Behind the Gate

Chapter 9

So apparently Celina, Synthia, Tia, and I were all going to the beach. I was back at home packing my beach bag until I heard a honk from outside. I looked out the window and Celina was in the driver seat, with Tia in the front and Synthia in the back. Celina pulled into my driveway with a convertible car, maybe an Audi R8, I couldn't tell. Anyways, I grabbed my bag and headed out. Once I got in the car, I recognized everyone looked older, like around 18 or so. It was weird and odd. Celina got taller and her braces were long gone, with teeth so perfect. She also dyed her hair like an ombre blue, what she always wanted. Tia had nice, long hair and for some reason she had hazel eyes, which look really good on her. She also had freckles, which changed her a lot. Synthia had streaks of red in her hair with a cute red bandana. Since she was in the backseat, Synthia's hair was blowing in the wind so majestically. I couldn't really tell what I looked like, but I'm pretty sure I had some major glow-up like everyone else.

We made it to the beach and found a spot near the shoreline, not too far, but not too close. I took off my shorts (because I had the bottom piece of my bikini under) and pulled out my sunscreen and started spraying myself with it.

Once Celina was finished with whatever she was doing, we headed out to the water.

"Jeez, that water's cold," Synthia pointed out.

"Oh well, I'm going in first," I told them.

...........................

We went into the shallow area and started playing volleyball in the water.

"Hold up, I have to go to the bathroom," I told the girls.

"Ok, we'll stay here," Tia spoke out.

So I got out of the water and made it to our spot. I put on my slides and my shorts back on and walked across the sand to the crowded boardwalk. I looked around for a sign that says "bathroom" or something similar. It turned out to be right by the rinse-off area. I went in and did my business and headed out. But I got stopped by two men with beards. They had matching t-shirts except one had a green one on and the other had a blue one.

"Um, excuse me, you're kind of blocking my way," I told them. Some people's attention got drawn here.

"No, I think you have something of ours," the one with the green t-shirt said.

"I don't think so. Now can I get through? My friends are waiting."

"You're friends can wait," the one with the blue shirt said, giving me a push.

"Now give us your money," green shirt said, and at this point there was a lot of commotion by the bathrooms, causing more attention. But in the corner of my eye, I saw someone running towards us, a guy around my age.

"Hey, leave her alone," he said aggressively. Once I saw him closer, he had black hair, blue eyes, freckles, and was muscular. He grabbed both of them by the back of their t-shirts and pulled them back so hard that they fell and nearly broke the wooden floor of the boardwalk. The men got up and scurried away as fast as they could.

"Hey, thanks for what you did," I told the mysterious guy.

"No problem. By the way, I'm Noah." And that's when it hit me.

"Wait, as in Noah Gunkle?"

"Yea, how do you know?"

"I'm Celine Achkar. But how did you..."

"I'll tell you later, but now..."