Hello!

I'm back from Belgium! I had an amazing time and it was so lovely to see all the sights and memorials, it was one of the best trips that I've ever been on! But now that I'm back I have lots of revision to do because I have exams next week, so I'm sorry if today's chapter is a little bit on the short side. Once I've gotten my exams and my birthday out of the way then everything will pretty much go back to normal. :)

Anyway, here's chapter 18!

"Ok, just go in there and tell them your names, they know that you're coming," Mack explained to Tanner, Struts and Giggles as Brady tried to control the remaining Wet Side Story teens, minus Coral and Lugnut, who'd already been sent off to elementary school, much to their disappointment.

"They do?" Tanner asked. "How'd they know that?"

"Because we told them yesterday," Mack explained, the end of her sentence being interrupted by a rather agitated CheeChee.

"Butchy, if ya flick my ear once more you're gonna wish ya were dead," CheeChee snapped, whacking Butchy on the arm as Lela started to lecture her brother on common courtesy.

"Good luck," Mack said, plastering a smile onto her face and rushing to break up the bickering 60s teens.

Tanner pushed the doors to the beach shop open, the two girls following closely behind. As soon as they entered the store the low hum of beach music drifted to their ears, fitting in with the décor and atmosphere perfectly. The racks and stands in the room were stocked high with piles of beach-style clothing in a whole rainbow of colours and a faint tinkle of a bell sounded as the door was pushed open.

"Can I help you?" the girl behind the counter asked, putting on a false smile and pretending to sound peppy.

"I'm Tanner."

"I'm Giggles."

"And I'm Struts."

Well at least the Wet Side Story teens stuck to what Mack had said.

"Veronica, the new guys are here," the girl behind the counter huffed, her smile instantly falling into the bored expression she had previously been sporting.

"Ah, right on time," Veronica chirped sarcastically, breezing through the doorway to the back room with a false smile that matched the girl behind the counter. She looked to be in her mid thirties and her hair was in a sleek auburn bob, slightly longer at the front than the back. To be honest, she looked like she was trying to be a lot cooler than she should be at thirty. "I thought your friends yesterday said that you'd be here by 8:45am, it's now 9:00am," she continued, not sounding too impressed with the teens' punctuality.

"I'm Tanner."

"I'm Giggles."

"I'm Struts."

Mack had told them to say their names…so they did.

"Yes, I know," Veronica said, inhaling sharply and trying not to lose her temper with the teens. "But what I would like to know is why you are late."

"Um, we had to drop our friends off before this, we'll be on time tomorrow," Tanner said, Giggles and Struts furiously nodding behind him.

"Good," Veronica sighed, still keeping the fake smile on her face. "Well then maybe tomorrow you can have a go at doing proper jobs."

"Huh?" Giggles asked, not having a clue what the lady was talking about.

"Since you weren't on time for work, you won't get proper work," Veronica explained. "Actions have consequences, so instead of learning how to use the cash register and keep track of the stock room, you will be folding clothes...all day."

"Folding clothes?" Struts asked, her eyes widening in horror.

"All day?" Giggles added, matching Struts' surprise.

"Yes, maybe that'll teach you to be on time," Veronica spat, not very pleased with her new employees. "Go and get in uniform, pick a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from the stock room and then get to folding." And with that, Veronica spun on her heels and marched back into her office.

"Are you kidding me?" Tanner asked, staring blankly after the woman.

"Nope, just do it though, it'd be worse if you didn't," the girl behind the counter piped up. "I think that Jay's back there, he'll help you find what you need. I'm Becky, by the way."

"Thanks, Becky," Giggles said with a half-smile as she followed Tanner and Struts through the door that read 'Staff Only'.

"What a bummer," Tanner grumbled.

"I sure hope the others have a better time than we're going to," Struts sighed, picking a dark pink t-shirt off a shelf and frowning at it.

"So you guys are going to be working across from each other," Mack explained to the remaining five 60s teens: Lela, CheeChee, Seacat, Rascal and Butchy. "The boys will be working at the barbeque place on the left and the girls will be working at the ice cream stand on the right."

"Cool," Seacat said, testing out his new lingo again.

"Lela, CheeChee, you two follow me," Brady said, starting to walk towards the ice cream stand as Lela and CheeChee scuttled along behind him.

"Ok, guys, I'm gonna introduce you to the boss and then you guys can take it from there," Mack said to the three boys, leading the way to the back of the barbeque place. She knocked on the door a few times and moments later a large, muscular man, who's arms were covered with tattoos, stepped into the doorway.

"You're the girl from yesterday, aren't you?" he asked Mack.

"Yes, and I've brought your new employees along with me," Mack replied. "This is Seacat, Rascal and Butchy," she explained, pointing to each one in turn.

