Chapter 3: Not a nice girl

The first week of school went by in a snap, and then, thank you god, the weekend. I’d promised Zoe that we’d go to the beach.

“Which?” Zoe asked, holding up her perrywinkle bikini and the plaid pink string one that I wasn’t aware she owned. It was so... girly. Frou-frou.

“That one.” I pointed at the perrywinkle one and she glanced at it. She observed it and nodded. She shoved it in her beach bag along with sunscreen and a bright pink towel, yuck.

“Since when are you so into pink? You used to hate it.” I asked, placing my lime green bikini in my own bag, with a plain blue towel.

“That was just because you hated it. I wanted your attention.” She shrugged. My stomach sank. And now you don’t? I wanted to ask. When had my sister lost all interest in me? Had it been over the summer, or had it been developing for years?

“Oh. Well, okay.” I choked on my words, and zipped up my bag. I slipped it over my shoulders and gazed over at her.

“I’m almost ready...” She trailed off, shoving her makeup bag in the beach bag. She swung it over one of her shoulders and hurried over to meet my side.

“Mom! Let’s go!” I yelled as we made our way to the front door. Mom ran down the stairs and slipped on her brown clogs. I snickered. She dressed just like all the other moms in Earltown.  Like, jeans, a nice top and some mom-type shoes. Good to go. We walked down to the driveway and Mom automatically un-locked her car. Zoe and I climbed in the backseat, leaving Mom alone in the front.

“Remember when we used to name our cars? This one was Vienna, which I came up with. And the old one? The one we sold, you named it Yucky Penny.” I burst into a fit of laughter as Zoe scowled.

“I was, what? Three?” She grinned over at me. She acted as if she hated my teases, but you could see in her sparkling eyes that she loved the attention. She adjusted her braids and sighed.

“I wish summer had never ended.” She remarked.

“Same. But school is kind of fun, we’ll get used to it.” I shrugged.

“Girls, life would be pointless if it was summer all the time. You should appreciate that you have something to do day-to-day. I just sit at home. Speaking of which, I’m supposed to get a call today, for that job I’m trying to get.” She smiled hugely as we backed out of the long driveway. We went slowly down the bumpy road towards the beach.

“Awesome.” I nodded. The rest of the drive was silent. Not one word. We just stared out onto our pathetic little excuse of a town until we stopped in the beach’s parking lot.

“Thanks, Mom!” Zoe grinned, and jumped out of the car. I followed slowly behind as we met up on the other side of the car and started walking along the sand. Mom backed away and drove off. Just seeing that beach reminded me of when I was eleven, and Zoe was nine. We’d come to the beach to teach our then-newborn-puppy Harley to swim. He was now five, and great at swimming, though he often cut his paws on the rocks in the water. But back to the story. I was in my little white and brown tankini bathing suit, and Zoe was in a worn out red full-piece. I sat in the shallow end, she sat on the sand. And back and forth Harley went, paddling as hard as he could.

“You can do it, Harley!” We would exclaim. And I remember that a few girls from my class showed up.

“Come boogie-boarding with us, Alyssa!” They’d called from the deep mysterious end of the ocean.

“I can’t, sorry!” I had exclaimed, when I saw Zoe’s doubtful eyes.

“I wasn’t just going to leave you alone, Zoe.” I had assured her. Then she’d smiled, that adorable, toothy smile, and I’d felt like everything in the world was good. By the time I’d snapped out of my story, I was inches away from the water.
“There’s lots of teens here. It must be, like, our day.” Zoe remarked. I looked around. It was true. Lots of girls flaunting themselves in bikinis, lots of boys laughing and yelling in swim trunks.

“Let’s go change.” I said, and turned towards the little wooden sheds they had along the far end of the sand to change in.

“How about, you guard my door, and I guard yours? I always worry someone will walk in.” Zoe suggested.

“Sure.” I replied. She stepped into one of the narrow sheds and closed the door. She locked it and I leaned against it, watching out for any door-openers. In a minute, Zoe stepped out in her bikini, blushing. I hurried into the shed before I could form an opinion on her body. It just creeped me out, how much I was thinking about Zoe’s looks. She was just so different. I slipped off my purple v-neck t-shirt, shorts, bra and underwear, jumping into my bikini. I pushed on the door, and Anna stepped away, letting me out.

