past mistakes

First Swim

We pull up at 11:58. Jack rushes everyone out of the car. He quickly unlocks the door with the key code and pulls us inside. He shuts the door and locks it right as it turns to 12. "Thank God," he sighs loudly.

"I should've walked slower," I pout, crossing my arms.

Jack's blue eyes stare me down. "Trust me, you don't mean that."

Then Jack mumbles to himself, "I guess Leo is sleeping over," as he walks to the counter and puts Leo's keys down. The house is feeling so cold right now.

Kendall, who is only a little tipsy, leads Leo into a guest bedroom. From the looks of him, he passed out immediately. Then Kendall walks to her own room, saying, "Night. Jack, can you get MC to her room?"

Jack nods before Kendall walks to her room. I am sitting on the couch, contemplating life. The ceiling looks so far away. Jack stands in front of me, blocking my view of the faraway ceiling. He mutters, "Come on, let's go."

"I'm fine, I can walk to my room Harris." My voice is flatter than I expected it to be.

"Nah I'm not leaving you this close to the door. Let's go," he says as he grabs my arm, trying to pull me up. I groan. He is disrupting my peace.

"You suck," I say as he walks me up the stairs. I trip on a few steps.

When we get to my room, he says, "Can you wash your face and change?"

I chuckle to myself. "Of course you would ask that," I say, slurring my words a bit. I probably wouldn't sounding a lot cooler if I hadn't talked like a five year old.

Jack face looks less and less amused as time goes on. "Wendorf, are you good?" he asks, clearly on his last leg before he reaches peak annoyance.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I say stepping into my room. He closes the door as he walks away.

I wash my face, brush my teeth, and change. The second I hit the bed, I'm out.

The sunlight hits my face as I wake up. I cover it with a pillow until I fully wake up. I have a bad headache but that's all. I just got really tipsy, not full on drunk.

Everyone is downstairs when I get there, expect Leo. He definitely got hit the hardest yesterday.

I let some water boil for tea, while I made a bowl of fruit. With my completed breakfast, I joined them on the couch. It is so silent.

"Where's Prescott?" Kendall asks with a groggy voice.

I check my text messages. There is one from yesterday saying, 'We are staying at the house, see you tomorrow.'

"He slept at our lake house. He'll be back today." I reply.

Ten minutes later Leo came out looking pretty rough. "Did I do anything stupid yesterday?" he asks.

"Besides getting super wasted?" Kendall asks with a smile.

Leo sighs, he probably just doesn't want to hear it. He sits down next to her, wrapping an arm around her.

A couple minutes later, we hear a knock at the door. Kendall gets it because she is the closest to the door. She lets the person in. We all turn to the door, seeing Mark.

"Hey guys, I just wanted to make sure you got home okay. Did you make it in time?" he asks, looking at each of us.

Jack sighs, "Yeah, barely."

Mark says, "Good, is everyone okay? Like not too hungover?"

We all look around at each other. I feel like it really wasn't that bad.

"I think we're fine," Kendall says.

Mark says, "Good, well, there is a beach party tomorrow if anyone is up for it. I'll text MC the address."

"I don't know if any more parties is a smart thing." I say cautiously. Jack and I exchange glances.

"I get it. This one I can't even try to say is going to be lowkey, but it'll definitely be fun. Please think about it." Mark says.

We all nod then he leaves. I don't think any of us are actually going to think about it, expect for maybe one person. Before Kendall can even try, I say, "No, there's no way I'm going."

Kendall says, "Please! We can all make a pact not to have any drinks."

Jack says, "No Kendall. You didn't have to deal with everyone last night. We're not going."

"Ugh, you suck Jack. I'm going, and I will convince MC too." Kendall says before going on her phone. Both Jack and I's eyebrows raise quickly.

I walk to my room later and put on a swimsuit. I set all of my stuff down outside and put on some sunscreen. I text Kendall, asking if she wants to join.

She comes out a few minutes later. I jump in the pool first. She splashes me a few seconds later as she jumps in herself. After about a minute, Leo joins with Jack. I look at Kendall who shrugs, "I invited Leo, not Jack."

Soon enough, we are all in the pool playing silly games. We played Marco Polo for a while, then we just sorta swam.

"I know you don't want to talk about this, but can we please go to that party? We are only teens once and we have so many memories to make up since you haven't been here." Kendall pleads.

I see where she is coming from. I know she wants to go because she wants to party but there could be other reasons for going too. I think for a minute before giving in, "Fine, but I really don't want to get in trouble." I just don't want to say no to her again.

"You won't. We didn't last night either. It'll be fun." She says with excitement. Her eyes lit up. 

"It better not be like last night." I say before doing a lap in the pool.

I sat out to tan for a while. Twenty minutes in, I feel someone standing over me. I open my eyes to see Jack standing there. Where did those abs come from? My eyebrows furrow. 

"Kendall told me you said you would go to the party. Why?" he asks as he sits next to me. 

I sit up a little and answer, "I have like a whole year of memories to make up for. I missed everything at boarding school, I don't want to miss anything that I can actually go to."

Jack sighs, "If you keep going to these parties, you won't have memories of anything anyway." His eyes are looking really blue in this light. He has to squint to see anything.

"I'm not going to drink anymore. It's more fun that way anyway." I reply with a smile. The smile is not for Jack but more for myself. 

"You say that now, but I'm pretty sure you didn't plan on drinking yesterday," he mutters. I wish I didn't notice that he was looking at my chest area. I roll my eyes.

"I was mad, Jack. I was drinking because I was mad."

"And you're not mad now?"

"I'm not as mad, and I now remember how crappy I feel waking up the next day."

"You know I won't let you go alone with Kendall," he says as he faces the pool again.

"You don't have to come, but that's definitely not the Jack I know. The Jack I know would have been begging me to go to this party so he can go talk to girls." I say.

"You're not the only one who changed, but it kinda seems like you didn't."

"I don't have to actually change, I just need my parents to think I did. You have no idea what boarding school was like, Jack." I say, a little angrier than I wanted.

"Fine Wendorf, go to the party. Whatever." he says as he gets up and walks to a table to go on his phone. What's his problem?