---

Alex knew that the whole rapping thing was merely a joke, but if a karaoke machine was involved he might actually do it. Yet, karaoke machines weren't everywhere in America unlike in Japan. Oh, to be in Japan now. How did Damar pass that up? Anyway Alex's train of thought came back to the subject at hand noticing Ronnie checking his phone. Alex pulled his phone out and upon seeing the text from Elizabeth produced a half smirk. Alex loved the pool and there were limitless amounts of games they could play to forget about this morning. Alex also found the water peaceful so that should be good to. He followed Ronnie inside and headed towards his room to get changed.

Minutes later Alex emerged out to the pool in his swimming trunks, goggles, and dri-fit shirt. He saw that other than him the only ones out here were Elizabeth, Amelia, and Ronnie. Alex hadn't noticed the splash attack and only caught the tail end of what Ronnie said. He responded with, "What is the resident class clown up to now. Splash war or sumtin?" Alex walked over towards the diving board and lightly bounced up and down on it before taking a big jump into a pencil dive. He let himself sink to the bottom expelling as much air as he could without it being dangerous in order to just levitate momentarily just above the bottom of the pool. If he could breath underwater he'd stay there forever. So peaceful, serene, and quiet. It was amazing. Unfortunately he ain't a merman so soon after he kicked off the floor shooting to the surface and taking a big breath upon his reaching air.

Elizabeth entered the pool house and chuckled at the antics already presenting themselves.

"Hey guys." She greeted them, already in a pale green bikini suit, a white towel hoodie pulled over it all. Her pink hair was pulled into a bun. "The watermelon is being cut right now. Should be out in a bit." She told them. She was carrying a large box in her hands filled to the brim with brand new floats. "Ill need help blowing these up in the meantime." She explained, chuckling.

---

Ronnie was right, of course. They weren't here to throw pity parties. They were here to throw summer parties. He followed Ronnie inside without another word, silently checking his phone as the text arrived. "A pool party works, too," Brandon said quietly as he headed for the stairs, hoping that his room was somewhere at the top of them. Thankfully, Elizabeth was kind enough to label rooms, and he found his bag sitting neatly on his new bed.

Brandon looked around at the room with some awe. At home, he shared a room with his brother until he had headed off to college, but during the summers, he had to share again. This room was probably twice as large as their shared room. If nothing else, Brandon was happy for some privacy over the summer in this giant house before heading off to college to live in a dormitory. Brandon dug through his duffel bag, attempting to put away anything in his way as he searched for his swim trunks. The closet and dresser began to fill partway as he hurriedly shoved clothes where he hoped he would find them later. A second door in the room led into a bathroom which seemed to be shared by someone else, but the other person wasn't there yet. Brandon was sure he'd learn the occupant sooner or later.

A few minutes passed, and Brandon stepped out of his room wearing plain green swimming trunks and a simple green loose T-shirt. He had always loved the pool, but always felt uncomfortable not wearing a shirt, despite everyone else generally going without one. As he arrived, he noticed that Ronnie had already jumped into the pool and Amelia was dipping her hand in at the edge. "Not going swimming?" Brandon asked, surprised. "Well, I was gonna ask if you wanted to be my partner for Chicken, but if you're not swimming, I guess I could ask someone else."

Amelia heard Ronnie before she saw him. When he brought up that someone might find it funny to push her into the pool, she looked up at him, bracing herself for the worse. Luckily though, he just jumped into the pool and got her slightly wet. When he resurfaced and told her he wasn't foolish enough to mess with her, she simply gave him an amused smile. She would've been a bit mad if she had been pushed in but she knew getting wet was inevitable so she wouldn't hold it against him. Though, she wasn't sure how she would do swimming in her jeans and T-shirt.

