Together We Fight *Major Editing*

Chapter 6 (Edited)

"Why did I even agree to come here?" My eyes scanned the large crowd of barely dressed people spread across a basically deserted beach. The sun was setting, causing an array of soft colours to reflect onto the ocean beneath it. It was actually really pretty.

Jess slung her arm around my shoulder with a lazy grin on her face, "Because you love me. Duh." Jess bumped her hip against mine lightly as she smiled widely, I rolled my eyes and twirled my keys around my finger.

"Ugh, unfortunately." She huffed playfully and I grinned at her, she opened her mouth to say something when a group of rowdy football players came up to Mason and Micheal who stood beside us.

"Mason, Micheal, dude there's so many chicks here!"

"Paul's right for once, and there all half naked!"

Jess and I watched as they continued to talk like the girls here were mere objects. "Hey! Meatheads, why don't you stop eyeraping them all and go do something stupid like, I don't know, play beer pong." I turned to see a tall red headed girl glaring at the morons before us.

One of them turned to her and glared, "How about you shut up, Ariana." He had the same shade of dark red hair as her, his eyes were brown while hers were hazel and their face structures were quite similar. I'm pretty sure the guys name was Aiden.

She raised an eyebrow at him mockingly, "Couldn't come up with anything better, big brother?" Well that explains the similarities. He flipped her off but she just smirked at him in amusement.

What is it with everyone smirking? My god.

Her eyes landed on Micheal as he shoved a donut into his mouth, Jess and I both stifled a chuckle as she looked mildly disgusted by his actions. He turned to us with his mouth full, his cheeks were puffed out like a squirrels' as he struggled to swallow his food. "Dude, that's disgusting. Do you not know how to eat?" He managed to swallow the donut before answering her.

"I do, thanks for your concern though, chilli." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"My name's Ariana, you twat."

"Chilli suits you better, your smoking hot and your hair is as red as a chilli pepper." I face palmed at his stupid reasoning as both Jess and Ariana stared at him like he was a moron, which he definitely was.

I dropped my hand and turned to her, "I'm Rachel, this is Jess and that imbecile over there is Micheal."

"Hey!" Micheal glared at me as she smiled at us, showing of a set of perfectly straight pearly white teeth.

"It's nice to meet you all, I guess I'll see you guys around." I nodded and turned to the twins, most of the football guys had thankfully dispersed back into the large crowd. Mason had disappeared along with them, probably harassing some poor girl to hump then dump.

***

"Rachel?" I turned my head and saw Ariana smiling down at me. I smiled back and patted the sand beside me as a warm breeze caressed my body lightly, I was currently sitting with my arms wrapped around my bent knees on the damp sand just gazing at the bright stars and ocean while enjoying the sound of the waves as they lapped against the shore in a soothing rhythm. The moon was on full display above me and it bathed everything in its pretty, white glow.

I had walked quite a bit to get away from all the insanely loud people and music that was bringing my hellish headache back, Ariana happily plopped down beside me with her legs crossed and a bottle of beer in her hand.

"So, where are your friends?" She tilted her head to the left slightly as her hazel eyes flickered over to meet mine for a moment before shifting back to the dark expanse of water before us. I shrugged one shoulder and took a sip of water from my slightly warm water bottle that I had picked up from the drinks table a little while ago.

I screwed the cap back on then sat it down beside me, "I actually have no idea, thay all just kind of dissapeared and I'm just being the designated driver tonight seeing as I'm still half hungover from last night's party." She nodded then took a swig of her beer and looked up at the bright moon above us. "How come I haven't seen you around before, Ariana?"

A smile pulled on the corners of her lips, "You can call me Ari, and I used to go to South Mountain High School. I recently moved to West Valley because I got expelled from there." South Mountain High School is one of the most prestigious schools around, it was also West Valley's biggest rival.

I turned to her in shock with my mouth popped open slightly, "How did you get expelled?"

A full blown grin quickly spread across her face as she started to speak with humour laced through her words, "There was this one girl who had it in for me from day one and would constantly prank me and blame shit on me, so one day I put laxative laced chocolates in her locker and then I put hair removal cream in her shampoo and conditioner. The very next day I was called into the principles office along with the girl-" She had to stop speaking as a round of loud laughter from the both of us filled the silent air around us, my goodness this girl is evil. "-she had patches of hair missing and even one of her eyebrows were half gone. She also looked like she'd shit herself several times within the span of a few hours. The principal expelled me immediately after I'd confessed that I had done it, but to be honest it was worth it."

By the end of her revenge story my sides ached and I had a grin on my face at the thought of it, "Oh...my...god." I breathed out between bouts of laughter, she was laughing heartily along with me. "Remind me never to get on your bad side." I had finally managed to calm myself down slightly after about five minutes, I placed a hand on my stomach lightly. "We could be good friends though."

She nodded and laid back against the sand for a few moments, still trying to calm her breathing. "Hell yeah we could." After a few minutes of comfortable silence between us she sat up before standing and brushed the sand off her pants then extended her hand out to me, I grasped it tightly and hauled myself up from the ground. I quickly brushed away the sand on my butt and matched my pace to hers as we made our way back to the bonfire.

***

When I finally arrived home at around ten thirty that night my parents were seated in the dining room with a plate of mostly untouched food sat before them. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that they've been waiting for me. I slowly made my way over at a casual pace and sat down on a chair that was situated on the opposite side of the table.

Once I was seated comfortably my mother took a deep breath before looking at me with a small forced smile, "Your father and I are getting a divorce." Well that was straight to the point.

"Oh, okay." They both looked mildly surprised at my careless reaction, "I know you guys don't get along anymore and I get that you guys don't love each other like you used to. If getting a divorce is the best option for you guys then I support it wholeheartedly." My father stood with a proud smile on his tanned face and came round to stand beside my chair, I automatically stood and returned his warm hug.

"What did we do to deserve such an amazing, understanding daughter?" I tightened my hold before slowly detaching myself from him then going over to my mother and giving her a tight hug too.

I smiled warmly at the both of them before a small yawn escaped my lips, "I'm glad you guys are okay now. And I think I'm gonna head to bed now, I'm really tired but I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Sleep tight." They called in unison as I made my way upstairs with a feeling that my body was made from bricks, I was so thankful that I could sleep in the next day.