Before leaving Kendall's house, I had instilled in her some positive words, and given her a huge hug of reassurance, before returning home with Jake and swiftly going to sleep after laying down upon my bed with Heidi nuzzling up against me, curled into a perfect fluff ball. I really did love that cat.

Sleep passed quickly and with few dreams, and the next morning I took it upon myself to hatch a plan to visit the local beach. It was a good thing that I had my license. Sort of. It was complicated.

Kendall was the one that drove the most in our friendship.

Anyway, I had always loved the beach. I could recall seeing a turtle upon it last summer and I had used some of my savings to donate to a charity that worked towards taking care of them.

After all, they were magnificent creatures, they deserved all the love and care that they could get...and then people would dump their plastic straws in the ocean and ruin all that peace entirely. Fortunately once I got to the beach with my parents, too, (my father drove), there were no injured turtles within sight. Mission accomplished.

Jackson gathered me into a hug, which come to think of it was probably his way of saying 'I drove you here early this morning, now please can you get me a coffee?'. To answer his silent question, I walked towards one of the beach stalls and purchased a cappuccino with loose change. It was my father's favourite, so he was evidently appreciative when I returned to give it to him, my feet now covered in morning sand- not too hot yet, just pleasantly soft beneath the surface of my feet.

"Thank you, Ally," he said. My father's 'thank yous' were usually indicative of an empowering speech coming up, and he seemed to fulfill that.

"You can do anything you want if you put the work in, Ally, like getting me coffee. You're a smart girl, and capable, too. Capable of so much." It was the small speeches like this that sometimes made me consider nominating my father for president. Was that not a thing yet? It should be. While my father would tell me these things, I knew that it was truly him who was the strong one. He was resilient in all of his work. It was something that I had admired about him since I was small.

"Thank you, dad," I told him, and he nodded, before his eyes drifted towards my mother.

Her blonde hair was worn in a loose bun, and she looked effortlessly beautiful, of course, in a straw hat.

"How is your job going, Anne?" he asked her, deeply caring of my mother and all of the vital aspects of her life.

Anne sometimes worked as a counsellor outside of her business. Like me, she wanted to give her all to others. That included not only supporting my father in making sure that he had everything he desired, but others, too.

"It's going well, thank you, Jack," she said to him with a smile.

He gave a nod in return.

I gave the two some space for a moment, to walk towards the sea and allow the swash to wash over my feet. It was fantastically cold, but perhaps just a little too much.

"I want to go home now," I said, swiftly heading back to my parents.

"You have story ideas?" my dad grinned with humour.

"Yup," I said. Yeah, it turned out it really was that easy. If I was in the right scene- the right location- I felt plots and characters and settings all work their way into my mind. It was a special kind of brilliance only certain people could understand.

So, my father chuckled, and my family wandered back to the car.

Jake was still at home, of course. He could be observed working away at the kitchen counter, once we reentered the house.

Back at home, my mother and I headed into the garden to collect some wood planks. I think my mother was planning on building some panels for the garden with my father. There was a plethora of wood nearby our house, which we could thank the nearby tree path for. I made sure that we replanted any trees we harmed, of course. Some people just didn't get how important the sustainability of our environment was...or perhaps I had just paid a little too much attention in our geography climate change sessions. Either way, we were a resourceful family, only purchasing from outside sources when absolutely necessary, which yeah, when I thought about our family's income, seemed a little peculiar, but it was great all the same.

My mother soon had to head back inside to her office, so I finished up moving some more planks into a pile in the garden, before returning indoors to walk towards her room. I was so quiet upon entering it that my mother's eyes widened as she appeared slightly started by my sudden presence nearby. She finished her phone call, and then met my gaze again.

"So..." she started, trailing off.

"So," I returned.

"I hear you and Kendall are hanging out again," she said with a content expression.

"Indeed we are," I admitted.

My mother smiled.

"I'm glad. I'm proud of you, honey," she said, adjusting her hair slightly. "You never gave up on a friend," she reminded me.

I had no reason to. No matter what passed between Kendall and I- we found a way of coming back to each other, as if the star matter that had been used in the creation of us and our universe was the same.

My mother's smile grew with warmth. She had always been a kind soul. It was one of the aspects of her that I respected the most.

"So- we can sort out the garden tomorrow, yeah?" I volunteered the idea.

Anne nodded in her agreement.

"Sounds good," she said.

However, I couldn't deny that I had the slightest feeling that I would be spending time with Kendall the next day. That just seemed to be the way that my life worked out recently.

