Kayla's P.O.V

I pushed my way through the throngs of people at baggage claim, and managed to wrestle my bags off the conveyor belt. I found a cart and wheeled it out toward the pickup area.

I hated airports. I swear people walked inside and lost any and all common sense.I stood on my toes and looked for her red ford. I waved, and she pulled up to the curb in front of me.

"Kayla, I've missed you so much! You look fantastic. Oh my gosh your hair. It looks great, I always knew you'd look great with short hair!" Paige practically tackled me in her attempt to hug me.

"I missed you too. I want to hear all about your year" I loaded my bags into Paige's trunk and climbed into the passenger seat.

"It was great. I'm still dating Stephen, and it's been over a year. He's great and I love UNC more and more each year" Paige was currently studying to be a vet at UNC, which meant she was close to home. She was able to still work part time at her parents' veterinary practice, which she would eventually take over one day. She had her whole life figured out and she had a boyfriend that she was madly in love with.

"That's great! I'm so happy for you. How's everyone back home?" I asked as I took in all the familiarity of North Carolina out the window.

"They're great. Your mom got promoted, though I'm sure you already knew that. Charlotte is getting so big. I'm telling you that girl is going to be a heartbreaker when she gets older, just like her big sister. Tyler is interning at some big law firm this summer. He's going to be a great lawyer" Paige rambled.

She and Tyler decided to mutually end their relationship at the end of senior year. They didn't want to mess with a long distance relationship. Surprisingly they were still close friends and talked regularly.

"Tyler will be a great lawyer. We called that one after our big debate in AP Lit senior year. No one could beat him" I thought back to that class.

"That was my favorite class of the whole year, and I don't even like English. You, Tyler, Jake, and I all in one class, I mean it didn't get any better than that" Paige reminisced.

"It'll be great to see Tyler again, I'm so glad you two are still friends" I fiddled with the radio.

"Just Tyler? Do you mean to tell me that you and Jake still haven't had a sane conversation?" Paige screeched to a stop at a red light.

"Not talking is working just fine for us" I was so sick of talking about this. Three times in the past two weeks was three times too many.

"You're going to have to deal with this sooner or later and you know it" Paige lectured me as we pulled up in front of my house.

"I'll go with later" I jumped out of the car before Paige could respond. Within a matter of seconds a, not so little, bundle of blonde hair barreled into my arms.

"Kayla you're finally home" Charlotte latched onto my neck and refused to let go.

"Finally I know! How has my best friend been?" I picked her up despite the fact that she wasn't a tiny little seven year old anymore.

"Oh I'm great, a little tired, but overall pretty good" Paige shrugged.Charlotte and I looked up at her with a mutual seriously dude look on our faces.

"I wasn't talking to you weirdo I was talking to Char" I ruffled Paige's hair as she frowns.

"Don't worry Paige we can both be Kayla's best friends" Charlotte was still locked around my neck.

"True, but you'll always be her #1 Char" Paige winked at me.

"My name's Charlotte. Kayla are you home for a long time this time?" Charlotte asked. I couldn't believe after all these years she still wouldn't let Paige call her Char.

"I am going to be home for three whole months. Can you believe it?" I put Charlotte down. She insisted on carrying one of my bags. Of course she picked one of the heavy ones and practically dragged it toward the front door.

"Three months! We have so much to do. We can go to the beach, and go surfing, and build sand castles, and go boogie boarding, and ride bikes, and look for seashells..." Charlotte kept listing even after she was too far away for me to hear her.My mom suddenly came running out of the house.

"Kayla Ryans why did you lie to me about what time your flight was getting in? I was planning on picking you up at the airport" she scolded me as she wrapped me up in a huge hug.

"You had work today, and you just got that huge promotion. I didn't want you to have to leave early. Besides I have a perfectly good chauffer that pays me to be her friend" I laughed at Paige before she flicked my ear.

"Well it's nice to see that you two are still as weird and childish as always. Paige I'm assuming you're joining us for dinner" My mom grabbed a couple bags and helped me bring them into the house.

"Until you kick me out I'll be here Mama R" Paige hip bumped my mom as she passed her on the stairs heading up to my room.

"I want to hear all about your year, and your plans for the summer. Seeing you go through all of this makes me wish I could relive my college years again. I've missed my baby girl so much. You really should visit more" my mother dropped the bags she was carrying and wrapped me in another hug. This was a lot of hugging for one day.

"I know Mom, and I wish I could visit more, but Baltimore isn't exactly close"

"Oh I know you do your best, and Johns Hopkins is a wonderful school, but it doesn't make me miss you any less. I'm making your favorite for dinner so you'd better be hungry" she disappeared into the kitchen.

