Chapter 7

On the second day, I volunteered myself to go on a walk with Ricky as she carried out her photography work. She'd been asked to take images of an area not too far away from Summer Bay, where a public footpath had been made to attract visitors and tourists. The trail cut through the bush and weaved through gardens bursting with flowers and wildlife. I thoroughly enjoyed the walk and the touch of the warm sun on my bear arms and legs. I got to know Ricky well as she spoke with me. I found her funny and genuine, entirely down to earth. The scenery was fantastic and from over Ricky's shoulder, I saw she was getting some amazing snapshots.

"Fancy a go?" She asked me, offering me her camera, which I bet was more expensive than everything I owned.

I shook my head. "Knowing me, I'd just break it." I said truthfully, thinking about how I'd probably never even held anything so costly before.

"Hey, come on." Ricky insisted, passing the camera over trustingly. She leaned in next to me and pointed out a few buttons and dials to change the camera's settings to suit whatever I was photographing. All of the complicated terms she used were completely wasted on me, but I picked up most of what she said and tried to take some good photos. They were okay; mediocre really - nowhere near as good as my sister-in-law.

"Isn't this child labor?" I asked, laughing as we were coming into the range of a gorgeous river and I took a photo of it with Ricky's bulky camera, under her instructions to up the aperture and lower the ISO. I had no idea what either of those expressions meant.

"Kind of. But I won't say anything if you don't." Ricky joked, then accepted the camera as I passed it back over to her, believing it would be a huge mistake trusting me with it near the flowing water. She flicked through the last few I'd taken and smiled. "Alex, these are really good."

"At least one of us thinks so." I said, shaking my head. "You know, you don't have to complement me all the time. I won't get offended if you're brutally honest. I know I'm not that good at photography. That last one I took was blurry and out-of-focus. It was kind of a mistake."

Ricky shrugged lightly in response. "Sometimes images are supposed to be abstract like that. Now the water really looks like it's actually moving."

"If you say so." I chuckled. "So why are you so fond of taking pictures?"

Ricky's pensive gaze passed by me and focused on the beautiful landscape. "I'm not sure really. I guess I just like the idea of being able to capture a moment and keep it with you. It's soppy really."

"No. Not at all." I disagreed. "I think that's a really good reason."

Ricky smiled as she fixed her eyes on me. "You know, Brax is really impressed with your surfing skills."

"Oh, yeah? You sure he's not just saying that to be nice? Because I wiped out yesterday."

"Yeah, I heard about that." Ricky told me. "Brax said some idiot dropped in on you? Don't worry about it though. It hasn't changed his opinion of you. You've definitely made a good impression on him. " The both of us ducked under a low-hanging branch and then crossed over a wooden-planked bridge that connected both sides of the river. "So, what's it like having three new brothers? Are you coping alright with us or are we a bit full-on? I was afraid we'd scare you off as soon as you stayed a few nights with us."

I laughed and raised my eyebrows. "Full-on? Yeah, I guess you could say that. But scared me away? No chance of that happening. I'm enjoying getting to know everyone. It's great having such a big family and not feeling so..." I'd bit down on my tongue and stopped myself from finishing the sentence, suddenly becoming aware of how openly I'd been talking.

"So... what?" Ricky asked gently, staring at me absorbedly. "Alone?"

I didn't answer and tried not to hint to the fact she'd guessed my next word correctly. Seeing that she had, Ricky nodded understandingly. "It's okay to tell me things like that, Alex. I can understand what you mean. When I lived with just my brother, I got pretty lonely too. Coming into the Braxton family was exactly what I needed." She eyed me curiously. "It must have been quite lonely living with just your mum?"

"In the last few years, yeah I guess." I said, truthfully. "But if I'm honest, I'd rather it just be the two of us. Every time mum got a boyfriend or met someone new it only ever ended in disaster and caused more of a hassle. It was better just me and mum."

"What happened?" Ricky quizzed. "You didn't get alone with the blokes she met?"

I snorted cynically. "That's one way of putting it." I shook my head to clear it of the dark thoughts and memories that had stirred at the change in our conversation. "Anyway, like I was saying, I'm really enjoying it here so far. I think I'd love it if I lived here full time. It's a shame I have to go back to the city."

