Christa POV

I waited patiently as the other guys began unloading equipment off the bus. I still couldn't believe the concert in Miami went off without a hitch. The dual rehearsal really proved that we could work together…I had flipped through fifteen different magazines, and all of them had great things to say about both bands, our Miami concert, and just the tour in general. The only odd thing was that Rosalina's private interview wasn't in any of the magazines. I had thought of asking the guys who her interviewer was, but I didn't want any drama to happen just because I mentioned her name…and none of the girls knew either. It was weird. Rosalina just brushed it off, saying quickly, "Oh, I'm sure he had more important things to publish."

I didn't believe it.

I picked up my bass and the rest of my bags and slowly got off the bus. The rest of the girls quickly followed, for once being more loud and excited about a new city, since they were actually sober enough to realize it.

I swallowed the air bubbles that stuck in my throat. I made a quick glance to Nat, but he's still acted the same, even since the phone call. I brushed it off at first, but ever since we got on the bus I've worried that he's just hiding his feelings. Which is weird, because Nat Wolff never hides his feelings.

"Here, do you want some help?" I nodded gratefully and Quassim lifted up my bass, falling in step with me.

"So what'd you think about Miami?" I shrugged, blowing a few strands of hair out of my face.

"Honestly? I'm just glad it's over. Mrs. Lief was enough of a nightmare to make me never want to set foot in Miami for the next ten years." I smiled at Quassim's deep chuckle, wondering why I could never seem to make Nat laugh as much.

"About Miami, Christa. I have to talk to you,"

"Here, Quassim let me take that. It is my girlfriend after all." Quassim chuckled uneasily, and I could barely make myself smile. I settled for rolling my eyes, because Nat obviously did not feel like my boyfriend. He took the rest of my bags as well, as I trained my eyes on Quassim's retreating form.

"Wait! Quassim, what were you saying?" Quassim looked between me and Nat before shaking his head rapidly.

"Oh, it was nothing, really. It wasn't even that important. I'll um, see you later Christa!" With that, he hurriedly left us behind, practically sprinting to catch up with David. I frowned.

"I didn't mean to make him run off like that." Nat frowned. "I wonder if he's okay." I simply shrugged.

"It's Quassim. I'm sure he's fine." Nat nodded more assuredly.

"Yeah, I bet you're right." He playfully shoved my shoulder, laughing.

"You're pretty smart, you know that?" I narrowed my eyes, playfully.

"Who are you kidding? I'm the smartest, you know that?" He smiled, laughing quietly as we made our way through the hotel hallways.

"Guys, I'm bored!"

"Me too!"

"It's so hot!"

"Trina!"

"Cooper!"

Our voices bounced off the walls, and I laughed as Trina and Cooper tried to quiet everyone. We were all holed up in Trina's room, since she got the biggest suite. The air conditioner was blasting and it still didn't seem to be enough.

"I know! Why don't we go to the beach?" Alex rushed on before Cooper could get a word out.

"We'll wear disguises and everything, and there's this private beach that Jesse's family owns because they practically live down here in the summer, so we can go there and no one will bother us!"

"Yeah, why don't we go to the beach? It's way too hot to stay in a hotel room Trina." Maya whined from her position on the bed.

"I mean, it's so hot I think my nail polish is melting off of my nails." Lisa added airily. "We should go!" Before either manager could say a word, Alex made a grab for Cooper's phone, to call our bus driver.

"Yo, Jordan? Yeah, it's Alex. Coop says we can go to this beach that Jesse's family owns," Alex jumped from bed to bed to avoid Cooper's wild arms trying to take back his phone, "and he wants to know if you can drive us there? Oh, you can? That's awesome! Thanks Jordy!" Alex snapped the phone shut and collapsed onto the bed. He smiled dreamily. "She loves me." Nat laughed.

"I thought you loved Jesse?"

"Oh, I do. But Jordy's like, super cool, and she talks to me about more exciting stuff than Jesse does."

"What about Juanita." Alex simply waved his hand in the air.

"You guys can't fight the winding river of love. It goes where it must. The heart wants what the heart wants. Love is merely," Thomas cut Alex off.

"Dude, you are so not going into one of those mon log things again."

