First Full Moon

Chapter 4

I woke up to the sound of people talking and banging loudly in the kitchen. Seriously? It's Saturday morning, don't people know how to keep it down?!

I walk out to remind them people are sleeping. As I walked through the door and am faced by Dylan and a few of his mates.

"Good morning sunshine! You look positively radiant this morning!" Dylan chirps, clearly aware of how loud they were being.

I groan and ask "Why are you up so early?"

"We're going to the beach today!" Dylan's friend Sammy answers, looking as excited as a kid in a candy store.

As I look at the boys I realise they have actually organised quite the spread: umbrellas, eski's full of food and drinks, beach games and a huge pile of towels. I was rather impressed.

"Which beach are you going to?" I asked.

"Your favourite actually," Dylan replied. "Port Pine." That is my favourite. We went there together as a family several times throughout my childhood. I loved the rock pools and the white sand. It looked like it belonged in a magazine.

"Do you want to come too?" Suddenly, Seb walks through the group of boys towards me.

"You want Alice to come too? What?!" Dylan questions him, stunned. Trying not to feel hurt, I had to admit it was strange for him to invite me.

"Why not? It's a public beach? Maybe her friends would like to come too?" Seb defensively answers Dylan while giving me a questioning look.

"Well, she'd have to hurry and better find a more suitable outfit!" James called out with a wink.

It was then that I realised exactly what I was wearing. My Beauty and the Beast bed-shirt. It was a little well-loved and only just covered my bum. It had fallen down one of my shoulders from the overstretched neckline and was revealing quite a lot of my shoulder. Feeling a blush heat up my cheeks, I quickly moved behind the kitchen counter, trying to hide some of my dishevelled appearance from the room of 19-year-old men laughing at my expense.

I see Seb clench his hands in front of me and glare at James. Confused, James just turned around and started picking some stuff up to take to the car.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Dylan sighed, "Well, are you calling the girls Alice? They will need to be here in twenty minutes if they want to come." James looked ecstatic. James was Sarah's mate so he was looking forward to a day at the beach together.

Why not? Who doesn't like a day at the beach? I started calling Ellie and Sarah as I walked back to my room to get my bikini and head to the shower.

Ellie and Sarah made it in exactly 19 minutes and, judging by their panting and flushed cheeks, they had obviously run the 2 streets to get here in time.

Sarah looked like what I imagined a beach goddess would look like. Her golden hair in a long braid down her back with a soft pink one-piece bathing suit showing off her back and a purple sarong tied around her waist.

Ellie had her neon orange bikini on, showing her toned figure with a extra large grey t-shirt over the top. Although obviously just rolled out of bed, she looked the part.

I threw my long hair into a ponytail, threading my hair through my cap with tie-dyeed high-waisted bikini bottoms and a tube bikini top with denim shorts over the top. We were ready for the day!

Everyone jumped into cars for the 30 minute drive to Port Pine. The girls and I jumped into the back of Dylan's car with James in the front passenger seat while Seb drove the others in his car. James threaded his hand back to the back seat to hold Sarah's hand the whole trip. It was super cute. Ellie was about to get into Seb's car with the boys before Sarah called her back, calling her a flirt.

Once we had arrived, we set up our umbrella and towels a little bit away from the boys - we didn't want to take over their boys' day completely.

The day went by quickly. We rotated between sunbaking on our towels and cooling off in the fresh sea water. It really was the perfect day for a beach trip. The boys played a few drinking games and some beach cricket. Sarah commented on what a good looking specimen her mate was as she sauntered over to get him to rub sunscreen on her bare back. Ellie and I just rolled our eyes.

"Seb keeps looking at you Alice. Are you sure there's nothing going on?" Ellie questioned me when Sarah returned with her freshly applied sunscreen.

"Definitely not" I replied with a snort. "Look at him! He's the Alpha!"

The girls just looked at each other and had a private conversation purely through eye contact. I sighed. What is with everyone? I looked over at Seb, curiosity getting the best of me, only to catch his eyes in our direction. He smiled when caught and looked away, embarrassment clearly on his face.

"Maybe he's looking at you Ellie?" I asked, trying to divert the attention away from me.

"Oh maybe!" Sarah added. Phew it worked. I mentally applauded myself as Sarah continued, "You do look very hot in that bikini today, El, and he did help you carry one of the eski's earlier. Did I even catch a little flirty eye contact?" Ellie giggled.

"I definitely wouldn't mind Seb looking at me!" she admitted, making Sarah and I burst out laughing. It's not unusual for Ellie to get attention from men.

We were just floating in the water when suddenly Sarah and Ellie were lifted out of the water into the air. I see a flurry of limbs as James lifts Sarah up onto his shoulders and Sammy lifts Ellie up onto his. The girls were squealing and giggling while the boys tried their hardest to push each other over. I floated away from the splashing but quickly stopped when I came up against a large chest. I look up to see it's Seb smiling down at me with a cheeky grin making my heart skip a beat.

"You ready?" he asks. Ready for what? I'm interrupted from my internal questioning when he disappears under the water and I am lifted up out of the water on his shoulders like I was as light as a feather. Seb ran over to the others to join in the game, leaving me to hold on for dear life. A few of the other boys asked me if I wanted to be their partner when each new game started, but Seb declined every one of them.

"Right everyone, time to head home!" Dylan yells out from the sand, eyeing Seb and I off suspiciously but shaking it off, probably, considering it to be the better option to one of his other friends being my partner.

Seb slipped me off of his shoulders and gave me a nudge as he walked back to the sand. I couldn't help my butterflies in my stomach at the feeling.

Sarah fell asleep on James' shoulder in the car on the way home. Ellie was busying herself with the list of shoulder war games she won with Dylan in the front passenger seat and I was left to think about why Seb was suddenly showing me attention?

I say my goodbyes to the girls and head back to my room with my stuff before Seb runs over.

"Here let me help you with that." he says, taking my umbrella and bag of wet towels and empty drink bottle to my room.

"Ah thanks" I awkwardly said when we reached my bedroom door. Seb nods, putting my things next to my bed. He walks towards the doorway and stops before he walks out. He looks as if he is going to say something but shakes his head and walks out. I head to have a shower and get started on my homework. The real issue here is what brings a teacher to allocate homework for the first weekend of the school year?! Criminal!

Later that night, my Mum comes into my room, "So you had a day at the beach with Dylan and his mates today?" she probes. She wants gossip.

"Yep, it was a good day." I replied, not sure what Mum was fishing for.

"Sooo... was Alpha Seb there?" She asked me. Why the sudden interest in Seb? It doesn't make any sense to me.

I was about to answer when my phone rings. It was my guitar teacher about a gig he wanted me to play next week. "Sorry Mum, I've got to take this." I apologised.

"Oh, of course! We'll talk later!" Mum winks as she walked out of my room. Saved by the ring.