Hello! It's almost the end of the weekend but at least I still posted this chapter! It's longer than usual, so enjoy! I had so much fun writing it.

The last few days of school before spring break were almost there, and Monica couldn't wait for it. As every year, she knew her family would be spending a week at the beach house and that Rachel would come with them. Monica looked forward to it every year. Even though they were together every day at school, during that week, Monica and Rachel had the most fun. They would go to the beach during the day, and at night they would do girls' nights, where Rachel would do Monica's hair and nails, and they would play truth or dare until late into the night.

This year it was no different. The Geller family was having dinner on a regular Thursday when Monica's mother brought up the subject during dinner conversation.

"Monica; Ross; my dears. School break will start next week, and me and your father are planning on going to the beach house that first week." Then, she turned to Monica. "I already called Sandra and Leonard to extend the invitation to Rachel."

There was nothing new with the information. Not until Monica's mother turned to her brother.

"And this year, Ross, you're allowed to invite your new friend. We have heard so much about this new friend of yours and would be delighted to meet him."

Ross seemed happy with the offer and assured their mother he would ask Chandler to come with them. Monica didn't give it much thought, and the meal continued as usual. Monica only thought about it later at night when she was in her bedroom, with time to sort out her thoughts.

Ross bringing a friend with him for the holidays was a good thing for Monica. It meant he would have someone to hang out with and wouldn't be nagging her and Rachel constantly to join them in whatever they were doing. However, it was Chandler who Ross was inviting. Monica didn't know when, but they had formed this tight-knit group. They had started to function as a group, and Monica was afraid it would remain like at the beach house.

First, she relished the time she could spend alone with Rachel. They would usually talk about boys and their usual girls' stuff. However, if Chandler went with them, she was sure they wouldn't have much time alone. Second, yes, she considered their small group as friends, but she wasn't as close to Chandler as she was to Rachel. After all, he was her brother's friend, and in Monica's mind, they had to have their separate group of friends. Moreover, she had started to grow accustomed to Chandler's constant sarcasm and constant joking, but sometimes it still drove her mad.

Well, maybe she would find a way to balance everything and have a fun week with her friends and family.

The next day, the group was having lunch, as they always did. The weather was sunny and warm, and the trees around the school patio were blooming, filling the air with a flowery scent and pollen, the second one a personal enemy of Chandler.

"Atchoo," Chandler sneezed for the fourth time in five minutes. "I really hate spring air," He said after blowing his nose.

"So, guys, do you have any plans for spring break?" Chandler turned to his friends. It was not like he wanted to know; he had stopped enjoying spring break long ago. However, it felt like the right thing to ask. It was what most people asked each other during the last weeks of school.

They all stayed silent for a second, and Chandler noticed the look Ross gave Monica before he started to speak.

"We will spend the first week at our parent's beach house. And actually, my parents invited you to come with us."

It was Chandler's turn to be speechless. He had never received a similar invitation.

"Wait, what? I haven't even met your parents; why would they invite me?"

"We go every year, and Rachel always goes too. And since Ross is always talking about you at home, our parents decided that Ross should bring a friend too," Monica answered his question.

"And you want me to come with you?" Chandler asked, still unsure about the whole situation. No one had ever asked him to spend the vacations together. Well, he didn't have many friends at boarding school.

"Sure, man. It will be fun!" Ross answered him.

"What's wrong? You seem weird," Rachel noted.

Well...Chandler wasn't used to expressing his feelings. Not until the three persons in front of him became his sort of best friends. Since he admitted his past to them, he had started to share more details about his personal life than he ever remembered doing.

"It's just that no one ever invited me to go anywhere. I mean, not just to be with me. I am happy about it; it really does mean a lot to me," Chandler explained, directing a smile at Ross in the end. Ross smiled back at him.

"So, you're coming?"

"Yeah. I just have to tell my mother I will not go with her to Europe," Chandler said.

"OMG!" Rachel exclaimed. "You're cancelling a trip to Europe for a week at a beach here in New York?"

"Yeah. It's not really a trip. My mother's going on a book tour in Europe and invited me to go with her. She tried to convince me by saying we would visit beautiful cities and stay at fancy hotels."

"You don't look too excited about it. Who wouldn't want all those things?" Rachel continued, astonished by Chandler's lack of interest in the topic.

Chandler sighed.