"You could always stay if you wanted to?" Ricky recommended.

"I wish I could." I replied sadly. "But I can't. I have to go back for mum's sake. And I have to keep my job."

"And you've probably got school and friends that keep you city-bound?" My kind-of sister-in-law said, with a look on her face that suggested to me she might have been speaking to Brax about my dislike towards the topic of education.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "I take it you've been talking to Brax about my school life?"

"He's just concerned that you don't talk about it much. And he is right. I don't think you've mentioned school once since coming here. Aren't you bothered about failing your subjects if you miss the classes this week? And what about your schoolwork? I haven't seen you doing any at all. Won't you fall behind?"

I grinned. "Seriously, you and Brax need to drop this obsession with my education. There's really nothing to worry about. I'm on top of it all. Besides, I'm on holiday. I'm allowed to relax and kick back."

Ricky sighed skeptically. "Alright. As long as that's all there is to it." She said, before turning to take another photograph and leaving me to my contemplations.

*

Later on in the day when I was back at home, I helped Brax fix up his Ute which he claimed had been recently acting up. I didn't know a whole lot about cars. Flynn used to own an old motorbike that he and I used to have to repair all the time though, and I hoped that the two weren't so different. I was a quick learner and I knew enough to give the vehicle a routine check and being able to assist whenever my brother called on me to pass him equipment or get my hands dirty.

Brax seemed to appreciate my company and I suspected that mending and patching up the Ute was just a ruse to try and bond with me the only way he knew how besides hitting the waves. Despite being generally uninterested in cars, and getting covered in smudges of oil and grime, I still enjoyed the afternoon vehicle-repairing session taught to me by my brother. It was remarkably fun doing something so casual and I found myself attentively listening to his instructions and taking on board his advice on cars even though it was information I doubted I would ever need. It was highly unlikely I would ever in a million years be able to afford a car of my own. I was making the most of the time spent with my oldest brother, since I'd just been made aware that he and Ricky had an afternoon appointment booked at the doctors. It was to check on the progress of the baby.

"Nice job." Brax praised, as he revved the Ute's healthy-sounding engine and then climbed out to pat me on the back.

"It's sounding good, huh?" I said, trying to rub the black splotches off my face, and managing to smear them even more.

"Yeah, it's great. Purring like a kitten." My brother smirked, before checking his watch. "I should go get cleaned up. Ricky's appointment starts soon."

"Are you meeting her there?" I asked.

"Yup." My brother sighed, scrubbing his hands onto a grubby cloth.

"Better not keep her waiting then," I advised, hiding a smile. "If you're late then she just might skin you alive."

"You're right, eh?" Brax laughed, but then frowned when his phone rang in his pocket. He fished it out with his cleanest hand and answered it a second after checking the caller ID. "Kyle, what's happening? Whoa, whoa, whoa... hang on a second there, mate... Say that again. Slowly this time...." My brother's scowl deepened at whatever information he was hearing. "Righto. Yeah, I'll be there in the next ten minutes. Hold it till then."

Brax took the phone from his ear, hung up and then, all business, went to climb into his Ute.

"Hey, what was that about?" I quizzed, following after him.

"Trouble at the restaurant." Was the short response I received.

"What kind of trouble?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I'm going to find out."

In which case, I was going too. Whether he liked it or not, I ran around the car and jumped into the passenger seat, strapping myself in before Brax could tell me otherwise. He fleetingly considered ordering me to stay put in case the trouble in the restaurant turned out to be serious, but in the end, my brother just sighed and gave in, having realized I wouldn't have listened to him even if he had told me not to come.

"What about your appointment with Ricky?" I enquired, once the car was pulling out of the drive.

Brax shrugged wearily. "Let's hope I can still make it."

*

The trouble at the restaurant turned out to be a huge mistake on the rosters, which had resulted in a major lack of staff. Half of Angelo's employees that had been required to take the shift had not turned up because of a massive error that had been made on the work rota. Unfortunately, this included the sous chef that was needed to work alongside the head chef and a handful of much-needed waitresses and waiters.

When Brax and I arrived, Angelo's was chaotic. It was filled with customers and it looked to be a very busy afternoon and night ahead. Hardly any of the tables had been attended or waited upon. The amount of unserved customers at the bar seemed to be piling up by the second, resolved only by the fact that Kyle was busy toiling away as fast as he could, his hands moving as fast as lighting to mix up drinks, fill glasses and till cash.

