Summer Lovin' - Started - Closed :)

Christian

I woke up, and yawned.

I'd remembered everything from last night, because I didn't drink.

Beer was disgusting.

The sun shone through the curtains, and cast a pleasant light over the room.

The room I slept in every year.

With PJ.

Everybody was probably up already, with headaches.

I grabbed my toothbrush, and a towel, and headed to the bathroom.

******

After showering, and brushing my teeth, I headed back down the hall, humming quietly to myself.

I was looking down, not exactly paying attention to where I was going, and bumped into someone, making them stumble a bit.

"Oh, oh...I'm sorry! I should probably pay attention..." I apologized, realizing that the person was Katrina.

She had a huge grin on her face.

I arched my eyebrow a bit, and continued to walk until I reached my destination.

The room my quiet, and warm from the morning sun.

I put on a pair of pre-ripped jeans, and a black T-shirt.

I thought about the night before, and my face grew red.

"I didn't want to.." I muttered, rubbing my eyes.

Opal was like a sister. I didn't like her like that. And...I'm not sure if she remembers it...I don't want her to. I don't want anything to mess up our friendship.

Shaking my head, I went to where everyone else was, then noticed Verine sitting alone.

Maybe she wasn't feeling good?

I made my way over to her.

Spoiler

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, been really busy

Tyler Conners

I felt like crap. I had five beers last night, maybe more and I had a killer of a hangover. I thought about last night and smiled to myself. Opal... The kiss had been amazing. I leaned back against my pillow and closed my eyes, just content with thinking about Opal.

But the thing was, I felt like she was a locked door. Even when we'd kissed it felt like I didn't really know her. And when she'd kissed the other guy, I'd felt the growing pit of unease coming back.

I got up and headed straight to the bathroom after pulling on t-shirt and shorts. I splashed water on my face and tried to flatten my spiky hair, to no use. Sighing, I turned the tap off and headed out to the kitchen.

Bounding down the stairs, I grinned as I looked at Liz and Lakeland. They were eating breakfast next to each other, staring at each other and laughing.

The mums were there as well and after a few hugs I grabbed a bowl of cereal and headed out onto the balcony.

"Mind of I join you?' Someone asks behind me.

Katrina Anderson

"Mind if I join you?" I asked looking innocently at Tyler. "Uhmmm.. Yeah sure." He responded. I smiled and just sat in a chair close to the edge. It was nice to be able to just sit and feel the breeze. "So you like Opal?" I asked. He shrugged but didn't say anything. "Oh yeah and sorry about me having to kiss you in that game last night..." I said apologeticly.

"Its fine." Was all he said. I looked at the sky and couldn't help but smile. "Please talk to me." I ask him pleadingly. He looked over to me and back to the sky. "Fine.." He muttered. Rolling my eyes I sigh. Guys were such babies when it came to girls they like.

"You can rant to me about Opal if you want." I tell him.
"No, why rant about another girl to a girl?" He remarked. I shrugged. He looked super cute in the morning time. When no one was looking, I grabbed him by his neck and kissed him, it wasn't long at all.

Smiling, I walked away before he said anything. I guess he was in too much shock to actually do anything. "Oh yeah and Tyler, I'm not sorry for that." I yell.

Finally inside, I went to sit in the kitchen.

"Verine!" I jumped a little as I heard my name being called. I turned to see who it was. Christian was walking towards me, smiling and waving. "Good morning, Verine."

"Good morning..." I turned back around, facing the lake again.

"Are you okay?" Christian sat next to me, which made me feel confused for a second. "You seem upset about something."

"I'm fine. I'm not upset." I turned my face away from his, trying to avoid eye contact with him.

"Is it because of that game last night? You did leave kind of early during the ga-"

"I said I'm fine!" I gasped as I turned to him, feeling bad about yelling at him like that. "I-I'm sorry..." Christian just grinned at me, patting the top of my head gently. I blushed a little, looking up at him.

"Seems Verine needs to be punished for yelling." Christian picked me up from the ground, holding me like a princess. P-Punish?? Next thing I knew, Christian tossed me into the lake, getting me and my outfit wet. I swam up in the lake, coughing from the water that went in my mouth. I glared at him as he laughed at me.

