Teegan

I change into jean shorts and a green crop top once I'm back at the house and then I eat a banana, since I skipped dinner and my stomach is growling. It's already almost 8P.M. when my phone dings.

   On our way, a text from Lola. My mom must have given her my number. Great.

   I slip back into my sliders and go outside to wait, a few minutes later. The air is still so hot. It feels like it never gets cloudy or rains here. But again that's likely just me comparing this to Seattle. You know, where it rains more often than not.

   A white Audi pulls up and the passenger window rolls down before it even comes to a stop.

   "Hey girl!" Lola's friend - Harlow, I think? - yells at me.

   I met her for a total of two hours almost a week ago and she's talking like we are bffs. Girls are so weird.

   I lift a hand to wave as I walk down the steps and over to the car. The back door flies open. A girl I don't recognize is sitting back there so I slide in beside her. She's got short hair and she's wearing a skimpy tank top.

   The car is already pulling away from the house and Lola, who's driving, hasn't even acknowledged me. The girl beside me smiles.

   "Riss," she says. And nothing else.

   "Hey. I'm -"

   "Teegan. Yeah. I know."

   Okay then.

   I feel like it only takes two minutes before Lola's pulling into a parking lot and out the front window I see the massive beach. I can tell it's the spot that Luke told me about because I can see the swing set. I could have walked to the party rather than having to endure that awkward car ride.

   I get out, following the three girls down the path towards a group of gathering teenagers. Of course I don't know anyone. I've never been to a beach party in Avila before. The previous summer, Lola made her self sparse. And I had to babysit. I feel out of my element now.

   There a big beach house with a massive deck, where at least twenty teens are hanging out. There's music playing from up there. On the beach, there's some benches and chairs and the fire pit, but no fire yet. It's still light out.

   "Going to try to find Adam," Harlow says right away.

   "Girl. You should totally let him find you," Lola tells her. "Oh. There's Sage."

   "Who'd she comes with?" Riss asks.

   Lola grunts. "Pierre. She doesn't believe me that he's just using her."

   "He totally is."

   "Yep."

   I have no idea what they are talking about, or who, and Riss grabs my arm a minute later. "Let's go find drinks."

   At the bottom of the deck, there's a keg, a table with cups and two large, red coolers. Riss flips open a cooler and pulls out two vodka mixed drinks. Handing one to me, she smiles.

   "I don't do beer. You?"

   I don't want to tell her I don't really drink at all, so I just shake my head and open the can. She's already drinking hers and I wonder why we are still standing here, by the alcohol table. At least Lola's friends are being nice to me.

   "Well, I see Harlow found Adam," she says a minute later, looking out down the sand a bit, pointing. "So, Harlow is obsessed with Adam. He literally will take her on a date and then ignore her for a week, and then make out with her at a party and then ignore her again. It's so annoying."

   I don't know what to say to this. I don't know Harlow well - we just met at my mom's cook-out - but she seems like a sweet girl. No girl deserves to be treated like that by a guy, though.

   "That's lame," I say, looking at Riss.

   "Yeah. And Sage... Jesus. She's been banging Pierre for like a month but he's totally just using her to make his ex jealous," Riss goes on. "And Lola, she's dating Josh, who lives in Santa Maria. She does, too. He's too cool to party down here."

   "Oh." Again, I have no idea what to say to this.

   Riss lets out a laugh and runs a hand through her short dark hair. "You got a boyfriend?"

   "No," I say, shaking my head quickly. "We broke up a couple months ago."

   "Oh, sorry. How come?"

   Riss seems generally interested, so I answer. "I think because I was coming here for the whole summer? I mean, long distance and whatever. Plus, I'm going to New York and he's staying in Washington."

   "Woah. I totally forgot for a minute that you don't live here all the time," Riss says and then laughs. "I don't know why Lola said that you're-"

   She freezes and bites her bottom lip, looking embarrassed. Riss has already finished one can of alcohol but I don't know if that's to blame for this. I don't want to care what Lola said about me, but I do.