When he saw us, Kyle seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"It's about time you got here!" He muttered. "It's been mayhem."

"Mate, where is everyone?" Brax demanded, looking around his restaurant and spotting only around three busy, stressed-out waitrons.

"Ask Heath." Kyle answered stiffly. "He's the one who did the rosters and completely screwed them up."

"I swear he must have been adopted into our family." Brax grumbled, shaking his head. "Have you called everyone who's off to see if they could cover?"

"No one can make it. I already checked." Kyle explained. He nodded at a petite olive-skinned girl as she darted past with a tray loaded sky-high with dirty dishes. "Olivia was the only one who could come in. The rest were busy or refused to."

"Well, I can't stick around and clean up Heath's mess." Brax said tersely. "I've got to go to an appointment with Ricky. I can't miss this one."

Kyle's face was grim. "In that case, I don't know how we're going to cope without shutting the place up for the night. If we just had one of the other chefs, we might be able to make it work, but with only Tom in the kitchen..."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. An entire night's profits lost because of a silly blunder in the rosters. If all they required was a chef, then I knew exactly what needed to be done. One thing was for certain; I wasn't about to let my brother leave his partner at their unborn son's hospital appointment alone when I knew I could be of help. Especially not for the sake of one night's earnings.

"I can make the food." I offered hastily, to which both of my brothers' heads snapped to look at me. "I'm a trainee chef at my current job and that's pretty taxing. How much harder could it be here? All I need is for the head chef to tell me what to do and how to do it. The food won't be exactly the same as usual standards, but at least it'll get done. And if worse comes to worse, then we can still close up early, but why not try and give it a go first?"

My brothers and I spent around two minutes debating what to do, before Brax eventually caved and agreed to my plan, having realized that he couldn't waste any more time without turning up late to see Ricky at the hospital. He told Kyle to phone up Heath, Ash, Josh and Andy as backup if the place was still swamped. If it got out of hand, we were instructed to pull the plug and close up.

"If you pull this off," He said to me just before he left, "you'll be the boss of all sisters. I won't forget it."

In the kitchen, I cooked like a madwoman. The head chef was a pleasant enough, but utterly stressed-out man named Tom. He didn't look overjoyed at having me in the kitchen as a make-do sous chef, but he was so desperate for assistance that he would take anything he could get, even if it did come in the form of a fifteen-year-old girl in an oily shirt and jeans, wearing tatty sneakers. I threw my hair up in a bun and tied an apron about me, scrubbing down my hands as thoroughly as I could before getting to work.

Tom ordered me to dice, chop and stir until my arms were aching from the heavy labor and my feet were in pain from dashing around the kitchen. My natural ability for cooking resurfaced as I got into making the scrumptious pasta dishes, the tasty sources and the delicious pizzas. I was great at making Italian meals, because they had always been my favorite kind and a hit at the place I worked. Although making a pizza was a pretty new experience for me, I got into it fast, taking a special liking to the dough-making.

I enlisted the help of Olivia the waitress in chopping up the veg and stirring the simmering food. She and I worked closely to make sure that what was going on in the kitchen was keeping up with what was happening with the customers in the restaurant. The both of us acted as go-betweens and from the small amount of conversation we had time for, I uncovered that she was around my age and attending the same school as Darcy was. She seemed nice enough; very down to earth and completely unpretentious. I warmed to her as the night progressed.

By the time the swell of customers had died down, I was exhausted. Leaning against the bar's surface, I glugged down a glass full of water and tried to serve drinks without collapsing from fatigue. I was underage, which technically meant that serving alcoholic beverages was illegal, but Kyle had gone off to do something else, and no one seemed bothered by the fact I was so young. It was probably because I looked much older than I was and none of them were any the wiser of my age since I was new to the Bay.

A gang of teenage boys strode into the restaurant just then and took up an entire booth, all of them laughing loudly and creating a ruckus as they threw playful insults at one another and wrestled like a bunch of kids. Most of them had tattoos and wore either vest tops that showed off their defined muscles or typical troublemaker leather jackets. Most of them were big in size; a mixture of brawn and implausible handsomeness. They looked like the kind of crowd no one would ever dare mess with.

