Hey guys! I'm glad I'm finally putting this one up here, I've been wanting to write it for a while. Here's chapter one!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or settings from Rocket Power. Most importantly, I do NOT own any of the songs from the album Coco by Colbie Caillat that this entire story is loosely based on! Again, all song titles belong to Colbie Caillat.

Sorry for any errors!

Chapter One

"Hey," I called, drawing the word out lazily. I looked into my camcorder screen and whistled. "Looking good, Rocket Girl!"

The girl on the camcorder screen, Regina Rocket, glanced over in my direction and raised a neat eyebrow at me. She smiled a luminous white smile. "Twist, quit kidding around." She reached a hand towards the water and splashed me playfully. "I thought you said you weren't bringing your camera this time."

I laughed outright, slowly shaking my head. "And you believed me? I would never leave my baby behind. Especially today, one of the best surf days of the season."

My best friend and also Reggie's brother, Otto, snorted in reply. I turned my camera lens to him, kicking my feet in the warm seawater. "Bull. That's just what that crappy weatherman said," he argued, folding his defined arms. I'd always been jealous of his muscle definition, something I couldn't achieve even when I did push ups and sit ups every day. He continued, "If you ask me, it's the worst ever."

As he spoke, I turned my head around, following my gaze with the camera lens. I watched the quiet, still waters. Most of the other surfers we'd seen earlier had already bailed, and the place was nearly deserted, except for the tourists on the beach. I raised my eyebrows. The new weatherman of Ocean Shores Channel 15 hadn't been very popular with the locals. The surfers and boarders, especially. There were rumors that he had failed meteorologist school. It was to be expected that he would get the weekend forecast wrong again. "Damn," I shook my head slowly, turning to face Otto again. "This is a sad, tragic sight."

"You're telling me, bro." The tone of his voice was sullen. Then, he turned an accusatory glance my way. "But who was it that said we should believe the weatherman today? Hmm?"

I shrunk back defensively. "Hey, hey! I'm sorry, all right?" I couldn't help but be one of the few that still had faith in the poor weatherman. I paused for a second. "I think we should wait it out just a little longer." I looked up at the overcast sky hopefully.

Otto huffed. "Whatever, man. I hope for your sake that the weatherman's right this time."

"Actually," our less-than-adventurous-but-book-smart friend from Kansas, Sam Dullard, piped in. "It's usually not a matter of whether the weatherman is correct on predicting the forecast. Most of the time, it has to do with the pressure in the atmosphere changing, causing the weather patterns to-"

"Can it, Squid." Otto interrupted, throwing an open palm in front of Sam's face.

I laughed when Sam flinched at the closeness of Otto's hand. "Yeah, dude." I said. "You're making my head hurt."

"Everything makes your head hurt, Twist." Otto lifted his eyebrows at me smugly.

I glared at him. "Shut up. I'm not stupid." I paused, considering my words for a moment. "I'm just average." Sam chortled at either the fact that I was average, or at some inside joke. Either way, I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Holy crap!" Reggie's shout interrupted my almost-whomping on Sam.

We all turned our eyes to her, startled at her sudden outburst. She stared in one direction, eyes wide, and her jaw was dropped. We followed her gaze, and there it was.

Currently, rapidly appearing on the line of the horizon, was the mother of all giant waves. Seriously, this thing was magnificent. Enormous. Muy grande. In my whole seventeen year old life, I had never seen a wave so...intimidating.

God bless that weatherman.

For a few silent moments, we gaped in amazement.

"Good Lord," Sam nervously said, trembling slightly on his afloat surf board.

Otto leaned downward towards the surface of his surfboard until he was in a bowing position, then cried in a loud dramatic voice, "All hail the wave most radical!"

"Holy mother of God," I murmured.

"Holy crap," Reggie repeated.

We were silent for a few more seconds. The waters around us were already shifting, rushing toward the wave at a scary speed.

"So...I'm definitely not going for that one." Sam broke the silence with his murmur, his voice wavering. His shaking hand reached up to steady his black rectangle-rimmed glasses, his brown eyes wide.

