Waking up, I groaned as the light stung my eyes. I had forgotten to close the curtains before falling asleep, and instead opened my eyes to look directly into the sun.

I sat up slowly, placing my bare feet onto the soft carpet. Today, I was determind to at least discover somewhere to eat before school started tomorrow. Alex had mentioned a beach being pretty much next door, and the thought of visiting one pushed me to get up and get dressed for the day.

I picked out a pair of light washed denim shorts, a pink tank top and a long cardigan to cover up whilst indoors - one of the main differences between America and England was that America really wasn't afraid to turn the air conditioning up. As I walked down the stairs in my white socks, I held a pair of white pumps. I usually wore heels (one; to make up for the lack of height, two; because I loved wearing heels) but I was still tired from the time difference and was planning to walk down to the beach.

"Morning!" A few of the boys called out as I walked through the kitchen door. Alex looked up and grinned, making his way over to me and giving me a hug.

"Morning, Little Love." I scrunched my face up in disgust.

"Calling me Love is bad enough, but Little Love? Ewwwww." He smirked as I squeaked when he pulled me into a headlock, rubbing my head with the top of his fist.

"Aw, has my baby sister grown up now? Have you no more time for your brother?" I growled and pushed against him, trying to get free.

"Alex! You monster! Leave me alone!" He laughed louder when I finally dropped my shoes and stopped messing up my hair for a minute.

"Caleb! Catch!" He picked me up suddenly and threw me backwards, laughing as I screamed. Another boy caught me, and now the whole kitchen was laughing at me. My face was burning as I tried to reach the ground, kicking at Caleb's shins, glaring at Alex who had picked up my shoes.

"Aw, look at my baby sister! Can't even touch the ground!" I held on tight to Caleb's arms, which he had wrapped around my waist, wishing more than anything that I could kill with my glare.

Alex wouldn't even stand a chance.

He chucked one of my shoes across the room to one of the boys and held onto the other, playing with the laces.

"I'm not joking Alex, if you dirty my white shoes I will hurt you." My voice had gone high pitched and airy as I couldn't quite catch my breath from being held up around my waist. All Alex did was laughing, throwing my shoe into the air and catching it again. I followed it's movements with my eyes, watching it fly up and fall from the air.

"Jake!" The boy chucked my shoe across to another one who looked up when called, plucking it from the air easily. It hadn't even two days and I was already sick of boys. How was I ever supposed to remember their names?

I was distracted from their game of catch when Alex threw the shoes towards my face. I flinched back before I realised Caleb's hand had reached out and grabbed it, quickly throwing it over to someone else.

"Let me go you giant jerk!" I smacked his arm and felt his chest rumble with laughter before he finally let me go. I ran over to where my shoes were being hurled through the room. I leapt up, trying to grab them before they were caught, but they all just laughed and began throwing them higher so I couldn't reach them anymore. Groaning, I began trying for real, thankful for all the netball practise I had been forced to do when I was a child. When I finally caught them, I slipped them onto my feet and grinned victoriously at Alex, sticking out my tongue. He smirked, and I froze, backing away slowly, before turning and sprinting away. I could hear his thudding footsteps as he caught up to me before I could reach the third step.

"Nope, you're not getting away that easily!" He shouted, throwing me over my shoulder. I groaned in pain as the muscle dug into my stomach.

"What kind of metal do you eat? Your arms are like steel!" He chuckled.

"I joined the football club when I got here, and they take things way too seriously. I've had to go to the gym most days of the week for the past few years. Girls dig it though, so that makes it so worth it." I wasn't too sure what 'dig it' meant, but I played along and called him a jerk.

"Right, what do you want?" I rolled my eyes as he stood in the middle of the kitchen, me still on his shoulder.

"For you to put me down, duh."

"For breakfast, silly! Are you hungry? Want something hot or cold?"

"I don't know... some fruit maybe? I'd kill for a smoothie right now." He bounced up and down, digging his shoulder into the softness of my stomach. I groaned again.

