Dear Readers,

Thank you for your amazing reviews. It means the world to me. It really gets me typing here. I'm having so much fun writing this story, and I'm so glad you're along for the ride with me. I know there have been some delays with putting up chapters but I plan to keep the updates coming. Now let's get back to it...

Sailing

What the hell was that?

I'd just had the opportunity to talk to Brenda. She was right there in front of me face to face, and I ran away like a little bitch.

I flipped the pages back and forth in my Byron the Collective Works but I honestly can't concentrate on any it. What the hell is wrong with me? I keep replaying that scene in the hallway over and over again. I'm sure she thinks I'm into Kelly if she thinks anything about me after that. Why didn't I say something to her like:

"Can I walk with you to lunch?" or "What are you up to later"

I'm never at a loss for words with these chicks, and now here I am an unsure wreck.

I was sitting up on a ledge above the main quad. Down below I could see most of West Beverly, with students filling up the grassy quad area around the big water fountain gathering for lunch. I glared at them and was glad to be far away. I leaned my head against the pillar my back was propped on and wrung my hands with my knees pulled to my chest closing my eyes. When I opened them a moment later, I spotted two blond heads and a brunette walking together down below. Kelly Taylor and Donna Martin were strutting through the quad for lunch and Brenda was keeping up the pace next to them. They all sat down on a bench. Kelly looked to be deep into some story and was flipping her hair around as she spoke. Donna broke out a compact mirror and started fixing her makeup, as Brenda listened to Kelly intently. She threw her head back now laughing at something Kelly just said. I felt like some kind of horrible peeping Tom gawking at her but I couldn't stop. I was so curious about her. She was Brandon's sister, but who was she? How come I can't stop staring at her. The three girls looked so chummy together but Brenda still didn't fit in a way. She was the outlier and it was fascinating to watch, like an undercover misfit trying so hard to blend in when she was meant to stand out.

#

Every time I walked around now or went anywhere I was a paranoid wreck. I kept expecting another one of Jack's goons to burst out of nowhere and start kicking my ass. When I'd tried to call Jack or Iris over the last few weeks I'd gotten nothing but voicemails, or Jack's secretary. It was just as well I didn't care anymore if I ever talked to or saw either of them again. With parents like that, I might as well have been raised by wolves.

To distract myself from drinking, coking, and fucking I'd gotten myself a new motorcycle. I just went down to the dealer and swiped my credit card for it like nothing. That was one of the perks of having a mobster dad with plenty of cash to burn, you can go out and make impulse purchases on a dime. It was an awesome bike, with amazing horsepower and nice turn action. I liked to drive through the canyons and up Mullholland, letting the wind take me away. It was those moments on my bike where I felt like I could drive away and leave it all behind.

When I pulled up to school on the bike I got a lot of looks but I didn't give a fuck. I don't know why I was even still enrolled in this place. I guess having a place to go every day helped with avoiding the liquor because left to my own devices I was a train wreck and I'd probably be dead within a few days of dropping out.

I was heading through the halls about to go down some stairs when Kelly Taylor popped up beside me. This wasn't an unusual occurrence.

"Hey Dylan..."

"Hey Kelly..."

"So I saw the new bike in the parking lot." Kelly smiled at me. She was her usual self dressed in a super stylish sexy ensemble. She had on a black lace bodysuit and a floral spandex mini skirt. There was a Chanel chain bag, with the logo visible, draped across her, and these half ankle cowboy boots that all the chicks were wearing, on her feet. Kelly was stylish and polished. I noticed a few dudes giving me resentful looks as we walked down the hallway together.

"Thanks for noticing," I said

"I always notice you," Kelly answered back daringly.

I couldn't help but grin. All this attention was flattering and Kelly has been a constant admirer, but it wasn't like that between us at least not on my part. Still, a pretty girl is a pretty girl.

I wanted to ask Kelly if she talked to Brenda today since they seemed pretty tight but I didn't want to hurt her feelings because she's obviously hitting on me...again.

Instead, I tapped my lean stomach and said, "Well then you must notice then that I'm starved how 'bout I walk you to lunch?" Why couldn't I have just said something that simple to Brenda the other day?

"Deal," Kelly said approving.

We bullshitted some more together, and I led her down the stairs as we laughed about something. Kelly was always entertaining. Very entertaining, so I've heard...

I don't usually have lunch with anyone around here. Brandon was a rare exception that day but I was acting like a fucking middle schooler today, the way I was hoping hanging out with Kelly was going to get me around Brenda. Not that I wouldn't freeze up the second her big blue eyes showed up.

Kelly and I were making jokes about what the outside quad cafeteria was serving up. I grabbed a hold of the mashed potato spoon and pretended my hand was getting trapped in the glue-like creation. Kelly was eating it up and laughing like a hyena. In my rare display of comedy, my eyes suddenly connected with Brenda halfway across the quad. She was eyeing us from the water fountain and then embarrassed to be caught staring I'm assuming, she quickly looked away and headed off somewhere.

