The morning of May 26, the sky was bright and felt warm. The waves echoed as they crashed the rocks that were along the coastline. The breezy atmosphere made it feel not too hot, nor too cold.
Steve Carter, however, wanted nothing more than to go back home and stay in bed for the rest of the day. He had gone to the beach with his friend, Kevin to clean the beach to get a better grade for class. Although he wasn’t in the same class, he went along anyway.
He took in his surroundings noticing a blue BMW driving in. It parked uphill near the sand which has a trail going down to the beach. Phoebe Howard stepped out, sighing.
Phoebe mumbles to herself, “This is such a waste of time.”
Phoebe’s mom interrupts her thoughts as she lit up a cigarette, “What’d you say?”
“Nothing,” replied Phoebe. Phoebe remembered the first time she did this activity. Luckily, it would seem much easier this time due to the location her stepdad parked. There was already trash enough to fill a bag and another half.
The first time she had done this activity, she had been one of the first students to arrive. Whilst waiting for other students to arrive, she looked around in hopes of finding trash so her bag would be full within minutes. However, she didn’t. She managed to pick up small pieces of trash such as cigarette butts and gum wrappers.
She sighed dismissing the event she was remembering. She looked around and noticed someone standing on a bench. The person wore a bright-colored shirt with black shorts and a hat.
Is this person serious? What kind of person wears bright colors to the beach? She thought irritably to herself. Phoebe wore a gray t-shirt and black gym shorts whilst carrying a backpack. As she looked around she saw that her teacher had arrived.
“Sorry I’m late guys, I had to pick up some of the others,” Ms. Spencer said she walked to the back of her car. Ms. Spencer opened the trunk to her car revealing an assortment of containers along with a small box of trash bags.
“Um, what’s with the food?” Phoebe asked puzzled.
“Don’t you remember? We were planning for a bbq, or did you leave already? Nevermind, but are you planning to stay for the bbq?” Ms. Spencer asked as she took containers out of the trunk and giving them to other students to place on a nearby bench. The beach had at least three benches around.
“No, I don’t think I can. I sort of have a project to work on.” Phoebe stated as she took a plastic bag out of the small box. After getting her bag, she walked back to her car. “You guys can go now.”
Her stepdad spoke, “Make sure to have a partner.”
“Yeah, don’t worry.” Phoebe said as she crossed her fingers behind her back.
I don’t even know these people.
Phoebe stayed in place as she watched her parents drive away. She waited until she could no longer see the BMW in sight. She then started picking up the trash within her current location.

Meanwhile, Steve followed his friend Kevin to get plastic bags to carry the trash they were going to pick up. Kevin picks up the box and takes a few bags out.
Steve confusedly asks, “I thought we’re only going to use one bag?”
“Steve, there’s enough trash from where we stood to fill up about like what, five or six bags. I’m pretty sure we need it more than the others.” Kevin argued making his point. Steve shrugged following Kevin.
As they were about to walk away, some girl yelled for Kevin.
“Kevin! What the heck are you doing?!” She exclaimed,”What if we need some for later on?!”
Kevin sighed,”There’s more trash from our side than where you’re picking up at.”
The girl spoke with a frustrated tone,”Just because there’s more trash where you’re at doesn’t mean you have to take the entire box.”
“I didn’t! There’s like four more bags in the trunk,” Kevin retorted.
Phoebe walks back to get another bag to find a girl and a boy yelling at each other. She watches as the boy walks back to the trunk to put a plastic bag in there. The girl went to the trunk and took a bag with her before she went off to pick up more trash.
Phoebe walks towards Ms. Spencer with a bag of trash in one hand. “Miss, um, where do I put this?”
“Your trash? Just lean it against the tree and I’ll call my stepdad to pick it up.” She said pointing to the tree a few yards away from where they stood. Phoebe walks towards that direction and places her bag of trash against the tree. She then walks to the back of her teachers’ car before resuming picking up trash.