Alex was the next person to arrive and he went immediately to the diving board and jumped off. From the big breathe he took in, it sounded like he hadn't taken in enough air for the dive or he had let it all out upon hitting the water. Elizabeth then arrive, telling the others that the watermelon was being cut up for them. She had also brought along a box of floats, saying she would need help blowing them up. Brandon was the last one to show up for the time being. He addressed her directly as well, asking her if she was going to swim before bringing up being partners in... 'chicken'? A confused expression crossed her face and she withdrew her hand from the water and dried it off on her jeans. She then withdrew her notepad and pen from her pockets and quickly wrote down on them.
I plan on swimming. And what do you mean by chicken? Is that some sort of game?

Damar watched as Jocelyn arrived asking him if he was leaving and he simply sighed. "No girl, I just needed some fresh air is all, really I'm fine," he said to both of them, trying to assert that everything was fine and that they didn't need to worry. As he stood there with his two friends, he couldn't help but smile at the look on Jocelyn and Kai's faces. Finally, Kai suggested they go to the garden and have fun with the others. Sighing, Damar realized that he couldn't run from this if he was expected to stay in this house for the summer. Lance was here, and that was that. He couldn't change how he felt about him, but he would do his best to avoid him if that was at all possible.

"Yea that sounds great," Damar said before his phone vibrated and he looked at the message from Elizabeth. Why did she always feel the need to send mass texts? He sighed and shook his head as he read the message, and when he got to watermelon his eyes lit up like a kid in a candy shop. "WATERMELON! FUCK YEA!" He commented as he placed his bag back on the chair. At that point, Ronnie yelled inside for everyone to get their "sexy" bodies out to the pool. Shaking his head he looked at Kai and Jocelyn and sighed. "Might as well," he said as he turned and moved towards the pool area hoping that Jocelyn and Kai were in tow behind him. When he arrived, he saw some of his friends enjoying the pool. "Is this a setup?" he commented with a smirk. Slowly he began to pull off his top. He didn't have on a swimsuit, or swimming trunks, so today they'd have to enjoy him in his underwear which was pink and blue like cotton candy, but in plaid. He stripped until he was standing there in just his underwear before he dove into the water and allowed the water to caress him upon entry. When he resurfaced he smirked and floated around in the pool.

He looked at Amelia who looked as if she were contemplating getting in. "Come on Bunny, live a little," Damar said with a smile as he swam to her side of the pool and approached the edge. "I think chicken would be fun, but I mean come on guys ya'll are just setting me up to win."

---

---

Jocelyn sighed in relief, very pleased to hear that Damar wasn't planning on leaving so soon. She was about to agree with Kai about heading to the garden when her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. Right when she finished reading the mass text from Elizabeth, Damar yelled excitedly about watermelon and Ronnie yelled something about getting their "sexy" bodies out to the pool. "I guess I'll go put on a bathing suit, then?" Jocelyn said as she headed in the opposite direction of Damar, back towards her bedroom. Inside of her large duffel bag, she'd packed six different bathing suits, but chose the first one she could get her hands on.

Five minutes later, she was headed back downstairs towards the pool, a large beach towel tucked under one armpit and a bottle of sunscreen under the other. Although she wasn't a big fan of watermelon, nor did she know what the hell "chicken" was, but she was glad that their Summer vacation was back on track. Jocelyn arrived at the pool just in time to see Elizabeth carrying a large box in her hands filled to the brim with floats. "I can help you blow those up, if you want." Jocelyn said as she placed the towel and sunscreen on the nearest lounge chair.

---

Brandon quickly read over Amelia's note and nodded in response. "Chicken is a game where you have two teams of two people face off against each other," he explained loud enough for anyone in the pool area to hear. "In each team, one person sit on another's shoulders and tries to knock their opponent into the water. So you want a strong person on bottom and someone nimble on top to avoid getting knocked off."

