StrawberryCheeseCak3: Awesome!!!!!! A new reader!! SO glad you're reading! I hope you like this ch! Lol! Well... I try to make it as suspenseful as I can cause it keeps everybody guessing and they HAVE to come back to find out what happens:D

Sweet-Romantic: Thank you!! I hope you like this chapter!

froggy2045: Yeah, I'm sorry it was so short, I was just trying to catch up on Jay and Ava... anyway, I hope you like this one, and I'm sorry there's not really any action in it right now but the next will be better and then the NEXT one... well, you'll just have to wait and see! MHAHAHAHA!! ;) thanks so much for reading!!

XoCaliBabiox: THANK YOU! Oh, yes! Teresa will come back! Awe, you miss her? I'm so glad to hear that because it means I created a character that people actually could believe is real and that they just fall in love with! Thank you!!! Hope you like this ch! Teresa's in it... :D

ChrissyD: Lol! Sorry it took me so long... hopefully this next update will be quicker:) LOL! Tally ho to you too! ;) And thanks for reading, hope you like this one!

SoMuch4MyHappyEnding: Ok. "hope you have jerry get the shit beat out of him...and make sure Bradin is the one to do it" Oh... we shall see... in time. Thanks so much for reading! Hope you like this ch! And I'll try to update quicker!

Krissy : Hello:D lol! Anyway, yeah I got your SC name on AIM right so now we just have to be on at the same time, anyway... thank you! I'm glad you thought it was great! big smile lol! And yeah, I wanted to make him strong... or so it seemed, but show that he was really suffering inside so... Anyway, thank you so much and I hope you like this chapter!!

Chapter XXVI

Beautiful

Bradin left Jay's shop and headed down the beach with one destination in mind; Teresa's house. He knew it was a school day but... maybe she'd be home!

Knock, knock, knock!

Bradin stood on the front porch of Teresa's aunt's beach house. He had come straight there from Jay's. He didn't stop along the way for anything... It wasn't that he was in a hurry it was that... he was scared that he might run into Jerry.. and... after the other day...

"Bradin!" Karen Coleman exclaimed happily, opening the door.

"Hey, Mrs. Coleman!" Bradin smiled, "Is Teresa home?"

"She is! Won't you come in?" Karen said, stepping aside, "Now, how did you know she'd be out of school!?" the woman laughed, but gave Bradin no opportunity to answer as she said, "Won't you sit down?"

"Thank you," Bradin entered the well furnished living room and looked around a minute. He had only been in the house once, that was the day of Teresa's birthday party.

"Teresa! Bradin's here!" Mrs. Coleman sang out at the foot of the stairs, "He can come up, can't he? That is, you're not still dressing are you?

"Mother!" Teresa called back, clearly embarrassed by her mother's question.

"Oh, Teresa, we all have to dress!" Karen cried as if it were a fly that was flying across the room and wasn't causing any harm. This only embarrassed her further.

"I'll be down in a minute!" She bit her tongue, her mother could be so... so.. Arg! She slung the yellow summer skirt across the room and dropped to her knees. This just wasn't right! How could everything look so bad on her!? And all of a sudden too! Oh, God! Stupid teenage mood swings...

Pushing the thoughts that she looked terrible to the back of her mind she got up and crossed the room, grabbing the yellow summer-skirt she threw it on along with a white tank top, over her light blue bikini. Brushing her hair, putting it in a pony tail, slipping on a pair of white flip flops and grabbing her light brown purse she slipped out of her room shutting the door on the mess in her room and headed downstairs trying her best to smile.

"There you are! Finally!" her mother exclaimed as she stepped into the living room.

"Yes, Mother, I'm here." Teresa gritted her teeth, why was she treating her mother like this!?

Bradin looked surprised but kept his mouth shut as Teresa's mother spoke.

"I will not have you using that tone with me, young lady! In fact, I ought to make you stay home and have Bradin go home too." Karen frowned.

"I'm sorry..." Teresa mumbled, looking at the floor.

"You should be." With that, Mrs. Coleman turned on her heel and marched into the kitchen letting the swinging door shut behind her.

"Come one!" Teresa whispered, grabbing Bradin's hand and flying out the front door.

After walking a little ways down the beach Bradin spoke up, "What was that all about?"

Teresa stopped in her tracks and sighed. She turned to Bradin and he was surprised to find tears in his girlfriend's eyes.

"What's the matter, Babe?" He asked, concern n his voice, as he put a hand to her cheek.

"Can we go somewhere to talk... um... more private?" Teresa asked, looking around at the other beach goers.

"Sure... my house?"

"That's fine..."

"We can go anywhere? It doesn't matter.. really," Bradin assured her, lifting her face to meet her eyes. He sensed that maybe she didn't really want to go to his house.

That was it, he looked in her eyes and she was, once again, lost in the mystery of his soul... She didn't feel anything but his lips pressed gently to hers...

"Hello!? Get a ROOM!!"

"Teresa jerked back. A girl about her age was standing there glaring at them. My little sister is here and I don't exactly want her watching that. Next thing you know you'll be stripping naked or something!" she yelled.

People stared at the three and Teresa turned red. Bradin, on the other hand, turned to face her, "Shut up, you bitch!"

Teresa was taken aback by this... Bradin didn't do things like that.

"BRADIN!? Oooh!!! You damn man w-"

"EXCUSE ME?!?!" Bradin cut her off, "I believe you are the whore in this instance!"

"No, it's you! How many girls have you done?? 30!??!"

