When my grandmother unexpectedly died, my newly divorced mother thought it would be a wonderful idea to move us to her hometown and take over the family business. "It was a chance to start over new and fresh" she had said as we drove away from our foreclosed house. My Father had been caught embezzling millions of the company's money and spending it on multiple mistresses; All of their assets were frozen and mom and I were lucky to get out with the little amount of things we did. She immediately filed for divorce and we packed our things and left. Grandma owned a small sweets shop on the boardwalk of a small seaside town called Santa Carla California, called Betty's seaside sweets.
The moving company my mother had hired was falling behind on delivering our stuff; so Mom and I spent our first week here cleaning out grandma's seaside home so that we could move our things in. The house was a three story house right on the beach. I took the top floor which was a large open space with a walk-in closet on one side and a small bathroom on the other. I also had a large balcony. The main floor housed and grand entry way that lead into an open concept kitchen and living room, with two small spare bedrooms to the right of the kitchen and bathroom and laundry room to the left of the kitchen; the living room was surrounded by a glass wall with a sliding door out onto a large deck that wrapped around both sides of the house. All the windows and glass doors had storm shutters and the living room had ones that folded up and were stored away inside the walls on either side of the deck.
My mom took the bottom floor which was a large bedroom with a hot tub and full bathroom. She also had a small deck and beach access right from her bedroom. The property was surrounded by a waist high fence with a small gate that opened up onto the public beach.
I enjoyed the evenings here, it was still 75 Degrees even in the dead of night. I wondered what the temperatures would be like once summer hit. you could see the bonfires down on the beach and hear the distant music blaring from boom boxes. I decided that until my bed showed up I slept out on the hammock on the balcony. Normally due to my weird sleep pattern, I slept from six am until one pm, but mom had me helping her all week so I had to change my sleep schedule to help her. My first night out on the balcony I was started awake at four am by the sound of motorcycles cruising down the beach. The owners of said bikes were hooping, hollering and laughing as they flew by the house. It was so dark out that all I could see of them were their headlights and sometimes they'd stop for a few seconds just down the beach and rev their engines before speeding off again. By the end of the week I had gotten used to them flying by and slept right through it most nights. The only nights I was awakened was when they'd stop and rev their engines.
Our things finally arrived, mom and I got to work placing the furniture and unpacking our things. I placed my bed right across from the balcony doors, so that I could listen to the waves crashing on shore and look out over the beach; I loved my bed, it was a canopy bed with black sheer curtains and black and red sheets. I had a coffin shaped bookcase, full of books and comics and a gothic style makeup table and dressers, from the Victorian era, that mom and I painted black. And a nice comfy armchair that mom had reupholstered in a velvet black fabric with purple stitching.
It didn't take as long as I thought it would to get the rest of my things put away. My poor walk-in closet looked so empty with my lack of a wardrobe; all I owned were a ton of band t-shirts, a few crop tops and tank tops, skinny jeans in almost every color available and plaid shirts in all shades, I had one leather jacket and a ton of converse sneakers and combat boots; doc martens to be exact and a few sundresses that my mom forced me to buy, that was about it. I helped mom unpack the household items and move furniture around before long everything was away and we were finally all settled into our new home.
Before opening the bake shop again Mom and I decided to spruce up the bake shop by giving everything a new paint job. I spent a week helping one of her employees named Jennifer paint the Store front walls and the doors as well as all the inside walls before tackling all the tables and chairs. We decided on bright vibrant blue, pink, yellow, purple and green. By Friday evening we were finally painting the last set of chairs.
Jennifer was a few years older than me, she was a tall lanky girl with long brown hair, green eyes and freckles. She had a very pretty face and oversized glasses rested on her nose.
As I was finishing my last chair, a group of annoying guys came around and started harassing me and Jennifer.
"Hey baby, You new in town?" said one with a mohawk. "Wanna go out back and get to know each other?" he said while placing an arm over my shoulder
I shrugged him off and took a few steps away. "Uh no thanks, I'm not interested."
"Back off Tony." Screamed Jennifer as she shoved him away from me.
"Oh come on ladies, you know you wanna have some fun." said a blue haired guy as he grabbed Jennifer's arms while a bald headed guy grabbed her from behind.
Another guy with long greasy hair came up behind me while the Tony guy grabbed my face, and that is when I became really angry. I knew I wasn't a match for them at my short five foot one stature but lucky for me my dad had insisted I take self defense classes. I stomped on the foot of the guy behind me while also elbowing him in the stomach. Then I grabbed Tony's hand and twisted it until he got down on his knees.
