It was just after 10 AM when Neva and her little brother Jake were dropped off at Redondo Beach. Their mom leaned across the car, sunglasses on, looking all serious as she handed Neva the folded-up $500 bill like it was some secret mission.

“Okay, guys, I have work all day and no one else is home, so you’re staying here until 5 PM. That’s seven hours. Please, please stay safe. Don’t go running off. Don’t talk to weird people. Use the money for water, food, and anything you actually need. And don’t call or text me unless someone’s arm falls off.”

Neva, 17 and already scrolling on her phone, waved a hand. “Yeah yeah, we got it, Mom. We’ll survive. I wont let jake do anything dumb.”

Jake, 14, looked up. “Wait, what?”

Their mom rolled her eyes but smiled, tossed them their beach bag packed with clothes and sunscreen, and then slowly drove off, still looking back at them through the rearview mirror like she was dropping off two toddlers.

Once she was gone, Neva immediately turned to Jake with a smirk. “Okay, now what do we actually want to do?”

They changed into their beach clothes behind the changing station by the pier—Neva wore a cute matching set with her hair already braided in two neat Dutch braids (she did it on the ride), and Jake threw on his bright blue swim trunks and oversized tee. First stop? The sand, of course. Then the shops and then a restaurant

The two of them ran straight for the beach like they had just been let loose from a cage. Neva set up their towel area like it was her personal photoshoot set—towel perfectly fluffed, umbrella tilted “for the aesthetic,” and her little waterproof speaker playing summer songs. Jake already had sand in his shoes and was halfway to digging a hole big enough to sit in.

For the first couple of hours, they just soaked it all in. Splashing in the waves, racing along the shore, arguing over who could build the better sandcastle (spoiler: Jake’s fell apart but had a cool moat), and Neva even braided a random kid’s hair because she “couldn’t resist.”

Eventually, their stomachs growled and they started the next part of their day: spending some of that $500.