“Shall we swim or tan first?” She asked.

“Swim.” I nodded. Zoe wasn’t so different. I mean, she still always wanted to know what I thought, what I wanted to do. Her opinion didn’t matter, it seemed. We waded deeper and deeper into the cold water until it was at our hips.

“Eeek! It’s cold!” Zoe exclaimed. I looked around, and my eyes landed on a group of teens who looked about our age. The boys were snickering and staring at Zoe’s chest, and the girls were smacking them and rolling their eyes. They were just jealous, but I gave them telepathic-kudos for smacking those dumb-asses.

“I know.” I replied, and I dunked underwater. I came up, pushing my hair out of my face.

“Dunk.” I ordered Zoe. Her glare hardened and she smirked.

“Fine.” She replied. She hopped up in the air, and pushed my head down. Underwater, I pushed her off me and we both flailed in the salty water. We came up, and she was giggling hysterically.

“Wow, that was easy.” She smiled. I heard the group behind us. Boys were laughing, girls were huffing and puffing. Get over it. She is so much hotter then all of you. I told them in my mind.

“No, don’t go over!” I heard a girl squeal, and my heart stopped.

“Come on.” A boy said, and I heard water splashing behind us. Soon, there was a gentle tap on my shoulder.

I turned around, squinting.

“Yeah?” I asked. There were three boys. One, with a blonde buzz cut, and his swim trunks were pulled down low. Whoa, buddy, no one wants to see your junk. I smiled to myself. Another, had a six pack, really tanned skin and short black hair. The last one had shaggy brown hair, and scar across his forehead.

“How’s it going, girls?” The blonde one smirked at his buddies. The girls of their group were back where they’d come from, and they were watching our every move. It was intimidated.

“Good.” I replied.

“So, what are your names?” The tanned one asked.

“I’m Alyssa.” I nodded, and glanced over at Zoe. Her eyes were nearly bulging out of their sockets, and her mouth was pursed tightly.

“Zoe.” She choked out softly. The blonde one snort-laughed. I glared at him.

“Oh. I’m Mike,” The tanned one said, and pointed first at the blonde, then at the brown-haired one, “That’s Ron, and that’s Joey.”

“Hi,” I waved, the girls were giving us dirty looks, “your friends don’t seem to like us much.”

“They’re just jealous. Of Zoe’s severe hotness.” Joey remarked, shooting her a drunken gaze. Except, he wasn’t drunk, he was just acting stupid enough that he could’ve been.

“How old are you?” I asked Mike, who seemed to be the leader.

“We’re seventeen, how about you?” He replied. I smirked.

“I’m sixteen, and Zoe, the hot one? My little sister? She’s fourteen.” I deadpanned.

“S**t, man.” Joey arched his eyebrows in disbelief.

“Zoe! Hey!” I twisted around quickly. It was Sammy, Zoe’s best friend. Sammy was petite and busty, like Zoe, but not quite as busty. She wore a skimpy string bikini and was bouncing up and down. Her brown hair was up in a messy bun. Zoe smiled, and gestured for her to come over.

“Damn.” Ron remarked. I rolled my eyes.

“You guys are so messed up. Hitting on fourteen year olds?” I sighed.

“If they’re hot, yes we do.” Joey nodded, licking his lips. Sammy hurried through the water, splashing over to us.

“I can’t believe you’re here too. I tried to call you this morning, to invite you here.” Sammy smiled, and glanced over at Mike, Joey and Ron.

“Hello. Who might you be?” She asked, puffing out her chest.

“Joey.” The brown-haired one reached out his hand, and Sammy took it in hers. She shook, and he smiled.

“I’m Sammy.” She cocked her head to the side, and smiled sweetly. My heart pounded.

“Hey, Zoe, Sammy, you want us to teach you how to surf? The waves are great.” Mike asked, gazing over at Zoe, or rather, Zoe’s chest.

