Where the hell are they? It's been like an hour already." Jade spat.
"Maybe they went to the wrong part of the beach." Cat suggested, looking up from the sandcastle she was making for Toby.
Jade shook her head. "No, I told Beck specifically where we were. They wouldn't have got lost."
"I don't know. My parents give my brother really clear directions any time he goes to the store and he always seems to get lost."
"I'd like to think Beck is slightly more capable than your brother, Cat." Jade replied, wirily.
Cat shrugged. "I don't know. He does silly things sometimes."
Jade rolled her eyes. "Well he should know better than to take ages; he's got the rest of the things. I can't keep Toby here much longer without something to shade him."
"I'll make a big sandcastle to shade him." Cat gasped, as though she'd found the magic solution to their problems. "Oh my god, it'll be so fun. Hey Toby, Auntie Cat is going to make you the biggest, bestest castle ever - isn't that so cool?" She began to tickle the baby, who began to squirm and giggle happily in Jade's lap. Jade rolled her eyes at her friend's childishness but as the redhead took the baby off her lap and began to engage him in the playful building, she couldn't help but internally admit her appreciation that she had such a supportive friend.
Whilst Cat began to pile bricks of sand on top of one another, Jade laid back on her towel and tried to relax in the sun. Cliché as it was, she rarely physically had any time to herself these days, but even more so her mental space was always crammed with thoughts of Toby and the consequent insecurities and preoccupations that came with being a young mother. Try as she might, she struggled immensely to clear her mind for a second and not think about anything. There was always too much to be worried about.
"Hello Ladies."
Like whoever the fuck that was.
Jade opened one eye and squinted above her to see a few dark silhouettes against the sun. Unable to make out any faces, she sat up and gave the four boys in front of her a contemptuous glare.
"What?" She snarled.
"We couldn't help but notice that you two beautiful girls happened to be alone." Said the tallest one.
"So?"
"Well, we thought you might want some company." He continued.
"You thought wrong."
The boys were relatively unfazed. "Aw, you don't mean that. Come on, there's plenty of space for us all." Beamed the blonde one, flashing a bright smile for the girls.
"We don't want you here." Snapped Jade.
"Aw, Jade, don't be so mean." Cat begged, pulling on Jade's arm.
"See, listen to your friend." The blonde one continued. "She wants us to stay."
"No she doesn't." Jade continued, unrelenting.
"Sure she does. Hey, do you want us to stay?" This was the third guy, who was dark-haired and muscular. If Jade was a better, she would put money on him being the one that Cat would go for. But she wasn't a better, and right now she just wanted the boys to leave.
But it seemed that Cat had different ideas. "Well, I wouldn't mind if you stayed." She admitted, avoiding Jade's gaze, which was burning holes in the back of her head.
The boys cheered. "Great! We can set up our stuff." The tall one celebrated and the four began to open their bags and get settled around the girls.
"Woah, woah, no you can't. Just because she doesn't mind you being here, doesn't mean I don't. Get out of here." Jade continued, harshly.
"Jadeeee." Cat whined. "Let them stay, just for a bit whilst we wait for the others. Look, they even have an umbrella that Toby can sit under." She pointed to the pole sticking out of the tall one's bag.
"Yeah, what's ours is yours." The one in blue shorts, who hadn't yet spoken, added.
Jade sighed angrily. "Fine." She relented. It's not as if she had a choice. They couldn't walk over slippy rocks or for 40 minutes back to the RV, and she wouldn't let her baby get sunstroke because of her own pride. Which unfortunately meant that she would have to accommodate Cat's new friends.
The boys in question cheered once again and began to lie their towels around the girls' setup. Blue shorts boy set up the umbrella just behind the pair and Cat placed Toby within the pool of shade it created, shooting the boy a grateful smile. He didn't receive the same from Jade.
"So what are you lovely ladies called then?" The tall one asked.
"I'm Cat and this is Jade." Cat replied for them both, knowing that Jade wouldn't voluntarily offer up her own name. As it was, she shot Cat an annoyed glance for doing it for her.
"What beautiful names." The tall one commented. "My name is Kyle, and this is Ben, Logan and Aaron." He continued, pointing to the dark-haired boy, the blonde boy and the boy who'd set up the umbrella respectively.
"My brother used to have a turtle named Kyle." Cat commented happily.
"Rad." Kyle replied, nodding. Jade rolled her eyes.
"And who's this little dude?" Aaron asked, peering at Toby, who was desperately trying to eat sand.
"This is Toby, he's Jade's-" Cat began.
"Nephew!" Jade interrupted. "We're looking after him for the day."
The boys nodded and Jade bit back her shame. She didn't like to lie about Toby, she wasn't ashamed of him, but she also didn't feel like having these strangers pass judgement on her and her son. It was enough that she'd have to put up with their presence for the next however long, she didn't need their opinions as well.
"I thought for a second that he might be one of your kids." Kyle laughed. "I was like damn, it's one of those teen moms I always see on MTV."
Cat and Jade both grimaced awkwardly.
"Obviously, I don't think you look like them though." Kyle clarified, misreading the pair's expressions. "Nah, they're like really fucked up and trashy, well I mean obviously to have a kid that young, but you guys look too classy for that."
"Yeah, who'd want to be a trashy teen mom, huh?" Jade spat venomously.
"No one, amirite?" Logan laughed and the boys joined in. Jade cringed at their ignorance.
"Hey, now that we're getting to know each other better," Ben began, moving the conversation forwards. "I'm just curious - do either of you have boyfriends?"
