Huntington Avenue | ✓ [PV REWRITE]

Part I: Chapter 20

"That's true," Zach agreed with the slightest bit of hesitance. After a short pause and a muffled few words from the phone, he continued, "I'm sorry, my sister wants to play a guessing game with me like we did in the waiting room. Talk to you all on Monday?"

"Sounds good," Harper confirmed.

"You bet!" Mason was second.

Lastly, August closed off the confirmations list.. "Fine by me."

"Alright, bye, guys!"

"Bye!" the three of them chorused in sync mere seconds before Harper clicked the button to hang up the phone.

The trio wordlessly agreed that the void of silence after ending a phone call was quite awkward to say the least. None of them knew exactly what to say, what to talk about, or even how to begin a conversation with one another. The three of them had been friends for a long time, but conversations were not always easy.

Harper eyed the old volleyball, which had gone mysteriously close to the nearby ocean. In order to change the topic from the burning quietness arising from his two friends, he decided to resume the game he was playing with Mason and possibly August.

"I'm gonna get the volleyball before it floats away," he jokingly announced before beginning to jog off towards the object in question.

Mason shrugged. "Alright, but don't float away too."

"I won't!"

Harper felt the sand kick up from his bare feet behind him as he ran. Even though he would have been considered a bit of an athlete due to his volleyball skills and almost nonstop practice, running was not one of his favorite things to do.

The wind continued to slap at his face as he skidded down the slope of dry sand becoming wet from the tide. The volleyball was simply resting in the midst of the moist sand, the waves lapping at the old material. Harper wasted almost no time as he dashed towards his favorite sporting equipment, which was about to be taken away from the piercing cold waves due to the autumn season.

When Harper lifted the ball out of the shallow water and turned around to view the beach from the ocean upward, he noticed a bit of a familiar vehicle pull into the gravel parking lot and park near the sand. An eyebrow raised in suspicion as he watched the passengers - two boys and two girls - exit the black Mercedes with familiar voices and appearances.

"What the hell are Jaylen, Lyla, and two of their friends doing here?" Harper asked himself before jogging back up to meet his own friends.

When he arrived, Mason and August seemed to have been asking the same question. The three of them were quite confused as to what exactly was going on in general.

"Any idea why these goons are here?" Mason questioned aloud.

Harper shook his head. "Nope, but if they're here, where the hell's Kelsey?" he asked a different question. "They're her friends—and Jaylen's even her boyfriend."

"Maybe something happened," commented August. "My sister isn't exactly an angel."

"I don't know, but-" Harper began before he was cut off by the girl herself.

"Hello, boys," Lyla sneered as she walked across the sand, her strawberry blonde hair tied high in a ponytail behind her.

The three of them, excluding August who remained silent and continued to type on his laptop, gave her half-hearted replies since none of them wanted to talk. Lyla frowned at the reactions which were given to her. She was determined to get something out of her short beach trip and the people in front of her.