~Lexi~
"Rise and shine princess!"
I groaned, still half asleep as I felt my sheets being ripped off me. Yesterday came back in a flash.
After we got to the house we dropped off my bags and I changed, deciding to unpack later.
Luke and Sarah then drove me around town showing me where everything was. We drove past some restaurants and a few strip malls with nail salons, grocery stores, and most importantly, Luke took me to the closest gym so I could sign up for a membership.
It was only a fifteen minute drive from my house and near a high school. According to Luke, their football team was one of the best in the state. There was a surprising amount of cars in the lot and Luke said that they hold practices during the summer. I was thinking about going to one to see if I could watch or help. Back home I assisted the trainer wrap players before the game and I was the closest I could get to playing. Although I was probably strong enough I was way too short to even consider playing football.
" Sarah and I have to leave today," Luke tells me once I sit up, " You're gonna be okay, right?"
Luke and Sarah had an apartment about four hours away, and hadn't wanted to move for the summer because of their jobs.
" Yeah, I'll be fine," I say, " I was thinking about going to the beach today and relaxing before looking for something to do over the summer. Maybe get a job or something."
"Well don't work too hard. It's your vacation after all. I made you some eggs downstairs, but if we want to beat traffic Sarah and I are gonna have to leave now."
" Oh okay," I respond. I was slightly disappointed that they had to go so soon, but I knew that they have their own lives to get back to and nothing's stopping them from visiting later.
"Gimme a hug," Luke says, pulling me into an embrace, " If you need anything at all, no matter what time it is, call me. Okay?"
I nod and he kisses me on my forehead before walking out of my room. A few minutes later I hear the front door open.
" Bye Lexi," I hear Sarah shout before the door closes and then there's silence.
After a few seconds the quiet begins the weird me out and I play some music before getting out of bed. I got to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. A quick look in the mirror tells me that my curly hair isn't going to be tamed easily so I put in a ponytail to keep it out of my face for the rest of the day.
Back in my bedroom, I pick out my outfit for the day. Since I'm spending it at the beach I pick out a bikini and cover up with a wrap dress.
After I make my bed, I make my way downstairs and am greeted by a plate of eggs and bacon left on the counter. They were still warm so I didn't bother trying to reheat them before eating.
The last time I remember Luke trying to cook he almost burnt down the house so I assumed Sarah made these surprisingly good eggs.
I put the plate in the sink and grabbed a bag to take with me to the beach. I put my phone, house keys, sunscreen and a towel in before slipping on my flip flops, locking the house and walking toward my car. My uncle's car actually.
I drove to the grocery store Luke and I went to yesterday and picked out some snacks to eat at the beach. I decided to eat a late lunch after the beach so I wouldn't go back into the water with a stomach full of food.
On the way to the beach I blasted my music and sang along feeling the most happy I've felt in a while. At the beach there were already chairs laid out for public use so I picked one at the edge of the beach not wanting to go near any of the groups and look weird by myself. I took off my coverup and applied sunscreen before laying down my towel and laying on top of it.
I decided to lay here for a bit and soak up some sun before actually going in the water.
Before I knew it I was being woken up to shouts of kids playing down the beach. Checking the time on my phone I realized I fell asleep and took an accidentally hour long power nap.
Sitting up I was surprised to feel that my back wasn't sun burnt and I smiled, grateful to be spared the pain of red skin.
I ate most of my food and was about to head to the water when I heard a girl and a guy who seemed to be my age talking, very loudly at the edge of the parking lot. Due to the shape of the beach and the bush around the parking lot they were almost completely hidden from the rest of the beach aside from me.
Standing up I put my stuff away and made my way over to them to see if there was a problem.
My mom always called me paranoid and noisy, but whenever I heard shouting I always thought the worst of the situation. If there was nothing wrong and it was a friendly argument I would just walk away and mind my business, simple as that.
" I told you I'm fine by myself," the girl says, " my friends are waiting for me at the beach. They're going to come looking from me if I don't go back soon." She was leaning away from him and slowly started walking backward.
" They won't miss you baby," he says, " just come back to my car so we can have some fun. I'll be gently with you."
Knowing that that could be going nowhere good I decided to interject, all warning from my mom going out the window.
"Hey Julia," I say, making up a random name, " I was wondering where you were. Blake and I were getting worried."
The girl looked at me weirdly for a second before catching on.
" Sorry, Kenzie," she says, I started moving toward her trying to get in between them," I didn't know where I put my phone. I got it though so we should be heading back to Blake."
Before I could reach her the guy reached out his arm and grabbed my wrist.
" Not so fast sweetheart," he says, tightening his grip, " do you really think I'm supposed to believe that you two know each other. I wasn't born yesterday."
Tuning around I realized that he was not our age and instead looked to be in his thirties and not completely sober. Middle aged drunk men. The worst kind of people you could run into. Just seeing him made me angry. Angry at the fact that this innocent girl couldn't walk herself without being targeted, angry at the fact that he was touching me, and angry at the fact that he ruined my perfectly good day.
" No you clearly weren't born yesterday," I say. The man and the girl both look at me confused.
" And after this, hopefully you won't be having kids anytime soon either." I put the hand he wasn't holding on his shoulder to use as leverage, and drove my knee straight up in between his legs.
He doubled over in pain letting go of my wrist. " You bitch," he gasps, grabbing his midsection.
Truing around I face the girl, " Are you okay?" I ask. She nods looking at me shocked.
" Good," I say, " run."
Not needing to be told twice we both started running toward the sand.
Before we could get too far, I felt a hand grab my arm and spin me around. Not even thinking and letting my years of boxing take over I punch the man straight in the nose causing him to reel back, stunned.
I began moving toward the beach again before I noticed the girl staring at me in shock.
"C'mon, " I say, gesturing to her to follow me, " The more people we get around the safer we'll be."
" Yeah, you're right," She says, still dazed, " I'm Izzy by the way."
" I'm Lexi," I respond with a smile, " I would say nice to meet you, but that was probably the worst way to be introduced to someone, like ever."
She laughs, calming down from our little incident, " Yeah. I wasn't lying about what I said though. I'm actually here with a group of my friends. I don't know if you're here with anyone, but you can join us if you want."
We get closer to the chair where I put my things and I turn to look at her. She was a little taller than me with straight black hair cut into a bob that I knew I would never be able to pull off. Her eyes were a bright green and were looking at me quizzically waiting for an answer.
Old Lexi would have ran at the thought of hanging out with a group of new people with no reason to do so. The only time I hung out with people was when we had a school project, but that's all going to change this summer.
" I would love to if they're okay with that," I say, " I actually just moved here and was wondering how I was going to meet people with school being out and everything."
" Well you're more than welcome to hang out with us. The others are down there," she says gesturing across the beach. They're crazy sometimes but are some of the nicest people ever. They'll love you, trust me."
We make our way down the beach as she tells me about her friends.
" So the easiest way to remember who's who is by sport. Gabby, my twin sister, and I are the soccer girls. Connor and Jason play football, and they make their love for the sport very clear," she says with a laugh, " last but not least we have Chase and Mason, they're the tall skinny ones that never seem to put on weight no matter how much they eat. They play basketball."
" Wow, " I say, " I can imagine lots of your hangouts are based around food with that many athletes."
" Yep," Izzy says popping the p, " it's never a get together without spending too much money on food in my book."
" Y'know," I say, " you guys do sound pretty cool after all."
She just smiles and links her arm through mine.
" Time to introduce you to the animals."