"You made grandma's lasagna? Man it's good to be home" I shouted after my mother's retreating figure before hauling the rest of my bags upstairs.My room looked the same as when I left it, except for a stack of books sitting on the nightstand.

"Charlotte Ryans have you been sleeping in my room again?" I called down the hall.

"Only a couple times" I heard a quiet voice answer nearby.I noticed a moving bump under the blanket on my bed.

"Paige have you seen Charlotte anywhere? She seems to have disappeared" I attempted to ask nonchalantly.

"Nope haven't seen her since we were outside. Maybe she ran away" Paige looked between me and the blanket knowingly.

"Well I'm just exhausted from my flight so I think I'll just lay down right here" I plopped down on the bump and heard the squealing laugh that I would know anywhere.

"Hey Kayla you're sitting on me" Charlotte giggled.

"Oh my gosh Charlotte, why I had no idea you were under there" I pulled her out from under the blanket. I looked at Paige, and we had one of those telepathic conversations only best friends can have. Before Charlotte could get up we started tickling her while she howled with laughter.I pretended to unpack a bit before my mom called us down for dinner.

"So when does your internship start?" my mom asked as I dug into the amazing lasagna.

"I have a week off before I start. The doctor I'm shadowing is on vacation so I get a week to settle in before I have to be at the hospital constantly" I was pre- med at Johns Hopkins and was exploring different areas of the local hospital by shadowing different doctors.

"Well it will be a great experience even if you don't get paid" my mom always saw the bright side of every situation, which was remarkable given everything she's been through.

"Besides we're getting paid pretty well to coach the kids beach league" Paige pointed out, her mouth full of lasagna.Paige and I were each coaching elementary school volleyball teams this summer. Getting paid to spend time with kids and play volleyball was basically a dream come true.

"When do you start?" my mom asked.

"Tomorrow. We have to be at the beach at eight. Paige you might as well sleep here" I offered.

"Oh I just assumed that was a given. I already have a bag of clothes in your room" Paige grinned sheepishly.

"Of course you do" I laughed. We finished dinner and caught up on Charlotte's plays and my mom's book club.Paige and I attempted to start a marathon of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies, but we fell asleep before we could even finish the first one. We were getting old.

Eight hours later my alarm clock was screeching at me, but I couldn't reach it because Paige had her legs draped across me, and they were surprisingly heavy.

"Paige would you turn that thing off before I chuck it out the window" I hit her with a pillow, but she still wouldn't budge. Finally I just rolled her off of me and onto the floor where she landed with a thud. Oops.

"Hey that's no way to wake someone. I need my beauty sleep" Paige groaned before crawling under my bed to get away from the light.

"News flash, the beauty sleep is not working. Now get up we have work" I silenced the alarm clock and headed into the bathroom to get ready.

Twenty minutes later I was in an old t shirt and running shorts with my hair up in a messy bun and no make-up on.

Paige joined me a few minutes later wearing practically the same outfit. I handed her a travel mug full of coffee and a banana before we headed out to her car.

That was one of the side effects of college: the inability to get through the morning without coffee.

We found our boss when we got to the beach and he set us up on adjacent courts with eight midgets apiece.We went around in a circle and each of them said their names and their favorite part of summer.

I had one trouble maker who kept laying down and making "sand angels", but the rest were good kids. I started them out with some basic passing drills.

Suddenly a ball came flying onto the court and hit one of the boys in the head. He fell over and started bawling. I crouched down in front of the kid to inspect the damage.

"I'm so sorry. I have one kid who won't stop punting the ball. Is he okay?" I heard a voice behind me and I froze.

I turned around and my stomach dropped.

Jake's mouth fell open when he realized the girl in the ratty old t shirt and the rat's nest of a bun was his ex- girlfriend.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. I've got it covered, but thanks for your concern" I turned away from him and tried to focus on the kid. I could still sense his presence behind me.

"Hey big guy you'll just have a little bruise. Don't worry it makes you look tough, the other teams will know you mean business" I pulled him up and had him flex his muscles. Pretty soon he was laughing and then he ran off to keep playing with the other kids.

"You've always been great with kids" Jake was still behind me. I really hoped he had left, but no such luck.

"Kids are simple, they don't become complicated people until they get older" I stood up and turned around to face him.

"Complicated right. Well I should get back to my team. See you around" Jake turned and practically ran away from me.

Well my fun easy summer job just became a lot more complicated.

Oh boy these two working together all summer? This should be interesting. If you liked this chapter be sure to vote and comment!