The rest of the week flew by after Javier and Gabriella left. No one minded that they left. In fact, everyone seemed a lot happier and relaxed. At least almost everyone in my family did. They even took the opportunity to try and set me up with Sharon.

It didn't go as they planned, though.

With Gabriella and Javier back in San Francisco, Sharon took Gabriella's request to watch Melody to heart. Her cautious meter was at a ten, watching Melody's every move like a hawk. She refused to let us be alone with her, and if she had to take her eyes off of her for any reason, the monitor was on.

The night of our date was no exception. My parents planned everything down to the last detail. But we hit our first snag before the night started with the babysitter debate. Sharon finally agreed to a little picnic on the beach outside as long as she had the monitor with her and could bolt the second anything sounded off.

Our date lasted fifteen minutes before Sharon insisted on checking in on Melody because something didn't feel right. We didn't see her again that night, and when we finally saw her again the following morning, she apologized. No one attempted to try and set us up again after that.


We decided to have a little bonfire campout on the last night at the beach house. Everyone was enjoying themselves and their last day of vacation. Almost everyone was sitting around the campfire, laughing and talking. The few who weren't were playing on the beach by the ocean.

I took a seat by Jason and Zeke, who were busy on their phones. "Everything OK?"

Zeke nodded and pocketed his phone. "Yeah, just texting a friend."

I could hear the same distance I'd been hearing from Jason, Sharon, and him since Gabriella left early with Javier. The wall that was between Gabriella and me was now up between me and some of my other friends too. I hated that wall, and I really hated that everyone seemed to be harboring secrets. Why couldn't we all just trust each other and talk?

I nudged Jason to grab his attention. "What's on your mind?"

Jason shrugged with a shake of his head. "Nothing, just feeling kind of sad that our vacation is over. Reality's going to start raring its ugly head, and we're all going to be busy to even know who's coming and going."

"Hey, no matter how busy we all get, we'll always be friends and have each other's backs."

The corner of Jason's lips curved up into the slightest smile. "I guess."

"I know," I corrected, "we'll always be bros no matter what."

Zeke snapped a couple of pictures on his phone and started texting again. I rolled my eyes, tired of my friend's technology attachment. Zeke and Jason had been glued to their phones the last few days. Enough was enough. It was time to give them a dose of reality and get them to enjoy the present.

I snatched Zeke's phone from him, and his head snapped up instantly. "Hey, what was that for," He asked, grabbing his phone back. "I was using it."

I snatched it back and pocketed it. "And that's the point. You've been living on your phone for the last several days. As your friend, I'm cutting you off." I turned to Jason and took his phone. "You too. You'll get them back tomorrow before we hit the road."

Zeke rolled his eyes, tossing his arms in defeat. But Jason wasn't done, and there was fire mixed with anger in his eyes.

"Give me back my phone," He demanded, holding his hand out. "It's none of your business how often I'm on my phone."

I folded my arm across my chest and said, "No, my bad if it bothers you that I care that my friends are wasting away their last night of vacation on their phones."

Jason's hand went to his hip, giving me a 'So what look,' "So, I spent more time on my phone; it's not a crime. As long as you're relaxing and having fun, you could sleep the entire week, and it'll still be a vacation. Now give us back our phones."

My eyes darted from Zeke to Jason. Neither of them were too pleased with me.

I groaned, reaching into my back pocket. "Fine, but you two should really spend more time away from your phones."

Zeke huffed and snatched his phone from my hand. "Sure, we'll be sure to do that, Daddy busy body."

The sarcastic tone in his voice didn't work so well to hide his anger.


Chad approached us with the rest of the gang behind him. "What's going on?"

Zeke was busy filming Sharon and Melody playing by the ocean.

I sighed and explained, "I might have tried to confiscate Zeke and Jason's phones after telling them they've been spending too much time on them."

Taylor made a weak attempt to hide her amusement. "You do realize the one you're supposed to parent is that sweet two-year-old, right? I mean, Zeke and Jason are full-grown adults that even their parents can't control."

I rolled my eyes, pretending to be amused. "Ha ha, very funny," I faked a laugh, "I was only trying to help. I never meant to upset them."

Jason and Zeke were both off snapping pics.

"What are they always video recording anyway," Ryan asked.

Kelsie narrowed her eyes at Jason. "No idea. Wish I knew, though."