"It's a monologue, Thomas."

"Yeah, well, who asked you, Rosalina?"

"You did in middle school when Mrs. Farthing made you study Shakespeare." She retorted just as quickly. Thomas just rolled his eyes, until Lisa threw a stress ball at him, mouthing the words "Be nice," so Rosalina couldn't see.

"Guys, I hate to break this up, but," Our protests rose in the air angrily.

"No, Cooper, come on! This tour is supposed to be fun!"

"And Alex says it's Jesse's family's private beach!"

"GUYS! I was just saying, it wouldn't be nice to keep Jordan waiting. We should all go change into swimsuits and stuff. Our protests were quickly turned into cheers as we raced down the hall to change.

Rosalina POV

We all practically ran off the bus. Jesse's beach was beautiful. It had the best view of the water, too. I pulled Cati into the water with me, laughing at her screech of surprise. I was doubled over laughing when a giant wave hit me, signaling Lianna and Maya's entrance into the water. A giant splash fight ensued. Aiming at Cati, I sent my biggest wave yet flying at her face, but she ducked under the water so it hit Alex instead. I stilled quickly, as did all the other girls, waiting for his reaction.

"Rosalina?" I gulped, knowing that you should never underestimate Alex even if he's several years younger than you.

"Yes?"

"YOU'RE SO DEAD!" He sent another wave at me, which made me tumble into the water again. I resurfaced, laughing.

"We'll see about that! Cati, now!" We both grabbed Alex's arms and threw him into the water. When he resurfaced, he turned in mock anger towards his band mates on the shore.

"What kind of friends are you? Letting these girls," he threw his arms out as us, "drown the most important member in your band, the drummer, Alex Wolff?!" He laughed at the shocked expressions on their faces.

"What's the matter, baby? Scared of a little water?" Lisa splashed Thomas, who was still on the shore with David.

"Oh no, you didn't!" Thomas jumped in the water, dunking Lisa under. As she came up spluttering for air, he simply winked.

"You can't touch this!" He flipped the peace sign with both hands.

"That's what you think!" Lisa tackled Thomas into the water again, knocking Lianna and Maya over. Like the domino effect, they took David and Nat down with them, and successfully dragged the guys into the splash fight.

We spent hours in the water, swimming, splashing, and diving, when a couple of guys walked onto the beach.

"Whoa. Do you see them?" Maya asked in a hushed whisper. The girls nodded enthusiastically.

"They're sooo hot!" I could tell my band was watching them casually, noticing how Cooper was talking with them, probably explaining what we were doing here.

Everyone swam closer as Cooper approached the water.

"It's okay, everyone. They're Jesse's cousins, visiting from California. They just wanted to swim and hang out for a bit. Some of their friends our coming, but they said that they'll keep quiet about our location." Having been given the okay, the boys rushed back into the water. I could tell as Maya and Lianna moved closer towards the shallows that they were hoping to talk to them. Leaving Lisa with Thomas, Cati and I stepped onto the shore to take a break.

As I was rolling out my towel, I felt Cati nudge my arm.

"Don't look now, but someone thinks you're pretty cute." She smiled slyly, looking at me from her sunglasses. I practically slammed my sunglasses onto my face and muttered, frowning,

"You don't know that." Cati merely laughed, flipping through the latest issue of Teen Vogue.

"Girl, you are so blind." Maya and Lianna joined us on the beach, laying their towels down so all of our heads were in a circle. I rolled my eyes, and simply went back to my book. I could definitely feel one guy's eyes on me, but I could feel another pair too.

I shifted my sunglasses to get a good look at the stranger.

"Ehh, he's alright." Lianna shrieked, before being shushed by Maya.

"You, are such a liar." I shook my head vehemently.

"No I'm not!" The girls pointedly rolled their eyes at me. I always hated it when they ganged up on me like this.

"You don't think you're into him?" I shook my head.

"Nope."

"Well, how about we test that theory? Go talk to him." I looked at Cati quizzically.

"What?"

"Rosalina. Go." Maya stuffed my bookmark into the pages and snapped the book shut. "Talk to him."

"Now." Lianna added lazily. "Or else, we're going to tell your old band that you started playing with us before you even quit their band."

