Chapter 2: Summer Bummer

Jen stood by the sliding glass door, looking as stern as Ron the Rent-a-Cop during his daily patrols around the mall. She made sure no one would even think of setting foot inside the house (even though everybody's desire was to stay in the backyard). She ensured that nothing got past her sight.

"Watch out, bra!" she heard someone call out to her.

Nothing except for that.

She turned to her left and saw a water balloon hurling towards her, but it was already too late by then. It burst as soon as it made contact with her body. Water splat all over her and soaked her auburn hair. She moved a drenched section out of her face with a huff.

Jude and Nikki both approached her.

"You look like you're gonna have an aneurysm," Nikki said, inspecting the tension on her best friend's face.

"Yeah, bra, it's freaking me out," Jude said with wide, concerned eyes. "You should really sit and chill somewhere."

"I can't." She massaged her temples, trying to get her friends to understand her plight. "If my mom and Jonesy's dad find out about this, I have to do damage control. I'm not trying to be grounded for the rest of the summer because of this."

"I doubt they would think you're the mastermind behind all this," Nikki said, gesturing to the party surrounding them.

"Exactly." Jude placed a comforting hand on Jen's damp shoulder. "You're super-duper responsible. If there's anyone that's gonna get busted for doin' somethin', it's gonna be Jonesy."

"Jude's right. You're the hardest-working person we know, meaning that you deserve to relax today more than anybody else. Just take it easy."

Jen remained silent.

Nikki crossed her arms. "I'm not leaving until you at least consider what I just said."

She sighed. "You just want me to take it easy."

"Uh huh. Hopefully you'll go sit down somewhere before you burst a blood vessel. Seriously."

As Nikki and Jude walked away, Jen remained at her post, thinking things over.

She felt like she was constantly in "mom mode" with the gang—not that they were constantly reckless, but because she felt someone needed to maintain order within the group. It didn't help that Jonesy lived for impulsivity. She was a brake pedal, and he was the sneaky jackass who liked to cut the brake wires.

But maybe Jonesy wasn't always her responsibility.

She thought about the (high) likelihood of him getting busted. Jude and Nikki raised a valid point: her mom and Jonesy's dad knew her well enough to know that she'd never throw a pool party behind their backs. She'd never do anything too reckless; it wasn't in her nature.

She sighed. Maybe I should just let Jonesy deal with the consequences himself and just enjoy the day. After all, it's supposed to be my day… right?

Sydni hunted down the cooler in search of a soda, but found much more than she anticipated while walking over there.

There he was: Alejandro.

He stood by the pool, talking to Justin and a couple other guys she didn't recognize.

The sun kissed his golden-brown skin and illuminated his smile. The sun made him shine and he made her melt (just like the popsicle Jude left sitting in the grass earlier).

He caught her eye… but she prayed to God she wouldn't catch his. At least, not yet. She wished she could shrink and hide so he wouldn't see her right now.

Before he could spot her, she turned in the opposite direction, desperate to find Caitlin so that she could get help from her. They'd discussed whether to make the first move or not while helping Jonesy with his dating guide—which she had yet to publish on her blog—but she felt caught off-guard. She felt unprepared to face Alejandro so soon. Seeing him again reminded her of how foolish she felt at her own party a couple weeks back. Her doubts of him truly liking her returned.

While Sydni scrambled to find Caitlin, somebody else had already spotted her looking at Alejandro.

Lindsay's jaw dropped when she noticed Sydni gawking at him. She opened her text-messaging app, informing Heather and Tricia at breakneck speed. While Heather replied with a string of profanity, Tricia asked Lindsay to send them her location, so she did.

If only she knew the consequences of that text.

As much fun as his pool party was, Jonesy found himself unable to enjoy it to its fullest capacity, not while he was the object of Nikki's ire. He felt like a moron for running his mouth in the first place. He couldn't fight his curiosity about Nikki's sexuality, yet something—perhaps his "shrunken, underutilized conscience" as his girlfriend would snark—told him not to question her about the girls she found attractive. Now he could only suffer the consequences.

Every time he walked by her, she kept her eyes straight ahead and ignored his existence. Every time he glanced at her while she talked with some friends, she gave him a brief glare of disappointment (and possibly death) before returning to her conversation.

He sulked in the middle of his chat with Wyatt.

"What's wrong with you?" Wyatt asked him, noticing his irritated expression.

He groaned. "Nikki won't talk to me."

"Oh no," Wyatt said, "what'd you do this time?"

"How do you know that I did something?"

"You just said she's not speaking to you."

He grew sheepish. "Oh… right. Well, she's pissed because I was asking her which girls here she thinks are hot—y'know, since she's all bisexual now."

"...You do realize that's the dumbest thing you could have asked her, right?"

