"Yaaaaaay! You made it!" we heard the unmistakable voice of Debbie say as we stepped onto the beach.

We all turned around and smiled fakely at her. She was already drunk.

"Hey Deb!" Alyssa said, hugging her.

"I'm so glad you guys came!" Deb squealed, hugging the boys in turn. When she got to Brooke and I, she simply smiled. I felt Derek nudge me and I looked up at him and he smirked.

"So where the drinks at?!" Chase exclaimed, running a hand through his messy blonde hair.

"Where aren't they at?" Deb giggled, flipping her blonde hair and batting her eyelashes at him. Chase ignored her and bounded to where the bonfire was. We all shook our heads after him.  "Well, enjoy yourselves!" she said, running after him in the sand.

"Look at that ass..." Derek muttered as Deb ran away. Alyssa smacked him hard in the stomach and he winced.

"What?!" he exclaimed. She rolled her eyes at him and began walking towards the fire, as well. As we approached the crowd of party people, the sound of music filled our ears. Alyssa and Derek wandered over to two separate groups of people, already beginning to mingle. Brooke scrunched her nose up as the song changed.

"Ew, Ke$ha," she mumbled, flipping open a cooler and pulling out a bottled beer. She offered me one, but I shook my head. I knew everyone else was going to get drunk. Someone had to be the responsible designated driver. Brooke shrugged and tossed a can of beer at Eli, who caught it effortlessly. She popped open her top, taking a large swig.

"Let's see now...who can I go dance with...?" Brooke asked herself, tapping her chin and surveying the crowd.

They were all familiar faces. Most of the people there were from the fraternity that Chase and Deb and Alyssa were apart of, but there were also some other more well-known druggies and hardcore party animals.

"And there's my target," Brooke said, nodding at a cute boy that had a wicked natural tan and sparkling blue eyes. "Ciao, bella," she told me, winking. Then she sauntered over to the guy, who she would probably end up making out with by the end of the night. I rolled my eyes after her and looked up to see Eli, who hadn't opened up his drink.

"You look like you're thinking really hard about something," I told him. He gave me a lopsided smile that made my heart skip a beat.

"I'm debating on whether or not I should drink this," he said, indicating the can of beer in his hands.

"Drinking one beer isn't going to get you drunk, Eli. We've had a lot more than that," I said. He chuckled, his green eyes dancing in the firelight.

"You're right. Man, we were a crazy group of people in college," he said. I smiled and nodded. He opened up his drink and took a sip. We began walking towards the water.

"Remember that first night when we all went to the club at Santa Monica?" I asked him. He laughed.

"I don't think I had ever taken that many shots before," Eli said. I laughed.

"Right?" I responded.

"That was all Brooke's idea. We were all still underage," Eli said.

"She's crazy," I said, glancing over my shoulder at where she was standing.

Currently, she was leaning a rock next to the cute guy she was talking up. It was easy to tell that she had her flirt on. She was standing close to the guy and had that devilish smirk on her face. He said something to her and she threw back her head, her dark waves of hair cascading down her back. Her eyes were bright and she touched his arm gently.

"She's really something, isn't she?" Eli asked, making me look back at him. I nodded. We walked along the shore in silence for a bit. Occasionally, Eli would take a drink of his beverage.

"So I was trying to figure out exactly how much money we'd have to spend on stuff when we get to Europe," I brought up. Europe. That was always a safe topic.

"Yeah? Do we have a lot?" he asked. I nodded.

"I mean, we've worked our butts off for four years planning this trip. We've made quite a bit of cash between the six of us," I said.

"That was four years of hard work. You know how much I hate waiting tables?" he replied.

"I know. And dealing with petty shoppers and people that have no respect for you," I added. He nodded.

All six of us had agreed to get jobs during the summers so that we could make money for the trip. It was going to be expensive and we needed money for travelling, food, hotels, and souvenir shopping. Travelling and hotels alone were a ton of money. But the six of us got jobs during the summers over the course of four years. We all worked from waiters and waitresses to sales associates to starting a small lawn mowing business. We had managed to make a lot of money and I had figured out the costs for everything.

We had decided that once we got to Europe, we would start on one end and make our way down. That way, we wouldn't have to fly to places. It was cheaper finding land transportation than traveling by air. Airplane tickets were expensive as it was and we needed six round tickets for all of us. Additionally, we decided that we would only ever get three rooms per hotel and we'd figure out the pairings when the time came. We joked that we would make Brooke and Chase stay together in one room. Every time we brought that up, Brooke would shoot us glares and curse at us for being so immature and annoying. Chase, on the other hand, was more than ecstatic about that idea.