"I got a way to find out." Sharpay started making a beeline for Zeke.

Sharpay stepped in front of Zeke's shot, and Zeke jumped in shock. "Babe, what in the world?"

Sharpay flipped her hair, posing for the camera. "If you're going to film, film a star."

Zeke stopped the video recording and started to leave. Sharpay cut him off and snatched his phone. Zeke rolled his eyes and tossed his hands in the air in annoyance. "Again, with the grabbing," He grumbled.

Sharpay shifted and held her hand up, stopping him when he tried to get his phone back. After scanning through some pictures and videos, she handed it back to him. Spinning on her heels, she raced for the ocean and grabbed Sharon. We were all right behind her.

"Hey, what in the" Sharon exclaimed, stumbling back, causing her to lose her grip on Melody. "No, Melody! Melody, stay out of the water!"

I raced toward the water. "I got her."

Sharon struggled against Sharpay's grip crying. "Let me go. What is your problem?"

Sharpay spun her around, ready to punch the light of her. "Melody's the least of your problems right now," Sharpay threatened through gritted teeth. "Unless you have a good reason for all those chummy pictures you took with my husband, I will make you see stars."

Backing away from Sharpay slowly with Melody at hand, my stomach tightened in fear of Sharpay's wrath. I hadn't noticed how close I was to the ocean or the tide coming in. Zeke was about to step forward, but Chad stopped him with a warning look. We've all seen Sharpay on a war path, and none of us dare to get in her way. As much as I feared Sharpay, I was curious how Sharon would handle Sharpay.

"Seriously," Sharon asked, looking at Sharpay like she was crazy. "We took a couple of pictures as friends. I didn't realize I committed a crime."

There was a calmness in Sharon's tone that I admired, mixing in with annoyance. Anyone else would probably have shown some level of fear, but Sharon wasn't showing any fear. She was calm like she'd been in similar situations before.

Sharpay's chilling glare turned into killer daggers. She pulled Sharon closer to her and threatened through gritted teeth, "If you so much as lay a finger on my husband, I will turn your life into a living nightmare."

Sharon smirked with a roll of her eyes, "Is that a promise or an empty threat?"

Our jaws dropped in shock at her boldness. It actually looked like she was standing up to Sharapy. Which meant this could either be really bad or good.

"Listen here you…."

A huge tide swept in, and I lost my grip on Melody. Melody immediately falls and gets swept toward the ocean.

"No," Sharon cried, fear in her eyes.

Sharon's eyes grew twice their size, and she turned into some warrior flight mode. In one swift motion, she broke Sharpay's grip and was in the ocean, swimming out toward Melody before anyone of us could react.

When Jason, Zeke, Ryan, Chad, and I jumped in the water, we were several steps behind her. I could barely see where they were as I swam out. Losing my visual of them, I resorted to floating and frantically looking around.

"Do you guys see them," I asked, struggling to keep my head above water.

"No," I heard Chad's voice respond.

Fear started building in me when the thought of something happening to Melody popped into my mind. "Melody," I shouted above the crashing waves. "Sharon!"

Suddenly I felt something pull me under, and I started thrashing around in the water. All those years of swimming lessons were forgotten. My life flashed before my eyes as I began to drown- sinking deeper into the ocean. Eventually, everything went black.


I could vaguely hear overlapping voices and footsteps right by me. Suddenly I felt enormous pressure on my chest, and I felt myself spitting out vast amounts of water.

My eyes flew open as I gasped for my first breath of air in what felt like forever. I was still trying to wrap my head around what was happening when I felt a pair of arms squeezing the life out of me.

"What happened," I barely breathed out, trying to loosen the hold.

My mom answered between her cries. "You and Melody almost drowned after being swept away by the tides."

"Sharon saved you," Gram Gram added, "after she saved Melody."

I looked up to see that Sharon had already made her way back out of the crowd and was preparing to leave the bonfire with Melody. I got Mom to let go and raced after her. My friends were right behind me.

"Sharon, wait," I called, jogging after her. Hearing me call her, she turned, and I nearly bumped into her. I noticed Sharon's body shaking and figured she could be coming down from an adrenaline high. That or she was angry with me. Or maybe she was just scared. It could be a little of everything. I couldn't tell.

"Are you and Melody OK," I asked, focusing on my little girl.