"What?"

"Jonesy, when you ask her something like that, you're not taking her sexuality seriously. It sounds like you're trying to know who you two can have a threesome with… and that's definitely an image I don't want in my head." He shivered at the thought of his two closest friends in a steamy romp with some random girl. "Yikes."

He groaned at this being the second accusation of wanting a ménage à trois. "I'm not trying to have a threesome, bro! We're not even having sex!"

"…I feel like that's none of my business, but okay."

"The threesome shit's none of your business either."

"Hey, I'm just trying to tell you where you might have gone wrong with Nikki."

Jonesy's expression softened. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry for snapping on you like that, man."

"It's fine. Just try apologizing to Nikki and hearing her out and you'll get back in her good graces."

"Okay," Jonesy said, letting his advice sink in. "So, what's up with you? Meet any hot chicas today?"

He stammered, "I mean, sure, I've seen some really attractive girls arou—"

A couple water balloons to the head prevented Wyatt from finishing his sentence. Jonesy was tempted to applaud the person who threw them, assuming it was Jude. He looked in the direction of the attack, only to seethe with anger.

His troublemaking-ass brothers.

"Didn't I tell you to keep your asses upstairs?" Jonesy asked with a furrowed brow.

Diego sneered. "You did, but we decided we wanted to see what was up with your party."

"Plus your bribes sucked," Robbie added.

Jonesy facepalmed himself. This day just got worse. "What more do you want from me?"

"Fifty bucks each and a month of chores," Diego said.

"Not happening, pendejo."

"Then I think me and Robbie are gonna stick around for a while," he said before walking off with Robbie, not letting Jonesy get a word in edgewise.

As his two brothers proceeded to run amok in the backyard and raise hell on an already hellish day, he couldn't help one thought:

I'm freaking screwed.

Sydni found Caitlin in the recesses of the backyard.

However, she didn't notice Benj was with Caitlin until it was too late. She wanted to turn back and leave them be, but Caitlin's emerald eyes had already fallen upon her.

"Is everything okay, Sydni?" she asked, her voice sweet.

"Yes… No…" Sydni fidgeted with her hands. "I really don't know. Alejandro's here and I don't know what to do."

"OMG! Say no more!" Turning her attention to Benj, she said, "This is a friend emergency, sweetie, but I'll definitely get back to you later."

"It's fine," he said. "Take your time."

She smiled and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips before taking off with Sydni.

"I'm sorry for interrupting you two," Sydni said. "I just really don't know what to do."

"Aw, don't feel bad! I'm gonna go over there with you, we're gonna strike up a convo with him to get you guys talking, and then I'm gonna be like, 'Hey, if you wanna talk to Sydni, then you two should totally exchange numbers!'"

Having not dated in a hot minute, Sydni was grateful for Caitlin's expertise. "I can't believe I didn't think of that." She frowned. "It's almost like I don't have common sense when it comes to guys anymore."

Caitlin could see the uneasiness written all over her face. "Hey," she said, grabbing Sydni's attention. "You're gonna be just fine."

Her palms sweat profusely. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. You're sweet, you look super cute in that one-piece, and I know he thinks you're a hottie. You're definitely going to get his number."

"Hmm, I really doubt that," a self-assured voice interrupted.

Caitlin looked over Sydni's shoulder and gasped at who she saw. It prompted Sydni to turn around, though she already knew the body such a bitchy voice belonged to.

Heather.

If Jonesy lacked a conscience and split into two different demon spawns, those spawns would be his brothers.

They forced his issue with Nikki to take a backseat in order to perform damage control. Robbie kept dropping chocolate in the pool to make people think it was shit, something Jonesy had to clean up himself, much to his chagrin.

Then, when Robbie wasn't convincing people the pool was infested with fecal matter, he would terrorize some of Jonesy's friends with water balloons. Diego, on the other hand, proceeded to flirt with girls who were not only older than him, but also way out of his league.

Jonesy interrupted Diego's lame attempt at seducing a girl who looked desperate to get away from him. "What will it take to get you and Robbie to leave?"

The girl fled while Diego wasn't looking.

"You already know my price," he told his older brother.

"Still not happening."

"Then I'm not leaving."

"Look, if I go down for this, then I'm dragging you two down with me."

"You do realize I can tell dad and Emma that you tried to bribe us. Then I wouldn't even be lying because you did."

"Ugh," he groaned, feeling like he was going to snap. "Just go back inside the house and play your wack-ass video games! I'm begging you, bro."

With a level tone, Diego said, "No can do. I'm right where I wanna be."

Jonesy tried his hardest not to kick his ass in front of company. As he regained his composure and said, "Fine," he envied Jude, Caitlin, and Sydni—the only ones in the gang who were didn't have siblings. To him, they had it easy.

