~Beach Bums~

The principal let me off with a warning, given that it was my "little brothers" and he must have slipped it in my backpack "by accident". Good thing Mr. Principal didn't check my records and see my little brother was imaginary. And somehow, by some miracle, he decided not to call my mom. Can I just take a brief moment, and tell you how much I appreciate Princys protocol. The guy saved my life, after all.

Riley was waiting outside the glass paneled office like the bestest buddy she is. Smirking.

I reached her and rested my arm on her shoulder, letting her carry all the weight that seems to keep piling onto my shoulders. The final bell rang, indicating it was safe to flee. How am I not in a titanic amount of trouble? Even weirder, did I just really pay the Principal a visit?

"Hate to tell you this, but I've heard your name atleast seventeen times since this morning. Word got around that you were getting revenge on Patricia. I honestly don't know where that came from." Riley gave me a pitiful look and pats my shoulder. I heaved a sigh, acting like I don't notice my fellow students staring. There goes my rank of invisibility. And I so carefully worked up to that point.

"Riley," I put pressure on my aching forehead, "I'm way over my head here. I'm no match for a Jaxon Bennett." We start in the direction of her car.

"You cannot back out this easily! Trust me Bayley, you are capable of great things. I can see the criminal mastermind deep within you, you just gotta embrace it." Riley told me, "That was pretty low of him though. Does he know your irrational fear of spiders?" I shook my head.

"Nope. Got lucky. And it's perfectly rational, thank you very much." A lump rose in my throat as a mental image popped up of that mammoth of a spider stretching its hairy limbs to crawl up my arm. What a beautiful day it is. Just concentrate on what a beautiful day it is. The sun is shining, birds are chirping, all is well...

"Can the weather be any more perfect?" Riley commented, shielding her eyes from the blazing sun. I swallowed down my arachnaphobia, checking out the clear blue sky.

"Nope." I said, popping the p. That was a little weak. I kept practicing popping my p, while Riley unlocked her car and chucked her backpack in the back seat.

"Tell you what," Riley said as we climbed in the car, "Let's go to the beach! I'm sure you don't have any plans whatsoever-" I frowned, "-and your mom loves me. I'll talk her into letting you go. We need some nice, relaxing couple of hours on the golden sand to clear our heads, get some good gossip in, check out the cute lifeguards.... It's perfect." I'm not gonna deny it, the beach actually sounds like paradise when she puts it that way.

"Okay! We'll run by your house first and you can get changed, then go back to mine so you can sweet talk my mom while I get dressed. Really sugar coat it though. It is a school night." I grinned as she put the car in drive and swerved out of her spot, aiming to beat the school traffic.

"Don't question me, Bay. You are in good hands."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Okay! I'm all dressed up, or down... uh whatever, lets go!" I walked with some pep in my step, eager to dive into that cool blue water, soak up some vitamin D. I was about to pass Riley to head out the door, but she stood in my way, arms crossed.

"I'm not letting you go anywhere until you change into that bikini I bought you." Oh no. Not that wretched thing that feels two sizes too small! I loathe bikinis. What girl finds pleasure strutting around in practically your undies and let men enjoy the scenery?... Not. Me.

"Don't make me! It's so uncomfortable, and in my honest opinion, attracts too much unwanted attention. Besides, I haven't gone running in quite a while..." Riley shushed me.

"Too bad. Go put it on or else we're not going." Ugh seems like an appropriate response. It's not like I'll even be seen standing next to Riley's knockout figure. As long as I keep on my rolling stones tanktop the whole time, I'll be safe.

"Fine." I ran up to my room, reluctantly put on the creme colored bikini, and covered it up with shorts and my trusty tank top. Riley gave me a nod of approval (as if it was that much of an improvement) and we sped off towards the blue waterline in the distance. Before we arrived, I talked her into getting us Riptide Raz-berry smoothies, a personal favorite.

We somehow found a great spot next to a cliff path that led right down to the sand. Riley eased the car in and opened the trunk. I could feel my spirits rising with one look at the white water waves tumbling into shore.

"Looks like something's going on down there," Riley exclaimed, peering over the edge. The booming of music came from below. A huge white tent took up the space ten or more umbrellas could, and there was a ton of people gathered under it, appearing to enjoy themselves.

"I've always hated a good party," I muttered under my breath, "We'll just avoid them." I chose a beach chair and took advantage of the thin shoulder straps, sipping my smoothie.

"Sunglasses?" Riley offered. We put them on in sync, looking all FBI agent-like, and headed down the path. The sand was burning underneath my toes, but more of a good burning. We gave the rambunctious party a good twenty feet before dropping our stuff and setting up camp.

Once we were all settled, Riley pulled out the newest edition of IN STYLE and flipped halfway through. I got out my music and slipped in my earphones, tuning out the annoying teenagers beside us. Aw the shallow slurping has begun. It's a shame I finish smoothies in world breaking times.

I tossed the empty cup to the side, and while I was at it, took time to see who was having a little too much fun in the tent to the right of us. Squinting, I could make out some faces, none of which I recognized. Its a wonder these girls loaded makeup on to hang out at the beach. As soon as you hit the water, you join the swimming dead. Some people just have to learn these things the hard way.

I fixed my eyes on a boy with familiar blonde hair. He was sifting through the cooler for a drink. I watched him run his hands through his hair, wondering how in the seven seas I knew this guy. Then it clicked. He was part of Rivertons Rebel society. Hottie runner-up. And now he was looking my way.