"I could make the moves on her at night. She'd never be able to resist me," he had whispered to me once.

We were now counting down the days until the trip. We were more than excited about it and it couldn't be approaching any slower.

Eli and I continued walking along the shore. The water would come up and kiss our bare feet before retreating back, leaving a dark shadow of wet sand behind.

"Do you ever think about where we all would be if we hadn't become friends?" I asked all of a sudden. Eli's eyes twinkled in the firelight, making my heart flutter.

"I definitely would have more brain cells than I do now," he joked, in reference to all the late night parties and drinking we had done together.

"Same," I replied, laughing.

"No, but really. I would have been a complete loser. I guarantee that I would have just sat cooped up in the library all day, just studying or I would've been trying to boost my extracurriculars or something. I wouldn't have had too many friends, I'm pretty sure," Eli said. I nodded.

"I guess I would have still had Brooke, since we were friends from high school. But I really can't imagine these past four years without you guys. I mean, we all had some really good times. It's hard to think what college would have been like without knowing all of you," I said.

"Yeah. We've all definitely been through a lot over the past four years. Remember that time Alyssa thought she was pregnant?" he brought up. I snickered.

"We were so scared," I recalled.

"Brooke was pissed," Eli said.

"Derek was pissed," I added.

"I remember he beat up the guy," Eli said. I nodded.

"And the time we all managed to take theater together," I said, smiling in memory.

"And Chase thought he was the most amazing Romeo in the world," Eli added, smirking as well. I laughed and then grinned at the memories.

As we walked, our arms occasionally brushed against one another's. I felt a goofy smile creep up onto my face every time this happened. I would sometimes sneak a look at Eli to see what his expression was. He just had this thoughtful smile on his face.

It was nice, just walking silently. It wasn't an awkward silence at all. It was one of those silences that was full of serenity and peace. We were just two friends, walking along the beach together.

I was dragged out of my peace and quiet when I felt someone grab me from behind the waist.

I shrieked in fright and heard the unmistakable chuckle that belonged to Chase in my ear.

"CHASE, I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS!" I shouted, trying to squirm out of his grip. He just laughed harder.

"What are you two talking about?" he asked, his eyes twinkling in merriment. I tried to punch him in the gut, but he held my arms tighter against my side.

"CHASE, LET GO!" I yelled. Eli watched in amusement. I glared at him for his lack of help.

"What's going on?" I heard Derek say.

"Soph here was just telling me about her undying love for Eli and how they were planning on eloping after graduation," Chase teased, tickling my sides. I hated being tickled.

"CHASE!" I shouted, elbowing him in his hard abs. He didn't let go.

"Ah, I knew it. You guys were so obvious," Derek joked. I glared at him and Eli shook his head.

"You guys are crazy," he said.

"This isn't fair! It's three against one! This can be classified as gang rape!" I exclaimed. They all burst into laughter.

"We're not raping you, though," Chase said, tickling me again. I struggled against his strong arms.

"I'M BEING ATTACKED! RAPE! RAPE!" I yelled into the night. But we were too far away from everyone else. We had walked quite a ways down the beach.

"Oh, just hush," Chase said. And then, in one fluid movement, he hoisted me up onto his shoulder, throwing me over like a rag or a towel. I was now staring at his very toned butt in his fitting straight jeans.

"CHASE PUT ME DOWN!" I screamed, pounding my fists on his back. He simply laughed.

"Stop being so dramatic," he said in a calm voice. Eli and Derek were doubled over in fits of laughter. I wanted to punch them all in their stupid handsome faces.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" I shouted.

"And you said that we were the ones attacking you," Chase said.

"Ughhh! Chase! This isn't funny anymore!" I cried.

"I think it's pretty hilarious. And it looks like the guys do, too," he replied, still carrying me over his shoulder.

"You know what would make it even more hilarious?" Derek asked.

My eyes widened. If they were going to do what I thought they were going to do, I was for sure kicking their asses.

"I'm already way ahead of you, bro," Chase said, slipping me over his shoulder and into his arms so he was now holding me bridal style.

"You will regret this for the rest of your life---" I started to say, but was cut off when Derek grabbed my legs.

