Taken

"Come on, just get in the water already!" my best friend Jessika yells at me from inside the greenish black water inside my back yard pool. "Don't be such a baby!"

"I'm not a baby!" I yell back, giving her a bad look and crossing my arms across my half naked chest. "It's only December! We could get really sick!"

"Just jump, please Casey!" yells Brandon and gives me the puppy dog eyes and swims over to the edge of the pool. I look at his bright blue eyes and jet black hair and know I'm about to crack. I can never say no to Brandon when he gives me the puppy dog eyes. "Come on, we do this every year. What's so different about this year?"

It's true, Jessika, Brandon and I have been doing this since middle school. It's a tradition. So why don't I want to do it this year? There nothing different about the dark green water and my two beat friend swimming in it waiting for me. Maybe it's because it take about a week to get the smell of chlorine and old water out of my hair.

"I don't know." I shrug an rub my hands up and down my goose bump covered arms.

"It's only for a little bit, I swear C" I look at Brandon then Jessika to see them both giving me the puppy dog face and poking out their lips at me. Ugh I hate it when they do that.

"Fine," I sigh, "But only for a minute, no longer." I give them a steen look and watch them nod before I suck in a huge breathe of air and jumping into the freezing water. I almost gasp in shock when I hit the water, I feel like a thousand needles are going through my body. Why do we do this every year? I push myself off the bottom of the pool and cringe when I feel squishy stuff goes in between my toes. I keep my mouth and eyes close till I reach the surface of the water.

"Happy now?" I ask, wiping water out of my eyes.

"Yes, very much." Jessika laughs and pokes me in the side. "Was it that bad?"

"Yes, it's gross in here, and I'm freezing my ass off." I say as I lift myself out of the pool and grab a towel from the deck chairs and wrap it around my shivering body. "And I though we did this in February or March when it wasn't so cold out."

"I don't think so." Brandon ponders for a minute before shrugging his tan muscular shoulders and climbing out of the pool. I can't help but check him out, his muscular body dripping wet. I watch a bead of water run down his chest and six pack before going into his little happy trail.

"Like what you see?" Brandon whispers in my ear making me jump. I watch him grab a towel from the deck chair and wrap it around his body.

"Please, I've seen better." I say and see Jessika getting out of the pool in only her bra and underwear. She never has a bathing suit when we do this. She either borrows one of mine or just strips down to her bra and panties.

"Nice trunks." Jessika snickers. I look at Brandon's trunk and start laughing at the pink swim trunks he's wearing with little Hawaiian flowers on the right leg.

"Shut up, my mom put them in the laundry with some red shirts." Brandon scowls as he dries himself off.

"It's okay," I laugh, "We love you no matter how girly you dress." I pat him on the arm and run to the side door that leads to the kitchen of my parents three story luxury house. "Im going to take a shower, Brandon you can take the guest bed room across the hall from my room and Jessika you can take the one you always use." I look over my shoulder to see them following me inside with there clothes in their arms.

"Okay, see you in a little bit." Jessika says before slipping into the guest bedroom across the hall from my parents room.

"Do you need help with the shower?" I ask B as we read the end of the hall where the second guest bedroom and my room is.