Battle Of The Bands

Chapter Ten

"Where were you?" James asked Bert for the tenth time since he came back. 

"I was outside," Bert replied for the tenth time. 

"I couldn't find you outside," James said. They walked up the stairs to their room. 

Bert stopped outside their door and said, "I was outside."

He pushed open the door and found Alexander, Aaron, and Chad surrounding one of their phones. Their heads popped simultaneously. "Hi," Alexander said. 

"Hello," Bert said. 

"What are you three doing?" James asked. 

"So I got the app for this show," Aaron started out, "and I saw something . . . very interesting."

"What is it?" James asked, sitting down next to the three boys. James' frown slowly turned into a huge grin. "AWWWWWWWW!" 

"It's Boakley!" Alexander said and Aaron squealed like a little girl. 

"Where is that at?" Chad asked. Bert walked over to his friends and saw what they were looking at. His face got extremely red. 

"Where was the camera?" Bert whispered. "We thought there was no cameras there. We thought it was just us who knew about it."

"Where is it at?" Chad asked again.

"A beach," Bert replied. "Past the forest."

"Let's go!" Alexander said excitedly. "I brought my swim shorts!"

"Uh, okay," Bert said. "Let's get quickly changed and then we can go. And just so you guys know, nothing happened between Oakley and I."

"Sure," Chad said dryly. "And I don't love food."

James, Alexander, and Aaron laughed at what Chad had said and Bert just glared at them. They all for changed and ran out of their room to bump into the Window Girls. "Are you going to the beach?" Bert asked them.

Oakley couldn't meet his eyes as she said, "In a little bit."

The boys could see Janelle poke Oakley in the ribs before Oakley sprinted away. "Sorry about her," Anika said. "She's shy sometimes."

"Sure she is," Chad said. Bert elbowed him in the ribs before he said, "Well, we hope to see you four there!"

"For sure," Braelynn said, grinning at the boys. Bert started walking forward and his gang of boys followed him. 

"Oh, and we're bringing a volley ball!" Janelle yelled.

"Awesome," James said. "They're going down in nukem."

"But Chad is terrible," Alexander complained. "And they better not cheat. You know how much I hate cheaters."

"I'm not terrible!" Chad said. "I'm just . . . not as good as you. Correction--I'm not as competitive as you."

"I'm the best," Bert said.

"No," Alex said. "I am. At least I dive for the ball."

"I couldn't see it!" Bert yelled. "Not my fault!"

"Totally your fault," Alexander said, nodding his head. "Jump if you have to."

"I do jump!" Bert said. 

"Dudes, just let it go," a guy said as they passed him. 

Total Warning looked at each other and quickly walked outside. "Show us where this beach is at," James said to Bert. 

Bert walked to the path he had taken that same day. A chorus of "woahs" and other things erupted from the boys. 

"This is so cool!" Alexander said, sprinting to the center of the beach. He looked around, rubbed his hands together and said, "Coolio hotmens!"