Temporary Home

"Jimmy! Where are you?!" I asked in a childish voice as I skipped through the house. God, I was spending too much time around that man...

"Kitchen, Munchkin!" I walked in and found him leaning against the counter, while talking to Brendon about something. I jumped onto the counter, and moved so I was sitting behind him, and started playing with his hair. He didn't mind, so I kept doing it.

"What're you doing?" Zacky asked, looking amused.

"Trying to find the hole where the aliens stuck the tube in his head, probably," Johnny said. That earned him a smack from Leana.

I started laughing. "Hey, Jimmy. Can I open up your head to look at your brain?" I asked casually.

"And why would you want to do that?" He asked.

" 'Cause your brain's probably a hell of a lot more interesting than a sheep's brain."

"Why are you needing to look at either brain's in the first place?" Dad asked, looking a little disturbed.

"For Biology II. We're going over the nervous system right now, and the brain is amazing! Just hard to understand. That's why I want to look at Jimmy's. His is probably the most interesting."

"Aw! I feel so special!" Jimmy said, batting his eyelashes.

"Brian, your kid scares me..." Pete said, backing away slightly.

"You can't spell Bass without Ass," I said, hoping off the counter.

"Hey! No quoting me!" Dad said laughing.

I just shrugged and went to head back to my room. "Wait, Kels. We're going to head to the beach. So throw your suit on and meet us down here in five," Matt said.

"Oh... Okay." I seriously hated bathing suits. And how could I wear one with my arms! Wait, cover up, duh!

Five minutes later, I came down stairs in shorts, a tank and sweatshirt with my bathing suit underneath. "Ready," I said, smiling and jumping on Zacky's back.

"Why the fuck are you wearing a sweatshirt? We're going to the beach, Woman!" Zacky said, tugging on my sleeves.

"Because I'm cool like that. Don't hate," I said, sliding off his back.

"God, I'm going to miss you," Ryan said, pulling my into a hug. "Pete! Can we kidnap her?"

"Dude! You're not supposed to say anything with her dad standing right there! He'll hear you!" Brendon said.

"Oh! Psh, what're you smoking? I wouldn't kidnap her. You're so weird, Brian. You really need to get your head checked." Everyone was laughing and shaking their heads.

"Let's go before he comes up with anything else, or worse... Learns big words," Spencer said, dragging him out by his shirt.

"Hey! That's so not nice!"

"Did I ever say I was nice?" They bickered the whole way to the beach. It was pretty entertaining. Then Pete threatened to throw both of them off the pier. That's when they shut up.

"Hey, Dad. Do you care if I invite Aaron?" I asked as we set up our spot.

"No, go ahead."

I was lucky to call Aaron and tell him to meet us here, before I was picked up and thrown over someone's shoulder. "What the hell?!" I yelled, upside down. "Whoever's ass is in my face, better drop me right now!"

"No way, Chicky!"

"Jason Berry! Drop me!"

"Don't worry, I will!" He said with an evil laugh. Suddenly, I saw the water in sight.

"Dad! Don't let him!" All I heard in return were a bunch of laughs. Then, the water. I came up and glared at Jason. "Oh, I am so going to get you back for that," I growled, before trudging back to the towels. "Ya'll are jackasses!" I said, glaring at them.

"Aw, but you love us!" Zacky said.

I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. "Who said I loved you?"

"Oh! Burn!" Johnny said, cracking up.

"Now, now children. Play nice," Matt said, laughing. I took off my sweatshirt and threw it at Jason's head.

"Finally! I think this is the first time we've seen you without a sweatshirt or long sleeves," Ryan said.

"Well don't get used to it." Before he could question me, a pair of hands went over my eyes. "Hey, Aaron," I said, laughing.

"How do you know it's Aaron and not one of us?" Brendon asked.

"Because I wasn't standing close to any of you." I answered, taking the hands from my eyes and turning around. "Hi," I said, smiling and giving him a kiss.

He chuckled and kissed me back. "Hi to you, too. Who threw you in the water already?" He questioned, running his fingers through my wet hair.

"Jason," I said, turning and glaring at him.

"Well, how about we get him back in a game of beach volley ball?" He asked, smiling and holding up the volley ball I asked him to bring.

"I call Kels' team!" Jimmy said.

We split up into teams, and ended up having more on each team then you usually would. Ryan, Spencer, Gena, and Val sat out of the game, while the rest of us played. Jimmy, Aaron, Zacky, Michelle, Brendon and Pete were on my team, while the rest were on the other. "Serving!" I said, taking a step and bumping the ball over the net.

I was usually the one who dove for the ball and jumped to spike it. Playing on a city team gave me the advantage over them. At one point, Pete picked me up so I could hit it over the net. "Hey! That's against the rules!" Matt B. said.

"What rules?" I asked, laughing.

"Brat!"

We ended up winning, twenty to five. "Damn, dude. You got beat by both your girls!" Zacky laughed as I high-fived Michelle.

"Fuck you, Vengeance."

"Aw, don't be a sore loser." I smiled, kissing his cheek. "I'll go easy on you next time... Old guys." They all looked at me, smirking. "Hey, now... I'm just a little girl. Don't do it!" I screamed, running away from them as they started chasing me. I managed to run behind the girls before they caught me. The girls all stood with their hands on their hips or their arms crossed over their chests.

"What're you boys doing?" Leanna asked.

"Nothin... What're you talkin' about, Lee?" Johnny smiled innocently as they all started backing away.

"Damn, now she's got the girls against us," Matt said, laughing. "She's good."

"I know I am," I said, smiling cockily.

"And now she has her dad's smirk! Great! She is officially Baby Gates," Jason said.

I went over to my towel and dropped down, laying in the warm sun. "How's your knee?" Aaron asked, sitting next to me and rubbing it.

"Eh, a little sore. I haven't played in a while."

"So what actually happened to your knee that makes it hurt all the time?" Lacey asked. She was laying on her towel next to me.

"I fell on it a few years ago and chipped a bone. It's been like this ever since. You learn how to deal with it."

"There isn't anything the doctors can do?"

"There is. They can do surgery on it, but yeah..."

"Brian! We're getting surgery done on Kels' knee!" Lacey called over to him.

"What?! Why?! What's wrong?!" He asked, starting to freak out.

"Calm down, Dad. I'm fine," I said, rolling my eyes. He over reacted too much…

"She has a chipped bone in her knee and they can do surgery on it to fix it," Lacey explained as he walked over.

"Ok, well, we'll get you to the doctors to see what they can do for you," he said, looking at me concerned.

"I've been dealing with it for this long. It's not that big of a deal. Nothing a little Advil can't help."

"I don't care. You're getting it fixed. I don't want you in pain all the time."

No sense in arguing with him…