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into the party.
    “Marcus, it’s about time you got here. All the shells are almost empty,” called a guy with long, brown dreadlocks.
    Marcus smiled down at me and whispered, “I won’t eat any in front of you, I promise.”
    I shook my head. “No, really, it’s fine.”
    He laughed and pulled me over to the group of guys standing with the dreadlock guy. Several people called out to Marcus, and he waved and nodded. My stomach churned with nervousness when I realized the majority of the people here were staring at me.
    “Hey, guys, this is Sadie, Sadie this is Rock,” a rather large muscular guy with a shaved head, “Preston,” what I considered a beach bum, with long blond hair and dark tanned skin, “and Dwayne,” the dreadlock guy, who also happened to have several tattoos and piercings. “We’ve been friends since second grade.”
    Dwayne flicked the dreadlocks out of his eyes and grinned. “Ever since Rock beat the shit out of Preston and ol’ Marcus here jumped in to take up for him, who then started getting pummeled by Rock, until I jumped in, and about that time we all got suspended from school.” The four of them laughed at the memory, and I tried to picture them all as little boys fighting.
    “Our parents were all so proud. They had elementary school delinquents.” Dwayne grinned and flipped back an oyster.
    “Dwayne will reminisce all day if you let him. Don’t act like you enjoy his stories. He won’t stop,” Marcus said, smiling.
    The friendship between these four made me feel warm inside. It wasn’t something I could relate to.
    “So, Sadie, how did ugly butt Marcus here find a beautiful blind girl,” Rock asked as he flipped a burger.
    I glanced at Marcus to see him smiling at me. “We work together. He came to my rescue on my second day there, and my eye sight is 20/20.”
    One of them let out a low whistle, and another laughed wickedly.
    “Marcus is a regular ol’ knight in shining armor, I tell ya,” Dwayne said with a flick of his dreadlocks. Marcus shoved him playfully, and Dwayne burst into laughter.
    “I’m going to take her to meet other people, if you three can’t behave.”
    “What did I do?”
    Marcus sent him a mock glare before turning to me. “Are you thirsty?”
    Dwayne reached into a cooler behind him and held out a soda. I took it, thanked him, and listened to the four of them talk about a beach volleyball game going on next weekend between them and a rival team. They would ask me questions or bring me into the conversation occasionally, but mostly they just planned and strategized. I had no idea beach volleyball was such a serious sport.
    A blond in a hot pink bikini, which barely covered the important stuff, walked up behind Rock, wrapped her arms around his waist, and kissed his neck.
    “Sadie, this is Trisha, Rock’s fiancée, and Trisha, this is Sadie, a friend of mine.”
    Trisha smiled at me and ran her hand over Rock’s head. “If you get bored with this bunch’s conversation, you are welcome to come lay out with me and the girls.”
    “Okay. Thanks.”
    “Are you bored? Want to go in for a swim and cool off?”
    I wasn’t really sure I wanted to take off my sundress in front of all these people. My hand me down red bikini wasn’t nearly as skimpy as the ones the other girls were wearing, and I didn’t fill one out like they did either. I thought of my long skinny legs in comparison to the curvy large-chested girls lying out and wanted to keep my clothes on. However, I also wanted to make friends and not let Marcus down, so I needed to lay out or swim. Since swimming kept me covered most of the time, I decided it would be the best option. “Swimming sounds good.”
    He grinned and pulled his tee shirt off to reveal a very tanned and muscular chest. I swallowed hard and wished I didn’t have to do this but I knew I would have to sooner or later. So I slipped the sundress off and laid it beside Marcus shirt. I didn’t want to make eye