"Oh no. Not them." I heard Olivia murmur from beside me as she sauntered through from the kitchen and beheld the gang of rebels with something close to contempt.

"Why? What's wrong with them?" I quizzed, confused. "Who are they?"

"The River Boys. The newest and latest generation." She answered as if this explained everything. When she saw my blank, perplexed expression, Olivia tried to enlighten me.

"They're a group of hardcore hooligans form Mangrove River." She clarified, matter-of-factly in a hushed voice. "They all have tough backgrounds which have kind of shaped them to be... well, basically, to be idiots. They're bad boys; criminals and players. They get into fights all the time, throw parties, get arrested, pull pranks, break hearts, go surfing and essentially think they own the entire world. Everything is a joke to them."

"Really?" I winced, not in the mood to deal with arrogant people after such a full-on shift. "How do you know them?"

"Most of them go to Summer Bay High with me." Olivia told me. "Well... at least they're supposed to, but most of the time they wag or spend the majority of their time in detention. Some of them, the ones that are over sixteen, have already dropped out."

One of the guys got up from the table, flanked by two of his buddies, and made his way over to me and Olivia at the bar. It was hard not to admit that he was as good-looking as a Greek god with his dark, disheveled hair and his startling electric blue eyes, but from the pearly, confident smirk on his lips and the swag in his step, I could tell he had the kind of self-assured personality I just couldn't stand in a guy.

"That's Brody Ace Johnston." Olivia whispered to me as the river boy came closer. "He's the current leader."

"He looks like a jackass." I muttered back.

"That's a pretty accurate description." My companion stifled a giggle, just as the river boys came within earshot.

"G'day, gorgeous." Brody Ace Johnston grinned charmingly as he leant against the counter, his eyes jumping quickly over Olivia and captivatedly raking over me instead. I trailed my eyes over him too, just to see that he was wearing dark jeans, a skintight white vest and a leather jacket over it. Unfortunately, he noticed me looking and mistook me to be checking him out. "See anything you like?"

"Yeah, actually." I countered with forced politeness. "The door. Behind you."

Brody's eyes twinkled with amusement. "Righto." He nodded, seeming to realize that I wasn't the typical bimbo who would fall into his arms. "So, do I order with you?"

"Sure." I smiled tightly, getting an order pad out ready. "What can I get for you and your..." I refrained from saying 'tribe of monkeys' as I looked over Brody's shoulder at where his buddies were tackling each other and being as annoying and noisy as they could. "... friends?"

"Three meat lovers' and two pepperoni pizzas between all of us." Brody answered, following my eyes back to his gang.

"No problem. I'll get them brought over to you ASAP." I said, scribbling it down and asking Olivia to go and let Tom know in the back so he could get started. "Anything else at all?"

The leader of the river boys grinned at me when I said that. His mischievous eyes glinted sea blue as he flashed me a wink any other normal girl would have swooned at. "Only if you're on the menu, Sweetheart."

Suddenly, I froze up, too in shock at recognition to be insulted by the world's lamest pick-up line ever. A memory triggered of those same stunning eyes in the surf, and that same annoying nickname 'Sweetheart'. My eyes narrowed and my fists clenched angrily as acknowledgement dawned on me.

"You!" I gasped, angrily pointing a finger into the river boy's handsome, but stunned, smirking face. "You're the crazy kook who dropped in on my wave the other day and made me wipe out!"

For a second, Brody's face was devoid of emotion, blank as a piece of white paper, but then he made the association and broke out into even a bigger smile than before.

"Oh, you're the blonde surfer chick from yesterday!" He announced, snapping his fingers together triumphantly. "Hey, you were doing a great job on that wave, babe. But you've got to admit that I did it better."

"You're a real piece of work, aren't you?" I stated, raising my brows at him. "Haven't you ever heard of surfing etiquette?"

"Ah, yes, but where's the fun in playing by the rules?" Brody shrugged coolly, radiating confidence.

I narrowed my eyes at him and made sure to keep my tone stone cold. "I would explain, but I don't expect someone with the mental age of a five-year-old to understand, so I won't waste my breath."

Brody laughed outright at that, apparently amused by my storminess. His two lug-head friends that stood slightly behind, one on either side of him, joined in too.

