AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Enjoy the adventurous drama in the next few chapters. :)

Chapter 67: Don't go messing with Jake

Eighteen year old Heath was down surfing at the beach when he was approached by a gang member from another surfy gang.

"Oi Braxton, what ya doing on my turf?"

"This isn't your turf Jake, the River boys were here before you." Heath replied.

"Well I say it's mine and you better leave." Jake ordered.

"You don't threaten me. I can take you on any day!" Heath defended.

"I'd like to see you try." Jake warned and left the beach and Heath saw Jake drive off in his car.

Later that morning, annoyed at Jake questioning his authority and reputation, Heath torched Jake's car, but unaware that Jake's gang member Hammer saw the whole thing. When Jake had found out he caught up with Heath at the beach again and punched him hard in the jaw, giving him a split long the two boys were in an all-mighty brawl and only stopped when the lifeguard caught sight of the fight and broke it up.

Jake breathed heavily as he held his bleeding nose. "Just you wait Braxton. This is only the beginning."

Heath glared at Jake and grabbing his board and went home. Heath stormed into the house and put his board down roughly.

"Good surf mate?" Brax asked as he looked up from the dining room table.

"Yep." Heath said shortly and refused to make eye contact with his brother, making Brax somewhat suspicious.

"Heath are you alright?" "Yep." Heath replied and walked down to his room to assess his injures.

Brax was organizing dinner while Casey sat at the table doing his maths homework. Casey rested his head on his arm and moaned. Brax set the plates on the table and tapped his arm.

"Problem?" Casey moaned and looked at his brother. "I can't get the answer to this question. I keep trying but I just keep stuffing it up." He flopped himself down over the table.

Brax chuckled. "Don't give up mate. Let me have a look." Brax tapped Casey's shoulder to get him to sit up.

Brax sat next to Casey and looked at his homework. "You forgot to multiply the number inside the bracket before you add and subtract. See." Brax wrote down the process on the paper.

"Oh." "So can you work out the answer now?"

Casey shook his head. "Okay what is three times five?" Casey shrugged.

"Come on Casey don't you pay attention in class." Casey shrugged.

"This is boring and complicated." Brax sighed and went on to explain the answer using jellybeans that had been on the kitchen counter.

"So how many jellybeans are there now?" Casey counted the jellybeans spread out on the table.

"Fifteen?"

"That's right and what is fifteen minus ten?" Casey looked at Brax sheepishly.

"Come on Casey this is an easy one." Brax started moving the jellybeans away leaving only five and raised his eyebrows at his brother.

"Five?" Casey whispered. "Yep. Was that the only one you had trouble with?"

"Yeah I guess. Thanks Brax. You're really smart."

Brax laughed. "No I'm not mate, but not bad for someone who didn't finish school, huh?"

Casey smiled and popped five of the jellybeans in his mouth before reaching over to grab the rest that Brax had put aside on the table.

"Hey not so fast, I'm not having you tell me you're not hungry at dinner because you've eaten all these jellybeans."

"Brax...I won't...Please can I have them." Casey whined.

"No, you've had enough. Besides dinner will be ready soon, so pack up your stuff and go get Heath for me yeah?"

Casey nodded and after packing away his school books he went down to Heath's room and knocked on the door.

"Yeah? Who is it?" Casey opened the door a crack and peeked in.

"Heath? Brax said to tell you dinner is almost ready."

"Ah look Case, tell Brax I'm not hungry okay."

"Okay." Casey ran back into the kitchen and almost bumped into Brax. "Woah Casey, steady on. Where's Heath?"

"Heath said he's not hungry." Brax rolled his eyes and walked down to Heath's room and banged on the door.

"Heath?" "Yeah?"

Brax opened the door and saw his brother sitting on his bed. "Mate are you sure you're alright?"

Heath sighed he knew Brax would find out about his fight sooner or later. Heath turned to face his brother and saw Heath's split lip and black eye.

"Heath what happened? Did you get into another fight?" Brax demanded. "Brax it's not what you think."

"Really and what's that? Heath I've told you to stay away from those rival surfy gangs. Who was it this time?"

"Jake." "Honestly Heath..."

"You know I've been having troubles with him..."

