I had forgotten the sole purpose of going over to Flo's house until she pulled out a vintage polaroid camera from freaking nowhere and snapped a photo of me and my 'what?' face. When the photograph came out, she shook it and handed it over. It took a while for the image to develop but when the colour finally bled onto the film, I realised my 'what?' face was really a 'what should I kill you with?' face.

Flo continued to take photos all the way through breakfast. Beth didn't complain about the use of technology at the table because it was more of a casual meal than formal. But eventually, curiosity got the better of her and she couldn't resist asking the questions we had all been wondering.

"So, Flo, what exactly are you taking photos of again?" Beth asked, slicing a triangle off one of her pancakes. The question could have been addressed in an offensive or accusing manner, but Beth was so...motherly that it sounded genuinely curious and innocent.

"Reminiscences," she answered.

A silence fell upon the table. The easy clattering of cutlery against plates and pouring of juice seemed to dim until we all sat there awkwardly.

"Reminiscences?" Jace repeated, scoffing in disapproval.

"Memories," Flo explained in an aw-you're-so-stupid kind of voice which definitely earned her badass points and only made me like her even more. "I like to timeline things so I can remember them. Some things in life are too precious to forget."

"I'm developing a serious lady crush on you," Tess said, easily slicing through the tension by announcing her teasing affection.

George raised his eyebrows at his sister but didn't say anything.

Dad ignored Tess' declaration and reached across the table to grab the syrup. As he drowned his breakfast in sugary goodness, he said, "Have you seen much of town?"

"There isn't much of it to begin with," Jace muttered under his breath.

"Ignore him, Flo," Dad said. "There's plenty of excitement going around this town. Just last week, a teenaged boy rescued a drowning girl."

Flo looked up from her breakfast and we exchanged a quick glance.

"Oh, yes," Beth said, joining the conversation. "I read about that in the paper the other day. I wonder who it was."

"Looks like we have a local hero who wants to stay anonymous." Dad looked at me when he spoke, causing me to feel exposed and raw.

There was no way he knew. No freaking way.

Tess seemed to pick up on my distress from across the table because she rolled up the last pancake on her plate and scraped back her chair, using her free hand to capture the sticky and buttery substance that oozed from the opened side of her breakfast. Quinton didn't even have to ask what was going on. He just grabbed an extra pancake from the centre of the table, rolled it up and ate it in two giant bites.

"Mum," Tess said, with her mouth full, "we're going to head out for a drive."

Beth didn't seem very pleased, especially since we were leaving in the middle of breakfast with guests. But she didn't have the heart to scold us in front of them, so she simply forced a tight smile and nodded once in approval. Grabbing a couple more pancakes, I headed towards the door with my friends, but before I walked out, I motioned for Flo to follow.

"Sorry about missing my mum's famous pancakes," Tess said to Flo as we cruised down the streets with the windows rolled down. "But frozen Coke for breakfast at nine in the morning is a pretty good repayment, right?"

"Make that a frozen raspberry Fanta and we'll call it even," she answered, grinning.

Tess turned around and returned the smile, but when Flo pulled out her camera, she quickly switched her toothy grin into a tongue-exposed-winky face. Although Tess was driving and had her eyes off the road, we didn't panic. It was like second nature for us to expect us to die at any point of her driving and Quinton had already taken up the responsibility of taking over the wheel when she was distracted.

When she turned back to the windscreen again, she flicked her indicators on and made a sharp turn into the servo on our left. While Quinton filled the tank and Tess went inside to buy our drinks, Flo and I sat in the backseat of the little buggy in an awkward silence. My chest tightened as the seconds ticked by and we continued to engage in zero conversation.

C'mon, man, this is your chance to talk to her.

I opened my mouth and...

...closed it.

Maybe later, yeah? Yeah. Definitely later.

I didn't have to stress over the issue any further because Quinton jumped in and let out an exaggerated exhale of air. "Christ, it's hot today, don't you reckon?"

"Yeah," I said, relieved for the conversation. "Definitely."

Quinton must have noticed the desperate and way-too-fast response because he looked at me through the rear view mirror and raised an eyebrow. Before I could say anything more, Tess returned, holding four jumbo-sized drinks in her hands; three frozen Cokes and one frozen raspberry Fanta for Flo. But before she handed it over to Flo, she quickly retreated her hand.

"Promise not to wait until it's melted or to put flower petals in it," Tess warned. "I can tolerate it at breakfast because orange juice is whatever, but a frozen drink needs to be appreciated in huge brain-freeze-causing slurps."

"I'll make an exception," she answered easily and reached over to get her iced beverage.

"We're going to my place," Quinton announced when Tess started the car. "My dad won't be there."

"What adventurous mid-life crisis is he going through now?" I asked, squeezing myself in the middle and switching the radio on.

"Poker, I guess," he answered. He tried to be careless about it but Tess and I both knew that he was anything but. "His own damn fault if he walks out with hundreds and comes back with a debt."

"Maybe we should find him another job," Tess offered.

In response to Tess' suggestion, Quinton grunted in disapproval and scowled at her maniac driving instead. The servo wasn't too far from Quinton's house if you knew the roads well enough and Tess knew them like the back of her hand.