"DEREK! LET GO! STOP! I'm never going to help you study ever again!" I shouted.

"It's all right. I've still got Eli," Derek said, a cocky grin on his face.

"ELI! Do something!" I cried. He simply put his hands up, unable to to cease laughing.

"You guys are douche bags!" I whimpered.

"It's all right, Sophie-baby. It's just water," Chase said.

"FREEZING water!" I yelled, but him and Derek had already begun rocking me back and forth.

"1, 2,..." they began counting.

"DON'T!" I shouted.

"3!!!!!!!!" they cried, tossing me into the water.

I gasped as I fell into the freezing cold water. The boys were in hysterics now, rolling in the sand and laughing their stupids heads off. I sputtered and shivered, swimming out of the cold waves. I was shaking all over, completely soaked.

"Oh-hahahaha-my---hahahahaha-God---Soph!" Chase was guffawing.

"You are such an ass, Chase. The biggest jerk face in the entire world," I hissed, shivering from head to toe.

"You should have seen your face when you hit the water!" Derek cried, his eyes watering from tears of laughter.

"I hate all of you," I pouted.

"Awww, Soph. We were just having some fun," Eli said.

"And you! You just stood there and let them!" I cried, pointing at Eli, who fell back in laughter again.

I now felt my own initial anger disappearing and a smile twitched at my lips. They stood up, wiping their eyes from the tears that had escaped since they had been laughing so hard.

"See? You thought it was funny, too," Derek said, poking my cheek. I swatted his hand away and he laughed.

"Come on, let's get you a towel," Chase said, grabbing me again and tossing me over his back like I weighed nothing.

"This is completely unnecessary. I am capable of walking by myself!" I cried, pounding his back again. He adjusted me so that my legs were around his waist and he was giving me a piggy-back ride.

"I hate you," I muttered against his back, which was warm. I buried my face in his t-shirt, trying to soak up the warmth. I had goosebumps all along my arms and legs and I was still shivering.

"You know you love me, Sophie-baby," Chase replied. I rolled my eyes against his back. He deposited me gently (thank God) onto the sand next to a small fire that had no people around it.

Alyssa walked up to us just as Derek handed me a towel.

"Oh my God, Soph! What happened?!" she cried.

"They threw me in the water," I replied, shooting the boys a glare as I wrapped myself in the towel. This caused the boys to burst into laughter again.

"Should we do Alyssa now?" Chase said, a devilish smirk on his face as he approached Alyssa.

"Touch me and you die," Alyssa threatened. They laughed again.

"What's going on?" Brooke asked, coming up to us. Her eyebrows went up when she saw me shivering next to the fire, my hair dripping with water. "Soph, why do you let them do these things to you?" she asked as the boys smirked up at her.

"It's not my fault! They're stronger than me!" I whimpered. Derek put me in a headlock.

"Nah, you're just too much fun to mess with," he laughed. I bit at his arm and he pulled away, chuckling.

"You guys are jerks. The poor thing is shivering," Brooke said, sitting down beside me. I smiled thankfully at her. What would I do without her?

"Here, you can wear this," Eli said, shrugging his sweatshirt off and handing it to me. I took it willingly and put it on, Eli warmth and scent instantly enveloping me.

"Where's your boy-toy?" Alyssa teased, sitting down as well.

"Turned out he was gay," Brooke replied with a shrug. We all busted out into laughter.

"You would choose to flirt with a gay dude," Derek teased.

"Great judge of character, Brookie," Eli joked. She rolled her eyes at them.

"Hey, he was hot," she said simply, smiling.

"You're hopeless," Chase said, shaking his head.

"Look who's talking," Brooke shot back.

"Oh snap," Derek said in a fake black-girl voice, doing the snap and head shake thing. We all burst into laughter, falling back into the sand.

I don't know how long we just sat there, making fun of each other and laughing. It was so much and I couldn't think of any other way to spend a Friday night than with my friends. Because whenever we were all together, we were bound to have a blast.

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A/N: Fun chapter! Sorry it's taken me so long to update this story. I wanted to finish LTF first. And then I wanted to finish Book 1 of the Trinity series. But now I can update this one more often. I just needed some inspiration. I've got the end and middle-end of this book planned out. I just need the beginning-middle and middle parts.

But leave me a comment and don't forget to vote!

Don't you love the boys? I know I do. =)

XOXO