- Skylar Miller -
"Shut up, you fucktard!" Blake yelled at Noah.
"No, you're the real fucktard here, so why don't you shut the fuck up then?" Noah yelled back.
It was currently Tuesday night, and I hadn't spoken to Shane, Grayson, or Jay for the whole day.
Summer and I had gone out for our normal surf this morning, but something didn't seem right.
I had this feeling that had been sitting in the bottom of my stomach the entire day.
I had also noticed that the same beach bag was still there from last night, but I just thought that someone had forgotten it and would be coming back later in the day to get it.
I hadn't checked to see if it was still there now, as it was dark out and Shane wouldn't allow me to go down and check because he said I couldn't.
But because I had been naïve when he had told me not to go down to the beach, I believed him.
I had loved him.
But no one knew what he or his brothers were up to anymore.
We hadn't seen them for months now.
"Sky? Sky? Skylar?!" Jay continuously called my name, as he waved in my face.
I hadn't noticed that he had entered the living room, but I didn't care.
He was one of the people that had left me in the dark when we all knew for well that something was wrong.
"What could you possibly want from me?" I grumbled as I turned away from him.
I looked at the TV that was playing a random show, but I wasn't interested in what it was playing, just the colours that were flashing across the screen from time to time.
"Someone special is here to talk to you" Jay responded.
The only special people that talked to me were him and his brothers, whom I loved and adored.
"Is it them?" I questioned, not really wanting to go and see them after last time.
The last time I saw them, hurt me; it cut deep.
"I can't tell you, but I understand if you are hesitant" Jay replied, as he gave me a reassuring squeeze on the hand.
They stood up for someone that had said a few certain words about me and my family.
Hence the hesitation.
"Fine" I groaned.
Jay's lips curved up into a small, tight-lipped smile.
Once I stood up, Jay put a reassuring hand on my back, as he took me back towards the kitchen that I was only just sitting in a few hours ago, having an awkward dinner.
"Sky!" James yelled once he saw me entering the kitchen.
I took a step back; hesitant.
They were here.
I knew it all along.
"There all here, aren't they?" I questioned my eldest brothers.
"Yes" Shane huffed, looking displeased at some of the other people in the room with us.
"What are they doing here, then? I thought they weren't allowed here after last time" I yelled.
My eldest brother, Shane, had a best friend, who was basically family to all of us as he was always around us growing up.
He was one of the first people to hold me that wasn't close family or extended family.
We had bonded at first sight.
He also had younger brothers, who also became best friends with some of my older brothers.
But they were cousins with a certain somebody that had hurt me, alongside my family members due to what she had said to me.
That certain somebody would be Ella Thompsons, best friends with the grades bully, Mia Hill.
The two of us used to be best friends, growing up, as she was always over with the Martinez's.
But when Mia had asked her to sit with her group, and not me, we started to split off from eachother.
Whenever she came over, we never talked.
But she was always floundering herself on my older brothers, which disgusted me.
It didn't stop there though.
One day, in third grade, she called me a 'disgusting, attention-seeking brat that only wanted attention from everyone because I didn't get any at home' which wasn't true.
So, then the rumours started for an entire year, until 6 months ago, when the Martinez's sided with Ella, without even hearing my side of the story.
"No, Nope. Just no" I shook my head in disagreement towards the people in the room.
"Come on guys, give us a chance" Thomas – Shane's best friend – tried to persuade us.
"You didn't give me a chance when I tried to explain to you that Ella was nothing but a backstabbing bitch" I started.
"We didn't know" Benjamin started.
"But you could have known. You could have asked, and I would've told you, but it doesn't matter anymore. I've moved on and so should you" I finished.
"Sky" someone then crashed into my front, shocking me.
It was Oliver.
We used to be best friends as well.
It used to be Oliver, Me, and Ella. The three musketeers.
But he followed Ella's footsteps when he chose the popular people over me. He moved on from me just a day after Ella had moved on from the two of us.
I couldn't resist him, as I hugged back.
"I missed you so fucking much, that it hurt so fucking much" Oliver whispered.
"You hurt me when you left me for Ella" I pushed him off me. "Please forgive me. Forgive us" Oliver pleaded, reaching his arms towards me, but I stepped back from his reach.
"I don't know. I thought that the 3 of us were supposed to be forever, but it didn't work out, so you should move on from me, because I'm not 'cool enough" and with that, I turned my back on them.
No one stopped me though.
I walked back into the living room to grab my phone, that I had left when Jay came to get me.
"Who's in the kitchen?" Noah asked, as he took his attention from the TV towards me.
"People who had hurt me" I responded, submerging the tears and sobs that wanted to leave my body. I couldn't let it happen another night.
I had rebuilt the person that everyone sees tonight, and I wasn't going to let people hurt me again.
"oh" was the last I heard before I walked out of the living room.
I heard shouting in the kitchen, but I didn't let it bother me, knowing exactly what was going on in there.
I walked up the stairs and then turned down the empty hallway.
I opened my bedroom door, to find Summer sitting on her bed, scrolling through her phone as she was under the sheets.
"What's up?" she asked as soon as I had closed the bedroom door.
"The Martinez's are here. There trying to amend what they broke, but I'm not letting them" I responded, glumly.
"Of course, they are" Summer grumbled.
Summer then put her phone on her bedside table, then started patting the spare side on her bed.
I walked over to her bed once I had put my phone on my bed, then climbed into her bed.