"Y-You dummy!" I ran out from the lake, pulling him by his hair as hard as I could. "That wasn't funny!"

"Ow, ow, ow!" Christian sighed softly as he grabbed my hand from his hair gently, smiling at me. "Well, you seem better now."

"Eh?" He was right. I do feel a little better.

"Come on, let's join the others." Christian held my hand and started walking. I followed behind him, looking down at the ground. You are a weird one, Christian...

Opal

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I pushed away my blanket and swung my legs over the side of my bed. The instant my bare feet touched the cold wooden floor, however, I instinctively pulled them back up.

Bringing my legs up and crossing them indian style, I slid a ponytail holder off of my wrist and gathered my hair on top of my head, twisting it in to a bun. Bracing myself, I ventured a toe on to the cold floor, then another and another until both of my feet were firmly placed on the ground and I stood.

Tugging at the ends of my long sleeved t-shirt, I shivered slightly as the cool air hit my legs clad in only shorts and shuffled out in to the hall, down the stairs, and in to the kitchen baby step by baby step.

When I pushed open the door to the kitchen, I rolled my eyes at the sight of Liz and Lakeland eating together, eating being the interchangeable word as they were more just kissing and nuzzling each other.

Scoffing, I wandered to the fridge and tossed over towards them, "You guys are so cute it's sickening."

I heard them chuckle as I opened the fridge and began looking through its contents, finally deciding on and pulling out a bottle of water after a moment's contemplation. Turning easily on the back of my heel, the slick tiled floors making movements easy, I pranced over to the glass door leading out back.

My breathe caught in my throat and I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw it. There was Katrina and Tyler, kissing. It was one thing during the game last night, as it was just a game...but this wasn't a game anymore.

I felt a shadow cross over my face as Katrina skipped in after tossing a comment over her shoulder back at Tyler before coming in. Meanwhile, I just stood there, clutching my bottle of water as if it were my lifeline.

"Oh, hey Opal, didn't see you there." Katrina said with a smile, moving to sit at the table where Lakeland and Liz sat.

I narrowed my eyes towards her, making no movement or response, simply staring at her.

"Opal..." Lakeland called, rising from his seat and coming towards me.

He reached a hand towards me, which in turn caused me to snap, "Don't fucking touch me."

I finally made a move, a move to get away from everyone, but was held back when Lakeland caught me by the elbow, "Don't shut me out, Opal."

"Leave me alone!" I yelled, placing and effective slap across his face - everyone else did, leave me I mean. They always did. My biological dad left me, my mom and all of her boyfriends, my friends, then uncle Lakeland and dad, and then I nearly lost Lakeland. Now I was losing Tyler before I even had him.

"Opal!" He growled, whipping me around and slamming me against the fridge, causing the entire thing to shake.

I fought back with everything I had, but he managed to brace my arms against the fridge and over power my strength with his own. When he got my arms pinned down I clenched my eyes shut and ducked my head, expecting a hit at any moment, before realizing...it was just Lakeland, not someone else. He wouldn't hit me. My eyes snapped open as Lakeland began speaking.

"Don't shut me out Opal," he urged in a whisper, "Don't shut me out, don't shut anyone out. You've worked so hard, Opal, I know you have. It's taken you so long to get over your past, and no one should've had to go through what you did but you did and it's over. You have people who love you, Opal. Don't shut us out, I don't want to lose you - you're my sister."

I clenched my eyes shut tightly, my head rattling. What did he know? What did anyone know? They didn't know that I was pushed, pinched, kicked, and hit. They didn't know that I'd be left alone for days at a time. They didn't know that some of my biological mom's boyfriends would hit on me, a kid no older than six. They didn't know that I had over a dozen strange men I didn't even know the name of tell me to call the dad and then leave. They didn't know that I went from foster home to foster home, getting called names and beat by the other kids, pets, and even foster parents. But...the O'Malley's were the first family to love me, and with them came three other families. They didn't understand, but they tried to and they all accepted me, even from the beginning when they had all grown up together and I was a stranger, coming in at the age of ten.

Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes to look up at my brother, trying to keep from crying...but I couldn't. Tears began spilling over my eyes, and when the did I crumbled in to Lakeland's arms, shaking with tears, and whispered, "Why doesn't anyone care about me?"

Lakeland

When Liz had asked me what I'd been talking about with my mom the night before I managed to play it off and just say we were talking about my accident. After the lie of an explanation, we headed in to the kitchen and began to make breakfast together. And by "make" I mean we had fruity pebbles cereal for breakfast.

The bowls of colorful cereal mostly just sat and got soggy, though, as I kept teasing her. Every time she went to take a bite, I ducked my head towards her and either nuzzled my face in to the side of her neck or stole a kiss before she could actually put the cereal in her mouth.

And so it went, and I hardly noticed Opal's comment or her rummaging around the kitchen. I hardly noticed anything, really, until Katrina plopped down in a seat across from me and Liz. That's when I noticed Opal, her usually cheery face completely shadowed and her usually playful eyes hardened.

I snapped in to action.

***

"Why doesn't anyone care about me?" Opal cried in a whisper, covering her face with her hands and falling on to me.

Wrapping my arms around her securely, I rest my chin on top of her head and began gently rocking. When we adopted Opal all those years ago, we all had to work really hard for her to trust us, for her to trust herself, and to get her to stop flinching every time we made a movement towards her. That summer at this house was a rough one, as she had only been with us for a few months and still had little trust for adults, was too afraid to speak, had never really been taught how to interact with other people, and thought everyone was going to hurt her - her automatic reaction to everything was flinching. It took forever to break her of it - it was our dad that finally got through to her. It was dad that had found her, too. He was doing business in the states, and the cousin of Opal's foster parents was talking about her - Opal had been beat so badly by her much older foster brother that she was in the hospital because of it. Dad went to see her, knowing she had no one, and once he saw her he couldn't leave her.

Our mom and me had gone through something similar to this break down when our dad and uncle died, and mom had to go through it again when I got in to my accident. What Opal had gone through in her past was something I knew little of, as she hated to talk about it. My mom knew most everything, as it was all in Opal's records. She knew all about Opal's parents, her mom's boyfriends, her abuse, why she was taken away, all about her foster homes and the incidents within them. She knew things that I didn't and refused to tell anyone, saying it would be betraying Opal and that if Opal wanted us to know she would tell us. I only knew fragments.

"We do care about you, O." I soothed, "We love you. And don't you ever forget it."

I didn't know what had set her off, but I'd be damned if I didn't find out soon. I was going to find out why and whoever did this was going to wish they hadn't.

Christian

I took her hand in mine, and she followed behind me, mumbling something to herself.

Leading the way, I glanced back at her. Her outfit was soaking, because I'd thrown her into the water. She shivered a bit, and started at the ground, dragging her feet through the sand.

"I think it's weird how we play truth or dare, one night, and the next day there's couples. I always thought of us as a big family." I said to her, kicking some sand while walking.

She made a sound, then said, "...yeah."

Something was bothering her. But she wouldn't tell me what it was. Man.

"Verine," I paused. "what do you think?"

There was silence, then, "Of?"

"All of this...the..kissing..couples...it's weird, right? I'm not the only one who thinks so?"

I stopped walking, and turned to face her.

She flicked her eyes up at mine, and swallowed. "...it's weird."

I frowned. "Would you please tell me what's wrong?"

Verine looked down again, and rubbed her arm.

"Is it because of last night?" She turned her face away. "Ira? Is that it?"

She cringed when I said it, and I automatically knew I was right. "Is it just because he had to kiss you?"

Verine cleared her throat, and shook her head once.

"Wait a minute...wait...Verine, was that your..first..?" I remembered last summer when she was talking to the girls about what she hoped her first kiss would be like.

A single tear slid down her cheek, and got caught on the edge of her mouth.

Without saying anything, I pulled her into a hug.

Slowly, but surely, she hugged me back. I could feel her tears soaking into my shirt.

