BACK
PROLOGUE

“I work Saturdays,” said Anna.
“Saturdays are out then,” said Hollie.
“Sunday’s are the only good days. We can go on a Sunday. I’m sure I can get the Monday off work,” said Narna.
“I’ll get Monday off easily,” said Claire.
The four girls were sat in a café above Littlewoods making plans to go out. They had been trying to plan it for ages but it was difficult for them to get together because they all had busy jobs. They all live in the same city but the only time they see each other is when they go away with their boyfriends. It’s very rare that they get the chance to meet up during the week but this Monday afternoon was one of those rare days. It started off with just catching up on each other since they went to America together a month ago. The conversation soon turned into having a day out together.
“Sunday 8th July it is then,” said Hollie. “But do we want to take the guys?”
“Yeah,” replied Narna. “It would be fun. They can do their own thing if they wanted to. They don’t have to stick with us all day.”
“But there’s no way that eight of us will fit in one car,” said Claire.
“We’ll go in one and they can go in another,” replied Anna. “We’ll have loads of fun driving down there. Just hope it will be nice.”
They planned out how they would meet up on the day. It was decided that Claire would stay with Anna and Narna would stay with Hollie overnight, then in the morning Anna would drive over to pick the other two up. Soon the conversation went onto other things…

THE STORY

On the morning of Sunday 8th Anna and Claire couldn’t sleep. It was 6.30am and their boyfriends were in the room next door chatting away. They decided to get up. They went to the kitchen and made some cups of tea then they went upstairs to the room where the guys were. “Good morning,” said the blond one. “Morning honey,” said Anna giving him a kiss. Claire went over to the dark haired one “Here you go Mark,” she said giving him his cup of tea. “Nicky thought he could hear you two but I said he was imagining it cos you wouldn’t be up this early,” said Mark to Claire. What time are we picking the others up?” asked Nicky. “We’re leaving at 7.45. They said they will wait on the corner for us,” replied Claire.

At 7.50 Mark had turned his car around ready to go when Anna got out of hers. “What’s up Babe?” Nicky called out of his window. “I forgot my front panel for my radio,” she replied. Anna went into the house and disappeared for a few minutes. She came back and shut the front door. She got her keys back out and opened the door again. She re-appeared a minute later with a book in her hand. “Did you pick up the directions?” asked Claire as the guys were following them. “That’s what I just remembered,” replied Anna. “Let’s just get out of Cowley. She got into the driver’s seat and started the engine. “It’s five to seven already,” said Claire. “Don’t worry. Just text Hollie and tell her we have just left and will be a little late.”

They reached Hollie, Narna, Shane and Bryan at 8.10am. They turned around in the road and went through Botley onto the A34. It had just started to rain. “This better clear up by the time we get there,” said Narna. “Is Shane still buying you that car Hollie?” asked Claire. “Yeah. He asked me what colour I wanted yesterday so I take it he still is. Are they still behind us?” “Yeah. I don’t think we can lose them that easily,” replied Anna.

Just as they got onto the M27 they stopped for some breakfast. It was 9am and the girls could do nothing but giggle. They laughed at anything. That’s all that happens when they get together. At the counter neither of them knew what they were doing. They decided what they wanted then waited to be served. Hollie grabbed a tray and they went to pay at the till. There were two blokes and a lady sitting behind the girls and they kept staring at them. “I think they’re gonna get fed up with us soon,” said Narna. They each had some toast and a cup of tea. At 9.30 they set off again.

Just before ten they were on the A338. Anna saw a sign and headed in that direction. “That says Boscombe pier and beaches!” yelled Claire. “Never mind,” replied Anna. “I’ll just keep going until we find it.” “Where are you going?” asked Hollie starting to panic that they were lost. “I don’t know!” said Anna. “Hang on,” she added spying a sign up ahead. “There it is! Bournemouth pier and beaches.” “Yay!!” they all shouted as the sea came into view.

They found a parking place then Anna went off to buy a ticket. She came back empty handed. “Does anyone have £5.50 in change?” she asked. They gathered up some money and she went back to the meter. Anna came back and stuck the ticket in her car then they immediately headed for the beach. The girls set out their towels in a circle and laid on them with their heads in the middle of the circle. They boys sat a metre away. They came over and put sun cream on the girl’s backs then went into the sea for a swim. The girls sat and talked. “Um sweets,” said Narna as she took out a packet of pick ‘n’ mix sweets she had in her bag. “We got four of each sweet so we can all have some,” said Claire. They ate all the sweets then started to talk again. The boys were still in the sea. Three guys came up to them. All three had lager cans in their hands. “Hello ladies!” they said. “Which direction is the sea?” asked the guy with the wetsuit on. The other two just had shorts. Anna pointed in front of her, the opposite direction to the sea. “That way!” “So if we keep walking down here we will find it?” he asked. “Yes,” replied Anna and they staggered off. The girls burst out laughing then carried on chatting.