"I know they hurt you, but maybe trying to give them a second chance might help them and you. Just even considering to give them a second chance" Summer said, as I curled into her side, letting some of my tears fall silently down my cheeks.
"I don't know" I said.
"You wont yet, but sleep on it, because you will know by tomorrow morning" Summer said, as she started brushing her fingertips through my hair.
I could feel my eyes starting to flutter close, but I didn't want them too,
I wanted to savour my time here with Summer.
"Go to sleep, it's ok" Summer then kissed me on the forehead, causing me to accept my tiredness.
---
I woke up the next morning, still in Summer's bed.
The curtains that were drawn close last night, were now wide open, letting the sun saunter in.
"Come on, up you get" Summer started to drag me out of her bed, as I noticed that she was already dressed in her wet suit.
"Good morning to you too" I grumbled, as I finally got up from the floor where she had dropped me.
"Come on, I'm going for a surf so be ready in 10" Summer called as she left the room.
I grabbed a pair of swimmers and my wetsuit and walked into the bathroom to do my usual routine.
I then grabbed my beach bag, not caring what was in it, as I quickly followed Summer out of our room.
"Good morning Sky" Grayson came out of his room, also in a wetsuit himself.
"Morning" I grumbled, feeling him follow me down the stairs.
I then hightailed it out of the kitchen and out the back door, not grabbing my morning fruit, and headed to the board shed.
"What's up with you this morning?" Gray then met me at the board shed, grabbing his own board.
"You" I mumbled, storming out of the shed and back onto the sand.
I placed my bag down beside' s Summer's , wrapping my strap around my ankle then ran down to catch up to her, as she was about to enter the water.
"Did you invite Gray to come with us for a surf this morning?" I asked, as the water hit my ankles, making me shiver.
"Yes I did. You two need to get over whatever the hell you're on and get your shit together" Summer responded, a slight tone of annoyance in her voice.
"But why? You know what he did" I whined as we continued to walk out.
"Because it is stupid argument" Summer said, as she stopped to get a feel of the water.
"Hurry up you two" Shane called out from out the back of the waves.
I noticed that Jay, Blake, and Brayden were also out there, which meant that they were going to tease me.
Just great.
"Hurry up Sky, you don't want to get left behind" that's when I noticed that Summer had already started to catch up to our older brothers.
"Come on short stack" Gray ruffled my hair as he passed me, causing me to gather my self together and chase after them.
---
"That wasn't so bad, was it short stack?" Gray said, as we made it back to the beach.
"Shut the fuck up" I grumbled, storming out of the water.
I had been teased by Blake and Brayden about how bad I was.
I knew I was shit.
I didn't need my older brothers to continuously tease me about it every god damn fucking day.
"Come on Sky, you know we were joking, don't you?" Blake called out.
"Sure. At least you know that" I yelled back, as I ripped my strap off, grabbed my bag and ran up to the board shed.
Once I had stood my board back up, I saw my older sibling all chatting as they came up to the beach.
If only I could have that same relationship with them.
"Sky, come have a look at this" Noah then pulled me in the back door and dragged me into the living room.
When we entered the living room, I saw the TV playing a news report.
"What?" I asked, as I looked at the TV then back to my older brother, who seemed to not be able to take his eyes of the TV screen.
"Look" he then pointed to the bottom of the screen.
It read 'Suspicious weather has been seen off the coast of North Carolina. If this weather sticks around, there is a potential that the Annual Winter Surf Competition may have to be called off'
I may not have to compete.
"That is a load of bullshit" Brayden entered the living room.
"You don't know that" I huffed, as I left the living room and headed up to my room.
---
Soft sand scraped under my feet as I swung on the swing that hung from tree in our backyard.
It hung over our back deck, so we had built a swing from it on the back deck. I had been sitting out here for the past 2 hours, just thinking.
Thinking about anything and everything.
Thinking about how the Martinez's decided to reappear, crashing what I had rebuilt.
Thinking about how I was going to lose my first winter competition because I had too much pressure resting on my shoulder that no one else knew about.
Why couldn't I just have a normal life, with normal siblings.
I knew that I was in the wrong this morning, for getting angry at my older brothers for teasing me, but no one ever stopped them.
They never teased anyone about their surfing but me.
I guess I was just over it, that I let it all go.
"I knew you would be out here" a familiar voice reached my ears.
"What do you want?" I grumbled.
I had been in shitty mood all day.
All because of the people that had decided to come back into my life after not seeing or being in contact with each other for the past 6 months.
"Sky" he said.
"Oliver" I responded, just as blunt.
"Can we start over? Forget about Ella, she's just a bitch" Ollie asked.
"I don't know. Will you choose her over me again?" I asked, not looking at him.
I wanted to start over with Oliver, but I wanted to know if it was going to be a one-sided friendship.
"I can't stand her anymore. After what she did to you, we lost all contact with her and her family" Ollie responded.
"Really?" I looked back at him.
"Yeah. We were stupid to believe her, but once we found out what she did to you, Thomas and Will had a screaming match with her parents as she just stood and watched. If my parents were still around, they would have been so disappointed in me, my brothers, and her family" Ollie said, sadness lacing his tone.
"I didn't know"
"I get that. I just wished we never lost contact" Ollie said.
We looked at each other for a second, before a smile crossed both of our faces.
"I forgive you" I leaned into Ollie's embrace.
"Thankyou" he said, as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders.
"I didn't know how much I needed this" I gestured towards the two of us, sitting in each other's embrace on our childhood swing.
"Neither did I"
---