"Well grab an apron boys and we'll start training you up, you'll be running the place in no time," the manager grinned, stepping aside so that the three 60s teens could file inside.

"Thank you," Mack called, backing away from the barbeque place and running over to Brady, who was chattering away to the owner of the ice cream parlour.

"I don't know about you guys but this doesn't seem as bad as I thought it was gonna be," Seacat said, tying the black apron around his waist.

"Yeah, I actually think that this is gonna be fun," Rascal agreed.

"We'll have to see about that," Butchy huffed.

"Aw, come on, Butchy, lighten up," Seacat chuckled. "It can't be that bad, can it? What's it gonna take to change your mind?"

"I don't know," Butchy huffed, just as the boss came in.

"Alright, boys, you ready for a crash course in barbequing?" he asked, clapping his hands together.

"Yes, sir," Rascal said.

"Sir? Call me John," the managed chortled, grabbing a pair of tongs off a hook on the wall. "First we'll see if you can cope with what this place is all about, let's see if you can handle the grill," he continued, pushing open the doors behind him and leading the three guys out to the front of the barbeque stand. The serving counter was made of pristine grey marble and red-topped stools lined the other side, plates and bowls were neatly stacked underneath the counter, a soda dispenser was fixed to the left wall, a thatched awning covered the top of the stand but the thing that caught the three boys' eye was the flaming grill that stretched across the entire back of the stall.

"Ok, I've changed my mind, this place is awesome," Butchy grinned, all three boys' eyes lighting up at the sight in front of them.

"Brady!"

"Mr. Murphy," Brady called back, the owner of the ice cream stand instantly recognising him.

"Are these two the girls that you were telling me about?" Mr. Murphy continued, looking at CheeChee and Lela as they approached the stand with Brady.

"Yeah, I'm sure they'll love it here," Brady said.

"Well come on then, girls, grab an apron and a headband and then I'll teach you the ropes," Mr. Murphy continued, opening the door at the side of the stand and letting the two girls skip inside. "Thanks for the help, Brady."

"No problem," Brady replied, shooting the man a quick smile before turning and practically running into Mack.

"Is everyone in?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yeah," Brady chuckled. "How did we manage that so easily?"

"I don't know, we must be getting better at this or something," Mack smiled, relieved that everything had gone off without any hitches.

"These are so cute," Lela said, placing the pale pink headband with a plastic ice cream cone sticking off the top onto her raven locks.

"I don't know if this colour suits me," CheeChee sniffed, trying to get the pale pink apron over her beehive.

"Oh relax, CheeChee, you look great," Lela chirped, tying the back of her friend's apron for her.

"And how am I supposed to get this thing on?" CheeChee asked, staring at the pink headband and wondering how she was going to fit that in her hair.

"Like this," Lela smiled, slotting the pink headband onto CheeChee's head, making sure not to disrupt her hairstyle.

"Thanks, Lela," CheeChee sighed, smoothing out the creases in her apron.

"You're welcome," Lela said, shooting her fellow biker girl a quick smile. "Us biker girls have gotta stick up for each other, right?"

"So do you girls know how to scoop ice cream or do I need to show you?" Mr. Murphy asked, shutting the door and walking over to the two girls.

"Um…" Lela started, shooting a look at CheeChee, who just shrugged.

"Don't worry, it's not difficult," Mr. Murphy said, sending the girls a reassuring smile and leading them both out to the front of the stand. The place was built similarly to the barbeque stand across from them. The serving counter was polished and white, the walls were painted a baby blue, the awning was yellow and white striped cloth, the counter at the back had a huge freezer unit built into it which held the different tubs of ice cream on offer, next to the freezer unit was the frozen yoghurt machine and occupying the other half of the back counter was a cake mixer, a shelf of decorations and an oven built into the cabinets below. "So you two will be manning the counter and performing orders, whether that's ice cream, frozen yoghurt or cupcakes. It doesn't get terribly busy here so you won't be rushed off your feet. I'll just show you how to work everything and then you can try it yourselves," he explained.

"Ok," Lela chirped, sharing a smile with CheeChee, both girls very excited to get started.

I hope you enjoyed it! I'm sorry that it wasn't very long or very exciting but it was a pretty necessary chapter for things that happen later on in the story.

Thank you so much for the two reviews I got since I last updated! Every review means the world to me and I love to know what you thought about the chapter!

Thank you DynamicGiraffe and RossLynch4ever! Don't hesitate to leave a suggestion if you think of one, I still want to hear them and I want to know what you enjoy reading.

I know I say this all the time (if you're reading this then let me know who you think is going to do the best in their job) 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 all make my day and you're incredibly lovely!

Thank you for reading!

-cherrygorilla