Act 3 is upon us! Also my birthday! I'm officially one year old, congratulations, me. I had to get up really early because me and my friends mixsii and dragon went to the mall! I bought a Glamrock Chica keychain and got the up-to-date Ultimate Guide for Fnaf, so I've been reading up on that. Very epic birthday, 11/10!

So this Act is going to be a bit different than the others, so let me explain a few things before we get started.

Instead of taking place in a year, this one is set July 1-August 31, or summer break. I'm still going to take a year to write this as per usual, just that this is how the story will go.

With the exception of this one, each chapter name is going to be a title of a song that is similar to the chapter. If you're one of those people that can (very jealous of you, btw) you can listen to the song as you read. Or, listen to it after you've read. You can listen on whatever music app you have, or just on YouTube. If the song is similar to stuff that happens later in the chapter, I'll put a little thing like:

Ruby gasped, her heart pounding. Omg, it's freggy fazbear! I thought he died in the war of 1732! What was even happening?!

(start song)

"You've really done it this time, Ruby!" Freggy yelled, wielding a chainsaw. He ran after her, short legs a blur as he sung a little tune by Rick Astley.

Like that. Feel free to suggest songs you'd like to see in the book or that you think fit the characters btw! I'm always open to new ideas or suggestions.

Anyways, enjoy the epic introduction!

Chapter 85

Welcome To Shadow Beach!

"59 BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL, 59 BOTTLES OF BEER! TAKE ONE DOWN, PASS IT AROUND, 58 BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL!"

"Oh my God, my ears are pounding. I'm going to get an ear infection." Tulisa complained from the backseat, her fingers stuffed pointedly inside her ears.

"It's actually bad to put your fingers in your ears. Could give you an ear infection, Lisey." Ruby teased, turning around in the passengers' seat, which she'd promptly called the second Ducky had arrived at her house - surprisingly warm weather for 6:30 AM.

"Har dee har har." Tulisa grumbled, crossing her arms and sliding down in her seat in defeat, though she supposed the singing had stopped.

Ruby turned back to the windows, watching the dark green bushes and trees fly by as they sped down the dusty concrete road. She unrolled the window halfway, letting the warm summer wind whip through her thick, wavy hair. Some old Katy Perry song was playing on their radio, and soon the forests gave way to a long stretch of sparkling sapphire sea, rocky beaches dotted with little people.

"Oh my gosh! Guys, look at the ocean!" Myah gasped from behind her, pressing her palms against the glass. Josh peered around her, and Tulisa strained to see it from behind her brother's messy gray-brown hair.

"Ugh, Josh, get your dumb head out of the way!" She whined, leaning forward until she stopped with a jolt, her seatbelt tugging her back.

"Ducky, lookit!" Myah called, jabbing her light green painted fingernail into his shoulder. "It's so pretty!"

"I'm sure it's a wonderful ocean, My, but if you keep distracting me, I'm going to run into it." Ducky sighed, though he did sneak a quick glance to the side before returning to his careful driving. "Here, I'll unroll the windows for you guys." He pressed a button to the side, and suddenly all the windows were down and cool air rushed through the car, smelling of saltwater and pine sap. Ruby inhaled the wind, taking in the delicious scent of blue skies and summer.

"Okay, Shadow Beach is just down this road." Ducky said, turning down a street lined with brightly coloured tourist shops selling souvenir trinkets or monogrammed clothes, and Ruby suddenly had the overwhelming urge to buy a keychain.

After turning down a gravel path lined by shadowy pine trees so dark they were nearly black, a lady with a fluorescent orange vest greeted them behind the glass of a small booth. After Ducky gave her their information, she handed him a plastic card with a key attached to it, to which they thanked her and slowly drove down the winding path.

Sunlight broke through as the trees ended, turning into a bright parking lot where tons of shiny cars were parked. Ducky pulled into an empty spot and stopped, and everyone unbuckled their seatbelts and hooped out.

"Ugh, my legs are cramping so bad." Ruby groaned, stretching her arms high above her head and yawning. "How long was that, like six hours?"

"Try two," Josh corrected, pulling out his earphones and wrapping them up in his gray hoodie pocket.

"Seriously? Sheesh, it felt like forever." Ruby opened the back door of the car, heaving her two large suitcases out from the car. She set them down and noticed Tulisa struggling with hers. "Oh, here, I'll help."

Famous last words.