Half an hour later, oblivious to the boys, three foreign blokes went up to the girls. Two of them hung back while the oldest looking one sat town next to Hollie. “What’s your name?” he asked her. Hollie started laughing. “I’m not telling you.” “Why?” “Because I don’t want to.” “Is that a volleyball?” he asked looking at their football that they had brought with them. He picked it up and the three guys started playing with it. He then sat back down between Anna and Claire. “What’s your name?” he asked Hollie again. “Bob!” replied Hollie. “Bob is a boy’s name,” he said. “Is it Gary?” “That’s a guys name too,” said Narna. “Are you from Bournemouth?” “No!” said Anna. His conversation went onto Anna. Hollie couldn’t stop laughing. “Are you French?” he asked Anna. “No.” “American?” “No.” “German?” “No. English! You know? From England?” He spotted the Mickey Mouse in London shirt Hollie was wearing. “You from London?” “No. An hour and half away from London,” said Hollie laughing again. “You crazy girl. What’s your name?” he asked Hollie again. “I told you. Bob. Bob the builder!” All the girls went into hysterics. “What’s your name?” he asked Anna. “Stacey,” she replied. “Hi, I’m Casey too!” he said shaking Anna’s hand. “I’ll see you later,” he said then he got up and left with his friends. “Oh my God he’s gonna be back!” said Narna laughing her head off. “Why do we always attract the weirdos?” asked Claire. “I say we go before they come back,” said Hollie. “I agree with you,” said Anna. The boys came back from the sea and Nicky wrapped his arms around Anna. “Ughhhh!! Get off me!” she said pushing him away. “You’re soaking!” “Who were those guys?” asked Mark. “Some weirdos. They were asking all sorts of questions and they said they would be back later,” said Hollie. The three guys were still only two metres away so Mark, Nicky, Bryan and Shane ran over to them. “Don’t go anywhere near our girls again!” yelled Bryan. “Who?” asked the guy that was doing the talking. “Those four girls over there,” said Nicky pointing to them. They headed back to the girls. “We’re off to the Oceanarium,” said Narna. “Do you want to come with us?” “Sure,” said Mark. “Can we stop by the cars first to get rid of some of this stuff?”

They dumped their stuff in the car and headed for the Oceanarium. “It’s really expensive isn’t it?” asked Bryan as he looked at the prices. “Why don’t we go somewhere else?” said Shane. “Let’s take the train to Boscombe then we can walk back!” suggested Narna. They sat at the train stop and waited for the train. When it got to the stop they got on and waited for their money to be collected. Two old couples sat where they were sat and the two men went off. They came back with ice cream and they started eating it. Everyone watched them eat it and one lady covered her face with the ice cream while the others let it drip down their hands. “They need some bibs,” said Bryan laughing. They paid for their tickets and the train started off. They went down the seafront for about two miles. They hopped off the train then started to walk back.

Half way back they all started to get hungry so they found a little hut that sold hot chicken and mushroom pies. They all ordered a pie each and the guy behind the counter gave them a funny look. “I’ll just put these in the microwave then I’ll serve some customers,” he said to a two year old behind them all. Everyone started laughing except for Anna who was trying not to as she was stood in front of him. The others went round to the side of the hut. Anna paid then went to wait with the others. “Come and sit down,” said Narna. “This wall has blood suckers all over it!” She went and sat down on Nicky’s knee, who was sat on a chair. “I think he’s on drugs,” said Shane. After 20 minutes the guy in the hut brought out their pies. “Let’s go !” said Narna and they all continued down the beach laughing. A few minutes away they came to a table opposite some toilets. They decided to eat their pies at the table. The wind was fairly strong and the pies tried to escape from the table. After they had eaten the pies they went to the toilets across the road. Anna went in first and shut the door. “I can’t see! It’s pitch black!” “Just hurry up!” the boys were shouting through the main door to the girls. They washed their hands then turned the hand dryer on. A strong stench filled the little room. “It stinks!” yelled Narna. “Ughh!” spluttered Hollie. “Let’s just get out of here,” said Claire.

