Claire laughed as the crowd looked at her, "Relax, guys, it's a water gun."
"That gun looks real."
Marcus and Jack shake their heads and continue walking.
"Wait up, guys." Melanie ran up to them.
"Where do you think they are going?"
Max stood there looking at Marcus and Jack, "who cares where they are going? Let's enjoy ourselves."
Claire looked at Melanie, "yeah, let's do that."
Melanie followed Jack and Marcus, "Why is she so around them?" Claire looked at Melanie, "those shorts she had on were so skanky."
"Can you stop already?" Max snapped, "let her be with whoever she wants. If it's Jack, so be it."
Claire's eyes grew dark, "I never asked your opinion." Claire stripped down to her bathing costume.
Her eyes peer out through a wild tangle of hair like a cornered animal. Defiant and intense, but skittering around, looking for escape simultaneously. Fight or flight. Down one cheek, her dimples were visible, from just below the eye to her upper lip. Her voice is a low and chilling monotone "let's give these people something to look at."
Tania, a girl in a caravan, was preparing for a photo shoot. She is blonde, somewhat fragile, and intelligent in expression. She puts on makeup with intense concentration and appreciation, applying lipstick and eye makeup. As the camera slowly pulls back from the closeup, we see that we have been looking into a mirror. She is standing before the full-length mirror in the caravan doing her make-up. She overdoes it in the style of the time: rosebud mouth and so forth. As the film progresses, her make-up will be refined until, in the end, there is none.
She climbed out of the caravan wearing her high heels and pink bikini; Claire had noticed her, " who is that, Max?"
Max's eyes widened as he looked at her up and down; Claire nudged him with her elbow, "this is what I am talking about. You are lustful for every girl."
"No, I am not; you asked me who it is. I was trying to remember her."
"Well, Max, did you remember anything?"
"She was in one of our classes. I can't remember exactly, but that was before secondary school; wait, I remember now, that's Tania. The popular girl in school."
Claire frowned, "Tania, as in Tania? She looks different."
The crowd was walking towards Tania's shoot, they had a yellow umbrella, and it looked like she was modeling a new bikini line.
"She looks good," said Max.
"Have you heard anything of your sister?"
"Nothing came up, and we are all worried about her," Jack replied.
"Well, I would say we go out there looking for her."
"Thats a great idea; I mean, as far as I know, the campus she is at, the lines are down."
"Tomorrow is Sunday, right?"
"Yes, it is?"
"Let's go tomorrow?"
Max and Claire walked up to Jack and Marcus; Melanie was getting ice cream, "Hey guys?"
Jack turned, looked at Max, and nodded, "What are you guys talking about?" Claire asked.
"Anything and everything, shouldn't you and your boy be up by the beach?"
"What's your problem, man? Why do you have to disrespect my girl like this?"
"Marcus, it's cool, brother," Jack said
Claire nodded, "I guess that's a sign that we should be leaving now."
Jack nodded, "Jack, the one minute you are all sweet, and when you are around Marcus, you act like a total jerk."
Jack frowned, "I think you should leave now, Claire."
Max pushed Jack, "like I said, don't disrespect my girl."
The crowd turned their heads from their attention to Tania, looking at Jack and Max.
Jack looks down, putting his hand in his pocket, as Max pushes him again. Marcus wanted to interfere; Jack said, "I've got this." Max pulled out a knife; Tania noticed the crowd was no longer looking at her. As she looked over and saw Jack and Max at it.
Max leaned forward, holding his knife in front of him, "come on, boy, what are you waiting for."
-Jack's mother enrolled him in a Karate class at age six; he had a black belt at the age of fourteen-
As Max poked his knife, Jack turned sideways, hitting Max with his elbow and grabbing his wrist till the knife dropped to the ground."
Tania stood there impressed by Jack, curious to know who this mysterious skilled guy was.
Jack pushed Max, and as Max fell to the ground, he looked around. He couldn't stand the humiliation, especially in front of Claire. "Stay down, man, if you don't know how to fight." said a guy from the crowd.
Max looked up, and Claire was staring at him with her arms folded, shaking her head.
Jack was calm; his Mom, a CIA agent, trained him and Angela to stay calm in all situations and use the attacker's force against them.
Max couldn't stand the Humiliation as he stood up and ran over to Jack; trying to swing a punch at him, Jack turned to the side, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him forward as he tripped him.
Tania and Claire had never seen such calmness and defense; Jack was in control, and Max fell to the ground scraping his hand on the concrete. Max's two older brothers pulled up right before the fight, climbing both out with baseball bats.
Jack looked up, recognizing them. "Jack, that's enough. Call your brothers off." Melanie screamed; Claire looked up at Melanie.
The first brother stepped in and took a swing with the baseball bat; Jack ducked and trapped his kneecap, breaking it. As he fell, Jack turned his elbow, punching Max's brother to the ground, the second brother Jumped in, and before he could take a swing, Marcus knocked him out. Picking up the baseball bat, Max crawled over to Claire, grabbed her gun, and his mouth was all bloody. "Max, that's a water gun," Claire lied.
Jack knew it was a real gun; he pointed it at Jack. "If this is a water gun, nothing will happen." he pulled the trigger; nothing happened; the safety was on. Jack ran over to him and knocked the gun out of his hand as Claire grabbed it, hiding it in her pants.
Jack twisted Max's elbow; "that's enough now, Max. Take your girl and get out of here."
Claire looked at Jack with hatred as Tania walked up to him, "Hi, I am Tania; I don't know if you remember me," she reached out her hand to shake his hand; this is my camera; what you have done was terrific.
Claire stood in front of Tania and smiled, "yes, it was," she said sarcastically. "Shouldn't you be back at your photo shoot? As you can see, this is a personal matter." Tania smirked, "I remember you, the girl who always followed in my shadow; it looks to me like it's more than just a personal matter Claire."
Claire gave a fake smile, "follow your shadow? Wouldn't that be me trying for an Anorexic advert?"
She looked at Tania up and down, "Well, that wouldn't be a bad idea since you seem like you could shape off some weight. Anyway, please move out of my way; I am not interested in what you have to say."
As she walked away, Claire became red in the face, "I think that girl got a crush on you." She handed him a card, "contact me; let's go get lunch?"
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Said Marcus; Tania smiled and walked back to her photoshoot.
"Dude, those fighting skills are out of this world. You have done some serious Steven Seagal shit there." Marcus joked.
"Not a good feeling, man; I was done fighting."
"Let's drink a few beers; tomorrow, we will look for your sister."
Claire headed back to the car; the two brothers lay there on the ground as people from the crowd assisted them in standing up.
"I will meet you at the bar at 7 pm tonight?"
"That's cool, man," Melanie followed Jack, "so where are we going from here?"
"Melanie, get over here!" Claire screamed, "You should go. You're welcome to join Marcus and me at six miles tonight."
Melanie grinned, "are you seriously inviting me?"
Jack smiled faintly, "yeah, why not? I mean, unless you are busy."
Jack drove back home, where he found his father asleep with the newspaper; he headed upstairs and looked at his phone; it was blown up with messages from Claire. "Where are you? Why did you leave without me while I was freshening up?"
That's when Jack realized Max had tricked him; Jack liked Claire, but he was starting to dislike this side of her. Even though she was his type, she was independent and knew what she wanted, but how much could he trust her?
His mother always taught him and Angela "trust someone as far as you can see them." She stood there while he beat Max up, showing no empathy or remorse towards Max. If anyone could have stopped the fight, it would be her