"Hey Nick" I smiled as I walked into his house.

"Hey Coco, there are drinks and a giant nacho ring out back." The boys followed behind me and they all bro-hugged as they walked by.

"Thank you" I said and made my way out to the backyard. I could hear everyone talking and music playing.

I walked out back and pretty much everyone greeted me.

"Hey I'm Amber, Nick's mom" An older lady introduced herself to me.

"I'm Cora, Randy's daughter. Thank you for agreeing to have this at your house this week"

She waved me off. "It's nothing really, I love doing things for my son and his friends. I like putting myself to work."

"Amber!" a middle aged man called. I assumed that was her husband.

"Coming, Dyl!" She called back. "I gotta go sweetie, have a great time"

"Thank you" I smiled and she walked away.

I saw the boys all mingling with their friends. Dad was talking with Amber and her husband.

"Hey marshmallow," Will said and slung his arm around my shoulder.

"Hey Will," I laughed.

"How is my favorite Barnes?"

"Well he's right over there, why don't you go ask?" I pointed over to Carter.

He looked down at me with his amber eyes and perfect smile. "Ha ha, Cora. I meant you."

He looked around before leaning down by my ear. "Just don't tell Carter that." He backed away from my ear with his finger attached to his lips.

I couldn't help but let out a smile and a laugh.

"You're a dork" I laughed and hit his chest.

"But am I at least your favorite dork?' He asked with puppy dog eyes.

I put my finger to my chin and pretended to be in deep thought. "I don't know, I do love Cooper a lot, but as long as you keep it between us. Yes, you're my favorite dork"

He pumped his fist in the air victoriously. I rolled my eyes at his behavior. Will and I have gotten pretty close after her told me about Samantha. I loved hanging out with him and the boys. They just made everything ten times better.

My stomach growled, signaling that it wanted some food. "Let's eat!" I grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the giant nacho ring buffet. A few of the boys followed including the boys and their friends.

I piled my plate with food and they say teenage guys eat a lot. Clearly they haven't seen a teenage girl raised by four guys eat.

"Yo, Tyler there's no way she's going to be able to finish that." Some guy said to his friend.

Connor slapped the guy on the shoulder. "Clearly you don't know our sister, Austin." He smirked.

A smirk spread across my face. "You wanna put money where your mouth is, Austin?" I asked, using the name my brother just used.

"What are you saying, you wanna bet if you're gonna eat all of that or not?" He asked in shock.

I nodded. "Not only that, I bet I can beat anyone here in a contest. You choose."

Austin looked around and picked Cooper. Cooper is one of the best foodies I know, behind me of course. If I had any competition here, it would be him.

"Hell yeah, I'm in!" Cooper agreed and people began to bet who was gonna win. We all put five dollars in the bet. Austin and I were against each other directly, everyone else will get an even split. Even my dad was in on it and he got elected the judge. He promised not to be biased because we were both his children.

Dad walked around and explained the rules. We both had the same amount of food and whoever finished first won. We had to be completely done and everything swallowed for it to count. It was a simple competition. Cooper and I stared each other down when Dad was explaining the rules.

"Get ready, get set, go!" He called.

We both started eating the nachos like maniacs. All the guys around us were cheering us on and Dad was laughing at the situation.

A few minutes later, both plates were almost completely empty. The only difference was I was still eating a little bit faster than Cooper. He looked like he was about to give up.

I chewed and swallowed my last chip. I put my hands up and opened my mouth to show that I was done. I was declared the winner and everyone that bet on me started cheering.

I walked up to Austin with a smirk on my face.

"Wha- How-" Austin was speechless.

I opened up my hand for the five dollar bill. He reluctantly pulled out his wallet and handed me five dollars.

"Honestly, I'm shocked. I bet you had all the guys chasing you, back in Dallas."

I shook my head with a laugh. "That's kind of hard when you have three older brothers and a Dad who can snap anyone like a twig."

"Yeah, that makes sense." he laughed.

