angeli ayala is what one would call a soft soul. she rarely spoke up in a loud room, she never made an effort to make herself stand out like her best friend kailea, and didn't have the bold, self assured attitude like her other best friend wren.

when it came to the trio, she was often described as the "mom" friend, always excusing wren for her bold behavior, and kailea for her out of pocket words when they had no idea what they were doing. she was kind, caring, and responsible.

most of that probably had to do with the fact that she was the oldest amongst her siblings, and her parents drilled into her head that she had to be a role model for them, and that often pressured her to succeed.

while she seemed like a push over to most, her best friends knew who she truly was. when around them, she was her normal loving, and smiley self, and they loved that about her, though they often scolded her that she should stand up for herself more.

it was the day after the girls settled in, and angeli found herself walking the beach that was located directly in front of their home for the summer.

she would've woken the girls up to join her, but she knew not to poke the bears that were kailea and wren, seeing as they were the exact opposite of morning people.

she wrapped her arms around herself, gripping her blue sweatshirt to her body as the morning wind blew, her dark brown flowing behind her back.

she held her sandals in her hands as her feet padded on the sand. she spotted a small seashell on the ground, picking it up, a soft smile on her face.

as she continued to walk the beach, she ended up with a handful of seashells, all different patterns.

as she was bending down to pick up another, a voice spoke up, making her jump.

"someone's a fan of seashell's." she looks up, spotting a girl standing above her, her dirty blonde hair blowing in the wind as she peered down at the brunette.

angeli rose to her feet, letting out a soft laugh. "i just thought they were pretty cool. i was getting some for my friends too."

"why are you all alone out here at 9 in the morning?" the mystery girl asks.

"just wanted to take in my surroundings a bit while i could."

the blonde nods her head, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear subconsciously.

"i'm monday, but you can call me day." she sticks her hand for angeli to shake.

angeli couldn't help the odd expression that covered her features when the girl introduced herself.

monday? really?

"yeah, yeah i'm aware of my name." she beats her to her questioning. angeli's eyes widen, quick to shake her head.

"no no, i wasn't—" she's cut off by the blunt expression on monday's face, and sighs in defeat.

"i'm angeli, or angie."

"well angie, why don't you and your friends come down to the beach later tonight, we're having a bonfire to celebrate the start of the summer." monday suggests with the small smile.

"i don't know, we had a bunch of stuff planned out since it's our first day out here." by we, angeli 100% meant she had made their itinerary for the day so they'd stay organized.

"then that's even more reason to come. come on, i promise it'll be fun, plus a bunch of cute people are gonna be there, and who doesn't love that?" monday tries to convince her.

angeli laughs softly, using that as her time to think. it would be fun to get out and meet new people, but that was also sort of her worst nightmare. she also knew that if her best friends caught wind of the bonfire, they'd drag her there anyways, so she squints out a ocean before responding.

"okay, i'll talk to my friends, and we'll try to make it."

monday smiles widely, happy the new girl accepted her request to hang out.

"great! it starts at 9, wear something cute." she says as angeli begins to make her way back to the beach house.

"be there or be square!" angeli laughs at the girl as she yells like a maniac.

angeli didn't know what to expect of the day, but she had a feeling it would be interesting.

✧✦♢✦✧

angeli got back to the house to see wren standing in the kitchen. she was in her usual morning attire: her braids pulled into a bun on the top of her head, some of the curls from her goddess hairstyle hanging down, her glasses sat on her nose, since she was practically blind without them, a simple crop top, and shorts on.

"morning." angeli greets her.

wren turns from cutting strawberries, to face her friend, a smile on her face.

"hey, early bird. where were you? when we woke up you were gone."

angie dumps her sea shells on the table, pursing her lips. wren's eyes widen at all the sea shells on the table.

"this is what i was doing."

wren just stares at her for a second, in a bit of a state of shock. "wow."

angeli immediately recoils, shaking her head. "i know it's stupid, but i just thought, you know since i was picking some up for myself that maybe you guys would like them to, but it's totally okay if you don't, i'll just take them back—"

she's cut off when wren lets out a laugh. angeli gives her a confused look, wondering what she found so funny when she was being so serious.

wren walks over to angie, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and pulling her into a hug. they pull away, and angeli is even more confused at the small smile that sat on wren's lips.

