Living with Trouble

Chapter 10

Just me and my boss, no worries at all. Listening to the... ~ Rick Ross

☆

My body flew forward as the wheels abruptly stopped. My hands landed on the couch before me pausing my fall.

Do these people not know how to drive?

Mrs. Darby got up and her legs wobbled. "Alright kids, time to unload the bus." she breathed out. I turned to the window. The beach looked even worse in person. My nose scrunched at the sight. I'm going to have to touch that shit.

"Wait, wait, wait." Mrs. Darby said, holding her hands up. The students groaned sitting back in their seats. "The person you're sitting next to will be your partner for the day. You must stay together the whole time. Pick up as much trash as you can and meet back at the bus at eight pm."

My eyes widened. I'm starting to develop different feelings for this girl. I got up from my seat and pulled Quinn's arm. "You knew about this didn't you?"

She shrugged my arm off and continued walking down the aisle. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

I scoffed and bent down to grab my bag. Victor got out after me and we walked outside. The wind was gentler over here and the weather was warmer. I shrugged my jacket off and stuffed it into my bag.

Victor came up behind me sunglasses now on his face. I quickly turned around so he wouldn't see my reddened cheeks. I diverted my attention to the tables set up in the parking lot.

Couples were already lined up grabbing trash bags and gloves. "I'm going to get the supplies," I told Victor. He nodded and I got in line. The wind blew around the ocean's signature salty scent.

When I came back, I gave him his stuff and we began to head out to the beach. I was careful not to step on shattered glass and metal cans as we silently made our way to a vacant spot.

"This should be a good spot," I place my hands on my hips. We weren't too far from the water but close enough. Victor nodded approvingly and began picking up trash. I blew out a breath getting started on this "beach clean up."

Hours went by and you won't believe what people dump over here. I found plastic bottles, soda cans, cigarette butts. I found fucking condoms too; used and unused. I wanted to gag but I held it in. I can't imagine how two people did it with all this trash around.

"How are you doing over there?" Victor walked up to me, his bag now full. His sunglasses were pushed up and beads of sweat laid on his forehead.

I got up on my feet and swallowed. "Y-yeah."

The sun was starting to set, and the sky filled with orange, pink, and red hues. We still had a few hours out here. The street lights were beginning to turn on but the beach looked pretty clean to me.

Our area was clean and so were the others. Some students began grabbing what they could from the ocean while others played around. I could hear the laughter of kids chasing after each other.

I spotted Quinn sitting on a clear patch of sand along with her partner. They were engaged in a conversation. Quinns hair blew blissfully with the small breeze. Her partner sat quietly; watching her speak.

"You want to move to another area, it seems like we're done over here." I turned to Victor.

His eyes skipped around the perimeter. "I think we might be done for the day."

I nodded and began walking down the beach. We sat near the shore. He took his gloves off and brought the book he was reading earlier from his bag.

I brought my knees to my chest. I sighed as the sound of waves crashing; overlapping each other entered my ears. The water fought every time to reach me but failed shamefully receding back to their source.