"I tried to warn you, you don't know my sister" Con shrugged and went to eat his own food.

"Lesson number three, this girl can eat" Coop joked.

I looked around, but I couldn't find Will or Carter anywhere. They probably went inside for a minute.

I walked up to my dad, who had a proud smile on his face. He hugged me. "Great job Coco. I love when you show these guys up."

"I love doing it"

"You're definitely your father's daughter." He laughed.

Carter and Will came from the side of the house yelling and throwing water balloons everywhere. They had buckets scattered across the year and everyone had a free for all.

I turned to a water balloon being thrown into my face. I opened my eyes to see the culprit. Connor stood in front of me and gave me a sheepish smile. He waved at me with one hand and scratched the back of his neck with the other.

"Connor Mitchell Barnes" I growled. "You have five seconds left to live, use them wisely." I threatened.

"Oh shit" He mumbled and ran away from me.

I chased him all around the backyard. I grabbed a few water balloons from a bucket and backed him into a corner. "Coco, coco" He put his hands up. "Let's be rational about this." He tried to negotiate.

I was having fun with this. An evil smirk spread across my face. "Oh brother, since when have I ever been rational?" I said before I chunked the three water balloons at him, which he tried to dodge and failed miserably.

I grabbed more water balloons and began throwing them at random guys. I hit Will with at least three and all the others I used on random guys from the team.

Laughter, broken water balloons, betrayal, wet t-shirts, and many smiling faces later and all the water balloons were gone.

"Well that was fun," Will laughed and threw and arm over my shoulders.

"Yeah it was" I laughed.

He crashed one last water balloon on my head. I pushed him off of me laughing and he was too.

At least I didn't wear the white shirt.

Summer had to go home for the rest of the summer, but she promised to be back before school starts. Darren wasn't the happiest. He was pouty almost the entire time at Nick's.

After we finished at Nick's house we decided to go home. Will of course was invited. Ever since our talk I feel a lot closer to him than I was before.

"Let's get ice cream!" I said excitedly.

Will chuckled and smiled over at me. "I'm down."

"Hell yeah, ice cream!" Coop yelled and the boys rolled their eyes at his childish behavior.

"We'll follow you Will." Carter said and hopped in the drivers seat. I guess Connor or Cooper didn't feel like driving.

"I'll come with you" I smiled and hopped in the passenger seat of his truck.

I buckled up and Will drove off.

"I have to warn you. This is the best ice cream you'll ever taste in your life." Will said.

"Is that so?" I smirked.

"That is so." He laughed.

We pulled into the parking lot of the so called best ice cream place I'll ever taste in my life. The boys pulled in seconds later.

We all got in and ordered our ice cream. Will got strawberry, I got chocolate chip cookie dough, Connor got chocolate, Carter got vanilla, and Cooper got rainbow.

"Are they all together?" The lady asked.

"No separate" I answered.

"I'm buying hers" Will chimed in.

I looked at him and tried to argue. Before I could get my money out to pay for the ice cream, Will gave the lady the money for both of our ice creams.

"You didn't have to do that" I protested as we made our way to the table with the boys.

"I wanted to. Plus you were the reason that I'm at least five dollars richer." He shrugged.

I looked at him. "So you bet on me this time?" I asked.

He laughed. "I've learned not to underestimate you,"

"It's a good lesson to learn" I said and sat next to Connor while Will sat next to Carter.

"What's a good lesson to learn?" Carter asked.

"Not to underestimate your sister. I learned that the hard way." He laughed.

We all laughed with him with the memory of him losing our bet flooded through our minds.

We talked about all the childhood memories for both of us. Will talked about his second grade wife moving away. I talked about Adrian and how the boys scared the kid away. We had some good times in our childhood. We all bonded over the stupid things we did as children.

Connor looked at his phone. It was nearly six and the boys had to go home for something. I didn't feel like going home just yet.