Otto snapped out of his daze and turned to Sam with a smirk on his face. He splashed him playfully, drenching his already wet, platinum blonde hair. Sam flinched as the water hit him. "Aw, come on," Otto taunted, wiggling his dark eyebrows above his reflective cop-like aviator sunglasses. When he did this, his small silver eyebrow ring bobbled up and down. "Is widdle Sammy-wammy afraid of a widdle wavy-wavy?" He flashed a brilliant, white, million-dollar smile when Sam glared at him with one open eye.

"You should know by now, Otto," Sam paused, grimacing. "Of course I am."

Otto tossed back his head and let out a hoot of a laugh, and his brown elbow-length dreadlocks flew wildly.

"Otto." Reggie, moving her floating surfboard to rest next to mine, scolded her brother, and we all turned our attention to her. Her eyebrows furrowed in a concerned matter. "You shouldn't do that just to get a laugh out of it." She shook her head, the ponytail on top of her head swaying back and forth. "It's mean. And it's seriously getting old."

"Aw, Reg. Lighten up!" Otto replied, flicking some salty sea water at her. She didn't even flinch, her intense eyes staring at him unwaveringly.

"Um," I started, glancing back at the still-approaching wave that everyone had seemed to forget about already. I looked over at Sam, and he was too busy watching Reggie and Otto arguing to notice either. I gulped. Uh oh.

"Aw, Otto," Reggie replied in the same tone he had used. She flicked water back. "Grow up."

"Yeah, why don't you, Reg?" He flicked more water.

"Um," I said again.

"How about you, Otto?" She splashed him.

"No, you!" He splashed her.

"Hello?" I said.

"You!" She splashed even harder.

Just when I thought we all couldn't get much wetter, I gasped. "GUYS!"

Mother wave arrived with a monsterous crash.

Before I knew it, I was being pushed underwater with an incredible and powerful force. The entire world was water and darkness. I was spinning uncontrollably, sprawling around with my eyes squeezed shut, and I was praying I wouldn't be thrown into any coral or the sea floor. Disorientated and overwhelmed, I forced myself not to scream like I wanted to. Thankfully, I still felt my camcorder in my hand, still in its' handy waterproof case.

When I finally stopped cartwheeling and the water stopped swirling around me, I braced myself to open my eyes. I squinted against the sting of the salt water, glancing around me. My friends floated aimlessly around me. Except... Reggie? Wait. I saw Otto spinning around with his cheeks puffed out, trying to get his long hair out of his eyes. Sam was doing somersaults involuntarily, waving his arms around like a madman, grasping onto his glasses with one hand for dear life. But...

Oh my God.

Reggie...where was Reggie? I immediately started to panic. I spun around in the water to look behind me, but she was nowhere to be seen.

I spun around again, my eyes wide open and searching for her. My head spun.

Oh God. Oh God, oh God.

Not Reg. Dear God, not Reg.

The pressure on my lungs was getting to me, and my vision was spotting, so I quickly swam up for air. As soon as I was above the surface, I took a few big, deep breaths, put my camera on my afloat surfboard, then quickly dove back in. So quickly, I barely noticed that Otto and Sam were already on their surfboards again, and barely even had time to wonder how mine had gotten back on the surface.

Not her. Anyone but her. Please, not her.

When underwater again, I wildly searched around me once more. I had to find her. I had to find her.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when I felt a tug on my ankle. I had to think twice not to scream, but I jerked considerably.

I looked down at my foot and I saw a delicate, tan, manicured hand around it. My heart lurched, realizing immediately who that hand belonged to. I glanced at the owner's face and found myself gazing into wide, panicked deep brown eyes much like mine, framed by long dark eyelashes. Beautiful. Terrified.

For a moment, an immense sense of relief swept over me, but knowing we didn't have much time, I quickly went to work. I saw her surfboard tightly wedged between coral at the bottom of the reef, and she couldn't reach her ankle strap. I promptly reached down to grab her wrist and pulled as hard as I could bring myself to muster, and the strap connecting her to her surf board snapped in half. Her hands grabbed at me hastily, her grasp more limp than it was before. I gathered her in my arms.