Brandon trailed off slightly as he saw Jocelyn in her lime green bikini. Stunning didn't begin to describe how she looked, and Brandon had to force himself to look away after a few seconds. He still had no idea how he had lumped himself in with some of the best-looking people in the entire school, but he thanked whatever deities watched over them for pool parties. He gave Amelia a smile. "Well, I'm glad you're planning to swim with us," he added before turning to find Damarquis. "Hey, Marco, I thought I heard a challenge just now. You don't really think you could beat me, do you?" he chuckled before jumping over Damarquis' head into the pool, tucking his legs under him for a cannonball.

As he came back up, he realized Marco seemed to not have any trunks. "You know, if you need some swim shorts, you can borrow one of mine. Probably not the same level of fashion you're used to, but they should stay on better than those. Unless, of course, you don't care about that." He grinned, hoping that for once, he could get Marco flustered instead of the other way around for once.

Amelia looked up and over at Damar when she heard him speak. She gave him a smile and shook her head in response to his question before looking away as he got undressed. When she heard the splash that signified that he was in the water, she looked around for him and watched as he swam over to her side before encouraging her to get in with them, commenting on the chicken game as well. Jocelyn was the next to arrive and Amelia looked over and felt... she wasn't sure what she felt. She just knew that Jocelyn looked really good in her swimsuit and Amelia doubted she could pull off the same look.

When Brandon began speaking, she turned back to him and listened as he explained the game to her. She bit her upper lip nervously, mulling it over before writing down on her pad, only stopping for a second in amusement at the banter between him and Damar. Once she finished writing, she showed the note to the two of them.
I'm not sure I'll be the best partner for that game. I'm not really good at physical activities. But if you insist, I'm willing to give it a try. Also, fair warning, it's been years since I went swimming. So I hope I remember how to.

After giving them a second to read, she got up and moved over to one of the lounge chairs. Taking a deep breathe to keep herself calm, she took off her T-shirt and jeans, revealing the two-piece underneath that did nothing to hide her slim, petite figure. The suit was white, outlined in a dark, navy blue. The bottom of her suit was covered by a very short miniskirt that was a sky blue on the top but the same dark, navy blue on the bottom. Once she put her stuff on the chair, she moved back over to the pool, her expression a bit uncomfortable as her cheeks were red with embarrassment.

---

Alex was enjoying lazily drifting around in the pool. He heard what everyone was saying, but didn't pay much attention. He was too relaxed, but the moment a wave of water crashed into him he went back to full attention. Apparently, Brandon had decided to cannonball everyone. Alex decided this was a good time as any to get back into the conversation. First, Brandon offered Damar a pair of his swimming trunks. Then Amelia showed a note to Brandon and Damar. Alex swam over to read it but had no idea what the context was.

When Amelia walked over to the lounge chair Alex started wondering if they were talking about the game chicken. It was the most likely one he could think of. Then when Amelia started taking off her casual clothes Alex sunk down to where only his eyes and up were above the pool. He looked over at Brandon and Damar, stood up and said, "How many people are playing?"

To say that the Edric siblings were both late and lost, was an understatement.



Loki rolled over in bed, giving a small groan. He slowly opened his eyes glancing over at the clock before his heart skipped a beat, and then sped up. He was out of bed within seconds, rushing about to lay out clothes to wear and to his sister's bedroom. He knocked on the door and with no response, he opened it. There was Rose, still in bed.
"C'mon, Roslyn! We've gotta go!"

Now her eyes slowly opened, glancing over at him and then at her own clock. A curse word was spat out, and then she shot out of bed.
"Why didn't you wake me up?!" she shot at him, obviously anxious before she stopped for a moment and looked at him. "It seems like you actually just did, so I take that back."

Loki chuckled under his breath. Even though it was believed by many that Rose never slept, she was quite the sleeper and not a morning person. It was often hard to drag her out of bed, and it was strange to see her without much of her energy.
"We're leaving in ten minutes," he announced, quickly pacing out of his sister's bedroom and into his own bathroom to take a quick shower.