"Just...pretend it never happened."

I turned my head, and looked at the others that weren't very far away. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Katrina kiss someone, then skip happily inside, and yell, "Oh yeah, and Tyler? I'm not sorry for that!" over her shoulder.

I knew she liked him.

But I was pretty sure he didn't like her.

I released Verine, and smiled down at her softly. "You alright?"

Verine smiled back a bit, and nodded. "Thanks, Christian. Really."

My smile turned into a grin. "No problem. You hungry?"

Tyler Conners

"Opal..." I said, walking over to her and Lakeland. Her cheeks were tear stained and her eyes bloodshot but I felt such an urge to go over and hug her and so I did, and Lakeland moved aside as I wrapped my arms around her, feeling her heart beat steadily against my chest.

"Tyler..." Opal murmured, her arms clenched onto me. I breathed in her scent, pine needles and cinnamon. "What's wrong?" I ask, my arms still wrapped around her, speaking in her ear. She shook her head and murmured 'Nothing."

I realized then that nothing else mattered, my kiss with Katrina, our pasts. It was about the present, and right now I loved Opal.

I murmured in her ear; "I love you, Opal."

I nodded when Christian asked me if I was hungry. He smiled at me, taking my hand again and walking me to the picnic area of the summer house. I smiled sadly to myself, looking down at the ground. I guess everyone forgot again..

Today is my sixteenth birthday, but with everyone enjoying their summer vacations every year, people tend to forget it. I sighed softly, sitting down on the bench, looking at everyone eating.

I noticed everyone in couples. Seriously... they become couples AFTER that game last night? It seemed pretty ridiculous to see everyone like this. "Like I said, I like being together as a family..." I jumped when I heard Christian whispering into my ear. I looked up at him as he smiled at me gently. "What? You fell for me already?" He grinned widely, patting my back over and over.

"What?! Never!" I turned my head away from, pouting to myself. "You really are a dummy."

Christian chuckled as he rubbed the top of my head gently. I blushed intensely, looking at him again.

I noticed Katrina walking out to the picnic area, grinning at me. "Verine has a lover now?!" Everyone gasped as they turned to me and Christian.

"W-What are you talking about, Katrina?!"

"You're dating him, aren't you?" Katrina smiled at me more, teasing me.

I looked away from her as I got up from my seat, running inside the house, going into my room as I slammed the door. I threw one of my books at the door, shaking my head. "That idiot..." I sat on my bed, hugging my pillow gently. "I don't love anyone..."

P.J.



I woke up to find that Hayden had crawled into my bed with me during the night. I had to free myself from her clinging arms that were strapped around my waist. I noticed that Chris, was sitting on his bed and was laughing bit in the situation I was in. I rolled my eyes at him and pulled Hayden off of me and placed her on the opposite side of the bed.

"You alright over there buddy?" Christian asked with a smirk.

"Shut up, dude" I replied pulling the blanket over Hayden.

Christian laughed and left the room probably to go get breakfast. I yawned glad I didn't get hangovers, because if I did, I would be dead by now. I changed into a pair of blue swim trunks and a Fall Out Boy t-shirt and left the room. I walked into the kitchen to find zombie moms and teens wondering around. Guess even the parents got a bit tipsy last night.

I grabbed a plate of pancakes off the counter and poured maple syrup down them. I sat at the table and started eating the amazing blueberry pancakes savoring every bite. Hayden and Casey came down just as I finished breakfast both looking equally hung over and they grabbed breakfast and started eating.

"Hey," I said to them receiving a smile from Casey but a glare from Hayden.

I smiled at both of them before dumping my plate in the sink and going out onto the beach. I sat down in the sand and was soon joined by Katrina. She had tear stained cheeks and was not looking up from the ground.

"What's wrong?" I asked her wrapping an arm around her.

Katrina just shook her head and leaned into me burring her face into my shirt and cried. I hugged her tightly as her body shook with the force of her tears. She pulled away and started to tell me what happened.