"Now, should we go and find your brother?" Anne asked me, and I hummed in agreement.

The two of us exited my mother's office and headed on down the hall to find my brother still working. He looked slightly frustrated with the screen in front of him, but fortunately my father wasn't the only member of our family able to offer words of encouragement when needed.

"You've got this, Jake. You can make this sale," she told him.

He smiled warmly at her, and in all honesty it was probably one of the only times I had seen him smile recently, besides his time with Kendall. It was a good thing, though.

"Thank you, mom. I'm just working on increasing these sale figures," he told me.

There was incredible amounts of competition in the watch market, who would have known?

I gave my brother some space through grabbing a quick bowl of oatmeal as a snack, and then relocating into the dining room. I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror for a moment, noticing just how bright my baby blue eyes were in certain lighting. They had forever been my favourite feature. I mean yes, Kendall was exceptionally beautiful, but I could be cute too. Self-confidence could be a struggle to develop, but I think my many years studying psychology and mastering the practice of meditation had assisted me with that. I drew my attention back to the present moment- looking towards the bowl of syrupy oatmeal before me.

As I sat eating, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and made a quick text to Kendall. Twenty minutes went by, and yet there was no response. Now ordinarily enough I wouldn't worry all that much, but this wasn't a text to just anybody. It was a text to Kendall, otherwise known as the empress of social media.

I wandered into the kitchen and confronted Jake, because he was still working, and while I supported him it was glaringly obvious to me that he seemed to be putting himself into overdrive.

"You take your work far, far too seriously," I said.

Jake looked tempted to roll his eyes. Instead, he just fixed me with a perfectly blank expression, his eyes soon returning to his work in front of him. So yes, it may have been slightly irritating to do so, but I waved a hand in front of his face.

"Yes, little sister?" he asked me. I narrowed my eyes at him in a gentle enough way but with enough anger to say 'if you call me that again I will place Lego in your room'.

"Is everything alright with you?" I asked him upfront, "More to the point, is everything alright with Kendall? She hasn't responded to my text," I told him.

"Time," he said.

"I'm sorry?"

"Time of text?" he asked, looking considerably irritated.

"Oh, 1.45p.m." I stated simply.

"You mean twenty minutes ago?" he retorted.

"Well, technically twenty-seven minutes, now but-"

Jake stood up then and patted me on the head.

"Patience is a virtue," he told me.

I just stuck my tongue out at him.

His expression was perfectly serious again.

"Real mature," he said.

No sooner than he could continue that utterance, there was a ringing upon our doorbell. Kendall.

Jake went to answer it. It was probably just as well. He had been working almost all day. Did I say almost? I meant all day. Really. He didn't even break for food sometimes. Was he a human? I'd have to investigate this some more, although the science project had been running for about twenty years now.

"Hey Kendall, it's good to see you," Jake said, after he had opened the front door, and before he could say anything more, Kendall interjected.

"I'm here for Ally. Can I come in?" Kendall asked.

Jake wasn't the only one surprised by this, because I felt considerably the same way. Either way, though, Jake gave a nod of his head, and Kendall wandered towards me to wrap her arm around my shoulder.

"I need to talk to you," she said quietly.

I gave a nod in return.

"Upstairs?" I asked.

"Please," Kendall replied.

Thus, the two of us wandered upstairs to my room where Kendall filled me in on the situation. Her hair was slightly damp from the rain that was beginning to worsen outside my window, I noticed, but even though it was Kendall stood before me, this seemed to be the least of her concerns.

"Sorry for not responding to your texts, A-bug. In truth, I sort of had a fight with my mom," she admitted.

"You did?" I asked, "What about?"

Kendall's cheeks flushed a little.

"I can't really talk about that right now," Kendall said.

"Can't we tell each other about everything?" I asked her.

"Do you tell me everything?" Kendall returned, looking a little perplexed.

I thought about it for a moment, and I supposed that there was one glaringly obvious matter I hadn't yet discussed with Kendall, but that could wait for another day.

"Okay, fine. Keep your secrets," I said.

"Look, I'll discuss everything in the morning okay, Ally cat? Can I please just stay the night?" she asked me. She had a pleading nature to her tone that I, of course, had to agree, but I would have done so anyway. Kendall was my best friend, after all. She wrapped her arms around me and didn't let go for quite some time, until my brother cleared his throat in the doorway, causing her to go to his room.

I couldn't deny it, the space where Kendall had been felt noticeably colder in my room without her present there. I put that little thought to the back of my mind, though, as I stripped to my underwear to go to sleep. It was getting far too warm for pajamas.