"Did you hear that boys?" Their leader smirked joyously. "Been in the Bay for all of about two minutes and already thinks she knows us. I bet someone's been feeding you tales about me, eh, Sweetheart?" His eyes fell accusingly on Olivia, who had shrunk away to my side, not keen on interacting with the Bay's notorious troublemakers.

"I don't need anyone else to make my mind up for me. I could tell the kind of guy you were the moment you snaked my wave in the surf." I replied, not wanting to drag Olivia into it.

"Oh, yeah?" Brody's eyebrows shot up and he leant in closer to me. He smelt of the sea. "What 'kind of guy' am I then?"

I stared at him for a few seconds before shaking my head and laughing. "Look, I'm not going to waste my night trying to explain to you-" I began, before he cut me off short.

"No, answer the question." The river boy insisted, and though he was still smiling there was a kind of hardness to his eyes now. "I'm intrigued. What kind of guy do you think I am?"

I sighed and shrugged. "Just not the kind I like, alright?"

"Why?" Brody questioned. He seemed genuinely interested. "What about me don't you like so far?"

"The way you knocked me off my wave for a start." I pointed out, crossing my arms stubbornly over my chest.

"Only because I knew I'd do a better job of it then you would." Brody shrugged easily in response. "Besides, that's all sorted now. You gave up the waves to come and work behind the bar here. I think that was a great idea. Much more suited to you, Sweetheart. You're a far better waitress than you are a surfer."

I gritted my teeth and tried to resist the urge to reach over and slap the smirk off his face. I just about managed it. Just.

"Do me a favor and go back to join your boofhead friends, before I end up kicking you out." I warned.

He sighed contentedly and went to trail his fingers up my arm, only I pulled it away quickly. "You know what my weakness is?" He quizzed, propping himself up against the bar. "Moxie. I just love a girl with moxie."

I chose to ignore him. With a no-nonsense voice, I replied. "I'll bring your food over when it's ready. Now go sit down or get out. Your choice."

Brody grinned. "Fine. If that's how you want to play it...." He said, backing away from the counter. He stopped on his way and turned back, just to add over his shoulder, "Oh, by the way, I just thought I should let you know that you're even hotter when you're angry."

"Great. Now I can die happy." I retorted sarcastically.

The river boy chuckled, clearly entertained. "Don't miss me too much." He smirked, before striding over to his table where he took a seat among the other lads and continued to watch me all night.

I became increasingly aware of his eyes flitting over to me every two minutes or so and following me as I served customers and cleaned up tables. Every now and again, I'd look over and find his blue eyes clamped on me. He didn't have the decency to look away when our eyes met. Instead, he kept them transfixed on me and offered smiles as if they were going out of style. I chose to pay no attention to him, but the feeling of being scrutinized was somewhat irritating and off-putting. I couldn't put into words how glad I was when the whole table of river boys got up to leave.

Just after Brody had paid for the food he and his mates had wolfed down, the river boy gave me a wink. "I'll see you around then, Sweetheart." He assured, grinning.

"In your dreams, maybe." I replied flatly.

"Only if I'm lucky." Brody said smoothly.

"Creep!" I yelled after him, but I doubted he'd heard. Once he'd left, I turned to Olivia and rolled my eyes. "Seriously, what is up with that guy?"

She pulled a face. "I'd be careful if I were you." She warned. "He doesn't just take an interest in someone for no particular reason. The river boys don't work like that."

"Well, whatever he wants from me, he can just forget about it." I answered pertly. "I don't get involved with idiots like that."

"Good." Olivia grinned. "In which case, something tells me that you and I will get along great."

I looked over at her and the two of us began to laugh. I decided then that I really liked Olivia. If there was one person in the Bay I wanted to make friends with, she would definitely be my first choice. It would have been nice to have a solid friendship during my stay in Summer Bay. It was just another thing that I would eventually grow to love about the place that, unknown to me, I would soon start calling 'home'.

------------Hi guys :) sorry about the wait for this last chapter. Been really busy this past week! Hope you liked it even though there isn't much about the brothers in it. Let me know what you think about the new river boys. I realise 'Brody' was the name of one of Brax's old mates, but it's not the same guy, I just stole the name :P Anyway, hope you enjoyed!