Her hair-tie had been lost in the chaos of the powerful wave, and her long violet hair floated behind her like a halo, shining in the underwater sunlight. I resisted the urge to marvel at it, my lungs screaming, and began to kick my tired legs.

About halfway to the surface, I glanced down at her. Her eyes were now squinted and unfocused, and it looked like she was fading away fast. Air bubbles were leaving her lips at a scary pace. She needed air. Bad. I began to swim faster, my muscles aching and my own lungs felt like they were collapsing.

After what seemed like forever, we surfaced.

Leaning on my floating surfboard, we both gasped for air as soon as we rose out of the water. We inhaled greedily and desperately. Reggie was gasping almost too eagerly, and she coughed heavily and violently a few times, some water spewing out of her mouth. My heart lurched again. I wanted to say something to her, ask if she was okay, but truthfully breathing was my number one priority at the moment. Our friends were both staring at us.

"Shit, man!" Otto exclaimed, his voice loud and booming. "What happened?"

"Oh my God! Are you guys okay?" Sam's face was pure worry, his heavy eyebrows furrowed.

We continued to gasp and wheeze for a few more drawn out moments, both of us obviously in no shape to reply.

"I..." I breathed in deep a few times more, my lungs screaming. "I-"

I was interrupted by a couple of more whooping coughs from Reggie, and I stared at her again. Then her gaze met mine, a pained smile on her lips. Her voice was faint and brittle, and it was the first time I had ever heard her sound so vulnerable. "Twister saved my life."

#

We all walked on shore, our surfboards in tow, except for Reggie. Unfortunately, after trying over and over, we couldn't get hers free.

"So, let me get this straight," Sam was somehow still trying to process everything that had happened. "Reggie almost drowned...and Twister was the one to save her?"

I shook my head, my long, red and sun-bleached hair tickling my jaw. "Is it really that hard to believe, Squid?"

We came to a stop where our bags rested on the soft sand. They all glanced at me, eyebrows raised. I paused, looking at their skeptical faces. "What?" I demanded, my arms folding across my chest.

"Don't take it personally, Twist." Reggie's voice traveled from behind me, and I turned to see her dip her head upside down and pat her hair dry with her light blue towel. "You have done things in the past that...made us question your IQ." Her careful pause had obviously been to spare my feelings.

I scowled at the ground, seeing the meaning past her polite words. "Shut up, guys. It's not like I can't swim or anything. I'm not impaired, or something."

"Well, it was you that Reggie saved from drowning five or six years ago, wasn't it? At the channel?" Sam changed the subject smoothly, probably hoping I wouldn't notice. He sat down on the sand to put his flip-flops on.

Reggie stood upright again and flipped her towel dried hair back, smiling at the subject change. Her hair was already beginning to curl up again, as it always did after getting wet. "Oh, yeah. I'd almost forgotten about that." She looked over at me, saw that I was already looking at her, and held my gaze warmly. I stiffened.

"Ha, yeah," Otto piped in, laughing once. "Come to think of it, she did save you that one time. How funny is that? Guess you're even now, huh?" He nudged me with his elbow.

I broke my gaze with Reggie and looked down at my bare feet, wiggling my toes through the hot sand. I smiled wistfully, fingering the shark tooth necklace around my neck. "I guess so."

'No,' I thought to myself. 'It was exactly six years ago.' I knew the exact day because that was, to date, one of the scariest days of my life. It was also the day something even more important happened. Something that changed my entire life.

It was the day I'd fallen in love with Reggie Rocket.

That day, we had been bored by the lack of waves at our beach, so when we saw a boat passing by, along with the awesome waves that followed it, Sam had gotten the idea of going down to the channel where we could find more boat waves. As soon as we'd gotten there and tried out the water, we'd realized that it had been a bad idea—except for Otto, of course. He ended up convincing me to go paddle back out, get drenched several times in the oily, garbage infested waters, and then after chasing a few unsuccessful misses, we rode one giant, perfect boat wave—and ended up wiping out big time. Otto had washed up on the rocks, his surfboard getting snapped in half, but I'd gotten stuck underwater from my surfboard strap getting trapped underneath a hook on the sea floor. I struggled to get myself free and failed over and over, and just as I began to lose consciousness, there she was. She freed my strap from the hook, wrapped an arm around my shoulders tightly and hauled me up to the surface again.

