'Luna we're going to be late,' Sehun called on Saturday night. He was talking late late, not just don't-want-to-look-desperate-late. He'd been sitting on the couch for half an hour, waiting for Luna and Sunny to finish getting ready.

'What do you think?' Luna asked as she came down the stairs. She did a turn in front of him. 'Too ty?'

'Oh, that is so not a question you ask an older brother. An older brother does not even want to hear the word "ty" come out of his sister's mouth,' Sehun replied, covering his ears in mock horror. Then he looked at her outfit. It was tight, short T-shirt and some kind of ruffled miniskirt.

'It's a Stella McCartney. How can it not be perfection? Sunny demanded from the stairs. She was wearing almost the same outfit in different colors, and her short blonde hair was styled similar to Luna's. 'Besides, it's a beach party.'

'Fine, then. It's great. Wear it.' Sehun stood up. 'Let's go.'

'No, now you've ruined it for me. I have to go change,' Luna said.

'How did I ruin it for you? I didn't even say anything!' Sehun protested.

But Luna disappeared up the stairs, taking Sunny with her.

Sehun sank back down with a sigh. Maybe it didn't matter how late they were. He had a feeling that this party would run all night. The way kids at school had been talking about it for the whole week, you'd think Luhan's parties were the wildest bashes ever thrown, with people making out on the beach until the sun came up. He was curious to see if the reality lived up to the hype.

He grabbed the remote and clicked on the TV. There was never anything good on on Saturday nights, but he had to distract himself somehow. He couldn't just keep staring at the wall until Luna was finally ready. Why did girls work so hard at their clothes, anyway? Were they all like that? Was Yuri? He wondered if she'd be wearing some little Stella McCartney skirt to the party. He wouldn't mind seeing her in that. Then again, maybe she'd just wear a bathing suit - it was a beach party after all. Would she wear a bikini and show off those long legs...?

'Luna!' Sehun yelled. 'We're leaving. Now!'

'They have valet parking at a high school party?' Sehun murmured as a guy in a white jacket waved him to stop in Luhan's car-studded driveway.

'Of course,' Sunny said. She shoved open her door and tumbled out of the convertible, followed by Luna. The two of them took off toward the house without a backward glance. Sehun gave the valet his keys and looked around. The house was a Spanish-style mansion with a red tile roof. And glass. Lots of glass. Floor to ceiling in some places.

It didn't look much like a beach house. He'd always pictured them as sort of small and rustic. Places you could track sand into, where you could let you bathing suit dry on the porch rail and leave giant towels lying around. But this place oozed elegance.

Remember your mission, Sehun told himself as he walked up the granite path. You are here to meet girls who go to your school. Unattached girls. Converse with them. Share a beverage. That sort of thing.

'The newbie gets his first look at a hot Malibu party,' a voice said from behind him. Sehun glanced over his shoulder to see Chanyeol with his camera. 'Stay right there.' He circled Sehun, filming him from all sides.

'I'm beginning to suspect that your movie's about me,' Sehun cracked.

'It would be classic,' Chanyeol replied. He turned off the camera and walked with Sehun toward the house. 'A stranger arrives in town and shakes up the small, tight-knit community. Very Footloose.'

'I don't think I'll be shaking anything up,' Sehun said. 'Or dancing like Kevin Bacon.'

'You never know. Maybe you'll end up being the hero of DeVere Heights,' Chanyeol joked.

Sehun stepped through the open door into Luhan's house and surveyed the scene. 'I don't know, it looks like a typical party to me. No one in need of heroics.'

Chanyeol sighed. 'Then I'll go to Plan B - find a girl to film. Point a camera at them and you're their new best friend.' He clapped Sehun on the back and waded into the crowd of kids at the large bar in the living room. Sehun headed for the back door instead. He wanted to see the beach part of the beach house.

The wide French doors led out to a perfectly manicured lawn that surrounded an enormous lagoon-shaped pool with a hot tub at one end. the hot tub overflowed in a waterfall into the main pool, and a couple were making out under the spray. Eight more people were crowded into the steaming hot tub, giggling and kissing. Two girls floated on lounge chairs in the pool while a few guys splashed around in the water beside them.

Sehun followed a stone path lit with five-foot-high tiki torches. The path wound around the pool and through a thicket of fruit trees heavy with flowers. Voices floated on the warm summer air - from people hiding in the darkness under the trees. Probably making out where they could get some privacy, Sehun figured. So far he wasn't too impressed. Sure, the house was nice, but the party seemed like any other party he'd been to.

Then he stepped out of the little orchard - and gasped. He stood on the edge of a tall bluff. The Pacific Ocean spread out in front of him. The moon hung low in the sky, casting a silver path across the water and right up to Sehun's feet.

'You don't get that in Michigan,' he murmured.

A tangy, vanilla scent drifted by on the warm breeze. Sehun's heartbeat sped up. Yuri. He didn't even have to turn around to know she'd come up the path behind him - he recognized her perfume.

'Welcome to California,' she said. 'Nice view, huh?'

'Yeah.' He kept his eyes on the ocean. He knew she'd be a pretty nice view as well. But he wasn't the kind of guy who went after someone else's girlfriend. And not looking at her sure helped him stay that way.

'Have you seen the beach yet?' Yuri asked.

'Uh... no. I though maybe this was the beach.'

'Do you see any sand?'

'No,' Sehun acknowledged. 'But the water's at least fifty feet below us. I thought maybe the whole "beach house" thing was a euphemism.'

Yuri snorted. 'don't do euphemisms. Coming up with clever wordplay would take valuable time away from the grooming and shopping that is essential to Social Life. You've heard how vain and materialistic we are out here, right?' she joked. 'When we say beach house, we mean it. Come on.'