» IV »

We're neighbors? I thought incredulously. Just my luck. I didn't say any of that, though, and instead just outstretched my hand. "I'm Quinn."

She didn't take my hand and instead looked me up and down, that easy smirk reduced to a scowl. "Oh, so you're the famous Quinn Ramirez I've heard so much about? The most popular girl in school, dating Matthew Davidson, picture-perfect student?"

I frowned. What? "Yes, I am the famous Quinn Ramirez. What about it?" I snapped.

Valeria's scowl didn't vanish, but she said nothing and instead just turned on her heel, leaving me with a puzzled look on my face.

Liv was smiling as he left. "She was really nice!" Allie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I don't like her," I grumbled. She seemed overly arrogant and at the same time, had a disliking for me that I didn't understand. I was still mulling it over as we made our way over to where Lana, Matt, Kaden, and a couple of other girls were standing. Honestly, I was used to the throng of girls that trailed Matt wherever he went. It used to really bother me when we first started dating, and Matt tried his best to ward them off, but nothing worked. At some point, I just accepted the fact that Matt was one of the most popular guys in school, and with that came unwanted attention from half of the student body.

I made my way through the group of people surrounding Matt and wrapped an arm around his waist. He smiled, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. "Hey, sweet," he murmured.

I smiled a little, nuzzling my face into his shoulder. "Hey, handsome." My love language was touch, but I also wanted to get rid of all the other people gathered around us. Well, around Matt. PDA didn't make anyone our age uncomfortable, but it did make some of them jealous enough to leave.

"Nice job," Matt commented, watching most of the group fade away and find something better to do.

I bowed dramatically. "Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all night."

Matt laughed. "Hey, did I tell you how great you look in that swimsuit?" He asked suddenly, smiling at me.

I blushed. "Aw, thank you!" I nodded to his exposed torso, smirking. "You're not looking too bad yourself." Understatement of the year.

Matt chuckled. "Oh, really? Well, lucky you, it's all yours." I laughed, but my eyes caught on something moving through the throngs of people spread out all over the beach. Or, rather, someone.

"Hey, who's that Valeria girl?" I asked, pointing him out to Matt.

Matt nodded. "Oh yeah, she transferred to Laguna High about a month after you left. Valeria's your typical playgirl-heartbreaker." He shrugged nonchalantly.

I nodded, eyes narrowed. "I talked to her a little while ago; she seemed like she really disliked me for some reason. She just acted really cold, I guess," I frowned.

Matt frowned. "Huh, that's odd. Usually, she warms up to pretty girls instead of pushing them away." I could tell he wanted to ask why I was talking to Valeria in the first place, but Matt never pried about anything. It was one of the many things I loved about him.

"She was chatting it up with Liv and Allie. I didn't want anyone getting hurt and to be honest, she just gave off bad vibes," I explained.

Matt nodded. "I get it." He looked over at the lapping water of the ocean and his eyes lit up. "You wanna go surf?" he asked, grinning.

"Hell yeah!" I exclaimed. "Lezgo!" I ran over to where I had set my board down near my house and raced over to the water, where Matt was already jumping onto his own board; the one I'd gotten him for Christmas two years ago, I noticed with no small amount of warmth in my chest.

"First one to fall off or drown has to buy dinner!" Matt shouted as we paddled out toward the waves.

"Buy dinner?" I shouted back. We're getting dinner?

"We're going to Splashes tonight at seven!"

Oh my God, Splashes is the best. "Since when?"

"Since now!" I saw Matt grin and too late, I looked up to see a wall of water crash down on top of me as the force of the wave pushed me toward the sand. I heard Matt laughing as he surfed over the wave and came up right beside me, grinning. "Guess who's buying the food tonight," he gloated.

I scowled, shoving him off of his board so that he landed face-up in the wet sand, just in time for the tide to wash over his face. I laughed as he sputtered, spitting water and sand out of his mouth. "Guess who's got a mouth full of sand," I taunted, smiling widely. Even though I was buying dinner, I got to almost-drown my boyfriend so it wasn't all bad.

Matt stared at me for a moment with a completely neutral expression. I lost it, though, and started laughing my ass off. What I didn't see was him sitting up and only realized that his plan all along was to distract me when I was being pushed off of my own board and tackled into the wet sand. I gasped when the tide washed over my face and when it receded, did my best to get as much sand and saltwater out of my mouth as I could.

I scowled when Matt let go of my shoulders and let me sit up, but he was still sitting on my stomach and I couldn't get up completely. I tried to buck him off of me and when that didn't work, I resorted to rolling over so that he would be on the bottom and I would be free. Unfortunately, that didn't work. Matt was much stronger than me and just rolled us over once more than I'd planned, so he was still on top. At least we're away from the tide. "That wasn't nice," I pouted, crossing my arms and sticking out my lower lip.

Matt mimicked my expression. "Aw, is my sweet sad that she got a mouth full of sand?" I nodded, still pouting. Matt's face softened and he leaned over, pressing his lips against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck loosely and we stayed like that for a few moments, our lips moving in perfect sync. When he pulled away, I made a small whining sound that made him smile a little. I hadn't kissed Matt in such a long time; I'd almost forgotten how good he was at it.

"Is my sweet still sad?" he cooed, running a hand through my still-damp hair while the other drew lazy circles up and down my sides. I nodded, still trying to maintain my pouty expression while my sides tingled from where his fingers had been. "Oh, really?" I nodded again, still trying to keep the pout on my face. Matt arched a brow. "And what might make her feel better?"

I grinned, running my hands through his hair and pulling his lips onto mine.

i hope this chapter satisfied. thanks for reading!

~ bella