The strongest, clearest memory I have from that day is how she was looking at me as I gasped for air, the way she placed her hand on my back—the way her voice was high pitched as she asked if I was okay, full of panic and fear.

Actually, now that I thought about it, that day and this day were very similar to each other. But from that day on, I saw her differently. I didn't fully understand how I felt, being so young—all I knew was that she was special to me. As we got older, the feelings grew stronger, more mature. By the time Reggie was a freshman and Otto and I had graduated middle school, and puberty had fully falcon-kicked me in the ass, I was so far gone over her that I didn't know what to do with myself. Thus began years of pining and misery.

"Aw, Reg. Come on! Do you have to do that here?" Mention of her name snapped me out of my thoughts, and I glanced over at Otto. His expression was one of aggravation and embarrassment. He was looking in Reggie's direction, so I turned to see what he was talking about.

Reggie was in the process of un-zipping her body suit, just her black bikini underneath. Her expression was innocent enough, and her response to Otto was defensive. "What?" My breath hitched and my stomach dropped, and I yanked my eyes away. I felt my face start to turn red as my pulse increased. I tried to calm my breathing.

Otto's scowl deepened behind his sunglasses, and he folded his arms. "You're stripping in plain sight, Reg! There are people watching!"

Reggie snorted. "Get your panties out of a twist. I'm not stripping, Otto. I have a bathing suit on. And nobody's watching!" She paused to glance around her, probably to prove her point, but her expression became one of annoyance when she saw a large group of boys our age standing about 10 feet away, all ogling her. She sneered in their direction.

I looked at them just in time to see them smirk at her in return. I felt a glower on my face, but nobody in the group seemed to notice. I felt like waving a towel at them and shooing them all away like a pod of pigeons. Or a pack of hyenas. Reggie always had her fair share of admirers no matter where she went, only, she rarely noticed them. I was glad for that, and even when she did notice them, she rarely ever flirted back. By now, I was at the point of either wanting her even more because of that or hating her for being so unreachable.

But no, I didn't hate her. I could never hate her. I just wanted her to be happy.

"Reggie, stop showing off," Otto whined, and I couldn't put my finger on why, but it annoyed me. She wasn't showing off, she was being herself. It wasn't her fault she was so damn attractive and guys couldn't help but notice it. Even if it made me a little jealous.

"Shut your freaking trap, Otto. God, you're such an ass sometimes." Reggie growled, and I let myself fully look at her again as she yanked on a pair of short cutoff white shorts over her bikini bottoms. "Almost dying made me hungry, so let's just go." She grabbed her beach bag and began walking towards the Pier, knowing that we would all follow.

Sam and I exchanged a glance at the word 'dying'. Then, we glanced at Otto, angry and standing his ground for a few moments. His jaw was locked and his expression was menacing as he stared at the large group of guys again. They seemed to pick up the hostility radiating from behind his sunglasses, because they immediately dispersed and went to do whatever they were doing before. How did he do that? I'd glared at them too, and they'd ignored me. Guess that's part of being a Rocket, their auras always commanded attention and respect. And I was just Twister.

Otto trudged after Reggie wordlessly, picking his surfboard up again. After getting our bags, Sam and I followed warily, just in case his blistering anger was suddenly turned on us.

#

"Drowning? What?!" Raymundo, Otto and Reggie's dad, thundered, dropping Sam's milkshake to the ground. Even tourists walking by on the sidewalk outside stopped and stared at him for a moment.

"Almost, dad. Almost drowned." Reggie corrected, picking up another fry from her basket in a casual manner, examining it, and nibbling on it. "Please calm down."

Sam seemed to be the only one not watching the exchange, and instead, he watched his slaughtered chocolate milkshake melt against the linoleum floor. "My milkshake," he muttered.

Ray clutched at his signature green bucket hat, shaking his head. "Calm down? No, no, no, no, no. I can't calm down. I can't believe this. What happened? I should have been there!" He rushed from behind the counter and walked quickly towards her.