"I don't." Cat said cheerily, and Ben grinned widely.
"Good. You're too pretty to be tied down." He smirked and Cat smiled back.
"What about you?" Kyle asked, turning to Jade.
"Jade has a boyfriend." Cat answered immediately, and Jade mentally thanked her.
"He doesn't seem to be around." Kyle commented, theatrically surveying the beach.
"He's on his way. He'll be here in no time." Jade retorted, wanting to leave no space for the boys to hit on her.
"If you say so." Kyle shrugged. "But if I was your boyfriend, I'd never keep you waiting."
For the millionth time that day, Jade rolled her eyes.
"It's official. I have reached maximum hotitude." Andre groaned, fruitlessly attempting to wipe the endless stream of sweat off his brow.
"I've never been this hot, ever." Tori complained from her position on the floor.
"No one has ever been this hot." Trina added, sinking against the couch.
"Are we gonna die here?" Robbie almost sobbed, and was met by groans.
"No, Rob, Cat and Jade will be back." Beck reassured him.
"You keep saying that, but where are they? Where are they, Beck?" Andre cried dramatically.
"What's the temperature now?" Tori whimpered.
Robbie crawled over to the thermometer. "103 degrees." The group groaned.
"That can't be healthy." Tori complained.
"This is not doing good things for my skin." Trina cried, and was met with disparaging stares. "Stare all you want, I know you're all jealous!"
"Where the hell are Cat and Jade?" Andre moaned. "It's been hours."
"Yeah, where's your stupid girlfriend, Beck?" Trina added, spitefully.
"I don't know, Trina, I'm stuck in here with you." Beck spat, shooting her a look.
"Well, do you at least have any water in here? Or air conditioning? Or do you just have plaid shirts and rubbers?" Trina continued to complain.
Beck looked stunned. "What?"
"Never mind." Trina backtracked, realising she'd said too much.
"Have you been looking through my things?" Beck asked, angrily.
"No, obviously not." Trina lied.
Beck turned to Andre, who nodded. "She was going through your drawers whilst you were driving."
Beck turned back to Trina. "So let me get this straight. You invite yourself on this trip, invade my privacy, and insult my girlfriend all whilst inside my home? I hope the girls get back soon so I can personally kick you out."
Trina gulped timidly. "You make it sound worse than it is. I've always respected you so-"
"Save it. You're just adding hot air to the RV." Beck interrupted and Trina shut up.
It was over 100 degrees and somehow the atmosphere was still frosty.
Jade and Beck had their fair share of relationship problems; they argued a lot, and their new addition had added a difficult dynamic to an already turbulent partnership. But god was she glad that she wasn't single. It only took half an hour with the annoying group of boys for Jade to be tempted to run off into the ocean to escape them, despite her aversion to dolphins.
Cat, on the other hand, was loving the attention. As the only single one of the pair, she had four pairs of eyes almost constantly on her, although it's not as though the boys completely respected Jade's relationship status. She was half-tempted to tell them that Toby really was her child just in order to get them to back off.
"Are you sure you have a boyfriend? I don't see anyone running over." Kyle, the most eager member of the group, asked Jade.
"Pretty sure." Jade replied, focusing her attention on getting Toby to accept the bottle she had prepared for him rather than the flirtatious guy beside her.
"Has he got lost or something?"
"Must've done." Jade replied, internally cursing her boyfriend. Whatever he could be doing that was more important than finding her and their son, she didn't know, but she did know that she'd make his life a misery because of it later on. God forbid it had anything to do with that intolerable Tori Vega.
"Maybe he's found another girl to hang with. There are a lot of pretty girls on this beach." Kyle shrugged.
"Why do you care so much about my boyfriend?" Jade hissed. "Do you want to get with him or something?"
Kyle's face blanched white. "What- no, of course not, I'm not gay." He stuttered, in that usual immature straight guy 'no homo' spiel. Jade chose to return to ignoring him.
"What school do you girls go to? Let me guess - UCLA." Logan beamed.
"Hollywood Arts." Cat replied and Jade internally groaned. Why Cat was so keen to tell these complete strangers details about their lives she did not know.
"Hollywood Arts? That's a high school isn't it?" Ben asked nervously.
"Yeah, we're sophomores." Cat replied cheerily.
"Oh, so you're like 16 then?" Ben visibly relaxed.
"Yeah, we're both 17 next year."
"That's cool. We're all in college." Aaron said, with an air of arrogance that didn't quite match the mundaneness of the statement.
"Ooh, what college?" Cat asked, feeding into the boys' air of arrogance.
"California State." Kyle replied, grinning at Jade. She didn't know why - Amber went there, which was anything but a testament to its educational proficiency.
Cat began to giggle, but one look at her revealed that it was because Ben had begun to whisper something in her ear, rather than because she had come to the same conclusion as Jade.
"Hey Jade," She began, unsurprisingly, a moment later. "Ben says they have a potter's wheel over there so we're gonna make some pots. Do you wanna come?"
Jade's eyes widened. "I can't. I have to stay here and wait for the others. Anyway, Toby needs to stay in the shade."
"Please, Jade, just call Beck and tell him where we are." Cat begged.
"Yeah, and there's shade over by the pottery station." Aaron added.
"I don't wanna go, Cat. You go." Jade said with an air of finality.
"It's cool, guys. You go and me and Jade will stay here and watch the things." Kyle added.
"On second thought, pottery sounds good."