"Dylan are you getting chicken?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah... I am," I muttered my eyes not leaving Brenda as she walked in the total opposite direction of the quad away from us.

#

That weekend I decided I needed to get over my Brenda crush. She was Walsh's sister after all, and it just couldn't happen. If I did catch her around school she was with Kelly and Donna and they always seemed to be in their own world together, and there were even a few times where it felt like Brenda wouldn't even look at me if we happened to be heading in opposite directions down the hall. I would see her even if she didn't see me. Sometimes I caught her reading a bunch more times out on the quad when I'd be watching from above. I noticed the way her dark hair would blow around in the wind, and she would push her bangs out of her eyes or tuck her hair behind her ear. I always wondered what she was reading, and what was going through her mind. She was the new girl and her mystery, and presence was intoxicating to me, but it had to stay a mystery. I wasn't anyone to get involved with and girls like her should stay far away from people like me. I could have asked Walsh about her too a bunch of times, but all that would have gotten me was a punch in the mouth. Sometimes I saw her and Brandon walking together in the hall, and they looked like they had such a bond. I wonder what that was like. What family was like.

#

I hopped on my new bike, and with a screech of the tires sailed out of the Bel Age underground parking lot.

It was a sunny Beverly Hills Saturday, and I was happy to get out of the suite for a while which was starting to smell musty and dank. I had ordered housekeeping to stay out of the room for a little bit since Stacy and I had trashed it during our drunken sex coke bender. I was starting not to trust anyone at the Bel Age either after that little goon paid me a visit. Who knows who was who anymore or who was watching me around there. Jack had a lot of enemies since he's such an honest businessman. I should just go stay somewhere else but I was worried about being followed.

I let the air whip through my face, as I sailed down the Palm tree-lined streets with some music playing. Shoppers bustled out of the designer shops, and Jaguars and Mercedes pulled up beside me at stoplights. I made some turns to take some short cuts through the residential streets to get away from traffic.

I was sailing down Hillcrest Drive when I saw pretty legs and fluffy hair jogging down the street. I immediately hit the breaks and skidded a bit turning around without thinking. The chick looked like her but it couldn't be. Could it?

Slowly pulling up beside her, I revved the engine a few more times before finally coming to a full stop. It was her alright. I whipped my helmet off.

"Hi," I said.

Brenda fluffed her new hair behind her shoulder and grinned at me.

"Hi."

"I thought that was you but didn't your hair used to be a little different?" It was. Brenda had this new fluffy kind of like orange blonde hair. She was standing right in front of me in the flesh and boy was there a lot of it out. She was in these super-short running shorts and this tight little workout bra. I couldn't help but start grinning like a madman. Was this some kind of sexy weekend dream I was about to wake up from any moment.

Brenda's arms were crossed now as she rambled back at me. "Yes. No. Well...maybe just a little bit. I hate this color if that's what you could call it."

Fuck she was as nervous as I was. I couldn't help but steal a quick look up and down now. "It's not that bad," I assured her.

"If one more person says that-"

"It's not that bad!" I insisted bursting out laughing, loving her pretty frustrated grin. The hair really was that bad though unfortunately, but fuck it. Orange hair or not Brenda was turning me on like a wild man and talking to her right now, like this, is what I had been waiting for. Then she hit me with, "Don't all you guys out here have a thing for blondes, I mean that's what you told Kelly."

Wow that was a surprise to hear. I pretended to give that a quick thought.

"Blondes...brunettes...redheads...girls in tank tops..." I couldn't even hide my drooling now.

Whoah easy McKay don't scare the girl. Although she should be scared.

Brenda seemed like she appreciated my appreciation and I detected some blush on her face.

I needed to get it together. She was destroying me. I had to think here.

"But, if you really hate that color, I uh have a friend who does hair and he owes me a favor." God, that sounded so gay! Did I just say that? What is wrong with me when I get in front of this girl. I'm a mess.

Brenda shrugged. "Well I don't really hate the color, but maybe we should still go see him, for a second opinion or something don't you think?" she spoke fast.

I'm. In. Trouble. "No problem," I said nonchalantly. Instinctually I pulled my legs back on the bike.

"I like your butt!" Brenda blurted out of nowhere.

Damn. She beat me to the punch. That was exactly what I had been thinking.

She looked understandably mortified now for the both of us. "I mean your bike," she said quickly trying to correct herself.

I gave it right back to her. "Oh well thank you," I mocked. "Hop on...my bike that is." I reached my helmet out to her more seriously now, unable to believe that we'd just had a whole conversation.

A split-second shot through the trees around us, and then she took the helmet like she wasn't even thinking, as she got on behind me. I could feel her sexy pretty legs wrapping her thighs against me, and looked down slowly before turning my head towards her a bit wanting to make sure she was comfortable but also not wanting to freak her out. Then there was a moment of hesitation in her as her hands seemed to freeze and hover for a moment, but then she wrapped them around my waist trustingly. I revved the engine and we took off down the street together.