"I'm fine, Dad. I'm okay." Her voice was calm, even as Ray wrapped his arms around her much too tightly. She grinned. "Still here, remember?"

"Right, right." Ray seemed to compose himself for a moment, though he didn't loosen his hold. The composure was gone within seconds. "Oh, I'm so glad my Princess is okay!"

"Dad," Reggie groaned, her eyebrows furrowing in humiliation. "Come on."

Otto snickered, chewing with his mouth open. I jabbed my elbow into his ribs. I felt him throw a quick glare at me for interrupting his enjoyment at Reggie's expense. I just shrugged.

Ray let go of his daughter. "All right, sorry, sorry." He held his hands up defensively. "I'll tone it down. Anyway, I'm glad you're unharmed." He paused. "You're unharmed, right?"

Reggie nodded, smiling at him again. "Yeah, no worries, I'm fine. My lungs kind of hurt, though."

"It's normal to feel that after a near-drowning experience." Sam jumped in before Ray could panic again. "Her lungs are just getting used to the exertion of breathing air again. By the way, can I have another milkshake?"

Ray glanced down at his hand, and realizing that he no longer held Sam's milkshake, his eyebrows raised. "Sorry, Sam. I'll get you another one."

As Ray walked behind the counter again, Tito, his best friend and business partner, came out of the kitchen with a big, loud greeting for all of us. "'Ey, little cuzzes." He waved both hands at us, his warm brown eyes bright. "How goes it?"

"Reggie almost died." Otto commented without missing a beat. We all turned our eyes to glare at him.

Tito stopped cold, the beam on his face gone. He stared at Otto, his eyes wide. "Whoa, whoa. Come again?"

"Otto! Would you stop?" Reggie scolded, swatting her brother's shoulder with her hand. She looked at Tito. "Don't worry, Tito, it wasn't that big of a deal. I just...almost drowned. While we were surfing earlier. But Twister saved me." She leaned over the counter to meet my gaze, a pretty, grateful smile on her lips. My stomach flipped over as I smiled back. She broke our gaze too soon.

"Really?" Tito looked at me too, shocked.

I scowled. "Yes. Why is everyone so surprised?" When I saw Otto open his mouth, I added, "Don't answer that."

Tito laughed. "No, no, I'm not surprised. I'm just impressed. Very impressed." He held his fist out for me to bump. "Way to go, little brudda."

I smiled, satisfied and humbled by his answer, and hit his fist with mine. "Thanks, Tito."

At that moment, Ray was came back over with Sam's milkshake. Sam took the paper cup eagerly, his smile wide, and immediately began drinking it. Things lulled into a calm quiet for a few minutes, with just the small talk of the few other customers and the humming of the TV. I stole some of Otto's fries when he had his head turned. Then, to my great dismay, the peace was interrupted.

"Reg!" A deep voice called from outside the Shack, a voice that I immediately and grudgingly recognized. We all turned toward the source. It was Trent, our friend from New Zealand. Well, not really my friend. We hadn't really been on friendly terms for the past year. He was their friend. "I came as soon as I could, I'm sorry."

"Aw, babe, it's okay!" Reggie got up from her bar stool and rushed to meet him, and as soon as she reached him, they embraced intimately.

He was also Reggie's boyfriend.

The rest of us turned away, slightly uncomfortable, and Ray muttered something about 'getting a room'. Otto made gagging noises. I frowned to myself, and that sting came back. That sting that had become has familiar to me as an old friend. Reggie and Trent had been going out for a year now, because after years of liking each other, he finally asked her out. It had been a huge relief for Reggie, and she'd been so excited. I grimaced silently.

It wasn't like I hadn't tried to be happy for her. I really had. But after they had been going out for a month or two, I realized how wrong he was for her. I hated the way he treated her.

He was always telling her to improve this way, or wear this, or style her hair like that. Like she was some puppet that he could manipulate. It bothered me. A lot. Reggie had always been independent, and I could tell that it bothered her too. But she did what he said because she didn't want to lose him.