"It's not that I don't want to go. But it's not as perfect as it seems. My mother will spend all her day at bookshops signing books and doing TV shows to promote her book. And at night, she will want to go to fancy dinners with some guy almost our age she met during the day. And I don't even want to think what they do during the night," He said, making a disgusted expression at the thought.

"Anyway," he continued, "She only invited me to go because my father invited me to stay with him a week in LA first."

"And what's wrong with LA?" Rachel asked again. Didn't she have enough explanations already?

"Because it's the same story every holiday. My parents try to offer me a better place to go than the other, so I will choose them. They don't really want to be with me; they just want to prove they are better than the other. It's been like that since I was nine."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," Rachel said. Well... at least she understood when to stop asking personal questions.

"It's okay. Being a child of divorced parents has its things. But I will talk to my mother to say I will be going with you."

Half a week later, everyone gathered at the Geller's house, ready to spend a week at the beach. The car trip took almost all morning, and they arrived just a bit before lunchtime.

As soon as the car stopped and their bags were removed from the trunk, Rachel ran upstairs, followed by Monica, to place their bags in the bedroom they would be sharing. She didn't need to be shown around; she already knew the house like it was her own.

In fact, Rachel felt at home in Monica's beach house. Sometimes more than at her own house. She did love her sisters, but sometimes they were too much to handle. They were always competing to see who was the best: who was more popular, had the hottest boyfriend, could get to head cheerleader... Amy could drive her mad by intruding into her personal life and shoving into Rachel's face that she did something "too grownup" for Rachel. Contrarily, her younger sister, Jill, constantly asked Rachel for advice about things older sisters were supposed to know. Sometimes Rachel didn't know how to deal with her life; how was she supposed to deal with her sister's too?

But there, at Monica's house, Rachel didn't have to worry about the disappointment of being the younger sister or the pressure of being the older one. During that week, it was just the two of them. They were like sisters, except without all the drama and rivalry.

After showing Chandler around, they ate their lunch, which consisted of sandwiches Mrs Geller had packed in advance. When lunch was over, it was time to prepare the bedrooms and unpack until the middle of the afternoon.

"What do you guys wanna do?" Ross asked once they had free time. "We could watch a movie!"

"The weather is great; why don't we do something outside?" Monica suggested.

"I know!" Monica exclaimed. "Why don't we go play beach volley?"

Everyone agreed to Monica's suggestion, and half an hour later, the four friends were at the beach, ready to play. The teams were easily decided: boys vs girls.

"20-15! Suck it, looser!" Monica yelled at her brother after the girls scored another point.

"It's not a score because it's out," Ross pointed to the ball, almost touching the delimiting line.

"It's totally in. You just don't want to admit you're losing to two girls!"

"No, no. The ball is touching the line, which means it's out."

"You're wrong; the ball is almost touching the line, but it's not."

The discussion continued for two more minutes until Rachel and Chandler had to interfere and decide which Geller was right. They decided the ball was out and the point should go to the boys. It was a pointless discussion since in the next round, the girls scored again, winning the game.

"We're the best!" Monica yelled, giving Rachel and high-five.

"We should switch teams now." Chandler proposed. "What about us against them?" He said, turning to Rachel. They all accepted the challenge, Rachel and Chandler vs the Geller siblings. It was a much pacific game since everyone except Ross knew better than to contradict Monica during any game, which didn't happen because they were on the same team.

For the final round, the teams were switched again: Chandler and Monica vs Ross and Rachel. However, at that time, the game didn't go so smoothly since Rachel had impressive sports skills while Chandler and Monica were both far from great at any physical activity.

"It was coming to the left; why did you turn right?!" Monica yelled at Chandler after Rachel had scored another point.

"It was going to hit me in the face!" Chandler tried to apologize.

"If having a ball hit your face means we can get the point, then you let the ball hit your face!"

"Okay, guys, just throw the ball," Rachel interrupted the argument.

The game continued until Rachel scored the final point, winning by 21-04, which caused Monica to become furious, accusing Ross of cheating and yelling at Chandler for making her lose the game.

Later, during dinner, while Monica was still grumpy about losing, they all talked about how fun the afternoon had been. And at night, after getting into bed, Rachel thought about the day. She loved being with Monica during spring break, but the day had been fun, and maybe having more friends around could be even better. That was the first day of a week that would be great, and Rachel could only look forward to the rest of it.