"Ahhhh, okay. Okay I give!" he screamed at me.
I was just about to let go when the greasy hair guy punched me in the side of the face and I hit the ground hard face first; I felt the blood flowing out of my nose within seconds of hitting the ground. He was just about to grab me when my mom came flying out of the shop with a broom and two security guards came running up the stairs. My mom helped me up off the ground while security handcuffed two of the guys, who I now know are called surf nazis. The other one who was holding Jennifer and the greasy haired guy jumped over the railing into the sandy beach below. The police showed up to take our statements and take away the two that that security had taken into custody. Mom asked them to take Jennifers first so she could help me stop my nose from bleeding. She ran to get me a wet cloth so I could clean myself up a bit and eventually it did stop bleeding bjut my shirt was now ruined unless mom performed a miracle and could get the blood out. while the police started asking me questions; I heard the familiar sound of motorcycles and I glanced over to finally get my first look at the owners of said bikes as they dismounted their motorized beasts. The first one I noticed was a tall cute blonde with blue eyes. He was wearing a see-through mesh shirt, tight dirty white pants, a long black coat that split in half at the back and black leg warmers; he reminded me of Twisted Sister. He was rough housing with a shorter curly haired blonde with the most beautiful green eyes; they took my breath away. He was wearing a brightly colored jean jacket with colorful tapestries, patches and something glittery hanging off his left shoulder, a white crop top like shirt underneath; blue jeans and black worn out looking chaps. He gave me the cutest smirk I had ever seen and a quick wink made my heart do a flop and I felt myself blush. Then he looked me over and I saw the emotions in his face go from concerned to angry before he turned and glared at the surf nazy's who were handcuffed on the ground. He looked like he was going to walk over but the twisted sister look-a-like grabbed his shoulder and turned him away.
I turned my attention to the third one, he was a tall handsome long haired brunette; who looked to be native american. He was wearing a leather jacket with some sort of animal print on the right side; no shirt on and a necklace of trinkets, with black jeans. I barely noticed the small boy behind him, who looked to be about 8 or 9 until he helped him off the bike. The last male of the group was a tall platinum haired man with the most beautiful ice blue eyes I had ever seen. I didn't know how long the two of us stared at each other, it began to feel like I was in a trance, it was finally broken when a small delicate hand reached over his shoulder and a beautiful girl climbed off the back of his bike.
"Figures, he'd have a girl, I wonder about the curly blonde?" I thought to myself as I turned my attention back to the cops.
After the statements were given mom let Jennifer and I have the rest of the night off, so the two of us headed over to the other side of the boardwalk where the rides and games were. Jennifer wanted to go see her boyfriend Dustin and introduce me to some of the other boardwalk workers our age.
First there was her boyfriend Dustin that worked at the surf shop alongside his twin brother Justin. They were both tall dirty blondes with surfer hair, if face they both looked like your typical californian surfer boy. The only way to tell the two apathy were their eyes; Justin's were blue while Dustin's were green. I later asked Jen if she ever got the two mixed up. She laughed and said no but I didn't really believe her.
The next two people she introduced me to were Nancy and Barb. They worked at the video store at the other end of the boardwalk next to the rides and games. Barb was a short curvy tanned skinned girl with large glasses and short wavy red hair, she looked kind of nerdy in her button up shirt and floor length skirt. While Nancy was tall with long curly brown hair and dark skin she looked like a beauty queen or a model in her tight jeans and a skin tight crop top.
Then there was Damen and Adam, they worked at the arcade. Damen was tall with long black hair and squinty brown eyes. It took me a few minutes to realize he was a complete stoner. He wore board shorts and flip flops with a baja jacket/"drug rug". I considered him cute but nothing like the biker boys in terms of looks. Adam on the other hand looked like a ken doll straight out of the box. His short blonde hair was combed back just like a ken doll and he was wearing a button up shirt with beige shorts and a sweater tied over his shoulders.
The last there were Susan and Suzanne, they worked in the gift shop. Susan was of average height with long blonde hair and baby blue eyes and lightly sun tanned skin. Her face was covered in freckles; she was wearing a cute sundress with strappy heels . Suzanne was a tall brunette with the biggest teased hair I had ever seen. I wondered how much hair spray she used to get it like that. She was wearing an oversized off the shoulder sweater and black tights.
