This is a super short chapter. I apologize. I just wanted to get something up to let you guys know I'm not dead and fully intend to keep posting frequently. Things were a bit hectic this weekend. Saturday I was teaching the colorguard at band camp for my old high school, but my older brother also graduated from college and my little sister moved back from the same college for the summer so I've been like for days now.

Let me know what you think the group is gonna do to get Fly back into surfing professionally?

American fact of the chapter: SUNBURN HURTS. This is why us nerds stay indoors ;_;

Heath bounced down the steps in a haze. Matt watched him walk into the lounge like a zombie and flop down on the couch near his feet.

"Heath." The man seemed to focus enough to look at Matt. "What happened?" he asked.

"She kissed me?" It came out more like a question than a statement. Matt sat up and turned the TV off.

"And?" he prompted quickly, trying to control his eagerness. "Start from the beginning. What did she say about the tape?"

Heath took a deep breath. "She didn't think I would see until we had all gone off on our own again. She went on to say that she wants to be friends still. But more importantly, she told me what really happened to her in the pro circuit."

"And what really happened?" a new voice asked flatly. Heath looked up to see Bec standing with her arms crossed and eyebrows pulled together, a look of concern and slight anger on her face. Edge stood behind her with a similar look.

Heath hesitated.

"House meeting?" Edge suggested quietly.

"House meeting," Matt agreed, standing. "I'll go get Perri."

"Meet in the rec room in five. I'll get Fly into the shower or something," Bec commanded.

XXX

"She's gonna be mad I told you guys," Heath sighed.

"You're doing her a favor as a friend," Perri argued. "She deserves to be as happy as the rest of us."

"I just feel like I've betrayed her trust right after she finally started to trust me again," Heath groaned, running a hand through his hair. Would he ever get used to it? Probably not. He felt more lost in this moment than he had ever felt in his entire life. He barely knew who he was anymore.

"You're not betraying her trust," Matt told him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Heath shrugged him off and pushed a pool ball across the table angrily. It bounced off the side and crashed hard into a gathering of several other balls. "I just don't want to piss her off again—it didn't work out so well for me last time."

"If we can get her back into the circuit, she'll be thanking you!" Bec said enthusiastically.

"What if she doesn't want to?" he challenged, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

"What she doesn't want, is to put us all out, to burden us," Edge explained. "Did she seem like she missed it, like she wanted to go back?"

Heath hesitated, before deciding that the grave he was digging himself couldn't really get any deeper. He couldn't have put more weed killer on the plant than he just did. And shit had yet to hit the fan. "She was crying," he told them quietly.

"Hard," Bec added. "She was trying to cover it up when I walked in, but she just kind of fell apart."

"This doesn't feel like the Fly I remember," Perri muttered. The silent agreement hung in the air. Suddenly the floor was thrust into pure silence as the shower finally clicked off.

"If anyone has any ideas as to how to get her back into the circuit, share with the rest of the class," Bec whispered quickly, heading for the door.

"Meeting adjourned," Edge muttered, following her.

No one else dared to move. Foot falls echoed in the empty hallway and Heath looked up as someone appeared in the doorway.

"Secret meeting no one told me about?" Fly's cheeks were red from either the heat of the shower or maybe even her intense crying, and her hair dripped on the hardwood floor. No one responded. "Guys?"

"Get dressed, Fly," Heath said, voice light, as he pushed off the wall. "I'm going into town, and you're coming with me." He brushed past her and headed down the hall.

"And what if I had other plans?"

"Cancel them," he called back, halfway down the stairs. "This is not optional."