Too bad I couldn't say that about her driving. She had nearly knocked his mailbox out of the ground. It was one of those old fashioned ones too, complete with a red painted flag and wooden post, so it wouldn't have taken much to make it go horizontal.

"Stop harassing me," Tess complained as the car jerked to a stop in the driveway. "God, you're just like a nagging old husband."

"Stop complaining like you're my wife then," he answered. "It'll make your boobs saggy."

Tess made an exaggerated gasp. "Take that back, ass plug."

"Watch your language! There are children in the car," Quinton teased, turning in his seat to give us grins. I flipped him the finger. "Holden has sass today."

"Damn right, I do."

Tess pulled her keys out of the car and got out. "Stop fighting, boys. You're going to scare away my new lady crush."

Flo laughed softly from the backseat and blew my step-sister a quick kiss. Tess caught it and made a huge ass deal about it as we walked towards the door and entered Quinton's house. The place was pretty much eighty percent wooden furniture, twenty percent lounge and one hundred percent man-cave.

Well, until Quinton found women's undies. It was like lace and dental floss. Lethal.

"Christ," he said, grabbing a pair of tongs from the drawer and picking up a frilly g-string from the floor. "That's bloody disgusting. Now I'm going to have to disinfect the place. She's probably infested the house with Rabies."

"I think you mean Herpes," Flo said.

"Nope," he answered, keeping the underwear at arms-length as he inched towards the laundry room. "Rabies. The last one he brought in was a complete bitch."

"Another one of your dad's booty calls?" Tess asked, although she knew the answer.

"Yeah," he replied. "It's disturbing."

Tess and I just exchanged a look.

"Not as bad as your situation though," Quinton confessed. "How does it feel knowing your parents still--" He whistled rather than completing his sentence.

We all cringed.

"I can't believe my dad's tattoos and leather pants score him girls," Quinton said, returning with the tongs and tossing them into the sink. "Maybe I should grow a mullet and chest hair."

"Please don't," Tess retorted, heading to the fridge and taking a long drink of her frozen Coke.

"Only because I'm going to marry you one day," Quinton teased, gently taking Tess' chin in his hand and tilting it up to his face.

She smiled mischievously and knocked his hand away. "After I get married to five different celebrities and divorced each time."

"Whatever you'd like, just know that I'll be your last love."

Tess blew a raspberry at Quinton and jumped off her chair, walking towards the cupboards. "I'm hungry and I feel like tacos. Flo, do you like tacos?"

Flo, who was finishing off her drink, grinned, the straw between her teeth. "Who doesn't?"

Tess just smiled at her. "You'd be such a great girlfriend." Then she looked at me. "Wouldn't she, Holden?"

I looked at Flo and couldn't help but smile. "Yeah."

"Shh," Quinton whispered as we snuck out onto his back pergola.

We crawled on our stomachs, across the wooden floorboards and towards the gate that surrounded the area. Through the gaps we could see the girls. Flo was picking dandelions from the grass and teaching Tess how to make a head piece. As they worked, they were talking.

"We've only got one chance to do this, man," Quinton said, wrapping his hand around the hose that was soaking the potted plant in the corner.

Quinton's house had two taps outside; one on either side of the house. We had screwed the hoses on earlier and turned the taps on. To prevent any water wastage, we placed them in the two potted plants in his garden. But they had been there for so long that the plants were starting to drown.

"On the count of three, yeah?" I suggested, reaching over to take the hose. Quinton nodded. "One. Two. Three!"

As soon as I finished the count, we jumped up from hiding, grabbed the hoses, adjusted them to high pressure and aimed. Quinton targeted Tess while I went for Flo. At first, they jumped, evidently started by the water and let out screams of surprise. But when Tess realised we were the culprits for her now drenched state, she let out a warrior cry and started running after us.

Quinton and I split, running in opposite directions and joining them on the grass. Tess didn't hesitate to tackle Quinton and wrestle to the death for victory over the hose. Their laughter and insults filled the backyard, distracting me for one crucial second. When I redirected my attention to my initial aim –further drench Flo—I realised I couldn't find her.

I circled the premises, holding the end of the hose out like it was a gun, keeping my eyes swivelling in all directions to watch out for any moving figures in a polka dot dress. But when I was least expecting an attack, I got one.

Flo came out of nowhere and jumped onto my back, causing me to stumble. Instantly, I dropped the hose and took hold of her legs that wrapped around my waist for support so she wouldn't fall. Flo laughed and placed her hands over my eyes, leaving me completely blind. As a result, I couldn't see where I was going and clumsily slid against a slippery patch of grass.

"Crap," I said as we fell to the ground together.

This didn't affect Flo's amusement though. She just laughed harder and gently pushed my shoulder. "Klutz."

"One of my many talents," I answered, grinning.

She just smiled.

It was the perfect opportunity to kiss her. A classic cliché. She was the classic and I was the cliché.

I could have just reached out, moved a little closer and my lips would have been pressed against hers.

"You can totally make out in front of us," Quinton said, breaking into the silence like an awkward fart.

"Usually, I'd punch him and call him a pervert," Tess piped up, "but I'm totally shipping Floden."

Flo and I exchanged a look and it was like an elaborate conversation spoken without words. Together, we just picked up the hose sitting near us and fired.