“WOOHOO BEACH DAY!” Jimmy shouted as he bounded towards Matt and Val, who were already sitting on their huge beach blanket, “Matt! Bea bought us snacks and Monsters!” he said excitedly “Yeah Jim, like you need a Monster right now” Matt said as he chuckled “Thanks for bringing snacks and drinks Brook, the guys are always complaining about starving once we leave the beach.” Val said as Leana and I finally caught up to them. “No problem Val, besides, I always work up an appetite rough housing at the beach with the goon squad” I said, ruffling Jimmy’s hair as I took off my shorts and shirt, and started to apply my sunblock. “Goon squad? Seriously Brook? That’s the best you could do?” Jimmy asked, offended. “Would you rather me call you a pack of gorillas?” I joked “How dare you!” Jimmy said, faking anger. “Wow, what’s wrong with you Jim?” Zack asked, walking up hand in hand with Lil. “Brook called us the goon squad. Then she called us a pack of gorillas. Can you believe that?” he asked, feigning shock. “Well, it’s pretty accurate to me.” I said, while Lily smiled and nodded. “Oh that’s it Brooklyn Elizabeth. I’m gonna get you.” Jimmy said evilly, “Aw come on Jim, I was only kidding!” I said, backing away from him, “ATTAAAACK!” he shouted, running after me. Once he caught me he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. “You ready to test out the water sis?” he asked, jogging toward the ocean. “NOOOOO!” I shouted, kicking my legs trying to get him to drop me. “You ready?” he asked, “ONNNE, TWWWWO, FLYYY LITTLE SISTER!” he shouted as he threw me into the icy water. “Shit! Shit that’s cold” I said once I had resurfaced. Jimmy was standing in knee-deep water, with his hands on his thighs, laughing hysterically. “Oh, is that funny JimJam?” I asked, inching toward him. “You should have seen your arms and legs! They were going everywhere” he laughed. I noticed Brian coming up behind him. I caught his eye and he winked at me. “That’s not very nice JimJam.” I inched even closer, and right before I jumped on his back he let out an “Oh shit” and tried to run away. “Brian! Help me wrangle the beast!” I shouted from my position on Jimmy’s back. Brian lunged for Jim’s legs, and we all fell into the water, laughing and coughing. Once we had caught our breath I looked up at the crew on the beach, and noticed Matt looked awfully dry. “Hey, Jim, I don’t think Matt’s been in the water yet” I said with an evil smirk. “Oh, you’re right, we should get him” he smiled as all three of us walked up to him. “Uh guys, what are you doing?” Matt asked nervously, I looked over at Val and smiled when she winked at me. “Well, we just noticed that you were a little too dry. Maybe you need to cool off Matty” I said sweetly. “Nu uh, don’t even think about it” he said, backing away from us. “ATTAAACK!” I shouted! Brian and Jimmy grabbed his legs, while Val and I grabbed his arms and carried him to the water “Ready?!” Val asked, “One, two, Three!” we all let go and Matt went crashing into the waves. He came back up coughing and laughing. “Oh Valary, you are definitely gonna get it now” he said, running after Val, who was squealing in delight.

After playing in the water for a while, I decided to help Jimmy, Johnny, and Zack build a sand castle. Well, Jimmy, Johnny and Zack were building the castle, I was destroying it. “Aw come on B, I worked hard on that part!” Johnny whined. “JC that part sucked, I’m doing you a favor” I grinned down at him. “Well do me a favor and help me rebuild it” he said, handing me a bucket and shovel. I helped the guys finish their castle, and found a few small shells to put on it. “Perfection!” I shouted, throwing my fist in the air.

We all sat down to have our snacks and drinks, and the guys decided to play a game of football. While we were watching the guys play, I flipped through a magazine that Val had brought, occasionally reading an article. “So Brook,” Val started “what happened last night on the beach with Brian?” “What?!” Lily interrupted, “something happened, and I’m just NOW finding out about it?!” She shouted “Sssh cool your jets Lil!” I said. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to you until now. And yes something happened. I walked out onto the beach to get some fresh air, and he followed me out there. We started talking about my parents and then he just kissed me. Out of nowhere.” The girls gasped, “I knew it!” Val said excitedly as I rolled my eyes, “okay sorry, please continue.” she said as I laughed “well after that we went back to the party, and he let me sleep in his room. When I dropped him off after lunch today he kissed me again, and said that he really wanted us to be together, but that he wants to take it slow because Jimmy would kill him if he screwed up.” I chuckled, “I told him we would see what happens once I turn eighteen.” “You know, I can’t believe Jimmy hasn’t told you. He came home from the studio one night all upset and stressed out, and I asked him what was going on he said ‘Brian Haner is in love with my sister. I’m trying really hard not to kill him because we really need him in the band.’ I told him that you were almost an adult and you could make your own decisions.” Leana said. “I knew it” Lily said “I noticed that he had been more protective over you, especially after your breakup with the douche canoe.” “Well the douche canoe is gonna have a whole slew of musicians coming after him if he doesn’t leave me alone” I said sarcastically. “What?!” Jimmy shouted, walking up to us, “that little fucker is still messing with you?!” “Jim it’s okay, I’ve got it handled, he’s gonna leave me alone” I said stubbornly. “I’ll go talk to him” Matt volunteered “Wouldn’t it be hilarious if we all showed up at his door,” Johnny suggested as I rolled my eyes. “Come on guys, stop being so protective.” I said “That poor kid would piss his pants. It would almost be worth it” Zack said. “Only it would be worth it, because it would be for Brook.” Brian pointed out. “Okay OKAY enough! Nobody is going over there, like I said, I got it handled. Now let’s go play in the water!” I said, taking off toward the ocean, Johnny and Jimmy right on my heels.

We splashed around in the ocean for a few more hours, and played an epic game of Sullivan vs. Sanders chicken, which Jimmy and I dominated Lily and Matt. We finally got tired of the sand and water and decided to all head to Matt and Val’s house for the barbecue. We were all sitting around the patio, while Brian and Zack went on a booze run. “So,” I started, “how come you three hid the Brian crush saga from me?” I asked the guys, who all looked extremely guilty. “I couldn’t tell you!” Johnny spoke up. “JC you had three classes with me, of course you could have told me” I said stubbornly, “No I couldn’t! He said he would kick my ass and he wouldn’t let me in the band if I told you” he argued, “and you actually believed him?” I asked with a smirk, and he shrugged, “You’re right, it doesn’t matter now. You know.” “It wasn’t our place to tell you Bean,” Matt started “he wanted to tell you himself.” “Yeah” Jimmy spoke up “Would you rather have heard from one of us or heard it from him” “Yeah yeah you guys are right” I huffed “I just wish I had a little bit of warning before being fed to the wolves” “What wolves are we talking about” Zacky asked, who was unloading bags of booze onto the table. “The wolf that is your lead guitarist,” I said, pointing to Brian, who had a deer in the headlights look, “That’s right Gates. The cat’s out of the bag. Now if you screw up you have to deal with us plus the girls, no pressure buddy.” Jimmy laughed, slapping his back. “And now that these fools are back, let’s get drunk and eat some food” he said, grabbing a beer out of the cooler. We drank, laughed , and ate into the wee hours of the morning, where we all passed out together in Matt’s living room, one big dysfunctional family.