» III »

When I opened my eyes, I saw sunlight streaming through my window and groaned, slamming my pillow over my face. I'm not a morning person. At all. I grabbed my phone from my bedside table and groaned again when I saw the time. It was ten-thirty, so my girls were probably gonna get here soon.

I sat up, walking over to my window and smiling when I saw the ocean sparkling in the sun. I think this was one of the things I'd missed the most while I was away. Being able to get up every morning and look out my window to see Laguna beach.

Someone knocked on my door and I frowned. "Come in."

The door opened and Allie stepped out from behind it, carrying a big 'beach bag', as we called the bags that held our towels, sunscreen, coverups, etc. "Surprise, shawty!" She was wearing a cute bikini I hadn't seen on her before; yellow high-waisted bottoms and a white top with sunflowers on them.

I laughed. "Wassup!"

Suddenly, Allie's grin turned into a frown. "Did you just wake up?" I nodded. "Well, why are you just standing there? We've got waves to catch, Q!" she exclaimed, but was cut short when the door opened again and Lana barrelled into the room with Liv clinging to her back. Lana and Liv were also wearing bikinis, to my great surprise. Lana's had black bottoms and a white top with black palm trees on them, while Liv's was a pink halter top and white high-waisted bottoms with pink flamingos on them.

"Get it off of me!" Lana cried, trying to shake Liv off of her.

"NEVER," Liv gripped Lana's shoulders tighter.

I laughed, watching Lana struggle so much to rid herself of the thing on her back. "Yeah, I think this is more of a 'you' problem."

Lana gasped, clutching a hand to her chest in betrayal. "How could you abandon me like this? I thought we were friends?"

"HAHAHA," Liv cackled, crawling up onto Lana's shoulders.

Lana sighed, giving up. She had also brought a bag and looked like she was holding Liv's too. Lana seemed to have noticed my state and frowned. "Girl, this is not gonna work. Get over here," she grabbed my arm, dragging me toward my closet. I didn't resist; struggling only made things worse. I had learned that the hard way.

"Okay, you have two options," Lana announced, seemingly forgetting about Liv, who was still sitting on her shoulders and smiling widely at her success. "You can wear this," she handed me a simple purple and white striped off-the-shoulder bikini that honestly, I kinda forgot that I owned. "Or you can wear this," she handed me a bikini with a white ruffle top and white bottoms with blue palm leaves on them.

I considered each option. "This one," I held up the blue and white suit and Lana put the purple one back.

"Great. Now go change and bring a scrunchie and some bobby pins so I can do your hair," Lana demanded. Why was this such a big deal? I wondered, frowning slightly.

"Why are you putting so much effort into this?" I asked, chuckling. I was honestly confused.

Lana raised her perfect eyebrows. Seriously, I'm so jealous. "Because your boyfriend is gonna be there and we need to remind him of your undying beauty and sexiness," she replied, shooing me into the bathroom.

I laughed; Lana sure was one for drama.

I quickly changed out of my pj's and slipped on my swimsuit, running a brush through my hair and slipping on one of my anklets; a blue Puravida one with a silver wave pendant. As requested, I grabbed a blue scrunchie and a handful of bobby pins, shoving them and a towel into my bag.

"Alright, let's hit the beach!" I announced and we all headed downstairs and out into the sun. "Lana, you brought your board, right?"

Lana looked at me incredulously. "Hell yeah! Who do you think I am?"

I laughed, heading for our garage with Allie beside me. "Okay, here's your board," I grabbed the white surfboard with pale purple flowers on it, passing it to Allie. Then I grabbed mine; a pale blue board with pink and yellow flowers on some of the edges.

I grinned when I saw the throngs of people spread out along the beach. Well, more accurately, I grinned when I saw Matt amongst them. "Quinn!" he called out and I ran toward him, as fast as I could while carrying a giant surfboard.

"Hey!" I smiled, giving him a peck on the lips. Sometimes I couldn't believe how I pulled a guy like Matt. I mean, he was the captain of the boys' basketball team, got good grades, a total sweetheart, and not to mention heartbreakingly handsome with his dark brown hair, deep green eyes, and amazing body, if I do say so myself.

"Do my eyes deceive me or is that Quinn Ramirez?" Before I could say anything, a pair of arms wrapped around my waist and spun me around. I blinked a few times, turning around to see Kaden, Matt's best friend, grinning at me.

"Kaden!" I exclaimed, wrapping my arms around his neck tightly. "It's been way too long!"

Kaden nodded, chuckling. "Indeed it has, sweetheart" I laughed, turning back around and leaning against Matt, who wrapped his arms around my shoulders loosely. I was always surprised by Matt's lack of jealousy when it came to Kaden and I. Obviously, I would never cheat on him, or anyone, but it was still a little dazing. I mean, I might've mistaken Kaden and I for a couple at times, if I was being honest. Matt is like that, though; the people he lets get close to him are people he would trust with his life.

I scanned the area, seeing that there were probably almost a hundred people spread out across the beach, which was surprising because Laguna beach wasn't necessarily popular. But as I was watching the crowds of people, I saw something that made me frown. A girl was talking to Allie and Liv that I'd never seen before.

Normally this wouldn't be odd, but I knew every single person on this beach, either from school or through summer activities and stuff. The girl had long, thick, curly black hair and bright blue eyes. She looked about five-six, maybe five-seven, and wore a small deep green bikini that showed off her considerable assets. I couldn't deny that she wasn't too bad on the eyes, but I also couldn't deny that she looked like a heartbreaker.

I saw her say something that made Liv giggle and Allie roll her eyes, which made me frown. I needed to investigate this girl because it looked like she was hitting on my girls and I would not let some sort of incident happen that could end in them getting hurt. "I'll be right back," I kissed Matt on the cheek, waved to Kaden, and made my way over to the trio.

"Yeah, I moved here a couple months ago. I didn't do a ton of school because of moving and stuff, but I'll be here all senior year," I heard the girl say as I got nearer. She winked at Allie and Liv, flashing a smirk that reeked of arrogance.

"Hey!" I smiled, casually throwing an arm around Liv's shoulders. "Who's this?" I gestured to the girl.

"This is Valeria," Liv smiled, looking up at her. Jeez, with Liv being five-one and her being almost five-seven... I chuckled slightly at the thought.

Valeria smirked. "I moved in about five months ago," she gestured to a modern white beach house, one of two on Laguna beach. My eyes widened.

Shit.

That's the house next to mine.

i hope you liked this chapter! thx for reading!

~ bella