They continued on their way. Eventually they got back to the car and took their lunch out of the boot. They sat in the car and ate it.

After lunch they went into town. They walked around town looking for Nick Nak shops. They couldn’t find any so they walked back through the gardens. Near the entrance to the gardens there was a miniature golf course so they stopped to have a game. On the fifth hole Anna kept hitting the ball up and down the small piece of green. “You’ll get there someday, babe,” said Nicky. The other’s had already completed this hole and were laughing at Anna. Eventually they finished the game. Anna sat down on a bench to add up the scores. “Uh oh!” Said Anna. “What?” asked Hollie. “Claire came last with 84,” said Anna “Me and Hollie both came first with 62,” she added.

They headed for the beach again. They sat down for a couple of minutes. “We should have brought a bucket and spade,” said Mark. “I’ll go and buy one,” said Hollie. “I’ll come with you,” said Claire. They set off towards the shop. Anna started looking through her bag. She had everyone’s wallets and mobile’s in it. She couldn’t find Hollie’s phone so she used her phone to ring it. There was no sound at all. She tried again but still no luck. Hollie and Claire came back with eight spades and one bucket. “Have you got your phone on you?” Anna asked Hollie. “Yeah,” replied Hollie. “I couldn’t find it so I tried phoning it.” “I never heard it.” Hollie took her phone out of her pocket. “That must be those two missed calls then.”

They built a mound then began to dig a moat around it. They got quite deep then moved on to dig a little ditch running to the sea. They dug so deep they hit water and near to the sea all the sand turned to mush. A little boy brought his two friends to come and have a look. They were all about 10 years old. “I told you it went down to the water,” he told his friends then they went back to their parents, who were sat a couple of metres away. They took a few photos. “We have to go to the arcade before we go,” said Hollie. “And the rock shop,” said Anna. “We’ll go at quarter to six,” said Narna. “In ten minutes.” After the ten minutes they started to demolish the mound. Then they started to pack up. The three little boys came back. “Can we break it up?” they asked. “Yeah sure,” replied the girls. The little boys started jumping on the mound. Nicky, Shane, Mark and Bryan joined them. Claire took a few photos then the girls started walking towards the shop. The boys ran after them. “Hey! Wait up!” Mark called. He ran over to Claire and gave her a piggy back. They walked into the Rock shop and each of them brought a few things.

After they went to the Rock shop they went next door to the arcade. There was a photo booth so they decided to have their photo’s taken. Anna with Nicky, Claire with Mark, Hollie with Shane and Narna with Bryan. They had a few minutes to spare. Anna put a pound coin in a change machine and loads of two pence pieces came out. “I didn’t want that many!” she cried. “You banana,” said Bryan. They all shared the coins and went to the 2p machines. Eventually they ran out of money and headed towards the cars. The girls in one and the boys in the other.

When they got back onto the A34 the girls stopped to go to the toilet and to get something to eat out of the boot. The boys had gone on. They entered the Little Chef and looked around. The guy behind the counter said: “The toilets are down at the end.” The girls walked towards them and started to laugh. On their way out Anna said: “Just run out the door and don’t look back.” They went to the hotel reception, which was attached to the entrance of the Little Chef. Hollie and Narna brought a drink then they headed for the car.

They got back onto the A34 and Anna overtook a car. She was doing ninety-five miles an hour on the outside lane when a red/brown estate car undertook her on the inside lane then cut her off by coming back into the outside lane without leaving much of a gap and sped off.

They reached Hollie’s house at 8pm. They said their goodbyes and Hollie went to Shane who was stood by their door. Anna dropped Narna off then she and Claire went to her house to pick up Claire’s stuff. Nicky and Mark were already there. Anna got out of the car and kissed Nicky. “I missed you,” Mark said to Claire, hugging her. The two boys got into the back of Anna’s car while the girls got into the front. Anna started the engine and headed for Claire’s house. They reached Claire’s house and Mark got their stuff out of the boot and carried it into their house. “I’ll see you at work in a couple of weeks,” said Claire hugging Anna. Claire has just gotten a job where Anna worked. Anna and Nicky headed off home.

EPILOGUE

They never forgot that one July day two years ago. They all still dream about the beach and laugh at the weirdos they met. Now they are all married. The boys joined a boy band with one of their friends Kian. Kian has heard the story a million times but never gets sick of hearing it. Now they are all planning to go away to Spain together. One or two weeks in the sun with some amazing, funny and weird results I bet. Well that’s the end of that story and I’m sure there will be more to come. You never know what may happen.