"That's evil!" I glared at Lianna. "You wouldn't, that's so not true!" She smirked, laughing.

"Try me." I casually glanced over, noticing how the really tan guy waved enthusiastically when he noticed my eye contact. I waved timidly, the blush already spreading over my cheeks.

"Rosalina. We dare you. Come on! Just a little flirty conversation." I tried to not notice when really-tan-guy started walking over here, but I knew that if he got to our spot the girls would never let him leave.

I sighed unhappily.

"Fine." As I stood up, I heard their squeals and laughter. I lightly kicked Lianna on my way by, and she elbowed my knee. I could not believe she got me to do this.

"Umm, hi." The boy rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm Dan." I giggled at the way he could barely make eye contact with me. I cocked my hip to one side and let my one hand rest there.

"I'm Rosalina." He smiled.

"You come here often?" I looked at him curiously.

"No, this is my first time. I actually live in New Yor-Tennessee. I live in Tennessee." He nodded, not taking noticing of my mental slip up.

"Well, Tennessee must be a lucky state to have such a pretty girl like you living there." I could feel his body move closer, and I was only faintly aware of how he was reaching for my hand. I mentally rolled my eyes at his cliché compliment.

"Yeah, well it's too bad I don't live in California." His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I mean, if they make guys like you on the west coast, maybe I should move there." He laughed.

"Babe, I'm a one of a kind original." He smiled. His eyes were a deep brown color, and his tan body almost reminded me of Taylor Lautner. Holy shit, that boy is attractive. We talked and laughed more, and I followed him to his side of the beach so he could introduce me to his friends.

They were all pretty cool, and funny. Not to mention almost all of them were insanely cute. I giggled, feeling multiple eyes on my back. Lianna and Maya were walking up to us, and that's when I knew it.

They only wanted me to talk to Dan because they wanted to talk to his friends. Leave it to them make a plan involving me, like always. I pulled my hair up in a bun.

"Hey girl." Lianna leaned against my shoulder, her eyes twinkling. "Who's your new friends?"

Christa POV

"So, you wanted to talk to me about something?" I was watching everyone in the water, laughing at all of their antics. I dug my toes into the sand, and lay down on my towel. Quassim's shadow towered over me, so I patted the sand next to me. Without another word he plopped down next to me.

"Yeah, um." Quassim wouldn't make eye contact with me.

"Yo, Q! You coming in or what?" Thomas yelled from the water as he threw Lisa into the water again.

"Maybe later Thomas!" I waved Nat off as he was about to come over and sit down. I mouthed, "Tell you later," because I knew whatever Quassim was going to say, he didn't want to say it front of Nat.

"Do you want to walk or something Christa?" Quassim stood up and held his hand out to me. I sat up, chewing my bottom lip. I heard a shriek coming from the girls in the water and I saw Nat splash Rosalina. I saw the way he looked at her when she laughed, and I pretended not to notice the guilty look he tossed my when he realized what he was doing.

"Sure." We walked a good length of the beach, far out of ear shot, even though form our position we could see a few guys run onto the beach. I watched them talk to Cooper, and I watched as the Star Rockers made their way out of the water to sit together on towels.

"So, uh, how was the dinner thing?" My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"It was okay…"

"And the party after?" I narrowed my eyes, finally forcing Quassim to look at me.

"It was fun. Why? Is the band worried that I'm spiraling wildly out of control or something? Last time I checked, I'm not the girl who gets drunk every night – That's Cati and Lisa." Quassim shook his head quickly, backtracking.

"And even if I did drink a little? What's the big problem? Its high school, it happens. We're freaking famous. Just because Nat – I mean just because you guys don't approve, doesn't mean I can't have – It was one freaking beer, for God's sake, maybe two – I don't even know why you care – It's not like Nat does – Thomas that filthy hypocrite, I know Lisa's gotten him to take a few sips – Whatever that's not the point – and just because Nat wouldn't approve – You don't even have proof – Why do you even care – I mean,"

"CHRISTA!" Quassim waved his arms in the air as I kicked the sand angrily.

"What?"

