West Coast

Chapter 5: Loren

"Can I get a mimosa?" I slide my shades onto my face, lean back in my chair and look out at the waves.

"Make that mimosa a virgin. She's underage." 

"Cannon!" I shout, smacking him with my copy of Cosmopolitan.  "Do you have to ruin everything?"

"Not everything." He counters, taking a seat next to me. "I'm just being a good brother."

"Oh, come on." I scoff. "It's not like you never drink, Mr. Hollywood."

He shrugs, leaning back in the sun. "But that doesn't mean I should let my baby sister drink." 

"We're twins. I'm not your baby sister!" I argue.

"Get back to me when you get to five feet tall." He pats my head and places his hands behind his head in a lounging manner.

"I'm five foot two, thank you." I counter.

He pulls his own shades down and looks more sternly at me. "Just because we're the same age doesn't mean I'm going to stop being protective, Lo." and with that, he grabs his wallet and heads off to the main building.

Cannon is my twin brother, but we couldn't look more different. We have the same hair and eyes, but he's nearly six feet tall and lanky, whereas I'm one of the shortest in our grade. He has straight hair, mine has waves. Oh, and he's famous. Cannon Miller: The New American Teen Heartthrob.

But just because he's an up and coming actor doesn't mean our life is sweet like heaven. He has a girlfriend, Maressa, but she practically hates him these days. Cannon's agent set him up with a pop-star named Isis Verelle to boost his publicity levels, and Maressa isn't very happy about it. Aside from the kids here at Sunset Beach, the rest of the world thinks Cannon and Isis are dating. And none of them have even the slightest clue of Maressa's existence.

"Lo?" I hear a voice call, followed by an excited shriek. 

"Grace!" I stand up and greet her with a hug before noticing that her and Alyssandra seem to have aquired a tag-a-long. 

"Oh!" Aly laughs, as if she'd forgotten the girl was there. "This is Amalia! She's new here and Grace and I have taken her under our wing." She claps excitedly and pulls her wrap over her head, revealing a brand new red bikini with barely any actual coverage.

"Lia, did you bring the suit you bought?" Grace asks Amalia like the answer better be yes. 

"Yeah." Amalia stutters nervously.

"Well? Strip!" Aly says jokingly as Grace takes off her dress as well and takes her place on one of the lounge chairs. Hesitatingly, Amalia takes off her shirt, followed by her shorts and even I gasp a little. 

"Damn girl." I allow myself to admire her for a second before extending my hand to greet her. "Loren Miller. You can call me Lo." I smile at her and she seems genuinely surprised by my gesture. "Oh, were you expecting me to be a bitch because of who my friends are?" I smile and laugh a little.

"No, no way." Amalia waves me off, but we all know what she was thinking. Just because I hang with Aly and Grace, doesn't mean I have to act like them all of the time. I can still be nice without getting booted from the popular crowd. 

"Did Han finish your paper yet, Al?" Grace asks Aly with a hint of a grin.

"Yeah, but I told her to make it a B+ like always. If you get good grades, people expect good grades." Aly says without looking up from her magazine.

"Who's Han?" Amalia asks. She looks both awkward and uncomfortable in her chair, like she's afraid it will give her a rash or something. 

"Aly's little sister." I answer.

"She's like the pet nerd." Grace ads.

"Pet nerd?" Amalia sounds disgusted.

Aly laughs. "Well all pretty people have one. She does all the work, she get's to hang out with us when we let her."

"Isn't that sort of rude?" She asks softly.

"No." Grace assures her. "It's actually generous."

Aly nods. "We're giving a loser a chance to be popular that she never would have had on her own."

I sigh a little bit. "I'm not saying it's cool, but she gets me an A in Chemistry." I bite my lip in concentration. "And if I want to get into college, I need the grades."

"Oh, please." Grace coos. "CanCan makes more than enough to put half our school through college."

Amalia opens her mouth to ask another question, but I answer her before she had a chance. "My twin brother, Cannon. He's an actor."

"Oh, okay." I can tell she's impressed and excited, but she's trying to hide it.

"Alright, Lo." Aly turns toward me with devious and eager eyes. "We need your help with a plan."

I raise an eyebrow and- surprisingly- Amalia fills me in. "She wants Sean back, and he's coming to my house tomorrow."

"Sean Candor's coming to your house?" I ask, shocked. "Damn, New Girl. We're going to have to watch out for you."

She just offers a small, kind smile.

"Is anyone else coming?" Grace asks suddenly. 

"Yeah! We can use as many girl's opinions as possible!" Aly says desperately.

"Uh, I know Dez and Clair are over on the courts." I offer up, remembering how sweaty Clarissa looked when she passed by on her way to the bathroom, her volleyball jersey caked in sand and hustle. Clarissa's older brother, Derek, was an olympic swimmer, and she was always trying to be better at sports to win her parents' approval. "And Dez is probably bored enough by now. I'll text her."

Amalia looks to Grace for clarity and Grace groans a little bit. "Clarissa Bankard. Dezire Thompson."

"Dezire Thompson?" Amalia gushes and Alyssandra just rolls her eyes. "As in, singing and violin prodigy, Dezire Thompson?" Amalia looks like she can't contain herself, much like when a band steps onto the red carpet only to be greeted with a thousand screaming teenagers. Dez had moved here from France with her mother when she was 6 and when she started going to Sunset Beach in ninth grade, the men were all very intruiged in her accent. Which of course has now faded away, even though she still fakes it for the good press. At least my brother doesn't do that. The only fake thing about him is his paparazzi girlfriend. 

It was so cute how oblivious this girl was, and it became clear to me why Aly had plucked her out of the crowds. She was ambitious, yet reserved. Brave, yet petrified. A perfect balance. That's when it struck me why Aly was doing all of this for her.

She was jealous of Amalia.

"Yeah." I cry wearily. "Honey, you're in 90210 territory now. If you flip out every time you meet a celebrity, sooner or later you're going to end up having a seizure." Amalia looks down, looking deflated and takes a sip from her bottle of water.

"You know what?" Amalia says out of nowhere. We all look at her suspiciously to see what she has to say. "I have an idea of how to nag at Sean." She grins maniacally and Aly, Grace, and I all share the same anxious expression.

"Spill it, Girl." Grace demands enthusiastically, leaning in to hear every last detail of Amalia's plan.