•••Callie•••

I frowned as the six of us walked around. "He works out twice a day, it's all he talks about." Gina laughs. Eric and Lizzie break away from Dylan, Gina and I. The three of us head towards the arcade. "Sweet! Ski ball!" Gina smiles as she leads us to the machine. "Hey, can I borrow a quarter?" She asks Dylan. "Sure." She nods before getting one out of her jacket. But right as Gina goes to grab it, Dylan turns away as she starts ranting.

"I mean, why would Logan ask for Tyler's help instead of mine?" Dylan asks. "I don't know man, it's weird. Can I get that quarter?" Gina asks again. "Right. Sorry." Dylan apologizes as she holds it out for her. But then it repeats it self. "I mean, did our high five mean nothing?" Dylan asks her self. "So close." Gina mumbled. "I'm gonna go talk to her." Dylan nods to herself.

"Uh, Dylan. Quarter?" Gina says as Dylan goes to walk away. "Right. Here you go." Dylan says, tossing to her. Gina wasn't able to catch it, so it fell down the crack of the deck and into the water below. "Oh, come on." Gina scoffs. Gina looks out over the beach through the large telescope. "Yo, Callie. Come see this." She says. I stroll over and look through it. It was Thorton and the guy we found in our tower talking in the parking lot. "What?" I asked. "Exactly, I want to know what just happened." Gina said. "Me too." I nodded. We looked at each other as the two guys split apart and went their separate directions. The two of us ran back to the HQ.

Gina doesn't bare to open the door that leads into his office. She busts it open with her whole body and we ran in. "Woah! I love a confident entrance but calm down!" Thorton exclaims. Gina and I stop a couple feet in front of him.

"What were you doing talking to that sketchy guy? I thought you kicked him off the beach." Gina straight up says. Thorton's mouth opens in shock, I'm guessing. He raises from his spot on the ground. "That was Clive. He was helping me make some improvements on the towers today. Yeah, I really wanted to keep that a surprise, so maybe we can keep this little secret between the three of us?" Thorton says, walking towards us.

"I don't like keeping secrets from my boyfriend and friends." I said. "Totally get it, but don't think of it as a secret. Think of it as a delayed surprise." He smiles. I crossed my arms over my chest. I hate Lying to Tyler.

"This doesn't feel right." Gina says. "Oh...I get it. Well, since I'm asking you two to do a favor for me, maybe I could do one in return." He says. "Like what?" Gina scowls. "Well, you really wanted to go to Mullholland Swim Academy this year, right?" He asks. "Yeah, it's kind of a big deal in my family, but I was really counting on Garvin's recommendation." She said. "Good news. I donate a ton of money to that place, so one call from me, you'll be in by the end of the day." He points. "Seriously? You'd do that?" She asked. "It's the least I could do. I mean you're helping me by keeping your friends and boyfriend in her case away from tower two so Clive can do his thing. Right?" He asks. Gina and I share a look. "Yeah. Right."

"Cool." Thorton says as he pats Gina's shoulder. Gina sighs as we both walk out of his office. We walk downstairs to see Tyler and Logan playing air-hockey. My eyes saddened as I looked at the two of them. Dylan walked up to the two of them. "Oh, hey Dylan!" Tyler greeted her as she walked to them. "Let's just go, I can't look at this anymore." I gently said as I felt my stomach twist. Gina and I both start to walk out of HQ. "Wait, is it bad that I want to eavesdrop?" I softly asked. "No?" She chuckled. We both snuck back in and hid behind a couch nearby.

"I don't know, Tyler and I just have that vibe." Logan says. "Darn it, why do I have to have that vibe with everyone?" Tyler asks himself. "We don't vibe, is that it?" Dylan asks. "Dylan, it's not a big deal. Calm down. It's not like you and I are actually friends or anything." Logan says to her. Ouch.

Dylan scoffs and walks away. Gina and I glance at each other. "Dylan, Wait!" Tyler exclaims before running behind her. As Logan looks towards them, we make a break for it. Gina and I run back to the pier and look for Lizzie and Eric.