"Oh my God. What do you have in here, your grandma's corpse?!" Ruby wheezed, the suitcase slamming to the ground with such force it nearly broke her arms.

"Just clothes," Tulisa replied airily, adjusting the straps of her faded blue overalls, which were paired with a black tee printed with pink flowers.

"Made of cement?!"

"...and a toolkit." Tulisa added with a roll of her eyes. "Come on, I don't want to be one of those kids who forgets everything they learned at school over the summer break!"

"Well, I for one, am trying to forget the horrors of Mathematics 101." Ruby shuddered, hoisting her backpack over her shoulder and wheeling her suitcases behind her, heading towards the grassy field with large log cabins lining it. "Shadow Beach, here I come!"

~lll~

After a grueling unpacking session into her room on the second floor, which she shared with Myah (a feat that required a very awkward conversation with her mother beforehand), Ruby was hot, sweaty, and desperate to get into that cold deep blue. Unfortunately, even though their cabin was hardly a cabin and more of a log mansion, it lacked the one thing Ruby craved so desperately in the summer: air conditioning.

"Ruby, you hardly even unpacked! You just threw all your clothes on the floor and your books on the bed." Myah complained, gingerly picking an oversized white button-up off her own neatly made bed with two fingers. "And this - isn't mine."

"Oh, thanks!" Ruby chirped, snatching it from Myah's grasp and pointedly dropping it on the floor like a thin carpet.

Myah rolled her eyes and plopped back onto her bed, but the corners of her lips were turned up in a smile. "This is going to bother me so bad for the next two months, I swear."

"Hey, don't give me lip or I'll smother you in sweat!" Ruby teased, making grabby hands and running towards Myah with an overdramatic, wide-eyed grin. The smaller girl shrieked, leaping up off the bed and scrambling down the stairs, a maniacally laughing Ruby chasing after her.

"What's that sound?" Ducky asked, looking up from his phone.

"Probably Ruby trying to kill Myah again," Tulisa said matter-of-factly, not lifting her gaze from her book.

"Ah. So, the usual."

"Yep. Really has a macabre way of romance, that one."

Myah skidded down the hall on slippery pink socks and into the living room, where Ducky and Tulisa were sitting on seperate couches, one pear-green and the other orange-and-brown striped. A large bay window let sun into the room, making for a natural lighting, and a ceiling fan whirred above them.

"Hey, Myah- um, what are you doing?!" Ducky yelped as Myah snatched the tawny velvet blanket off his lap and covered herself in it, curling up on the floor without another word.

Ruby appeared moments later, hair frizzy and panting. She tossed her leather jacket to the floor, leaving her in a black tank top and gray denim shorts, and looked around the room. "Have you guys seen Myah? I'm trying to cover her in sweat."

"You two are weird," Tulisa remarked, flipping a page.

"Affectionately, of course." Ruby said, like it should be obvious. "Anyways, when are we swimming? I'm literally dying here."

"I don't think that's what literally means, Rubes."

"I don't think that's what your face means, Lise."

A small giggle from under a Myah-shaped pile of blankets emerged, and Ruby grinned. Found you.

"Oh my gosh, look! A baby deer!" Ruby gasped, feigning amazement. And quick as a flash, the blankets went flying and a hopeful Myah was standing, looking frantically around out the window, her powder-blue lemongrass dress wrinkled and black hair messy.

Ruby leaped forward and grabbed her around the waist from behind, smirking victoriously. "I win."

"Eww, now I'm all gross and sweaty! Lemme go! " Myah squealed, wrestling Ruby's arms off of her and squirming away, glaring up at her accusingly.

"Gee, that sure sucks. I wonder if there's a nice, cold, refreshing way for you to wash that off…" Ruby pretended to ponder this, tapping a finger to her chin.

Myah rolled her dark eyes dramatically, slumping. "Okay, okay. I'll go to the beach with you."

Ruby gasped in excitement, clapping her hands and bouncing up and down like a kid in a candy store. She was about to say something when Myah reached up and placed a slender finger on her lips, effectively silencing her. "But, you have to clean up the mess you made in our room."

"You sound so domestic."

"Fine, I'm not coming to the ocean."

"I meant, sure thing, honey." Ruby mocked, giving in reluctantly and stomping back up the stairs. Myah beamed, flouncing up after her.

After everyone had gotten changed, and then alerted Josh, who'd been getting the free towels at the main building, they packed their bags with snacks, lathered on sunscreen, and slid on their hats and flip-flops.

