Lou Barnes is my name and it's nice to meet you. Bella Jade might be one of the little people it wasn't nice for me to meet.

I don't think I was nice for her to meet me either.

I guess I know how to throw a punch in someone's face and break their nose when needed.

I live with my grandpa and 5 year old sister in a small island, while my parents travel around the world, and I work at a seafood restaurant near the beach. You can't miss Lila's; it's the only pink restaurant around!

Now, why would a seafood restaurant be pink, you ask. That's actually a pretty interesting story, for me at least.

George Marshall, my grandpa's best friend since childhood, was planning to open a seafood restaurant with his fiancée Lila, a good forty years ago, when they were all in their early twenties and color-changing mood rings were cool. Okay, these are still kinda cool, but you get what I mean.

Anyway, they were almost there by the time they got married, but it just wasn't meant to be. Lila died of unknown causes about a month before they opened the restaurant.

George painted the tavern pink in her memory. It was her favourite color and I find this quite romantic.

Yeah, I know he could have done a million other stuff to honor her, but he wanted to give the last thing they built together something to make it special.

Lila's had been swarming with people for the past forty years, since it opened, until things started going bad.

I had been working there as a waitress my entire life and I loved it. We were all a big happy family; me, Gramps, George, his nephew Dennis, Jenny (the other waitress), Larry the chef and for the past three years, my sister too (we couldn't just make a newborn come to the restaurant, she spent some time with our parents first). There was also Logan, a kid my age that lived at an apartment right next to the restaurant. I never imagined myself doing anything else.

And then The Seashell opened right next to our restaurant and things changed.

The Seashell was pretty minimalist, expensive and huge. It was part of a well-known chain of restaurants, so it immediately attracted attention from the locals. It was a small island, as I already told you.

Ever since the Seashell opened, restaurants along the coast started closing. Restaurants that had been there my entire life and I hated that. It was as if my childhood was being ripped apart. We knew the owners and despite the competition, they were our friends. They still met up with George and Gramps every second weekend to play poker.

The remaining restaurants, Lila's included, were about to combine their power against the common enemy, but the new restaurant was just too powerful.

It belonged to Bella Jade, the chick I punched in the face. Bella's the daughter of a millionaire and did anything she wanted with her daddy's money. Even though she was a spoiled brat and I hated her, I have to admit that she had quite a plan and a strategic mind.

My island was known for its seafood restaurants. Then Bella Jade came along and took that away.

Anyway, I practically grew up at Lila's. It was entirely (yeah, even the kitchens and all that) on a platform on the sea and had a white fence around it. And, of course, almost everything was pink.

Dennis, Logan and I grew up diving in the sea over the fence, having waterfights and getting on Dennis' uncle's, George Marshall's, nerves.

What a childhood, am I right? I never wanted to let go of that. That's how I grew up. Lila's was my home.

My parents traveled around the world a lot, so they decided to leave us with my dad's father. My grandpa, well... That's what saints must be like.

He put up with everything Mary and I did; from every little stupid thing, to every disaster we caused. He always got Dennis out of trouble (he was best friends with his uncle, after all) and kept working at the restaurant even well after his sixties. He would get Logan out of trouble too, if Logan ever got into any trouble. He was full of energy.

Practically everyone called him Gramps. Even his name tag had Gramps written on it (I'm to blame for that and have no regrets). Only George called him by his really name, Eddie.

Gramps is much cooler though... I hope that's something we can all agree on.

Mary was quite the devil. She was also full of energy and got excited over everything, something that changed when she became a teenager. She always promised to never do stuff again, and a few seconds later she was back at it. She loved everyone and was pretty social. Sometimes she tagged along when I took orders from customers. She was the personification of cuteness.

Dennis was my all-time crush, and yeah I just said that. I've liked him forever and I'm not afraid to admit it. Everyone knew it anyway. Well, everyone apart from him... That's not the point though. He was a good guy, but didn't always enjoy being at Lila's... He always wanted something more than some old seafood restaurant.

Logan was the purest person I ever met. He was pretty cute too. He never really worked at the restaurant, but he was around so much that he might as well have been. He helped around with closing up sometimes. He was a really good friend- the best.

Jenny and Larry were a couple and everyone knew it apart from them. Seriously, these two had to realise how head over heels they were for each other, before it was too late and someone else told them and they were hit in the face with a shovel named shock. Or maybe truth. I haven't decided what the shovel's name is yet.

George always tried to play it tough, but he was a huge softie. He really was the best boss ever and you can't change my mind about that. Mary and I still call him "unckie" sometimes. What can I say? We're both around Dennis too much.