Rose, after taking her quick shower, opened up her closet. As it was the first day of summer, it was warmer which meant more dresses! After a moment of standing there in her towel, she chose one of the many dresses hanging on the rack, just waiting to be chosen.

She found her navy polka dot Toms to match the dress and quickly got dressed. Then, she hurried into the bathroom to dry and brush her hair and apply some makeup. She didn't need to put on much today because today was all about hanging out with her friends.

Meanwhile, Loki put on a simple black tank top over his binder and slipped on some ripped jean shorts. He scrambled around the house, looking for his keys.

Rose grabbed her phone and bags and practically skipped downstairs; her usual energy was back. She stood at the entrance of the family room with a smile on her face as she watched her brother struggle to bring himself together. He finally walked up to her with his own bags.
"Did you remember to pack your T stuff?" she asked him, knowing he hadn't. It was time for her brother to curse as he quickly went to his bathroom and came back with a small bag. Inside was the vials of testosterone and the needles he would need. He came back downstairs, and the two said goodbye to their foster parents.

Finally, the two walked out the front door and to the car. His car was a blue Jeep Wrangler, perfect for summer in his opinion. The two tossed their bags in the back, sat in the car, and headed off.




Rose gave directions to the estate as Loki drove, and the ride consisted of singing and of "no wait turn here!"'s from Rose. Eventually, Loki pulled over with a sigh and parked.
"You have no idea where we are, do you?" he asked his little sister, and she gave an unsure smile.
"No! Not totally.... Okay, maybe a little...."
Loki gave a laugh of...well, whatever one could feel after so much had gone wrong on the first day of summer.
"Okay, well...just give me the address," he said, putting the address into Google Maps as she read it to him. He now gave a sigh of frustration.
"We passed it forty-five minutes ago, goofball!" he said, turning the car around and heading the correct way.

They finally arrived at the estate, Rose still ecstatic with energy and Loki happy that they'd finally found the place. They grabbed their bags, and both marveled at the mansion as they were let in and shown to their rooms. They were then told that everyone else was at the pool, so they changed into their bathing suits before joining the others.
They stood there, a little awkwardly before Rose declared "Cannon ball!" and jumped into the pool. Loki laughed and gave a small wave.

Anna stepped out of her jeep, her prized possession, and looked out onto Elizabeth's house. Raising her eyebrows she flicked her shades and walked around the car. Grabbing the duffel bag with her stuff in, she threw it over her shoulder and starting walking down the path. Looking over her shoulder at the poorly parked jeep she clicked the lock button. Hearing the successful chirp Anna walked to the door and was about to knock when she heard voices from around the side of her house.

Interested in the commotion Anna hopped along the mansion to see a large pool full of people. Walking up with a large grin in her face she tossed the duffel bag to the side, out of splash zone territory. She started forward, before a quick thought her her turn back to the duffel momentarily. Sprinting forward, Anna leaped out over everyone's head yelling, "Who said you could get started without me?"

Halfway through her beautiful arc Anna glanced enough down so see she was still fully clothed. Head to toe, shirt, pants, socks, and all. Realizing she had made a mistake she twisted in the air as if it would help her get out of the incoming danger. The result, twisting perfectly to land in the loudest belly float she had ever felt. With a thunder-crack sound she sank into the water, pain gripping her entire front. Classic Anna, she thought to herself.

After the pain subsided enough, Anna pushed herself back to the surface. Whipping the hair out of her face she looked out at everyone she had just jumped over. At first she looked at them completely straight faced, before a slow smile began to creep onto her face. Bursting out laughing, she winced. "What's up?"

Elizabeth smiled broadly as Jocelyn offered to help her. "Thanks, Jocelyn. Planning on participating in the game of Chicken?" She asked, pulling out one of the floats. She was mid-blow when Anna walked in a face planted into the pool and snorted, a weird sort of noise that she wasn't exactly proud of.