Jennifer wanted to spend the rest of the evening at the surf shop with her boyfriend so I decided to head home. But not before promising to go on the rides with them tomorrow night. I kinda had a feeling they were trying to hook me up with Justin but I wasn't really interested. The only boy on my mind was a curly blonde biker with a brightly colored jacket.
When I met them at the roller coaster shortly after 6 it was just the two of them waiting for me. Dustin looked annoyed as he explained that Justin had bailed on our double date but I was perfectly fine with it. I caught a glimpse of the biker boys while on the roller coaster and again on the merry go round. I soon realized Jen wanted to be alone with Dustin, so I bailed at the last second when they got in the ferris wheel. I walked around the game area until I noticed the boy that was with the biker boys trying to win at the ball toss game. This ball toss was hard because you had to hit the clown bowling pins and knock them all down with one ball; luck for him, I just happened to know the secret to the game.
I leaned down beside him and whispered "Hit the clown on the far left right at the bottom button on its shirt."
He looked at me for a few seconds then threw the ball and sure enough it hit the clown in the right spot and they all fell, "Told you." I said as the man behind the booth handed him the biggest stuffed bear I had ever seen, The kid's eyes were as wide as saucers as he took the stuffed animal. I had just begun to walk away from the kid when I heard him scream out "Hey give that back!"
I turned back towards him to see a surf nazi holding the bear above the kids head and the kid trying to hit the guy. He shoved the kid hard and I barely had time to catch him before he hit the ground. I stood the kid back on his feet and he hugged me. "He took my bear!" he said pointing at the surf nazi.
"Hey! Shit head! Give the kid back his bear!" I shouted at the surf nazi.
"What'd you say to me?" he said while stocking towards us in a threatening way.
I pushed the kid behind me, squared my shoulders and said "Give the kid back his bear shit head."
"Why you little bitch!" he shouted as he swung at me. The hand never hit its target; it was blocked by the tall dark and handsome biker boy. His two blonde haired biker friends appeared on either side of the Surf Nazi, they grabbed his arms and pinned them to the sides of his body. Tall, dark and handsome snatched the bear from the Surf nazi and knelt down facing us with it. "Laddie? You okay little bro?" he said.
The kid let go of me and ran to him; he whispered something into his ear and tall, dark and handsome looked up at me with a smile. "Take out that trash boys." he said to the blondes before turning back to me. The two quickly disappeared into the crowd of people with the nazi still in their grasp.
He held out his hand to me and said "Thanks for defending our little bro, miss ah?"
"Devin." I said while taking his hand.
"Dwayne." he said, shaking my hand. His hand was cool to the touch, but firm in grasp.
"Devin? That's an odd name for a girl." said the shorter curly blonde as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and leaned on me.
"Where the heck did he come from?" I thought as I jumped a bit.
"Daddy dearest wanted a boy." I said sarcastically as he twirled a strand of my hair around with his fingers.
"That's Marko and I'm Paul" said the other blonde who somehow appeared on the other side of me.
"Marco, I like that name, it suits him, God he's hot!" I thought while glancing at the blonde who was still leaning on me. He looked up at me with the biggest smile on his face like he'd heard my thoughts.
"You protected Laddie from that surf nazi." Said the very velvety voice of their platinum blonde leader into my ear. I jumped again and I spun around to see him looming over me. All I could do was nod my head at him; I suddenly felt like a lamb surrounded by wolves.
"Thank you." he said to me as he lit a cigarette before turning away from me. He motioned for the boys to follow him.
"Yeah thanks babe." said Marco before kissing my cheek and following David.
"It was nice to meet you Devin." said Dwayne, he took the bear from Laddie before motioning for Laddie to follow them.
"Later doll." said Paul as ruffled my hair and followed the rest of the boys.
Laddie was the last to leave, he tugged on the sleeve of my shirt so I leaned down towards him. "Thank you for helping me get the bear and for saving me from the serf nazi." he said before hugging me.
You're….You're welcome." I replied
He then ran off after the other boys "Bye Devin!" he shouted,
"Byyyyyyeeeeee Deevvvviiiiiinnnn! They all taunted as they disappeared into the crowd of people.
I slowly made my way back to the bake shop, it was getting late and I knew everything would be closing up for the night soon. Mom would be ready to go home soon, complaining about it being past her bedtime or something. Boy was I surprised to find her chatting up a tall dorky looking man with glasses.
"Oh Devin Honey come here and meet Mr. Lawrence." she shouted when she spotted me "He owns the video store down the boardwalk."
"Max, Call me Max." he says while turning to me and holding out his hand.
"Nice to meet you Max." I said while shaking his hand.