"I got your phone call. It was meant for Nat but you must've dialed the wrong number…" My body went numb. I wanted to be angry at Quassim for not telling me sooner, and I wanted to yell at him for letting me rant, instead of just telling me that he heard all of those stupid truths. Stop it, I mentally scolded myself. But I couldn't feel anything except relief.

Nat doesn't know. The words ran over and over in my mind. He never got the call. He doesn't know. I sighed, closing my eyes.

"Uh, Christa? I'm really sorry I didn't say anything before, it's just that Nat was always with you and I figured I shouldn't say – I mean, I didn't say anything because it sounded like you were, you know, a little drunk, and I'm just, really sorry." Quassim scratched the back of his head nervously.

I could only nod; I was still in shock that my phone call had never reached Nat.

"I won't tell him or anything, you know." I couldn't help but smile as I flung my arms around Quassim.

"Thank you." I breathed into his should. "Thank you." He shifted uncomfortably as he hugged me, patting me on the back.

"I think you should, uh, talk to Nat though, don't you think?" I let go reluctantly, trying to ignore the warm sensation I got from hugging Quassim.

"I guess. But, after the tour. There's already been so much drama and I don't think any of us can handle more." Quassim nodded.

"Yeah, you have a point. But, um, you know you can come and talk to me and stuff? Like as friends? Rosalina and I talked to each other a lot about this kind of stuff."

"You mean about Nat?" He laughed.

"I guess. You can say that."

"You guys seemed so close. What happened?

"Well, when she left, everyone hated her so much, and I just didn't want to make waves. I still wanted to be her friend, but at the time I didn't really want Thomas and David to get angry at me." We watched the guys swim through the water, and I noticed Rosalina and the girls talking to Jesse's cousins.

"You know the tour is a perfect time to mend friendships, right? I think our bands are getting along much better now." I added absentmindedly, thinking of Thomas and Lisa.

"Yeah, you have a point. Look, I'll talk to Rosalina, if you talk to Nat." I gulped, laughing uneasily.

"Deal. I bet after this tour everyone is going to really get along."

"WHAT THE HELL?" Our heads whipped around to find Nat stalking angrily towards Rosalina and one of the strangers.

Nat POV

I had waded back to shore to find Christa when something else caught my eye. That stupid tan cousin of Jesse's was so trying to make a move on Rosalina! I narrowed my eyes watching for a moment as he went to grab her hand. I saw Rosalina laugh, and when he hugged her, all of my pent up rage exploded.

"WHAT THE HELL?" I heard Alex splashing behind me as he raced towards us, but I had already pushed the guy away from Rosalina.

"Whoa, dude, chill out." I felt Maya glare at me and I could hear Rosalina, I could feel her pulling at my wrist. Everything was a red haze. I couldn't take it anymore. Every bad thought about every guy Rosalina had been with was released, and every belittling word they said seemed to egg me on.

"Seriously, Nat come on."

"NO!" I pointed furiously at the stranger. "YOU! What right do have to even touch her? It's not like she's yours or anything! You just need to stay away from Rosalina!"

"I'm not scared of a kid who plays piano, Nat Wolff. And unless I'm mistaken, you're just the world's biggest fucking hypocrite. Where's your other bassist?" I was seething, and without even thinking, I swung my fist in the air.

The contact with his sneering face was satisfying, I was confident I had given him a fat lip.

"Whoa! Bro, calm down! DAVID! THOMAS! QUASSIM!" Alex had grabbed me around the waist trying to tug me off of the beach.

"YOU ASSHOLE!" I yelled furiously, trying to fight against David and Thomas who were dragging me back toward the bus. In the distance, I could see Quassim rushing forward, and Christa hurrying behind him. Cooper and Trina were apologizing profusely, trying to get ice for the guy's fat lip – I smiled.

"Look. Alex, go tell Jordan we're leaving." Cooper took one look at Rosalina's furious glare, and Cati's lethal stance, before rethinking.

"Actually, go tell Jordan that the guys are leaving for an immediate Naked Brother's Band meeting. She can come back here to the beach after, because I'm pretty sure the Star Rockers want to stay for a while longer."

I was forced onto the bus and I could hear Christa stomping behind me. She flung the curtains closed behind her as she retreated into the "girl space" but I couldn't even bring myself to care.

The only thing I could think of was Rosalina's laughter at the beach.