After getting her earbuds from her room, Jen sighed as reclined in one of the poolside chaises, ready to listen to some music. She closed her eyes and let the umbrella above her block the unrelenting sun.

Nikki and Jude were right: She just needed to take things easy. This day was hers to claim after all, and she wouldn't let anyone take that away from her.

"Jen, you've got to help me."

Not even her wildly impulsive stepbrother.

She opened her crystal-blue eyes, using them to cast a glare upon Jonesy. "And why should I?"

"Because," he said, "I gotta get Robbie and Diego outta here. They're crashing my party!"

"A party that no one told you to have, mind you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said, dismissing her nagging. "I just need some help from 'responsible Jen,' okay?"

"While I'm flattered that you're not trying to call me a downer for once, I'm not helping you."

"What? Why not?!"

"Because," she said, "I finally decided to enjoy the party."

"You didn't even want it to be thrown in the first place!"

"Nikki and Jude helped change my mind." She closed her eyes. "Now, if you excuse me, I have some much-needed relaxing to do."

He grunted and walked away, but she told herself to disregard his frustration, seeing that he'd dug this hole for himself.

She put him out of sight and out of mind.

Caitlin gaped at Tricia and Heather. "How did you two even get in here?"

Heather sneered. "Lindsiot let us in." She then approached Sydni, jutting her index finger against Sydni's chest. "If you even think that you're going to get Alejandro's attention, you're sorely mistaken."

Sydni gulped before stating the first retort that came to mind. "If you're so sure that he's not gonna give me the time of day, then why are you trying to keep me from him?"

"Besides," Caitlin started, "she already has his attention. He danced with her at her party a couple weeks ago."

Ignoring Caitlin, Heather scoffed at Sydni. For someone with the grace of a newborn deer, she thought it was cute how sure of herself she seemed. "Oh, so a dance with him is supposed to mean something?"

"It means something when he said we'd link up another time."

She snickered. "You are so in over your head."

Sydni huffed. "Please stop with the mind games. I don't know why you insist on making me miserable over a guy."

"This is a war, one that you got involved in as soon as you set your sights on Alejandro. One that I intend to win, bitches."

Caitlin frowned. "Not if he's gonna end up with her instead of you."

Tricia stalked towards Caitlin. "How can you know for sure what's gonna happen with them when you don't even know the truth about Benj? You don't even know about your own relationship, Cait," she purred.

Despite the hot air, a chill ran up her spine. "What do you mean 'the truth about Benj'?"

"Oh,"—Tricia feigned ignorance—"did Benj never tell you?" She smirked in satisfaction, knowing she would be able to one-up her ex-best friend once more.

Caitlin approached Benj with a lovelorn look on her face. She appeared wounded and distraught.

"Caitlin, what's wrong?"

She ignored his concern. Her voice wavered when she said, "Please tell me you didn't sleep with Tricia."

She pleaded with both her words and her eyes, which grew more gleamy with each passing second. She wanted him to prove Tricia wrong. She wanted to believe Tricia was just a pathological liar. She wanted him to say no.

He gulped, taking a moment to choose his words carefully. He broke eye contact with her. "It was when we'd broken up the first time… I was really frustrated about it and we… we hooked up when I was still mad at you. Please, please don't cry, Cait."

It all made sense to her now: why Tricia had acted so nastily towards her at the beginning of the summer, when Tricia had spotted her with Benj at the movie theater and poured her drink all over her. Tricia did it because, once more, she had the upper hand over Caitlin. She knew something that Caitlin didn't know, something that Benj never bothered to inform her about. He had her looking and feeling like a fool this whole time. She might as well have the word written across her forehead for the world to see.

She blinked to prevent tears from rolling down her face, but her attempt failed. They streamed down regardless, staining her cheeks with clear trails.

"How—" She sobbed, struggling to get her words out. Trying to steady her voice, she asked, "How could you hook up with someone who likes making me miserable and not expect me to be sad?"

"Cait, I—"

She whimpered. "I can't believe y-you would do this to me and… k-keep quiet about it."

"Cait, please—"

"I can't be with you anymore. You can go be with Tricia or whoever you want. Just know that I'm done."

She stormed away, running past Nikki in the process.

Upon hearing her sobs, Nikki caught her by the wrist and pulled her back.

"Caitlin, what's going on?" she asked, scanning her up and down.

Through blurry, teary eyes, she tried to compose herself and look at Nikki, but bawled when thinking about what happened. "Tr-Tricia told me she sl-slept with Benj after we broke up the first time, and I just couldn't believe her, y'know? So I went to go ask him and he didn't even deny it, Nikki. I just feel so embarrassed and silly and stupid. I was s-so into him and—"

Nikki pulled her into a hug, allowing Caitlin to cry on her shoulder. "Shh. It's okay, Caitlin. Just let it out."