"I haven't been swimming in the ocean in so long." Tulisa commented, sliding her sunglasses up her nose, which were the same shade of kelly green as the top of her ruffled tankini, the bottoms being high-waisted black ones.

"I've only been once," Ruby said, glancing down self-consciously at her boring crimson one-piece. She would've liked to wear her favourite black bikini, but the jagged scar across her stomach that she'd gotten from the robot attack last year prevented her from showing off her stomach. It wasn't that she was super insecure about it (on the contrary, it looked pretty badass) but people tended to ask questions, and that got tiring very fast.

"Same," said Ducky, who wore an oversized white tee reading NYC and navy blue swim shorts, the same colour as the baseball cap shoved onto his wild brown-and-purple curls. "We never had enough money to get a hotel here, plus it was always chaos getting eight people to and from the beach. We did go one time with Abbie and her family, though at that point we were at eleven people and it got a bit crazy."

The soft grass they'd been walking on soon faded to gray sand and rocky terrain, covered in cobalt, mauve, brown and gray stones and dotted with broken seashells. A tiny orange crab scuttled under a clump of dried green seaweed, emerging with two even tinier crabs.

After the group balanced on two washed-up logs, bleached white by the sun, they found a clear sandy spot to set up and lay down their blankets. After approximately five seconds of sitting down and staring out at the sparkling sea, Ruby was bored.

"Okay, we need to get in the ocean before I die of heat stroke." She announced, throwing her white unbuttoned shirt to the side and tying her messy red hair into a ponytail.

Myah rolled her eyes at her impatience, but took off her own tan fuzzy hoodie, revealing a small white spaghetti-strap bikini dotted with little red hearts. She bounced up, motioning to the others to come join them. Behind her, Ruby widened her eyes and made a throat-slashing motion.

"Okay, okay, we're coming!" Ducky yelped, standing up and tugging Josh along with him. And while Tulisa had been comfortable lying in the sun and reading her book, she had to admit that it was blisteringly hot outside.

The five friends ran down the beach, bare feet slapping against wet sand. They passed hermit crabs and sand flies, flocks of crows and little kids building mighty castles. Freezing waves washed seafoam between her black-painted toes, making Ruby suddenly feel very cold.

Josh rolled his eyes at his suddenly hesitant group of friends, wading in up to his waist, his black flame-printed shorts soaking in the teal waves. "You guys are all such wimps. It's just water!" And with that, he dove under, and Ruby could hardly hide her laugh when he immediately popped back up again, rubbing his eyes and spitting out the salty water.

"Who's the wimp now?" Ruby taunted as he shook out his hair like a dog. Josh's gaze suddenly turned menacing, and he dashed forward with surprising speed for being in water. Ruby shrieked, trying to get away, but suddenly her whole world was salt and sand and icy icy water. She jumped back up, flipping her dripping hair out of her face, and splashed Josh in retaliation.

Which ended up in Josh splashing her back, except he accidentally got Tulisa, who gasped dramatically, shouting. "TAKE THAT BACK!" before tackling her twin into the water.

Myah watched, giggling vehemently with hands covering her mouth and the afternoon sun casting a golden glow onto her pale skin. Ruby narrowed her eyes, swimming towards her with her eyes above the water like an alligator.

Myah suddenly realized what the taller girl was about to do. "Ruby. Ruby, no, we can talk about this. Ruby-!"

And then Ruby grinned evilly, scooping her up with a surprised yelp from Myah, and dumping her into the freezing ocean.

~lll~

"Night, Myah!"

"You too! Sleep well."

Exhausted, Ruby collapsed into her bed, shoving her hands further into her black hoodie sleeves. They'd had greasy, burnt hot dogs for dinner (veggie for Tulisa) and ate popcorn out of a bag and watched (i.e, made fun of) cheesy Netflix movies. It had been stupid, splashy fun, and honestly one of the best days of her year. If this was what the next two months were going to be like, Ruby could hardly wait.

She tucked the blanket further around herself, allowing the pumpkin smell of Myah's scented candles to lull her into a peaceful laze. Her bed was soft and warm, with the pillow being nice and cool beneath her head.

And Ruby drifted off to sleep.

A/N

Omg Ruby has fallen asleep...you all know what that means ;) Time to see if your predictions were right!

Question/Challenge: If you were a drink, what would you be?

Have an amazing day/night!

~ghosty