Hayden


I woke at 3 with a horrible headache and mascara running down my cheeks. I groaned and did what I did when I was sick, I went to P.J.. I dragged myself into his room, careful not to wake Christian, and into his bed. I hugged his warm body instantly making me feel better and fell asleep again.




I woke again but this time I was alone. Peej had gone down to breakfast and so had Christian. I walked back into my room and shook Case awake.

"Go away," She groaned swatting at me.

"We have to get up." I said sighing.

Casey moaned and stood up. I smiled the best I could at her as she walked into the bathroom. I didn't bother to change out of my pajama pants and tank top as I brushed my teeth. I braided my hair into a braid and took Casey's hand as we helped each other down the stairs.

Everyone but Peej looked like Zombies and I knew Case and I looked no better. We grabbed breakfast and joined my smiling brother at the table.

"Hey," He said smiling like the idiot he is.

Case smiled but he received a glare from me jealous of his current state. My head ache was killer and all I wanted was to curl up somewhere and sleep.

Peej left to the beach leaving us alone. Case stumbled off somewhere muttering about her hair and I sat down on the couch. I curled up in my favorite spot and tried to make my self feel better. I knew this entire thing was my fault and that probably everyone hated me for ever thinking of this stupid idea. So I just stayed in my current position trying to become invisible.

Katrina Anderson

"I just... feel so heartbroken. I am a mess.. today is horrible and I can't believe I kissed Tyler!! Its all falling to pieces!" I mutter into PJ's arm. He just sat there holding me, all I needed as of now is my brother.

Walking out to the beach I spot Verine and Christian. "Verine has a lover now." I say and smirk as she turns around, " w-what are you talking about Katrina?!" Verine yelled with a gasp. I had to go on. "You're dating him arent you?" I ask. She immediately fled the bench in a heartbeat. "Chris, don't follow her. She is okay. I need to talk to you anyways." I say, smiling.

Sitting down. I look at him, breathless at how attractive he looks. "Nevermind, I must go. Before I do something stupid like kiss you. My god you have no idea how much I want to!" I say as I get up and start walking out to the ocean.


(@shinethroughthedark this is now your getaway chance to choose Verine or Katrina!)

Christian

"You're dating him...aren't you?" Katrina asked Verine.

I was pretty confused.

Verine's face turned crimson, and she ran off into the house.

I was about to stand up, but Katrina said, "Chris, don't follow her. She's okay. I need to talk to you, anyways."

She smiled, and I raised an eyebrow.

She sat down next to me, and just looked at me, her eyes wide.

"Nevermind, I must go. Before I do something stupid like kiss you. My god you have no idea how much I want to!" She said quickly, then got up, and made her way over to the water.

"I...what?"

What in the world just happened?

I jumped up, and ran into the house.

Verine's birthday's today.

I forgot...man!

The halls were the same as always, big. I felt like an ant walking through them.

The house was quiet, besides the people in the kitchen. Er, the couples.

My hand grabbed the doorknob that led to Verine's room, and twisted it.

"V?" I said, remembering when I used to call her that because I couldn't remember her name.

One of her books were laying in front of the door.

I bent down, picked it up, then glanced around the room. Sure enough, Verine was sitting on her bed, her head buried in her arms.

"..Verine, I..."

I shut up, and just sat next to her.

"...happy birthday, V." I whispered after a while.

She lifted her head slightly, and made a sound. It was quiet. Cute.

Wait, what? No. No, no, no, no, no.

"...if it makes you feel better, I have no idea what happened back there." I said to her, craning my head to see what she was doing.

She didn't say anything.

I turned my body to where it faced her, and poked her cheek.

Her hair fell in her face, so I lifted my hand, and pushed it back behind her ear.

"...you remembered my birthday." She replied, finally.

I grinned, and leaned forward. "Well, it's your 16th. You deserve...something special."

Without thinking, I leaned forward more, and placed my lips on hers.

My heart was beating a mile a minute..it literally felt like it would burst out of my chest.

I was surprised when she didn't pull away.

My stomach tingled, and I could feel her lips form a smile against mine.

I pulled away, and smiled at her.

Her face was rosy.

I kissed her cheek, and stood up.

