It had to be Jessica

Chapter 13

I couldn't stop the excitement as I herded Max into the back seat of my car early Saturday morning. "Well be back later mom!" I called, taking the thermos' in a cooler with hot water bottles to keep the drinks hot. In the back of the trunk was a bag full of snacks, towels, garbage bags for trash, and anything else I thought we would need.

"Have fun you two! Tell Angela and Bella we said hi!" Mom called to us with a fond smile.

"We will!" I buckled up and made sure that Max was buckled before handing him the cooler to keep steady.

Pulling out of the driveway I made the short drive to Angela's house and honked my horn 3 times, the usual signal that I was waiting for her.

She came out in a nice flowy floral top and plain white leggings. Her two little brothers, identical twins, Joshua and Isaac were close behind her in green zip up vests and brown shorts and blue sneakers were already opening the door and taking a seat on either side of Max. As they climbed in they kept pushing and shoving each other all the way while Angela took up the front seat.

"Buckle up boys! We're going to the beach!" I shouted over their arguing.

"Where is Bella?" Angela asked curiously.

"She's gonna meet us there, she wanted to stop by Jake's and pick up something." I rolled my eyes with a snort. "She and that boy are attached to the hips, but I told her this is us time, no boyfriends." I smiled fondly with a shake of my head.

Angela nodded and smiled as well. "Let's go swimming then."

I laughed before starting the car up again and turning on music for the long drive to La Push beach.

~TIME SKIP~

Bella, Angela, and I all sat on the massive blanket, watching the boys closely as they ran around the beach and tried throwing water at each other. We were somewhat exhausted, having to climb over and around several piles of driftwood that covered the beautiful beach in order to find a decent resting spot.

"You know, they're nearly 12 years old, you would think they would at the very least know that you can't throw water with your hands." I smirked as the one of the twins, Joshua I think, tackled Max into the water. "Be careful!" I shouted at them, getting laughter in response.

"They're still kids after all." Angela smiled, "I don't think it's their real intention to throw the water."

"That's true. It makes me happy to see Max laughing and smiling like that. After... you know..." I sighed, getting nods from both the dark haired girls. "It's great seeing him act like a kid."

"Besides, at least the boys aren't playing around the giant driftwood" Angela stood up, legs for days being revealed as she removed her leggings. I couldn't help but admire them. "Are you going to swim, Jess?"

"Yeah, you know I love to swim!" I stood up, fluidly removing my own clothes to reveal a blue and purple, large petals covered the suit in a galaxy coloration pattern. A turtleneck-like collar and long sleeves and pant legs with silver accents going all through it. I haven't used it yet, but mom said that it had great ratings and was perfect for swimming in colder waters.

"I'm going to stay here and watch the boys." Bella smiled sheepishly, hugging her woolen sweater close to her as she brought her knees to her chest. I swear there is another layer under that sweater that we can't see.

"That's fine, I know to you it's rather cold, but for us, this is perfect swimming weather, we don't get weather like this and have it be sunny all the time! So we're going to take advantage of this day!" I laughed before running towards the waves.

"Washingtonians and not feeling cold..." I heard Bella murmur to herself. Well, her fault for moving from one of the hottest states to one of the coldest and wettest on the West Coast!

I made it a habit to swim as often as possible, even going so far as to use the school's pool for practice. I can swim very well now and it makes me happy that my body cooperates with me in the waters. I had to run out far to even get the water above my ankles, I think we came in during low-tide. I ran past the large rock formations that stood out against everything around them, having to reconfigure my steps as the sand submitted to the weight of my feet. This sand is going to stick, it will not leave, and I am going to have to vacuum my car when this is done.

I dove into the waves, eyes closed as I moved.

I swam around the waters, careful of my surroundings and keeping an eye out for floating driftwood that may have been swallowed by nearby beaches and transported here. Plantlife and other water creatures were abundant, but none of them came near me as I swam. I couldn't go out too far, not only are there whales but the waves have been stronger than usual for low-tide. When I surfaced, I winced as when I surfaced the beach was farther away than expected to be. It wasn't far enough that I was at risk of being swept away, but far away that my group looked like little dots.

"Welp." I sighed, kicking my feet to stay afloat. "Guess I gotta swim back."

I swam the length to the shore, allowing the waves to push me closer when I got tired. Relaxing just enough to be carried closer to the beach, but remaining alert enough to keep my head above the water, I watched as the tiny specs in the distance became more distinct and I was beginning to see the shape of hair and the color of their clothing.

"What happened?" Max ran up to me, his expression slightly panicked, as soon as I stepped onto the sand and quickly moved my foot away when I felt wood about to greet my flesh..

"I just got really into the water and didn't realise I had been almost carried out to sea..." I smiled sheepishly at him, rubbing the top of his head gently.

"I'm a good swimmer Max, you know that."

"That doesn't stop me from worrying when you disappear into the ocean like that." He pouted and swatted my hand away. He crossed his arms over his chest with a huff.

"I'm sorry..." I smiled a bit more genuinely, a little guilty for scaring him like that. "Who's up for some snacks?" I said loud enough for our friends to hear.

The twins gave simultaneous whoops of excitement and ran towards my car, where they knew the snacks were hidden. Angela followed them, my car keys in her hand so she could unlock the trunk.

I jogged up to them, grinning a bit as I reached into the bag full of half frozen ice packs and pulled out an apple, starling both the twins who had begun to fight over the last bag of cheesy potato chips.

"Just share it, there's still plenty of fruit and sandwiches to eat!" I snorted as I grabbed a lunchmeat sandwich from the bag as well, removing the plastic wrap and tossing it into the trash bag I also had in the trunk.

We all had our respective lunches with us girls mostly having the healthier stuff because the boys really wanted to have the chips to themselves. Bella grabbed the tubbawears that were used to contain the sandwiches and divided the chips amongst the boys.

"Good thinking Bella," Angela said with a satisfied nod, taking a bite out of her roast beef sandwich, "You boys behave. For every argument you three have we girls get to take a handful of chips from each of your bowls!"

Our little brothers were surprisingly quieter and significantly more polite after that.

It was surprisingly relaxing, no worries about life or death situations, no anxiety, just us girls and boys acting our ages, if not a bit younger. I couldn't help the wide smile as I looked at my two friends, my best friend Angela had apparently said something funny enough for Bella to snort water through her nose which just resulted in me laughing.

This was wonderful. I definitely needed this.