I had always liked Trent as one of the guys, but after he started dating Reggie, I just kept finding reasons to dislike him. Maybe it was just my jealousy. But maybe he really wasn't right for her. I glanced back over, and even though I couldn't hear them clearly, it looked like he was asking if she was okay. She nodded, and then she turned to point at me. I turned back around, my face heating from getting caught watching them.

As much as I hated them together, and wished that things were different, there was nothing I could do. And if Reggie truly wanted to be with him, then I wouldn't mess that up for her. It wasn't my place.

A few minutes later, they came over to our group. Trent sat on the stool Reggie sat on before, and she sat on his lap. Everyone groaned.

"Oh, shut up, guys. Grow up." Reggie narrowed her eyes at all us, but she wasn't quite glaring. She seemed to be enjoying herself very much, actually.

Otto made another fake gagging noise. "But I'm trying to eat." He whined.

"Deal with it." Reggie pushed away the last of her fries, and Trent helped himself to her basket. "Besides, I don't complain when you're all love-y with Clio."

At the mention of his girlfriends' name, Otto's face visibly reddened. Everyone laughed at him, even Ray and Tito from behind the counter. He muttered a string of words under his breath, and among them I understood, "Whatever."

At first, when Otto started dating my cousin Clio when we were fourteen and she was fifteen, I didn't really like it. It just felt weird and totally awkward to have my best bro dating my cousin. And it was especially awkward for me having him come over to my house whenever she visited and seeing them all flirty and mushy together. But, after a year or so, I began to get used to it. They started getting more and more serious, and about a year and a half ago, Clio moved to Ocean Shores permanently because her parents were tired of always going back and forth for her visits.

I had to give the Ottoman props. Before Clio, he had been somewhat of a player. He went through girls almost weekly. His relationship with Clio had been, hands down, the longest relationship he had been in. I figured there must have been something about her that kept him, so I left them alone. I really was happy for them.

As for Sam, he didn't have a girlfriend, but he had had a crush on Trish, Reggie's best friend, for years. Everyone wondered when he would ask her out, but he could hardly have a conversation with her without having a panic attack. It was pretty obvious that hell would freeze over before he would ever ask her out.

"Oh, crap!" Otto erupted, ripping me out of my thoughts again. Evidently, everyone else had been elsewhere too, because the majority of them jumped. Even the elderly couple at the table in the corner jumped in surprise.

"Geez, Otto. What?" Ray's tone was slightly annoyed, and he clutched a plate that he had nearly dropped.

Otto grasped the top of his head, pulling at his dreadlocks with a stressed look on his face. "I forgot to do that paper!"

Reggie rolled her eyes, snorted, and continued whatever conversation she was having with Trent. Ray and Tito sighed and shook their heads, getting back to work. I was indifferent. Sam seemed like he was the only one that was very concerned, staring at Otto with his jaw dropped. "That's due tomorrow!" He exclaimed.

"I know! Dammit!" His voice cracked on the curse word.

"Watch it," Ray's tone was sharp, glancing quickly at the poor startled old people in the corner. He didn't appreciate it when Otto cursed, which was all the time, but he cursed all the time himself, so I didn't really see his defense.

"Sorry," Otto rushed the word out carelessly, as he always did. "I need to get home and do it. School just started, I can't get another F in this class!" He jumped up from his stool, yanking his skateboard out of his backpack.

"I'll go with you, dude." I said, standing up also. "I need to uh...double check to see if mine is done." I pulled my skateboard from my bag. Actually, I knew that mine was done—not done well, but it was done. I just wanted to get the heck out of there. I didn't feel like watching the daily Reggie and Trent show anymore.

I didn't say that out loud, but somehow, I think Otto understood. He knew about my feelings towards Reggie, and even though he didn't completely like it, he at least accepted it.

As soon as Otto and I made it to his house, I crashed on the couch as he ran to get his laptop. I pulled my camcorder from my bag and watched the footage of the accident earlier. I rewound it over and over.

Is Twister really going to let the whole Trent and Reggie thing happen? Or will he fight back?

And what is Reggie's point of view on all of this?

Until next update! ;D

Please Review! Thanks.

-MsButterFingers