Hello!
How are you?
I've had a pretty good week, actually. I went to see the new Disney film, Big Hero 6 twice within two days because I loved it so much! And I had Languages Day at school today where we did a few quizzes, learnt about different countries and even learnt a bit of Italian and Xhosa (the South African clicking language), which was really interesting and surprisingly fun! Have you done anything good this week?
I'm over the moon that you liked the prologue, I always worry about putting a story up in case no one likes it, but you've all been so lovely and your reviews have been making my day!
So, enough of my boring life, let's get on with the first chapter!
The sun was shining and the warm summer breeze was blowing the salty ocean air onto the boardwalk.
"Are you sure you're going to be alright when I'm gone?" Mack's grandfather asked his granddaughter, placing his hands on Mack's shoulders.
"I'll be fine, Grandpa. You don't need to worry about me, you'll only be gone for a week," Mack replied, a reassuring edge to her voice. "You'll be back before school starts."
"Plus she's got me," Brady added, taking Mack's grandfather's suitcase out of the back of his car and setting it down on the pavement beside the man.
"Of course, you'll take good care of her, Brady," Mack grandfather said, smiling over at the blonde boy.
"Sure thing," Brady said, grinning down at his girlfriend. "I'll check in on her."
But before any more reassurances could be exchanged, a bus pulled up to the stop a few metres down the road.
"Bye, Grandpa," Mack chirped, giving her grandfather a hug before practically shoving him onto the bus. Now, Mack loved her grandfather to pieces, but having a week alone with Brady was just the thing she needed, especially since it was the week before school started again. Mack stood with Brady by his car, waving as the bus rolled down the road and into the distance. But as soon as it was out of sight, they grabbed their surfboards out of the back of Brady's car and raced down the boardwalk onto the beach, huge grins spreading across their faces. Mack's grandfather's surf shop was located on a much quieter part of the beach, where the waves were higher and the more experienced surfers went, but the main part of the beach by the boardwalk was always full of life with the bustling stalls, shacks and the carnival. It was one of the best places for Mack and Brady to hang out and it never brought a dull moment. And today was not an exception.
Mack: "We're done, but it's not over
We'll start it again, after the end of the day
It keeps getting better, don't be afraid, we'll do it together
Come on, come on, you know
It's your time to move, it's my time to move
Come on, come on, let go
Leave it all behind, your past and mine
Gone are the days of summer
We couldn't change it if we tried
Why would we want to, let's go where we got to
Our paths will cross again in time
It's never the same tomorrow
And tomorrow's never clear
So come on, come on, you know
Our time, our time is here
We know, but we're not certain
How can we be, how can we see what's ahead
The road keeps on turning
And all we can do, is travel each day to the next
Come on, come on, you know
It's your time to move, it's my time to move
Come on, come on, let go
Leave it all behind, your past and mine
Gone are the days of summer
We couldn't change it if we tried
Why would we want to, let's go where we got to
Our paths will cross again in time
It's never the same tomorrow
And tomorrow's never clear
So come on, come on, you know
Our time, our time is here
Yeah
Gone are the days of summer
We wouldn't change it if we tried
So come on, come on, come on
Come on, come on, come on
So come on, come on, you know
Our time…our time is here"
Mack and Brady spent the morning surfing, window-shopping at the stalls, looking around the carnival, reminiscing about everything they'd done that summer and just generally goofing off. It was perfect, like the day they hung out before they first went back into Wet Side Story, which was also a topic of their conversation on more than one occasion.
"Do you think anyone at school would believe us if we said we went back into a movie this summer?" Mack asked, walking back over to Brady, who was now stood by a group of palm trees. She'd gone to get changed out of her rash guard since the pair were planning on going to get lunch somewhere, and soggy swimwear wasn't really the best thing to wear. "Twice," Mack added.
"No, they'd probably think we were crazy," Brady chuckled, tucking his board under his arm. "Especially if we told them that we're now friends with the characters. Hey, that's actually pretty cool. We have friends from the 60s."
"Is that your definition of cool?" Mack asked, trying to hold back a laugh. "Being friends with 60s movie characters?"
"And it's not yours?" Brady shot back, his grin making Mack break out into a little laugh. "This summer's been so perfect," Brady sighed, leaning back against the tree trunk he was stood in front of.
"Yeah, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Even though I found a lot of it hard to believe, it was a lot of fun," Mack agreed. "And at least I get to stay for school."
"Woah, woah, woah," Brady babbled. "We still have a week of summer left, no talking about school until we have to." Brady sent a grin in Mack's direction, but quickly noticed that instead of smiling back, she was frowning at something in the distance. "Mack?" Brady asked, trying to catch her attention. "What are you looking at?"
"Brady…" Mack started, a panicked look spreading over her face.
"What? What is it?" Brady asked. "Stop messing around, Mack. Let's just go to lunch."
"Brady," Mack repeated, not even looking at her boyfriend, her eyes focused on the objects in the distance.