And Bella... Well, that's another story. You'll find out soon. A lot changed after that summer.

It all pretty much started for us the day Jenny barged into the kitchen during opening time.

"We lost the Starfish..." she panted, clutching her knees.

"Oh boy... Not another one..." Larry frowned. We all glanced at each other nervously.

Eventually, George went up to a list we had hang  up a couple months ago and crossed the Starfish out. Yeah, we had a list of the surrounding restaurants and crossed out the ones that had closed up ever since the Seashell opened.

Do you know how many were left? Five, including Lila's and excluding the Seashell. Things didn't look good.

George sighed. "I'll go call Carl..." he rushed off again. Carl was the owner of the Starfish and had had that restaurant for about as many years as George and Gramps had Lila's, which was 42. That's a lot, in case you couldn't tell or something.

"I'll go lay the tables." I muttered.

"I'll come help." Jenny squeezed my shoulder and followed me.

She was in her late twenties, with a bright orange pixiecut and thin, bright green eyes. She had small wrinkles around them because she was always smiling and joking about something.

As we were laying the tables and all that, Jenny spoke again.

"Don't worry, we're not gonna lose Lila's." she smiled thinly.

"What? Me? I'm not worried! I know we won't!" I rushed awkwardly.

"Oh, really now?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, really. Don't you raise your eyebrow at me, young lady." I glared at her.

She burst out laughing. "Sweetie, I know I'm young, but you're even younger." she caught her breath, and then exploded in another fit of laughter.

"Yeah, very funny!" I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously, Lou, don't try to intimidate anyone. That's for your own good. You're too pure. Even Mary can do better than you, and I'm saying this from the depths of my heart... Anyway, thanks for cheering me up. I needed that." she smiled.

"Yeah, anytime..." I sighed as we finished the tables off. "I'm gonna go for a morning dive, are you in?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "Nah... My monthly friend arrived yesterday, if you know what I mean, so I'll just try to help Larry with the kitchen or something." she shook her head. "Thanks for the invitation, though."

"No problem. You will go for a dive with me when it's over, though, won't you?" I pouted.

"Of course. Don't let me hold you up, go ahead." she laughed and went back to the kitchen as Mary came out.

"Are you going to swim?" my sister asked me.

I nodded. "Yep. Wanna come along?", I smiled at her. She nodded excitedly and we went to the bathroom to change into our swimsuits.

As we approached the fence, I picked her up and she started giggling. She stopped when I threw her in the water, though.

She came back up trying to contain her laughter and glaring at me.

"You're gonna pay for that!" she smiled slyly.

"Yeah? What are you gonna do about it?" I smirked at her.

"Well, I'm already in the water... You're still out there..." she smiled even wider.

"You wouldn't!", my eyes went wide in fake terror. It was early morning, like really early. The water was probably freezing. My sister is a Slytherin, mark my words.

She splashed me and I backtracked, yelping as the cold water touched my skin. Mary never had a problem with the sea being cold, but she always got mad whenever we threw her in the water.

Someone grabbed me from behind the waist.

"Hey, Mary?" Dennis asked my sister. "Want any help with your revenge?" my sister nodded excitedly and my eyes went wider.

"Don't you da- gah!" he threw me in, over the fence. "You're so gonna pay for that." I hissed when I reached the surface and spat out the water that had entered my mouth. My teeth were chattering. I had been diving there every morning for almost my whole life. The cold water wasn't something I could get used to, okay? I am human. I have weaknesses.

When I turned around, Dennis had already dived in.

"You're dead, Marshall." I hissed again.

"You don't scare me, Barnes." he laughed. I splashed him with water. He splashed me back.

Soon Mary joined in and we all ended up splashing each other and laughing.

At some point, I tried to splash Dennis, but he ducked, getting below the surface. The problem is that he was in front of the fence and George was passing by at the time.

"Sorry, unckie!" I grimaced.

He shook his head and laughed. "Never grow up, kids. Never grow up..." he mumbled as he walked away.

A couple of minutes later, we had all changed back into our clothes. I had pulled my hair up in a ponytail and was helping Mary dry hers.

"I'm hungry..." she complained.

"Yeah, me too. I'll go get you something from the bakery in a while, okay?" I told her.

She nodded. "I want something with chocolate." she smiled innocently.

"Fine. I'll see what I can do." I sighed.

And then noon came and we got to work. This was our routine and I loved it. It was my life and I would trade it for nothing.

Pity some of us didn't feel the same...