heard about that too." Cam said. "Lets go!" Amber punched her fist to the sky and everyone laughed.
"Whoa. This is huge!" Bradin said looking at the hundreds of people. "What you think I was lieing Kansas?" Erika said pulling him along. There was tons of food, a dj, tons of kids, and a giant dance floor. "Come on, lets dance." Bradin said giving Erika's arm a tug.
Nikki, Amber and Cam arrived at the party and were amazed. "This is bigger then any party I've ever been too." Amber said staring at all the people. "Yeah, its sweet." Nikki said. "Are we dressed for this?" Nikki whispered to Amber. "You are." Amber smiled. Nikki looked down. She was wearing Hollister ripped jeans and a L.A.M.B tee shirt. Her hair was straight and laying on her shoulders. "This is cool." Cam said hanging his arm around Nikki. "Come on guys. Lets dance!" Amber said grabing Nikki's and Cam's hands and tugging them onto the dance floor.
Bradin was having such a good time. It was probably one of the first party's that he was having a really good time at. "Nik?" Bradin said stopping. "What?" Erika said turning around. "Nikki. What is she doing here?" Bradin began to walk over to her, Erika followed. "Nikki? What are you doing here, its really late." Bradin said touching her shoulder. Nikki turned around and saw Bradin. "Bradin!" Nikki was so surprised she blinked a few times to be sure it was really him. "What are you doing here?" Nikki asked crossing her arms. "I'm here with Erika. Do you know what time it is?" Bradin said throwing his arms in the air. He was playing the brother role now. He hated when he had to be a big brother. "Um..nine?" Nikki guessed. "Its almost eleven!" Bradin said pulling Nikki out of the crazyness of the dance floor. "Crap!" Nikki couldn't believe she stayed out so late. "Its almost eleven?"Amber jumped in. "I have to get home, my mom is gonna kill me." Amber walked off Cam still standing is disbelief. "Wait, are you sure. Last time I checked it was nine thirty." Cam said. Bradin pulled his cell out and said, "Its eleven." Bradin said nodding his head. "I'll see you later." Cam patted Nikki's shoulder. "Bradin I'm dead. Ava is going to be so mad at me! I didn't mean to! I swear..." Nikki started to feel her eyes fill with tears.
"Nikki! Where have you been?" Ava cried. "I'm so sorry, Aunt Ava." Nikki started. "Do you know what time it is! Its eleven! Your an hour late! You never called or checked in with me." Ava was stern. Something about her face looked different. Her eyes seemed red and puffy and swollen. Like she had been hit. Or like she had been crying for a really long time. "I'm really really, really sorry. I made a mistake, it was accident, I didn't even know it was that late." Nikki said softly. "Sometimes sorry isn't enough! For right now just, just, go to your room until I can figure out what to do with you."Nikki stormed off even before Ava finished. Nikki's mom never raised her voice, it made Nikki scared and afraid to know what was going to happen. She felt horrible for not checking the time. "Aunt Ava, don't be so hard on her. She didn't know." Bradin said. "Bradin, the last person I want to here excuses for is you. I had know idea you were going out tonight. When were you planing on telling me you were going out?" Ava said leaning against the backdoor. "You weren't home when I left. I told Jay." Bradin was so frusterated he wanted to scream. "Where were you two?" Ava said looking over at Erika. "Um...just at the beach." "Is that were you ran into Nikki?" Ava asked crossing her arms. "Yeah. It was." Bradin said, he was about to lift his fingure into his mouth and bite his nail but then he remembered he only did that when he was lieing and immeditly put his hand down. "I really just need to be alone right now." Ava said walking outside.
"Do you think she is okay?" Erika asked sitting on Bradin's bed. "No clue, she looked like she was crying." Bradin said sitting down at his desk. He spun a few times in his chair. "Nikki's in a lot of trouble." Erika said finally saying something after akward silence. "Yeah. I kinda feel bad. But she should have remembered."