"What?" Brady asked again, his exasperation showing in his voice.
"Would you think I was crazy if I told you that Lela and Tanner were walking towards us on this beach?" Mack babbled, making Brady's jaw drop.
"What?" Brady asked for the third time, his eyes almost popping out of his head as he turned around, pushing a big branch out of the way to get a better view. Sure enough, Lela and Tanner were skipping along beside each other, heading in the direction of Mack and Brady. "Please tell me this is a dream," Brady said, hardly able to believe what was happening.
"Mack!"
"It's not a dream," Mack cried, the sound of Lela's squeal immobilising her with fear.
"What are we gonna do?!" Brady exclaimed, dropping his surfboard and grabbing Mack by the shoulders.
"I don't know!" Mack cried back. "They can't stay here. They're movie characters. How did they even get here?!"
"This makes no sense," Brady agreed.
"You're telling me," Mack sighed, wracking her brain for a solution.
"We're going to have to take them back to your house until we figure out some way to get them back into their movie," Brady decided.
"What?!" Mack screeched. "They can't stay at my house."
"Why not? Your grandpa just went on vacation, he's not gonna know," Brady replied, trying to calm both himself and Mack down.
"That's not my problem, Brady. People are going to recognise them. They don't fit in here. They're characters in a movie musical from the 60s, they're not just gonna blend in," Mack explained, trying her hardest not to freak out. But before they could say anything else, Lela and Tanner ran up to them, bright yet relieved smiles spreading across their faces.
"Oh, Mack! I'm so glad we found you!" Lela cried, throwing her arms around a shocked Mack's neck.
"I'm glad to see you too, but what are you two doing here?" Mack asked, prising Lela off her before looking back and forth between the pair of 60s lovebirds. "More importantly, how are you two here?"
"Oh, it's a long story," Tanner said, sending Mack and Brady one of his goofy grins.
"But I'm sure we can all explain it," Lela carried on, not stopping smiling the entire time. "We do need your help though because we don't really know where we are and we need a place to stay-"
"Wait, Lela, what do you mean by 'we all'?" Brady asked, cutting the biker girl off when he realised what she'd said.
"Are there more of you here than just you and Tanner?" Mack asked, now even more concerned.
"Oh, yeah. There's Seacat, Giggles, Butchy and Struts too," Tanner explained, listing off his friends and counting them on his fingers. Mack and Brady just stood gawping at the pair.
"How can there be more of them?!" Mack hissed to Brady, quiet enough for Lela and Tanner not to notice.
"I don't know, but the best thing we can do now is take them back to your place, figure out what's going on and try to keep them under control until we can figure out a way to get them back home," Brady said, knowing that if they didn't keep calm then things would spiral out of control.
"Ok," Mack sighed, turning back to Lela and Tanner with an uneasy smile plastered on her face. "Do you guys have any idea where the others are?" Mack asked, watching as Lela and Tanner paused for a moment in thought.
"Ooh," Lela squealed, the memory coming back to her. "They're over here!" Lela continued, pointing back in the direction she and Tanner had just come.
"Can you take us to them?" Brady asked.
"Sure!" Lela cried, grabbing Tanner's hand and scurrying off again.
"Oh boy," Brady sighed, watching the pair dodge through the families on the beach in the direction of the stalls.
"Why does this still feel like a dream?" Mack asked, shaking her head slightly to try and get everything to fall back into place.
"Come on, we're gonna lose them," Brady said, starting to weave his way through the crowds after Lela and Tanner. Mack took a deep breath, trying to gather her thoughts, but eventually just ended up bolting after Brady, in such a state of shock that she could barely run in a straight line.
So…what did you think? I really hope you enjoyed it!
I know it's not the longest chapter in the world and I was actually going to cut it off sooner but then it would have been really short, I hope you don't mind too much!
I'm trying to work on chapters at the moment and I'm only on chapter two...I've just had a really busy schedule but I promise that I'll get more writing done this weekend so that I can start updating twice a week again, because at the moment I'm really not ready for it! :/
The song I used in this chapter is called Our Time Is Here from Camp Rock. This song wasn't really Mack singing it purposefully, it was sort of meant to be like at the start of the original film when she sings Oxygen. So it was sort of supposed to be in the background as they hung out. I hope that explained it a bit! :)
Thank you so much for five reviews! That's a lot more than I had been getting recently on my other story and I can't tell you how grateful I am for each and every one! Thank you so much DynamicGiraffe, Me, MaddieGerbz, Guest and RossLynch4ever! And all of your suggestions were great, I'll make sure to include them all as soon as I can! And don't hesitate to leave a suggestion if you think of one, I love hearing them and using ideas that you want to read! :)
I know I say this all the time (if you're reading this then let me know how you think that Lela, Tanner and the rest of the gang got into the present day) but I want to say thank you to everyone who sends me PMs, leaves reviews and is just generally supportive of my stories because you make me ridiculously happy!
Thank you for reading!
-cherrygorilla