Bradin lowered his head and glared at her, "Well, that's nothing compared to your 100 guys!" he smirked.

"Oh, that so totally does it, bastard!"

To Teresa's great surprise the teen threw herself at Bradin and dug her finger nails into his arms.

"Shit!" He exclaimed in pain, "Get off me, bitch!"

Teresa stood by, silently, as Bradin and the girl fell into the sand downright fighting with each other.

A little girl ran up to Teresa and stood beside her, "Hi! Is sissy supposed to be beating him up?"

"Um... er... that is..." Teresa stumbled, "Who is your sister?"

"Her," the little girl, about 5 pointed to the teen in the sand, "Tracey!"

At the sound of her name, Tracey jumped. Taking his opportunity Bradin rolled away from her and stood up, quickly. "Need a hand, Trace?" he smirked, holding out his hand.

She took it and he pulled her up. She stood facing him then turned to her sister, "Go play, Kate!"

"Fine!" Kate ran off towards a group of three other little girls her age.

"So, Bradin," Tracey turned her attention back to the boy before her, "this your latest little sex toy?" she threw her eyes in the direction of Teresa.

Bradin frowned deeper than Teresa had ever seen him and said, emphasizing each word for meaning, "Don't you ever-"

"Fine! But she'll come to the realization soon enough, and you'll be out in the cold. Again!" she spat, "You hate that don't you?"

Bradin was silent.

"Fine!" Tracey growled, "It's true anyhow..."

Bradin remained silent.

"Humph!" she spit in the sand at Bradin's feet and turned on her heel, flipping her hair as she did. As she passed Teresa she paused momentarily, "Watch him, he'll fuck you in a second!" With that she walked off to where the three other little girls and Kate were gathered in the sand building a sand castle.

Confused? No, wrong word... "Bradin... what the-"

"'Eh, ex girlfriend... wish I had never gone out with her..." He turned his head and started walking away from Teresa.

"Uh..."

"Come on, we're still going to my place, aren't we?" Bradin asked, looking over his shoulder.

Teresa nodded and caught up with him. He took her hand and they walked back to his house in complete silence.

"Reese," Bradin took a deep breath, "she was my girlfriend back in Kansas when I was 14, she's two years older than me, and she wanted to sleep with me but I wouldn't do it and... Well, saving you all the drama, she spread it all around school that I tried to do her without her permission and that I told her I'd done blankity, blank amount of girls and blah, blah, blah until nearly every girl in school and her mother hated me... It was pretty bad... I broke up with her the night she wanted sex and... That's mostly what made her spread the rumors..." He looked her directly in the eye, "I guess she never got over it..."

"So... you've never..."

"No. When you heard me tell my aunt I'd never done a girl; I meant it." Bradin assured her.

Teresa knew a lot of guys wouldn't have admitted that but she was glad he did. "So everything she said was just... wrath?" she laughed.

Bradin nodded.

Teresa found it far easier to believe her boyfriend as he stood before her, looking her straight in the eyes, than she did the, obviously angry, girl on the beach she encountered earlier. She smiled and leaned up, kissing him softly on the lips. She didn't need to say anything, he could tell from the gesture that she believed him.

"Now, let's go in... I still haven't figured out what was making my beautiful baby cry earlier..." Bradin murmured, snuggling his head into her neck.

"Bradin," Teresa giggled then sobered quickly, "your aunt." She hissed.

Bradin jumped back just in time for his aunt to step outside.

"Hi, honey... Teresa... Excuse me..." Ava seemed distant as she passed her nephew and his girlfriend and headed down the stairs and around the side of the house.

Teresa glanced at Bradin, who shrugged, then led her through the kitchen and upstairs to his room.

"Now," he said softly, sitting on his bed next to her, "what was the matter?"

Taking a deep breath Teresa said, "Ever since Matt... died-"

Bradin took her hand in his, he knew how hard it was to talk about somebody you loved who had died...

"Mom and I haven't gotten along... at all... about anything..." Teresa finished.

Bradin brushed a hand across her cheek and said, "So, you guys fight and um..."

"Yeah, we fight, we never spend any time together, she's always distant... she doesn't care what I do anymore, so long as it doesn't involve drugs, and..." Teresa looked away.

Bradin waited patiently for her to continue.

"I've just always had a struggle with myself..."Teresa admitted, "I don't like the way I look... I don't think I'm pretty..."

"Are you kidding!? Babe, you're beautiful!!" Bradin exclaimed, making her look back at him.

"Well, you actually make me feel good about myself but..." Teresa dropped her voice.

"But what?"

"You said I was beautiful..."

"So?"

"Well, that's just you... but-"

"And that makes you feel good about yourself?"

"Yeah," Teresa nodded, almost smiling.

"Who else matters?" Bradin smiled.

Teresa smiled back, he always knew just what to say to make her smile... And the best part was... he meant every word, every time.

He kissed her on the forehead and leaned into her neck, whispering, "You're more than beautiful."

Ok, guys, I need you to review now! Danke! Oh, and the whole "ex" part was really just to show what kind of a guy Bradin was before and how now, he is Teresa's and only Teresa's. If that makes any sense... lol! And it was just fun to write so... Hope y'all liked the ch anyway! It was really just filler though, to show the relationship between Teresa and Bradin. The next should be better and it will build to the climax Wow! Only about 7 chapters left! Ok, I'll shut up now, please review! THANK YOU!!

Anna Christie AKA SecondStarToTheRight15