"..Chris?" I heard V's say in a small voice.

I looked down at her. She'd turned her face away so I couldn't see it.

"..um..." She tucked her hands under her legs. "I..uh...thank you."

I frowned. "For what?"

She smiled to herself, and twisted her fingers together. "..for being you."

My frown faded, and I smiled again, then walked out, satisfied.

I can't believe how good I felt. Wasn't it just earlier that I was saying that it was weird for them to be together, cause we're basically family?

I need to go for a swim. I'd think about this stuff later.

The room was bright, and warm. I shut the door behind me, took off my pants, and shirt, then slipped my swimming trunks on.

The smile from my face wouldn't leave.

I left the house, and walked toward the water, and noticed Katrina sitting on the sand.

"Hey!" I called, waving to her, trying to get her attention.

She turned her head, and her jaw slightly dropped a bit, for some odd reason.

I reached her, and stood there, staring at the water. "Verine's alright."

From the corner of my eye, I noticed her frowning. "I told not to follow her, Chris."

"I was worried." I shrugged.

She scoffed, and stood up. "Just...whatever."

Katrina stormed away, leaving a trail of footsteps in the sand.

Did I do something wrong?

I shrugged again, and went into the water. It was cold against my warm skin, but I got used to it once I dived underwater.

Man, I never wanted this summer to end.

Liz

I could not eat any of my food at all. Lakeland was stealing kisses or nuzzling his face in my neck. Not that I minded, not at all. Everything changed when something happened with Opal. I could not make out what was going on. He came back shortly after and I took his hand because he looked really upset.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I ask, rubbing the top of his hand with my thumb.

"Just something with Opal, I am not exactly sure what happened." He said. I could hear the anger in his voice.

I try to calm him down. "Hey, it is going to be okay. She is so lucky to have such a great brother like you." I tell him.

"B-Big b-brother. Y-you m-must be t-talking about m-me?" Ira says, walking into the kitchen.

I smirk. "You are a great brother Ira." I laugh.

He just nods and smiles. He waves a quick goodbye and then leaves. I loved my brother so much. He and I had such a good relationship.

I look back to Lakeland and see that he is still mad. "Hey, stop it. I don't like it when you are not happy." I say.

"I'm fine." He says and I sigh.

"No you are not, I can see it in your eyes." I say, still holding his hand.

He looks away, but I lean in and kiss him and I feel his smile against my lips. "Better." I say.

Ira

The steps creaked as I hopped down them two at a time down to the kitchen. The front stairs leading in to the living room were much quieter and led to the main part of the house, but these steps were closer to my room and the kitchen.

I was one of the few people who didn't have a hangover, as I hadn't had much to drink the night before. I knew there were a few other people that hadn't, plus Lakeland and Opal hardly ever drank American beer and were evidently really good at holding their liquor anyways.

The moment I set foot in the kitchen I heard, "She is so lucky to have such a great brother like you."

"B-Big b-brother. Y-you m-must be t-talking about m-me?" I tease her, walking over the counter and grabbing a blueberry pancake off of the stack sitting there.

"You are a great brother Ira." Liz laughs as I bite in to my pancake.

Smiling, I look between her and Lakeland before pushing the door between the kitchen and living room open. It was a little weird, actually, what was going on between the two of them. They had gotten flirty last summer, and after we all went back home they continued it...but after we found out about Lakeland's accident he kind of stopped talking to us face to face. He was a great friend of mine, though. It was weird to see him with my sister.

As soon as I entered the living room the atmosphere changed, the room littered with hungover bodies. Finishing the last of my pancake, I recognized the shape of Hayden balled up miserably with her knees pulled against her chest and her face buried in her arms.

"H-hayden?" I asked, crossing the room and sitting on the couch beside her.

She groaned in response, never looking up, and I looked at her carefully. The swoop of her dark hair curtained her face, and she looked extremely small rolled up in to fetal position.Yet my mind was stuck on last night, replaying the kiss she had given my in the hallway for the thousandth time since last night. I felt my cheeks brighten at the mere thought of it, and suddenly I couldn't even form words. It was as if I was stuttering before even opening my mouth.

