Bittersweet (Jenna Ortega)

chapter eight.

WEDNESDAY

Maise's POV

"Got the music in you, baby. Tell me why!" Keli sings to her hearts content, grinning at me from the passengers seat.

"You've been locked in here forever, and you just can't say goodbye!" I continue singing.

"Can you guys shut up. You sound like dying rodents." Evan complains from the backseat.

"Silence, moron. You wouldn't know what good singing sounds like."

"My bleeding ears say I know what shit singing sounds like."

Liv and Ian laugh at his lousy comeback. I glare at three of them through the rear view mirror.

Keli turns the music up to blast through the speakers, deafening everyone. "We don't listen to backseat losers!"

"Hey!" Somehow the three of them exclaim in unison. They remind me of minions.

Keli's wide smile is smug. "All yours, Kennedy. Take it away."

"Your lips, my lips. Apocalypse!"

Evan groans, cupping his hands over his ears to shield him from our beautiful performance. Lucky for them, Keli disconnects her phone from the aux.

"Wow, there's already a lot of people here." She mumbles in awe, pressing her nose against the window to stare out at the crowded beach.

"Knowing Angelina she probably invited our entire grade." Liv says, being the first to climb out of my car once I parked.

"Try the whole school." I chuckle, gesturing further down the beach where more kids were grinding and dancing on each other.

"Evan, can you grab the sausages and marshmallows from the trunk?"

The boy nods and carries the shopping bags over to the raging party, swallowed by the numerous bodies of teenagers. Ian chases after him, too embarrassed to be left alone with three scary brooding girls.

Keli snorts. "Being weird runs in the family."

Liv fires a vicious glare at her. "Don't forget whose your designated driver for tonight."

Keli's amused face drops. "Nooo, Liv, I was kidding. Please drive me home." She grabs Liv's shoulders and shakes her erratically.

"Stoooop, my shoulders are gonna detach from the rest of my body from your manhandling."

"I don't manhandle." Keli gasps offensively.

Commence the bickering.

"I'm heading down." My statement go by unnoticed. They're too busy cussing each other out.

The sand feels soft under my feet as I approach a familiar face. "Hey, Angie."

The redhead spots me and smiles, two dimples on full display. She pulls me into a hug. "Maiseeee! It's so good to see you. I've watched that viral video of your fight like a dozen times already. Is your nose alright?"

I break apart our embrace. "It's fine," I chuckle. "Can still smell, that's always a positive."

"Well duh." Angelina smiles. "You hungry?"

I glance over to a few people skewing sausages over the huge blazing fire pit. "For burnt sausages? Oh yeah always."

"It's all about technique." She wags her finger at me playfully. "Allow me to demonstrate how it's done."

"Please, I love when people embarrass themselves."

After severely burning three perfectly good sausages, I had to take over.