After a long blank stare, Sharon gently nods with the tiniest smile. "A little shaken, but hopefully that's it."

"Good," I smiled, "Thanks for saving us."

Melody shrugged away when I reached out to touch her. Turning away from me, she buried her head into Sharon's neck and tightened her grip. My heart ached with guilt seeing how shaken she was. This wouldn't have happened if I'd been more careful and had a tighter grip on Melody.

"I'm here," Sharon soothed Melody as she rubbed her back. "I got you."

Zeke sighed. "Sorry, none of this would have happened if Sharpay wasn't so paranoid."

Sharpay gasped in disbelief and pulled Zeke's arm glaring at him.

"I know you did not just blame me for all this and call me paranoid, Zachary."

We heard the anger in her voice and took a couple of steps back. The anger she had toward Sharon early had shifted to Zeke. But Zeke looked just as angry.

"You really think it had nothing to do with you," Zeke asked, tugging hard to free himself from Sharpay's grip.

"The homewrecker started it with all those pictures," Sharpay replied, pointing to Sharon. "If nothing is going on between you two, what's with all the pictures?"

Zeke let out an angry groan while throwing his hands up. "The homewrecker has a name, and we're friends on vacation, so we take pictures and videos to share with our other friends. Many people do the same thing; it's not a big deal."

Sharpay raised a brow at Zeke. "And you have proof that you're only taking vacation videos to share with friends?"

Zeke blew out a tired breath and let out a defeated sigh. "You know what, I've had it Sharpay."

Sharpay gave him a confused look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. This fight was not going to end like all the others. And we weren't going to like how it ended.

"I mean, I'm done," Zeke stated matter of factly. "Since you can't trust me and believe I'm having an affair with every woman I come across, I got the perfect solution. A divorce."

I felt sick to my stomach. None of my friends looked any better. I couldn't tell if they were more shocked or ill. Zeke had been in love with Sharpay since before the nine of us became close friends. The last thing we expected was hearing the word divorce from Zeke.

"OK, maybe we should all take the night to calm down and talk about this in the morning," Taylor suggested when she found her voice.

"That's a good idea," Sharon agreed. "It's better than making a rash decision now and regretting it later."

She emphasized the last words.

"Let's see if I regret this later," Sharpay growled, lunging for Sharon.

Sharon jumped back in shock at Sharpay's sudden attack. Startled by Sharpay's furry, Melody screamed and started crying into Sharon's neck.

Zeke stepped between Sharon and Sharpay. Grabbing Sharpay, he warned her. "Enough, Sharpay, you're scaring Melody. First, you make accusations, then came the threats, and now you want to add on assault. Do you want to end up behind bars?"

A single tear rolled down Sharpay's cheek as she stopped trying to Sharon. Seeing the hurt and sadness underneath all the anger in her eyes, my heart ached.

Sharpay wiped away the single tear and gathered herself. She asked, "You're really going to choose the homewrecker over me?"

Zeke sighed, dropping his head. "I'm choosing peace for everyone over your constant paranoia."

Sharpay took a step closer to Zeke. "I'm not paranoid. If nothing is going on, why take so many photos and videos? We're all friends here…well, most of us. And none of us have as many photos as you."

Jason raised his hand with an innocent look. "Actually, I do."

Sharpay whipped her head in Jason's direction. "You what?"

Jason pulled up his photo album on his phone and handed it to Sharpay. "I've taken plenty of pictures on this trip too. We're all in them. Sharon included."

Sharpay snatched Jason's phone from him and scrolled through it. We gathered to take a peek at Jason's photos. Jason wasn't kidding when he said he took a lot of pictures. Like Zeke, most of the images included Melody and Sharon.

Kelsie pushed her glasses into place and turned to Jason. "Do I want to know?"

Jason took his phone back from Sharpay. He messed around on it, saying. "Zeke and I take the pictures to send to Gabby. That's why most of them were of Melody and Sharon."

Zeke pulled up his text messages with Gabriella. Sharpay and Kelsie took the phones when they handed it to them.

Kelsie looked up from Jason's phone and narrowed her eyes at Sharon. "You know about this?"

Sharon ran a hand through her hair. "I did, but only because they knew I would be in the photos they took, and they wanted to make sure I was OK with it."

Chad took Jason's phone that Kelsie was handing to him. Chad took a second to scroll through the messages and asked. "What I don't get is why are you still messaging her. She left again. It's what she's best at."