"Dad said he doesn't need you, but there's no way for you to come back home. You'd have to go home before you stay here" Connor explained.

I guess I really hadn't thought about that. I sighed in defeat.

"I'll take you wherever you want. I don't have to be home for a while." Will offered.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah man she can be a bit much" Carter joked and I pushed him.

He laughed. "I'm sure"

My brothers reluctantly let me go. I don't know why. It's not like he hasn't driven me anywhere before. Hell, he even drove me here.

We all went out to our cars. Will opened the passenger door for me as I got in his truck.

"So," He started as he buckled up his seat belt. "Where are we off to?" he looked over at me and asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I just don't want to go home right now."

"How about we go to the store and look around or something?" He suggested.

I nodded in agreement. "That sounds fun" I said.

Once we got to the store, we walked around and had some fun. We didn't really know what to do. We walked around aimlessly and made fun of things and made jokes.

We passed by the Halloween section and I spotted a pink and glittery cowgirl hat that had fake blonde braids on the sides. I picked it up and walked behind Will. I put it on his head. He freaked out for a second before he realized it was me.

"What did you put on me?" He laughed and took the hat off to look at it. "A cowgirl hat? I have a real one of these at home, you know."

"Well keep this one on" I took it out of is hands and put it back on his head. "It's cute"

"Okay but only if you put this on" He put a viking helmet on my head.

"Fine then" I laughed.

We stayed on the kid aisles and messed with the kid toys. Will tried to ride a toddler bike, that was easily ten times too small for him, and failed miserably. It took all I could not to die right there on the spot. Tears came out of my eyes I was laughing so hard.

A plan formulated in my mind.

"I have to go to the bathroom." I said once I sobered up.

"Do you want me to go over there with you and wait outside?" He got up and put the bike where it's supposed to go.

"Nah," I waved him off. "I got it. You can just chill around here" I said before I took off and turned the corner. Instead of going to the bathroom, I lied in wait for Will to walk down the aisle.

It took a few minutes, but he finally walked down the aisle. As he was about to walk the other direction, I grabbed his arm and made a loud noise.

He jumped up in fear and turned around with a glare to see me. An evil smirk spread across his face.

"Cora, you're gonna get it now" He tickled my sides and I squealed in protest. He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. My viking hat fell off my head, but I caught it before it had the chance to hit the ground.

"No Will, I'm sorry" I said as I laughed so hard. "Please I'm sorry." I squealed.

I heard someone clear their throat behind us. Will turned to face them to where I couldn't see who it was and they had a clear view of my ass.

"Mr. Erickson, is this how we behave in public?" An old authoritative voice said.

Will was silent as he sat me down right in front of him. I turned around and I was so close to Will that my body was pretty much up against his.

He cleared his throat. "Um sorry, Mrs. Atkins" he apologized.

I looked up at him in shock. He doesn't need to apologize for being a teenager and having fun while he can.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Atkins, is it? Yeah so please explain to me why you're so bothered by the behavior of two teenagers who essentially have no association with you?" I asked sassily.

The lady was taken aback by my outspoken statement. "Who are you to question me young lady? I am your elder; therefore, you should be respectful and polite."

"I'll be polite and respect you once you respect me and my friend. We are just here enjoying our summer as teenagers and have fun because childhood doesn't last forever, something of which I'm pretty sure you know. We were not bothering you before so please don't bother us." I snapped.

She cleared her throat once more. "If I were you Mr. Erickson, I would be careful about the company I keep." She said simply before walking away.

Will and I looked at each other before busting into laughter.

"Wow no one has ever talked to her like that before. That was ballsy Barnes. I would say I'm shocked but I've expected this from you by now" He laughed.

"Let's get out of here" I suggested.

We bought our hats and left the store. It was getting late so Will took me home.

"Thanks for that Will, It was really fun."

"Anytime, Cora" He smiled.

I started to walk off but I remembered something and turned around. "Oh and Will, I want to see that real cowboy hat sometime" I said before retreating to my house.