Instead, I made the simple gesture of reaching out towards her. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her over to me, holding her close to my side and waiting as she adjusted, laying her head on my shoulder, before laying my head on hers.

"Do y-you w-want to go sw-swimming?" I asked in a whisper.

She shook her head no, so we simply sat there quietly for I don't know how long until Stella came in to the room, holding an alma-seltzer water in her hands.

"Hey, everyone," she said in a hushed tone, "We're going out to lunch to celebrate Verine's birthday. Be ready to go in an hour. Tell the others."

Verine's birthday? God, I had forgotten all about it! It always came around right when we got to the summer house! What was it, her 16th? Yeah, definitely her 16th.

"We should go get ready, Hayden." I said in to her hair, turning my head to place a kiss on top of hers, "Come on, let's go upstairs."

Katrina Anderson

I felt a tap on my shoulder, turning, I thought it was Chris but it was Keith. I smiled but I really wanted Christian. "Katrina, what's the matter?" He asked me. "Well..." I say as we walk out to the water.

"I like Christian. " I say as we walk by him. "I guess he'd rather be with Verine.." I tell Keith. He immediately smiled. "You are jealous of your sister now, I see." He replied. I sighed, maybe I am. "It's Verines birthday today and I didn't even tell her happy birthday." I tell him.

"One swim then we will go see her. Is that christian?" He asked me. I nod. "He is so cute and being around him, just looking at him... made a difference." I tell him.

"Christian..." I say but immediately close my mouth. "It's time to let my sister be happy for once. "Well havent you realized no one knows your birthday is in 2 weeks." I nodded and just hopped into the water.

Christian

I swam up to the surface, and inhaled deeply.

I was the only one in the water, still. Which was fine because I liked being alone.

Katrina was still on the shore, but she was walking with some guy I'd never seen before.

Huh.

The sun beat down on my back. I'd forgotten to put sun lotion on. Ah, dammit.

Trying to keep from burning, I swam as quickly as I could to the shore, and shook my head, making water fly off me.

Katrina was staring at me, but talking. I waved, and she turned away.

Sighing, I headed inside, and grabbed a towel from the laundry room.

I wrapped the towel around my waist, and started to make my way to the room I slept in every summer.

As I turned the corner, I noticed my mom. "Oh, hey!"

She turned, and her eyes lighted up. "I've been looking for you! Go take a shower, and put some dry clothes on."

I stared at her, waiting to see why there was so much excitement in her voice.

"We're taking Verine out for her birthday." She said in a low voice, grinning.

I smiled, and nodded. "Alright!"

She patted my cheek, then walked away.

********

I got out of the shower, for the second time today.

The thought of kissing Verine made me get goose bumps.

I dressed in a pair of dark blue American Eagle jeans, a button up gray shirt, and some black converse.

I wondered where we were taking her, as I walked down the hall, my hands in my pockets.

Verine stepped out of her room, scratching her face. She looked like she'd just woken up.

"Hey, V." I said, walking up behind her

Verine turned around, and blushed a bit when she saw me. I guess was thinking of earlier.

Katrina came around the corner, and smiled a bit when she saw Verine.

"I wanna talk to you, sis." She said to Verine, and pulled her in the room Verine had just came out of.

Um, alrighty then." I mumbled, and went to the kitchen.

Liz was in there with Lakeland.

"Hey," I whispered. "get a room."

Liz laughed a bit, and waved me off.

"Oh, are you guys gonna go get ready?" I asked, opening the fridge, and pulling a water out of it.

Lakeland tore his gaze away from Liz, and stared at me questioningly. "...for?"

I looked to the side, then back at them. "It's Verine's birthday. We're taking her out. But she doesn't know that. So don't tell her." I told them quietly.

Liz's jaw dropped, and she gasped. "I totally forgot!"

I nodded slowly. "Well, we're leaving in about...41 minutes, so...yeah."

Liz started talking to Lakeland, something about what she would wear. I didn't really hear a lot, because I'd walked out.

I slumped down on a chair in the living room, thinking.