When a maid came by with more towels and water guns for them to play with, Elizabeth motioned with her free hand for the woman to set them to the side, near the lifeguard towers in the corner of the enclosed room.



Lance appeared as he always did, quietly and without much warning. He was wearing a white v-neck t-shirt and a pair of black swim trunks. He hadn't planned on coming down, rather just to take a nap, but Eva had pushed him, threatening to tell Damar all of Lance's secrets, which as blackmail worked like a charm. So, here he was, covered in bruises and laying on one of the lawn chairs headphones in and eyes closed. He had his music down soft enough that he could still hear the others very slightly, smiling at the loud sound Anna made as her entrance.

He liked Anna. A lot, actually. She was similar to Eva and he felt comfortable around her. She didn't expect much from him rather than just... being. She didn't often ask him questions or pester him. He liked that a lot.




Eva, meanwhile, was still preparing to go to the pool, checking literally every pair of swimwear she owned for any kind of tactile advantage it might give her.

---

---

Jocelyn had arrived in enough time to catch the last half of Brandon's explanation of Chicken. Grabbing one of the floats from the box, Jocelyn nodded her head and grinned. "Oh, I get it now. Man, I haven't played that game since I was a youngin'," she said before breathing a few puffs of air into the float, "My cousins called it 'Shoulder Wars' back then. Me and my cousin Julio would kick some serious ass." She nodded in greeting to Loki and Rose before shrugging in answer to Elizabeth. All in all, whether or not she decided to play depended on if someone needed a partner. While being a decent swimmer, Jocelyn was not too keen on having to go under water; she absolutely hated the feeling of water getting into her ears, and didn't want to go through the hassle of washing and twisting her hair afterwards.

Lyn was almost finished blowing up her second float when Anna came running towards the pool, fully clothed, and leaped. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the young woman belly flopped into the pool, a thunderous cracking sound filling the air. Jocelyn watched in a mixture of horror and shock as she sank into the pool, but chuckled and shook her head once she finally came back up for air. She was glad that Anna hadn't been seriously hurt; It would really suck if their pool day was cut short by a trip to the emergency room. "Anna, if you needed to borrow a bathing suit all you had to do was ask," Jocelyn teased as she tossed a few of the floats into the pool, "I don't think chlorine is good for clothing."

Lucille was struggling into a white flowy tank top and jean shorts when her phone buzzed with an alarm. She was soooo late. Swinging her brown leather bag over her shoulder she ran as quickly as she could to the door. Her father had left on another business trip the day before and had asked her to go and spend her summer out of the house, where she would be alone. She had agreed and here she was, trying not to break the speed limit as she raced towards Elizabeth's crazy big mansion. As her car screeched along she sighed. It sure was going to be quite the long summer, no matter the fact that she was going to be spending it with her friends. Unlike all of the others, she had never really had a good relationship with anyone. She hadn't had a particularly lovely best friend or a particularly cute boyfriend ever since kindergarten and she felt kind of lonely, thinking about the time she was going to have to spend with all of these people. However, she had to let her smile shine through and be happy.

She screeched the car to a halt and then climbed out. She quickly texted the others to let them know she was here and then rung the doorbell.

"ELIZABETH! I'M HERE!"

@HylianRose

With her face turning an unusual state of red from the crash she looked towards the side of the pool where Jocelyn was blowing up pool floaties. "Wait you mean you're not supposed to jump in fully clothed?" Throwing her hands up in mock surprise she exclaimed, "All these years on the swim team I've been doing it wrong, and no ones told me!" She looked down at the now sopping clothes that were dragging her down in the water. She felt unusual and heavy, not like she usually did in the water.

Shrugging to herself Anna gripped the bottom of her shirt and started lifting. "No use in these now. Guess I'll just have to swim in my underwear." Knowing that at least a few eyes were on her, she started stripping down in the pool. Glancing around she giggled and pulled the shirt the rest of the way. Quickly following came her jeans. With a wet sound they landed in a pile on the poolside. While she did feel a little exposed, these were all her friends and she'd been swimming in much less before. Besides it felt so nice to finally not have wet clothes dragging her down.