   "She said that I'm what?" I ask, slowly.

   "Um. Just that you're... quiet."

   I don't believe her but I nod anyway. "Lola doesn't really know me."

   "You're like half sisters, right?" Riss asks, then turns and opens the cooler again, reaching for another drink.

   "We're step sisters," I say and then shrug. "I'm going to go walk around a bit. See you after?"

   Riss looks confused and then worried, but nods anyway. "Yeah, for sure."

   I walk back towards where the fire pit is, and notice that a few guys are bringing over some wood, from the house. My drink is still half full - it really tastes like crap - but I keep it in my hand and walk over to them. Claiming a chair, I sit and cross my legs at my ankles.

   "Hey!"

   I didn't notice before but now I see that one of the three guys is Luke, from the rental hut. He's wearing a gray t-shirt and jean shorts now and smiles so big it looks a bit goofy. The other two guys turn to look at me, too.

   "Oh, hey," I reply, smiling back.

   "Luke, who's your friend?" one of the other guys asks. He's shorter and thin, wearing a backwards ball cap.

   "Oh... um... this is..." Luke looks embarrassed. He forgot my name.

   "Teegan," I say, lifting a hand to wave.

   "Sorry, yes, Teegan. Her mom owns the rental place. She's here for the summer," Luke tells his buddies. "Teegan, this is Isaac and Miles."

   "Hi, Teegan," they said together. Then Isaac, the taller, darker skinned guy goes on, "That's my house. You need anything, let me know?"

   I nod. "Okay."

   "Luke, go get us some more beers. And get one for our new friend!" Isaac goes on, before dropping a pile of wood into the fire pit.

   Luke rolls his eyes and smiles at me. As he passes, he says, "I'll be back in a few minutes."

   I nod again and then watch as Isaac and Miles get the fire started. It's almost 9P.M. and the sun has gone down but it's not fully dark yet. It's pretty quiet where I'm sitting, though. At least compared to up by the house. Isaac's house. Miles plops down into a chair next to me a few minutes later, and smiles.

   "So, you're here for summer? That's cool. We don't get a lot of visitors."

   "Yeah. Well, my mom lives here," I say, nodding. Just for something to do, I take a sip of the can in my hand.

   "You get that from Riss?" Isaac asks, as he steps closer to me.

   "Oh, uh, yeah. I came with her and-"

   "Lola? Oh, god, you're friends with Lola?" Miles interrupts.

   A moment later, Luke is back, by my side. "Lola's her step sister."

   I nod, because Luke answered for me. Miles' mouth drops open and Isaac is laughing.

   "He's got a huge crush on her."

   Luke hands out the cans of beers and the last one he holds out to me. I take it, even though I haven't finished the horrible drink I have in my hand already. He sits on the bench to my right and cracks open his own beer.

   "Nice fire, guys," he says to his friends.

   Isaac chugs half of his can and then burps, loudly. "Thanks."

    I like these guys, and I'm glad they've also welcomed me without hesitation. I'm pretty sure I am not going to drink this can so I put it down beside me, but I open the beer just to see what it's like. It's not nearly as gross, so I drink half of it down easily.

   "How was the shift at the rental hut?" Luke asks me, turning towards me a bit.

   "It was good. I mean, it's a pretty simple job, right?" I answer and he grins. "I think I'll just be working Fridays."

   "I work Thursday and Fridays, sometimes Saturdays," Luke tells me.

   "You work too much!" Isaac yells over. "It's the summer before senior year. We should be having fun and partying."

   "What the hell are we doing right now?" Luke asks with a laugh. "I'm working to help pay for college, remember?"

  Isaac shuts up after that and I see him wander off towards the deck a few minutes later. Miles is still close by, drinking, and Luke stays where he is, too. Off down the beach a bit, I see Lola and Riss, laughing and tossing a frisbee. This is what a beach party is like. Huh.

   It's not so bad, after all. I might even - possibly - have a good time this summer.