"No problem! You make awesome smoothies, Love, make me one too?"

"Not a chance!" I scoffed. The blood was beginning to rush to my head and I was feeling a bit sick from the battering to my middle.

"Then I guess you can stay up there then whilst I make it."

"No! I'll make you one! I promise!" He shrugged so I began to fall face first towards the ground. I shut my eyes tight and threw my eyes out, only to stop millimetres before I could face plant. Reaching round, he grabbed my middle and pulled me so I was upright and put me on my feet, still grinning.

"You don't really think I'd just drop you, Love?" I snorted.

"It really wouldn't be the first time, if I'm being honest." I span on my heel, straightening my cardigan on my shoulder as I opened the fridge, searching inside for any fruit that might go together well.

"Oh I love strawberries!" I smiled as I bought out a large tray of them.

"Aren't you allergic?"

"Not anymore! Plus, it was only ever a mild allergy." My brother hummed, obviously doubting me, but I ignored him.

"Have these been washed already?"

"Nope." I rolled my eyes and went searching for a siv, dumping them all in once I found one. Taking a small knife and a chopping board, I began washing the strawberries and cutting off the ends.

"Could you grab the strawberry ice cream for me, please?" I heard him slam it on the counter, before sitting at the table with the others.

Once I poured the smoothie into three tall glasses (I had offered everyone else, but only one other person wanted one), I stuck in a cute, patterned paper straw in each and placed down a cute strawberry rose that I had made on top. Handing Alex and the other boy a glass, I jumped up, sitting on top of the counter and sipping on my drink.

"Holy shit, dude! This is really fucking good!" I blushed the colour of my drink and looked down as the other guy began shoving three other boys away as they tried to grab some off of him.

"Here, there's a little bit left, it you would like to try it? I can make some more if you would like some, there's quite a few strawberries left." I politely suggested, feeling bad for the crowded boy who was screaming about spilling his drink. They came running over and stuck their fingers into the blender, scooping up the pink mixture.

"Hey! Careful! You could cut yourself!" They ignored me and began scooping more of it up.

"Let them, Love. They're idiots. They wanna' do dumb shit, they can hurt for it." My brother shrugged. I stared at him, then at them, my eyes widening when I realised they had completely cleared the walls of the glass.

"Make more, please," One of them demanded. I smiled and began dumping strawberries into the blender and getting out more glasses. Soon enough, they were sat at the table and slurping their smoothies, each with a cute little strawberry rose. I washed my glass and laughed as I listened to them argue about when to eat the strawberry.

"So, Love, do you want me to take you to the beach? We can go swimming for the day if you want, I've got nothing else on." I grinned.

"Definitely, let me just go and get ready." I raced off, throwing off my clothes, scrambling to put on a white lace halter-top bikini, then pausing a second and debating what to wear over the top. I reached into my wardrobe and pulled out a short white summer dress and kept the shoes, thinking the dress looked better with the bag I used to hold my stuff.

I waited on the first stair for my brother as he almost tumbled down the stairs to beat me - despite claiming that I took ages to get ready, he was continually last to be out the door, whereas I was usually waiting for him in the car.

"Some of the boys are coming too, if that's cool. Come on, we can wait in the car." He walked past me and out the door.

"Are there paths?" He nodded. I grinned and handed him my bag.

"Put this in the car, please? I'm just going to get my penny-board." I went back up stairs and grabbed one of my favourite items I owned. I loved my little pastel board, with it's cute little baby blue wheels. I picked up my sunglasses too, and went out to the car, where the boys were piling into the car.

"Thank god your here, or you'd never get shotgun! Hurry up before someone else calls dibs!" My brother shoved me towards the passenger seat, which I presumed was what shotgun meant. I sat down, shutting the door and laughing as eight over-grown teenage boys tried to figure out how to fit into seven seats.

American slang was weird.