Combing a string of hair out of her face, Anna's eyes locked on the hostess of the summer's adventures. "Elizabeth! Oh my god I didn't even see you. This place is amazing! I am so jealous." She kicked her way to the side of the pool so she could rest her arms on the side and talk.

---

Brandon was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed as several things happened at once. First, Amelia agreed to join his team, then revealed an absolutely stunning swimsuit that left him speechless. The silence didn't last long before it was punctuated by a cannonball and its accompanying tidal wave that crashed down on Brandon. He looked up just in time to see Rose and her brother had joined the fun. "Hey, how's it going?" he said with a grin, wiping the water from his face.

"Who said you could get started without me?"

Brandon cringed as the sickening sound of a full-force belly flop resounded, the water once again splashing over him. He wiped the water away before swimming forward to make sure the blur was okay, but his concern was unfounded. Once he realized it was Anna, he knew she could swim circles around him, even if she were weighed down with a parka.

Brandon's grin then faded slightly as he caught sight of Jocelyn's lime green bikini. If a swimsuit was ever designed to turn heads.... Brandon forced himself to look away after a few seconds. He must be one of the luckiest nerds alive to have friends this beau--

That was about the point when Anna began stripping in front of Brandon. For several seconds, his mind went completely blank as he tried to register what was going on. Sure, she had clothing underneath, but even that information took Brandon's brain a bit longer than normal to process. He doubted Anna even noticed him despite his proximity. If she did, she would very likely see the deepening red flush passing over his cheeks. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Brandon's mind finally rebooted itself, allowing him to speak. "I uh... I hope you didn't have your phone in there," he said quietly. Brilliant opener, Brandon.

Damarquis swam around the pool as he listened to everyone. There were conversations between the others, but one thing caught his ear and that was Brandon's words about swimming trunks after he had jumped into the pool. Granted Damar would be revealing a lot once he got out of the pool, he didn't mind at all. He was comfortable in his own skin and he didn't have anything to hide, in fact, he had gotten tired of trying to hide it in the first place. This must've been Brandon's way of making him blush. Damar gave him a sly look and smirked.

"Nah Brandon I'm good," Damar admitted as he lifted himself onto the side of the pool and crossed his legs silently. He noticed the arrival of Anna and instantly smiled. He also noticed Lance resting on a chair and sighed. If they were going to have fun this summer, he had to stop letting his emotions rest on his sleeves. Standing up, and not caring who saw his bulge, he moved over to Lance and yanked the headphones out of his ear.

"Are you going to join us or be a stick in the mud?" Damar said nearly straddling Lance looking down at him. He was so happy that Rose and Loki, and Anna and Lucille had finally made it. Now there was a chance of real entertainment. Loki was one of his favorites aside from Amelia and he hoped that they got a chance to chat it up and shop a little.

Seeing as no one had answered the door Lucille slipped inside quietly. The party looked like it was in full swing as she heard splashes from the pool. She went into a bathroom and quickly changed into her white halterneck one piece before stepping out into the cold night air.
"HELLOOOO! I'M HERE!!!"
She stepped towards the pool, feeling the air tickle her skin as she shivered.

@JBRam2002

"Brandon, See you being awkward over there." His blush was a tell tale sign.

@WindsOfFate@Lunatik@mskennedy615@GoodLuckTuck

"Where's Bethy? I need to say hi to her."
She swam around in the pool, savouring the warmth of it as she glanced around at the others, beaming. She could already tell that these days would be the best of her life. The moon glinted off the water, casting her face in a light glow that accentuated her beautiful face. A long slender arm reached out and fingers twirled in the water as she spun around, flicking wet droplets everywhere