I jerked my head back, facing forward, and began fiddling nervously with my earphone chord. Bad move. If he is present at this beach party, there's an automatic gurantee someone else will be. I haven't cooled down enough to face him yet. The probability of me not kicking him where it hurts is slim to none.

Okay, if I ignore them, they'll ignore me. I turned the magnificient "Baby I'm Yours" song by Arctic Monkeys up a couple notches and leaned back on my beach chair, so the tips of my hair were brushing against the sand. Pandora was really helping me explore the land of rock n roll. I closed my eyes to my tinted surroundings, the salty oceanic air tickling my nose. Everything was just dandy.

Then I got a weird intuition. The kind you get when you know someone is definitely looking at you or you're missing something big. I peeked out into the great big world, then nearly tipped my chair out of shock. A gorgeous blonde was standing directly ahead, blocking the sun as he studied me.

"Oh!" I sat up with a gasp and a jolt, like waking up from a terrible dream. Riley was giggling, already making flirty eye contact with the guy. Ripping my earphones out in a haste, I glanced over at Riley, trying to make sense of the situation.

"Looks like we have some company," she chirped, grinning up at him. I sighed, scraping together some valor, and looked up at him. He looked right on back at me, smiling charismatically.

"Yeah... you, uh, scared me," I said wimpily. He chuckled, still directing it to me. I looked lost, wondering how that was funny.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to sneak up on you. I just saw you looking over here and thought I'd come say hi," he told me. I nodded, a little confused but covering it up with a smile.

"What was your name again?" Riley stepped in, fluttering her long lashes.

"Austen." He informed her.

"Hey Austen! I'm Riley," she replied, reaching out to shake his hand. He took it and shook her hand with a cheery smile. When the handshake was through, he looked back at me. It was like her beauty and charm had just bounced right off him. Never have I ever met a guy immune to it in all my years. Consider me dazzled.

" I'm just here with some of my friends," He pointed out. I nodded, acutely aware of their presence.

"Uh....would you like to come join us?" Austen asked. That caught me off guard. Join them? I thought his sole purpose was to come over here and tease me about the latest prank or deliver a message from the devil. Do I really want to abandon my luxurious beach chair to risk the dangers of being around Jaxon and his obnoxious friends? Not really.... How do I put this lightly...

"I don't know.... Nobody will know who-"

"We'd love to!" Riley cuts in, grinning ear to ear. She eyed me and gives me a little wink, which I choose not to acknowledge. There didn't seem to be a way out of it. If Riley is going, looks like I'm going too. We get up and follow an overjoyed Austen to the tent. The music grows a trillion times louder as it pounds through the speaker right beside my ears.

"Pick a drink," Austen offers, lifting the cooler so I can pick something. I grab a lemonade buried under the mountain of cubes, while Riley goes for some bitter energy drink. People start to notice us. I almost start counting the dirty looks girls were giving us. Austen suddenly puts his arm around me, and I stiffen a little bit. He's just letting them know he brought us. That's all there is to it.

It was as if his arm around me was a silent death threat to anyone that thought we didn't belong. They immediately turned and went back to what they were doing. How nifty. Riley starts chatting with a cute boy next to her, and I wanted so much to wriggle out of Austen's hold, yet I didn't want to hurt his feelings either.

"What are you doing here." The question is more of a statement, and a demanding one. I turn around to see Jaxon quite furious. With one of Austens tan arms wrapped around me, it looked a lot worse than it actually was. Good thing Austen was the expert at handling Jaxons rage.

"Look who it is! I recognized Bayley from-"

"I was asking her, not you," Jaxon says coldly. So much for the expert. A little audience was gathering around, probably waiting for the humiliation coming my way. Suddenly Austens arm felt a lot comfier than before. In a split second, I knew I couldn't coward under Jaxon like my initial response would be.

"I got an invitation," I replied nonchalantly, sipping my lemonade. A moment passed of silence on his end. "Is there a problem?" Jaxon's eyes were full of poison. Riley stood next to me, looking from Jaxon to me to Jaxon to me, and then back at Jaxon.

"Yeah. We don't let just anyone, especially people like you, hang with us. Go, and take your friend with you." Now that just makes me mad. Really mad. But in verbal battles, it's important to keep these feelings bottled up on the inside.

I laughed loudly, "Since when did you start making the rules? Even better, since when did people start listening to them?" I took a lingering look at the circle of people flocking around us.

"Maybe your friends follow your pathetic orders, but sadly, I don't consider you a friend of mine, or even really consider you at all. " Riley now settles her gaze on me, falling for the confident, unaffected version of Bayley I am currently sporting. Jaxon doesn't say anything else, but instead, takes a prolonged sip of his drink, never breaking eye contact.

"That being said, I think I'll go for a swim now," I decided out loud. I was over putting on a show for these people. Austen followed my lead out of the crowd. To my surprise, they formed a pathway for us. Riley tagged behind, awestruck at what she had just seen.

Like Jaxon would stop there.

I'm terribly sorry it took so long to write this! Even worse, I left it with a cliffhanger of sorts. I'll try to hurry and get this next chapter up ASAP. Thanks for reading, and be sure to comment and vote your thoughts, ideas, whatever your heart desires! Oh, and check out that song that she's listening to. I miraculously figured out how to link it, so seriously do! You won't be disappointed :)