They were cut off when Casey stood in the doorway. "Are we having dinner now? I'm hungry?"

"Yeah mate...Heath?" "Yeah. I'm coming."

Casey watched his brothers walk down the hallway and ran after Heath. "What happened to your eye and lip?" He asked.

"Nothing Casey. Just shut up will ya?" Heath replied and sat down at the table followed by his brothers.

After the boys had cleaned up after dinner they sat down on the couch to watch some TV. Heath was waiting for the right moment to tell Brax what had really happened in the fight and when he saw Brax get up to walk into the kitchen he followed.

As Brax was about to walk back out of the kitchen Heath asked, "Brax, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah mate, what's up?" Heath glanced behind Brax and saw Casey standing behind them and watching. Brax knew it was something that Casey shouldn't be hearing.

"Um Case, can you go to bed please. It's getting late and you have school tomorrow." Brax told him.

"I heard Heath say he wants to talk secret stuff with you. Why can't I stay and listen?" Casey moaned.

"You're too young and too little squirt." Heath teased. "I'm not little! I'm almost as tall as you!" Casey protested.

"Ha almost, you're a shrimp."

"I am not!" Casey shouted.

"It's because it is none of your business." Brax turned and shooed Casey out of the kitchen.

"But why?" "Because I said so. Now bed."

Casey moaned and stomped towards his room.

Brax approached Heath again, "Now what did you want to tell me?"

"You have to promise you won't get mad." Brax scoffed. "Depends if it's something I have reason to get mad at."

"Well..." "Out with it." Brax demanded. "I wanted to tell you before but..."

"Heath get to the point. You better not have done something stupid, besides the fight with Jake." Heath turned away.

"Heath what did you do?" Brax demanded. "Jake didn't just come and fight me for no reason."

Brax glared at Heath, not liking where this was going. "Why did he fight you? Did you start the fight with him first?"

"Well not exactly, he did throw the first punch."

"What do you mean not exactly?"

"He came at me today because I kinda torched his car."

"What? Heath are you crazy?" Brax yelled.

"I wanted to let him know he couldn't push me around and take the River boys turf."

Brax shook his head in frustration. "Brax the point is, he threatened to come after me, and I need your help...Please?"

Brax shook his head again and turned to Heath. "Yeah of course."

The brothers walked into the lounge room and sat on the couch. "So what's your plan?" Brax asked.

"I was thinking you could help me fight Jake and have this war over with."

"Right…But once this is done, I don't want you causing anymore fights with rival gangs, ya hear."

Heath nodded. The two were interrupted when they heard a voice behind them. "Who's Jake and why do you have to fight him?" Casey had listened to most of the conversation when he came back out for a drink.

Brax walked over to him and placed his hands on his shoulders, turning him back in the direction of his room. "I told you to go to bed."

"Why do you have to fight someone?" He nagged.

"Casey I am not going to explain any of this to you, you're a kid, and you do as I say. Now back to bed."

"I came out for a drink." Casey continued. "Fine I will bring you one. Now go! Do not make me tell you again." Brax repeated more firmly.

"It's not fair." Casey moaned and walked into his room.

Brax got him his drink and placed it on the desk near his bed and saw Casey sulking.

"Casey I am not excluding you to be mean, you understand that right? I'm doing it to protect you." Brax rubbed Casey's knee.

Casey stared at the floor with a scowl and ignored his brother. Brax shrugged. "Night Case."

Casey grunted and Brax walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Brax joined Heath in the lounge again.

"Is the little squirt in bed this time?" "Yeah."

"So how are we going about this?" Heath asked. "We'll go down to the hangout at the beach tomorrow and sort out Jake."

The following day at the beach Jake stood with his gang waiting. "So good of you to show ya face after you ruined my car Braxton."

Brax approached and pushed his hand on Jake's chest. "You stay away from my brother ya hear, otherwise I might just have to explain it a little better if you know what I mean. How do you feel about spending some time in a hospital bed?"

"Ask yourself that question. Me and my gang ain't backing down. This is war. We have big plans for you Braxtons." Jake threatened before he and his gang walked off.

"Now what do we do?" Heath asked. "Now we have to fight."