Caitlin remained in Nikki's arms until she felt exhausted from the convulsive sobbing. Her breaths shuddered, but her bawling turned into sniffling. She retreated from Nikki.

"You feel a bit better?" Nikki asked.

"A tiny bit."

"Good. I'll check on you again soon." She cracked her knuckles. "I have business to handle first."

Nikki pushed and shoved through groups of partygoers until she could find Tricia. She had some choice words lined up for her, and none of them were pretty.

She sneered as soon as Tricia came into her line of sight, but found herself distracted by Sydni—who scurried away from Heather when Nikki walked up. She exchanged a curious glance with Sydni, who nodded her head, indicating that she'd be alright.

Nikki proceeded to approach Tricia.

"You conniving bitch," she hissed when she walked towards her. "First, you show up to my boyfriend's party uninvited and unwanted, and then you hurt one of my best friends?" Venom seeped into her tone. "You've got some fucking nerve."

"I was only telling Lemon Head the truth." Tricia strutted towards Nikki. "I don't see the problem with honesty."

"Not when it comes from a place of spite."

"Like you're the epitome of morality."

"I never said I was," she conceded, "but I do know a thing or two about having a heart, something you lack."

As the hostility heightened, Nikki felt some partygoers shift their attention towards the argument at hand. She didn't care. Regardless of who watched, Nikki was going to make her pay for treating Caitlin like garbage.

Tricia quirked an eyebrow. "Aww, was that supposed to make me feel bad?"

"No, but I can make you feel something else." She raised her fist for emphasis.

Tricia got in Nikki's face. "Like you'd really do anything to me."

"If you get any closer to me, I will."

She tapped Nikki on the nose with a smirk. She taunted, "I doubt that y—"

Nikki's fist collided with Tricia's jaw, knocking her to the ground.

Tricia groaned. Her bikini-clad body suffered abrasions from the rough concrete. She couldn't even find the strength to get up. She lay sprawled on the ground with her hand rubbing her aching jaw.

A shadow loomed over her form.

Nikki looked down at her. She cradled her punching hand, ignoring the throbbing sensation from decking Tricia. Despite the pain, pleasure coursed through her veins. A twisted smile graced her lips. "I've been wanting to do that since the day I met you."

Tricia glared upward. "I think my lawyer will be happy to know that."

"Oh, really?" She adopted a mocking tone. "Well, I think your lawyer would love to know that you put your hands on me first."

Tricia found the energy to spring to her feet, swinging at Nikki.

Her fists protected her face, but she took a blow to the arm from Tricia's clumsy attack. Despite the discomfort in her upper arm, she chuckled, wondering if this was the best Tricia could do.

All bark and no bite, Nikki thought.

Tricia attempted to swing at Nikki again, but Nikki kicked her in the shin before she could do anything else, sending Tricia to the ground once more.

Nikki had been fighting her whole life. It didn't matter whether the object of her wrath was a girl or a boy—she'd kick their ass all the same. Whenever someone was way out of line, she took it upon herself to correct them.

On the first day of kindergarten, Nikki punched Jonesy in the face for stealing Wyatt's brownie and insulting her in the process. In the fifth grade, a boy threatened Jen for joining the boys soccer team (seeing that they didn't have enough people for an all-girls' team at the time). Nikki kicked him in the groin for even insinuating that he'd hurt Jen. In the eighth grade, a girl harassed Wyatt into being in a relationship with her, so Nikki yanked on her box braids until she promised to leave him alone.

Needless to say, Nikki and confrontation were not strangers.

"You know, Tricia," she started, "I can do this all day, so I suggest you and Heather take your asses home before this gets even more embarrassing for you."

While Tricia stood up and cradled her aching face, Heather spoke for her. "This isn't over, bitch."

"Another word out of your mouth and I'll clock the shit out of you, too. Now leave."

Heather snarled at her before walking with Tricia to the exit.

Nikki flipped them off as they left the premises.

The onlookers stared at Nikki in awe before breaking into applause and cheers.

She smirked. It felt wonderful to finally kick Tricia's ass.

That bitch deserved it, she thought.

Before she could find Caitlin and continue to console her, Caitlin and Sydni found her.

"I'm so shook right now," Sydni said with eyes widened in disbelief. "Nikki, that was amazing."

"I can't believe you would do that for me," Caitlin added in a grateful (albeit sullen) tone.

Nikki gave her a soft smile. "Of course, Caitlin." She glanced at both of them. "No one messes with my girls, especially not Tricia and Heather."

Caitlin mustered a small smile in return.

"Now, come on. Let's go find Jen and ask if you can relax in her room, okay?"

"Okay."