Lucas holds out a cone for me, a mound of green ice cream set on top.

"Mint?" I question.

He shakes his head. "Pistachio," he replies.

I take a sudden step back, pushing the cone away from me. "No, thanks."

"Come on, just trust me," he urges holding the cone forward again.

I fold my arms, turning back to him. "First of all," I begin. "I just met you." My eyes glance at his. "Second of all," I continue. "I don't trust anyone." I turn on my heels and what do you know—I run right into Brainless Redhead. I sigh as my back slumps very obviously.

"Hey, Eiffel!" He greets, giving me a small wave. "Can I call you that?"

I purse my lips, close my eyes, and kick my chin to the side.

I was not gonna go there with brainless. "Sure, why not," I reply.

"Great!" he answers with a large grin. He walks over to Lucas and nudges him in the ribs. "Thanks, man." Then he takes the Pistachio ice cream cone from his friend's hand. "You always know how to cheer a dude up." And with that, he takes a large bite into the ice cream.

Lucas and I cringe as the boy's eyes go wide. A second later he lets out a loud scream and grabs his head, dropping the ice cream in the process. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Lucas' head fall and a sigh escape his lips.

I focus back on the redhead—fine, Justin—to see him jumping around like there's hot coal on the ground. He has his hands on his temples applying pressure to where he feels his brain freeze.

Yeah, that's not gonna help, buddy.

This has to be the longest brain freeze I've ever seen someone get.

But I mean, he did take a really big bite...

Finally, he stops his 'ants in his pants' dance and settles to heavy breathing, hands resting on his thighs. "Dude? Did you poison me?" he questions, eyes wide.

And that's how I died.

I facepalm my hand, wishing I was in another place, even another time.

What has happened to this generation?

I rip my head from my hand to hold it up in front of Lucas. His mouth is open, about to protest his friend's question. "I got this," I say, holding my hand up in front of his face. I walk up to Justin and put a hand on his shoulder. He flinches like he thinks I'm going to poison him 'too'.

Although I'm tempted...

That's not what I'm going to do.

"You see that ice cream?" I question, pointing to the fallen soldier.

He nods slowly.

"I won't go into a whole lot of detail. Mostly because you wouldn't understand any of it," I say the last bit more under my breath. "But when you eat something really cold too quickly or too much you get something called a brain-freeze. This gives you a headache!" I nod at the end, pointing to my head.

The look on his face is utterly painful.

Ｄｕｍｂ

𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞

Ｄｕｍｂ

𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧-𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐳𝐞

Yeah, I don't think he got it.

"Don't worry about it, man," Lucas says, wrapping an arm around Justin's shoulder. "I would never poison you."

And with that, the look of pain was gone. I scoff, rolling my eyes and turning away from them.

"Hey, Paris, do you want to come with us? We're going to the beach," Lucas says, forcing my attention back to him.

"Dude, if your gonna invite her to hang, at least get her name right," Brainless huffs.

I breathe deeply and turn away from the two boys. My eyes find my family joking around with a person I'm sure is a complete stranger. I glance back at the boys and then at my family.

Both are miserable options.

"Okay, fine," I reply, taking a step toward them. "Let's go to the...beach."

"Cool!" Lucas exclaims.

I follow him and Justin down the walkway towards the sand. I ignore the feeling of the smooth sand beneath my shoes but I still cringe when some slip into my tennis shoes. I purse my lips and stomp behind the boys, arms crossed.

I might look like I'm pouting, but I'm not.

I'm not pouting.

I'm thinking about my terrible current situation and how much I wish I was at home right now.

I nod as if confirming my deepest wishes.

And right now, that's not that far from the truth.

With a start, I realize where we're going. We're heading towards the small stage settled in the sand towards the far end of the beach, facing the water. A band is playing some beach music that I don't recognize. "We're here to listen to some music?" I question.

"Not to listen," Lucas answers. "To perform."

I stare at him, blinking a few times. "What?"

The song finishes and Lucas runs towards the stairs next to the stage.

"What's up, Miami!?" he yells to the crowd.

In reply, the people clap and cheer.

What in the...

Lucas announces a song over the microphone resting on the stand and then begins strumming on his guitar. When his voice comes through the speakers, I'm surprised to find that his voice isn't terrible. I glance over to see Justin recording his friend. Among many others.

Am I missing something?