“Sure!” Zoe exclaimed. I turned swiftly.

“What?!” I yelled. The boys laughed.

“I want to surf.” Zoe pouted, and stepped in front of me. Mike took her hand, and I closed my eyes tightly. When I opened them, Sammy and Zoe were gone, walking off with Mike and Joey, and only Ron was in front of me.

“Did you lose your meds?” He asked.

“Get away from me. And tell your friends that if they touch my sister, I’ll kick their asses.” I replied.
“You’re hot.” He smiled. I turned and walked away, back onto the sand. I set up my towel on the sand and sat on it. I just sat there and watched my sister bouncing around with Mike. He had his hands all over her. He was holding her hands, he had his around her waist, he was picking her up and throwing her in the water. He was copping a feel everytime he could, while helping her onto the surf board. For the next hour, I sat there, soaking up the sun, and watching them. I was sick to my stomach. I’d stayed back with Zoe when I was eleven, when two of my friends had showed up and asked me to go boogie-boarding, which would’ve been way more fun then teaching Harley how to swim.

“I wasn’t just going to leave you alone, Zoe.” I’d told her. B***h. S**t. Worst sister ever. I cursed her out in my mind. They were coming out of the water. I’d watched them the whole time, and Zoe had never gotten the surfing down, neither had Sammy. Good. You both suck. I said to myself. When they got into the shallow end, the girls who Mike, Joey and Ron had ditched tapped on Sammy’s shoulder.

“You own a real bathing suit?” A blonde one asked.

“Excuse me?” Sammy asked, stepping closer to the blonde one.
“Hey, Kaitlyn, calm down. They’re cool.” Mike said.

“And you. What the hell were you doing with my boyfriend, you stupid w***e?” A brunette one with tanned skin asked Zoe. I stood up.

“Your boyfriend?” Zoe stuttered, backing away.

“Yeah, Mike. My boyfriend.” She shot Zoe a challenging gaze.

“I didn’t know.” Zoe replied, backing away. But the brunette just got closer and closer to wherever she moved.

“Don’t hate on us, Kaitlyn. Oh, and I don’t need a real bathing suit, because I’ve got a great body, and I don’t need to hide it in some frumpy one-piece.” Sammy was saying in the background. Kaitlyn, the blonde one, smacked her in the nose, sending her down into the water. Holy crap. I said to myself. The brunette shoved Zoe, and I ran to the water. I hurried to Zoe’s side and pushed the girl away.

“Don’t touch my sister.” I yelled. Zoe landed in the water and I helped her up.

“Get out of my face! Your sister’s a hoe!” She screamed, and shoved me back too. I jumped back up and punched her, a real punch. It felt so good, though it hurt my knuckles. It hit me that I was in a fist fight. Crap.

“Ladies, stop!” Mike yelled, pulling the brunette out of the water. She held her bloody nose, sobbing.

“I’m sorry. And my sister is not a hoe.” I told her. Mike picked her up and carried her onto the sand.

“You’re such a dirtbag! How could you cheat on me with that girl? She’s like, seven!” She whined as he set her down.

“Thanks.” Zoe didn’t meet my glare.

“I don’t even care.” I raised a hand, silencing her. Zoe gulped, and we turned to look at Sammy and Kaitlyn. The blonde one was dragging Kaitlyn off, and Sammy was standing proudly.

“Sammy, are you okay?” Zoe asked.

“Yeah. That was frickin’ awesome.” She grinned.

“You’re an idiot, Sammy. Seriously.” I deadpanned, and walked away from them. I grabbed my towel and bag, and made my way to the parking lot. I pulled out my cellphone and dialed Mom’s number. Zoe stood beside me soon, but Sammy was back getting Joey’s number.

“Please don’t tell her.” Zoe pleaded. I didn’t meet her pleading gaze.

“I won’t.” I replied. Even though I hated Zoe, and I was still royally pissed off at her, there was a part of me that wanted to forgive her. To hug her and tell her not to go off with boys any more. But it felt like I wasn’t allowed. I was no longer her role model. My advice didn’t matter. My sister was going to do whatever she wanted.