Jason shook his head. "No. If that were true, then she wouldn't have responded to our text."

Taylor peeked over Chad's shoulders. "You're right. But then, why did she leave, and more to the point, why didn't she text the rest of us?"

Zeke looked like he couldn't believe we were asking him that. "You're kidding, right? More than 90% of the people on this vacation didn't want her around, including people she thought were her friends. Would any of you stay where you're not welcomed unless you had to?"

Sharpay's expression softened when her anger started fading. All we could see was the hurt, sadness, and guilt from her frown. We were all looking pretty guilty.

Picking her head up, she attempted to hide her emotions behind a fake smile. I had to give her credit. If I didn't know Sharpay as well as I did, I would've actually believed that she was OK. But I knew in my heart she wasn't. She was hurting as much as Zeke was. Neither of them wanted this.

"OK, so we weren't the friendliest," Sharpay handed Ryan Zeke's phone.

Zeke looked at Sharpay in disbelief. "Not the friendliest. I've seen strangers who are friendlier with each other."

No one knew what to say to that. Probably because we knew it was the truth. Whether we admit it or not, we have been letting our hurt feelings make our decisions when it came to Gabriella.

Sharon broke the silence with some advice. "I've always been taught that revenge is a poison that's not only harmful to who you're angry with, but you're hurting yourself too."

Sharpay scoffed. "No one asked you, homewrecker."

Zeke rolled his eyes. "See, this is what I mean. You know why I have those pictures, and you're still being rude to Sharon."

Sharpay's hand flew to her hip. "I won't apologize to the scamp for trying to protect my family. But I'm giving you one chance to change your mind. Do you really want a divorce?"

"Yeah," Zeke whispered, avoiding her eyes.

"Fine, if that's how you want to play it," She whipped out her phone and called her dad.

She marched off as she waited for him to pick up. "Ryan!" She called behind her when Ryan didn't follow.

Ryan sighed, placing a hand on Zeke's shoulder. "I better follow her and make sure she's OK. I'll call you later."

Ryan raced down the beach to catch up with Sharpay. We watched as the Evan siblings disappeared down the beach toward the house. Zeke still held his gaze when they were out of sight.

"Give her some time," Sharon advised. "Maybe there's a way to work something out once you've both cooled off."

Zeke shook his head. "Not unless Sharpay can trust me and stop threatening assault with every woman I come across."

I placed a hand on his shoulder for comfort. "Talk to her. You've been in love with Sharpay since we were in high school. Follow the same advice you gave us, or you know you'll regret it later. Maybe not right away, but eventually, you will."

Zeke shook his head. "I'm going for a run to clear my head and figure out where to go from here."


Braydon jogged up as Zeke jogged off, and I noticed the frown on his face from a mile away. My heart dropped in my stomach as fear struck me. Something was wrong.

He eyed me with a dead serious look when he stopped in front of us. "We need to talk."

I frowned. "What's wrong?"

He swallowed hard. "Joel said that he heard Gram Gram and Granddad talk about selling their house."

My jaw dropped slightly.

As if tonight wasn't bad enough. Let's add family drama into the pot of mixed problems.

"When," I asked when I found my voice.

"Just now," Braydon pointed to Granddad and Gram Gram. "That's who they're on the phone with now. The agent who's selling their house. Joel heard them discussing the price and preparing the house for the showing."

I groaned in frustration. "Can this night get any worse?"

Sharon's eyes darted from one of us to the other. "OK, I think I'm missing something. Is it that big of a deal that your Gram Gram and Granddad want to sell their home?"

"They would never want to sell that house," Braydon explained. "Our Gram Gram and Grandma grew up in that house. Our dad spent every summer there growing up, and so did we."

Jason frowned. "Point is the Bolton's would never even consider selling the house if they had other options."

"Which brings us to why are they backed into a corner?"

"Could they be struggling to keep up with such a big house," Taylor asked.

Troy shook his head. "I don't think so. Dad would've known."

Sharon stopped us. "OK, not that this isn't fascinating, but I should get Melody inside before she catches a cold. If you ask me, I say stop guessing and just talk to them."

We watched her head back in the direction of the house. I continued to stare in that direction until Braydon pulled me from my daydream. Turning around for one last look, I followed after Braydon to talk to Gram Gram.

This was going to be a long night.