Vacation

Volleyball Match

I pull my bathing suit out of my suitcase, and go about putting it on. It fit amazingly, and the bottoms just barely showed my scar, not that that matters anymore. I pull my hair into a fluffy bun at the top of my head. I put contacts in instead of my glasses so I could wear sunglasses, and I throw the sheer white bathing suit cover on. It's like a cardigan, and it has a single button that connects just above my belly button. I button it, put my brown sandals on, and walk downstairs, my sunglasses on my head.

"Woah, you look great." Bridgett says. She's in her red and black bathing suit with a cover just like mine but in black. Her hair in twin bubble braids.

"So do you." I say back, before clearing my throat.

"Oh, right. Your teas in the kitchen, your drinking it before we leave." I roll my eyes but nod my head anyway.

I sit at the island, facing the living room. I could see all of my friends sitting on the couch talking about something. Brandon's swim trunks are black with little dinosaurs on them. Lucas' are solid red, and Derrick's are dark blue with solid white Hawaiian flowers on them. All three of them are wearing white wife beaters (the shirt obvi) like they got them from the same package or something.

I quickly finish my tea, and rinse out the cup before leaving it in the sink. I walk back into the living room, and sit down, propping my feet on the ottoman in front of me.

"Y'all ready?" I ask, my southern accent coming through.

"Oh my God, you do that every single time. You know, your patients are gonna think you're crazing if you say 'y'all ready?' right before surgery or something." Bridgett says.

I'm going to college to become a surgeon, and they love to point out my accent any time I thicken it to get on their nerves. I chuckle, and stand back up.

"Let's go!" I say, trying to forget my sister for the time being.

"Yeah, come on guys!" Brandon says, standing and walking to the sliding glass door.

The house is so close to the ocean, that there's a peer going off the back deck and into the ocean. You can walk off the steps on the other side of the deck and be on the beach. Plus, it was private property so no one else could go to our little section of the beach. I grab one of the beach towels from a drawer next to the door, and walk off the deck and into the sand.

I lay out my towel, and lay on top of it face down after taking my sandals off.

"Nope." I hear Lucas say. I look up to him.

"What do you mean 'nope.'?" I ask.

"We're about to play beach volleyball and so are you. Just so you know, you aren't the only one with a messed up childhood. Did you know that I watched my dad kill my mother when I was 4? I lost both of my parents that day. Me and my younger sister, she was two at the time, were sent to live with my grandparents after being in the system for 5 years. Thats when I met you guys in the third grade. Everyone has sad sob stories, maybe not as scary as mine and yours, but to them that's the core of their being. Let's go have fun with them. They shouldn't have to worry about people like us." I nod, and stand up, walking over to the net with him. I haven't even touched a volleyball since the night Hera died, but like Lucas said, I don't want them to worry. So, I put on a smile and serve the ball across the net. Derrick sits out this round, keeping score. It's me and Brandon versus Bridgett and Lucas.

Automatically, that's a big difference in height. Lucas is 5'6 and Bridgett's 5'3. I'm 5'7, and Brandon's 5'11. That's how I knew the other team was going down.

We play for a while, and the whole time it's been neck and neck, my team just a point or two ahead. Bridgett hits the ball, and I dive to get it, but just barely miss. Then the scores 20 to 20. Whoever gets this point, wins the game.

Bridgett tosses it up, and hits it, it goes over the net, and I jump and tip it back over. Lucas runs to bump it back over. It's behind me, so Brandon gets it, falling to his knees. He jumps back up as it goes over. Bridgett knocks it up at the perfect angle for me to spike it. I do just that, and it slams into the ground.

"Yes!" I jump up and down, turning and capturing Brandon in a hug. He hugs me back tightly, and I feel his smile against the side of my head.

I let go to see Bridgett and Lucas smiling, and she shoots me a thumbs up. To anyone else, it would've been a congrats on our win. But to me and her, it was because I was hugging my crush.

I laugh as I pull away, and I see his face in a smile while holding my shoulders.

"Good job." He whispers.

"Thanks." I say, smiling wider.

"Last one in the water's a rotten egg!" Derrick yells, running.

"Hey!" Everyone else says in unison. We all take off running, Bridgett and I pulling ahead when the boys struggle to pull their shirts off while running. Bridgett runs into the water just before I do, making her jump and cheer for herself.

After they throw their shirts on a pile, they run into the water, Lucas being the last one in. We all make fun of him for being last, while also splashing each other.

The water is so clear, you can see the sand at the bottom. We throw water around for a while, making each other duck and laugh.

"We should play that game where someone's on the others shoulders and they try to push them off. What's that game called?" Derrick suggests. We all stop for a second, laughing when we couldnt think of what it was called.

AN: yeah I couldn't remember what it was called either and I'm too lazy to look it up.

"Yeah we should! I'll sit out this round though." Brandon says, backing away.

We split up, Lucas with me and Derrick with Bridgett. Us girls get on their shoulders. I wrap my hands around Lucas' head when I think I'm about to fall.

"Athena. I can't see." He says calmly, chuckling a little. I hear thenrest if the group laughing with him.

"Oh, keep laughing. I'm gonna be laughing when we win! You think we'll win, right Brandon?" I glance over, and he shrugs.

"I don't know, Derrick's pretty tall, and Bridgett's pretty dangerous. You're a big scary cat." I glare at him, flipping him off. "Ok. Ready? Set. Go!" He says. Lucas walks forward, and I reach out, grabbing Bridgett's shoulders as she grabs mine.

"You're goin down, Sweetheart." I say. She rolls her eyes, and shoves me. I grip my legs, making Lucas grunt in pain, and I go to apologize but Bridgett takes this time to shove me down, and I fall backwards with a scream.

I come back up out of the water laughing. Lucas shoves me playfully.

"You almost killed me with your legs, Bro. I thought I was going to die!" I giggle, making him smirk.

"Sorry. I thought I was going to fall." I say, looking over to Brandon. He was glaring at Lucas a little.

"My turn, since you lost and all." Brandon spits, masking his anger with determination. Why would he be mad? "C'mon Athena, your with me this round. We gotta show these idiots who's boss." I chuckle, and wait for him to crouch down before I get onto his shoulders. He pulls his arms up, and grips my things so I'm grounded. I don't feel like I'm going to fall on his shoulders. I shift a little, trying to get a little more comfortable.

"Okay. I'm ready." I whisper to Brandon.

"Hang on, I'm not." He grunts back.

"Um... Ok... Are you good?" I ask.

"Yup. Just... Give me a minute." He takes a deep breath as I shrug.

"Ready?" Lucas asks. I look down at Brandon. He taps my leg, telling me he's ready. "Yep!" I say.

"We've been ready." Bridgett says. We move forward, grabbing each others shoulders again.

"Okay, I'm gonna win this time." I say, and Bridgett chuckles menacingly, making me second guess my statement.

I shove her, and see her legs squeeze around Derrick's neck, and he coughs a little. Bridgett falls backwards, and into the water. I throw my hands up, and yell.

Brandon crouches in the water, letting me slide off his back. I stand back up, and he picks me up by the waist, and spins, making me yell out in surprise. He sets me back down, and kisses me.