"Oh, I'm so glad we found you guys. We can't go back to our tower." Gina exclaims as we near them sitting on a bench. "Why?" Lizzie asked. Gina and I glanced at each other, looking for an explanation. "We have to go to Vooch's, it's his birthday and we forgot. Come on." I lied. Gina nods and we both run off their pier and to Vooch's. Gina types a message to Tyler and Dylan as we run. Lizzie and Eric are farther behind us as we slowed down to a walk. "Hey, we can't tell Tyler we know about what down. I feel terrible enough that I eavesdropped." I gently said. "I understand." She nods.

The six of us wait for them at Vooch's cafe. I was laying my head on the table when two people ran up. Tyler sat down beside me and started talking. "Man, I can't believe we forgot about Vooch's birthday." Tyler says as he lays his hand on my thigh. I straighten up as Dylan starts talking. "You guys, we gotta fix this. I can't lose another friendship today." She nods. "I wish we had at least gotten him a cake or flowers or something." Lizzie says. "Why? Cake makes you fat and flowers die. What's the point!" Eric exclaimed. We all were taken back by his outburst. "Oh, so I guess there's no reason to have a birthday in the first place." Lizzie scowls. "Why do I have a feeling none of you are talking about Vooch's birthday?" Gina exclaimed.

"Guys, I don't know how to tell you this, but it's not my birthday." Vooch says. I jumped as he walked around Gina. Gina and I looked at each other in shock. I didn't know he would be here!

Well, I knew he was here since he drove us and the bus was still here, I just thought he was too busy doing something else. "I was born on a leap day." He shrugs. "So you only have a birthday every 4 years?" Tyler asks. "Yep! Next years the big 1-0." Vooch smiles. "Finally! Double digits!" He exclaimed before walking onto the bus.

"Guess we can go back to our tower." Dylan says. "No! Wait! We haven't even ate yet!" Gina exclaimed as everyone else went to get up except us. "Hey Vooch, how about whipping us six Vooch burgers and a basket of fries?" Gina exclaimed. "Sure thing. You want that before or after you deal with the emergency at your tower?" Vooch asks. My eyebrows furrow as he makes his statement.

"What're you talking about?" Tyler asks, glancing at my expression. "Oh, you didn't know? I heard my scanner say there something going down at tower two. Also, I should have told you I'm out of meat today. You guys cool with something I like to call 'Sloppy Buns'?" Vooch asks. We all look at each other and run to our tower.

"But not with you guys." Thorton scowls as we run up to our tower. There were ambulances all around us. "You guys abandoned your post." He continues. "Just for a minute! You told us to go to the pier for pier duty or whatever you said!" I stomped my foot.

"A minutes all it takes for tragedy to strike." Thorton says. Gina runs ups to him. I let go of Tyler and run beside her. "Are you sure? That doesn't sound like something I would say." He says. "You're joking. It's two against one." I threatened. "Who's the head director here? Me." He growls at me. "What about my swim academy recommendation?"

"Why would I give you a recommendation? You almost let a guy drown!" Thorton threatens.

"As for you, tower two. I'm sorry to do this, but based on your negligence, you've left me no choice. I'm kicking you out of Junior Rescue." Thorton says. Everyone in our pod gasps.

"What?" Lizzie yells. "You're kicking us out?" Tyler growls as he stepped closer. I stepped in front of him and Thorton. "You can't do that!" Dylan yelled.

"Get, off our beach." Thorton growls. Tears threatened to spill out of my eyes. I shake my head and grab Tyler's arm, pulling him with me as we walk away. Tyler takes control and leads me to behind the bathroom. I immediately break down crying.

"God! Why am I so stupid! I should have done something when we were in his office!" I yelled at my self as I pulled at my hair. "In his office?" He asked as he gently pressed me against the wall. He held my hands as I spoke. "Gina and I saw him through a telescope talking to Clive. Clive turned out to be the guy in our tower. Thorton said he was using Clive to renovate our tower. But it was just a lie to keep us away from the tower." I cried into his chest. Tyler pulled me close to him and wrapped me in his arms.

"It's going to be okay, I promise."