"i love them, ang, and so will kai. you were very nice to think of us when you were out. stop all that overthinking you do." wren assures her, looking back at the shells.

kai and wren knew angeli like the back of their hand, so they knew she was quite the overthinker, and that she was very hard on herself. they hated it, but couldn't blame her for it, knowing how much she had resting on her plate.

angeli smiles at her best friend as she watched her pick out some shells. to say she was thankful for them would be the understatement of the century.

her eyebrows furrow slightly, as she thinks of the other half of their imperfect equation.

"where's kai?"

✧✦♢✦✧

kailea rose from the pool water, wiping her face from the chlorine filled water. she was in the backyard, having a morning swim, before the girls set out for a long day of sight seeing.

as she was enjoying her peaceful swim, her speaker sitting on a beach chair on a somewhat low volume playing r&b music, she heard far away footsteps coming her way, making her furrow her eyebrows.

it sounded like running, and before she could process what was happening, something came running through the yard, but not just something, a dog.

she gasps as the golden retriever runs into the yard, barking with happiness. she quickly climbs out of the pool, rushing over to it.

"hey, hey. what's your name?" she says as she grabs ahold of it abandoned leash to steady it. the dog calmed down as she pet it, letting her look at the baby blue around its neck collar.

milo
belongs to henry
**********

she looks back at the dog, gently petting his fur. "well milo, why don't we get you back to your owner."

just as she's about to go grab her phone, more rushing footsteps come running through her backyard, only this time, revealing a boy. a very cute boy to be more specific.

"milo!" he exclaims when he sees kai holding him.

he rushes over to her, giving her an awkward smile.

she reciprocates it, handing the leash over to him. "so i'm guessing you're henry?"

"yeah, sorry he ran through like this, his leash slipped when we were walking back home from the beach and he's a really good runner so...." he trails off, letting out a deep laugh.

kai hadn't noticed that the boy was shirtless until he mentioned that he had come from the beach. he was in nothing but baby blue swim trunks, with a sea shell necklace sat around his neck, and stacked bracelets on his arms.

he had grown out blonde hair, though it was disheveled, probably from all the running he had done, and beautiful blue eyes.

he was handsome.

"thanks for not freaking out or anything." he says, just as she was pulled from her thoughts.

"oh, it's nothing, i love dogs, and he seems like a good boy." she smiles down the dog who was sat at henry's side now.

little did she know, henry was analyzing her the same way she did him. she hadn't realized she was standing in front of a very cut boy in nothing but a cream colored two piece swim suit.

he noticed her clear skin, the bracelets that sat on her wrist, looking more like friendship bracelets than the ones on his. he noticed her warm and welcoming dark brown eyes, and the small smile that was on her face. her soaked dark brown curls that fell down her back.

she was beautiful.

he didn't know what he was doing, but before he could stop himself, the words were coming out.

"are you doing anything later?"

he notices the surprise on her face, but it was too late to take it back now. he didn't know why he was doing it, he never asked girls out this fast, he never really asked girls out to begin with, they always asked him out.

"um, i'm hanging with my friends all day, so i'll be pretty busy." she points back to the house.

henry deflates a little, disappointed at her answer. "oh, that's cool. i was just going to this bonfire later, but if you're busy than i get that."

he quickly says his goodbye, and disappears with milo, before kai could process what had happened.

she huffs, going back into the house with the girls.

"what was all that noise?" wren asks as soon as she entered the kitchen.

"just some boy who lost his dog." she answers, leaning against the counter and picking fruit from wrens bowl, earning a hand slap. "what are we talking about?"

"oh, angie was just telling me about this bonfire some girl invited us to. i don't know if we should go though, what about our plan?"

kai's mind immediately went back to the blonde boy a few minutes ago. he had mentioned a bonfire. she would've said yes if she wasn't hanging out with the girls today, but now could really be her chance.

"we're going to that bonfire."

ʟᴇʏ's ᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴀʟᴋ
two more characters introduced ahhhh. i love monday's energy sm already, and henry and all his surfer boy energy.

he's a bit more complicated than we think though, and i have a lot more i want to do with him🤭.

also all hail milo the goldy for being the sole reason kai and henry met, he's truly the goat🤞🏽.