Stairways | A Surviving Summer FanFiction

Part 77 - Team Bonding

After an afternoon of training in the water, you head home alone to shower and change; you shove some party clothes in a bag and head to Poppy's where you agreed you would get ready together.

As you pull up on your bike, you notice your brother is there already, slumped on the couch playing video games with Manu. Marlon must have come straight here after training, you think.

"Hey." you say as you walk under the balcony cover.

Manu says hi, but Marlon barely looks up. As you're about to head upstairs, you hear them discussing the new coach in the background, and you nearly crash into Poppy on the stairs.

"Oh, hey Y/n," she says hurriedly; she's wearing a simple white skirt and white crop top, with purple knee-high boots, and a brush of purple over her eyelids. "You want to go get changed and meet me down here?" she says, holding the straps of her top behind her back.

"Yeah, sure." you say, continuing upstairs and into Poppy's room. You change into some denim cut-off shorts and a red top, before heading back down to meet Poppy. You stop on the stairs when you hear voices drifting through the club.

"You can't go dressed like that, by the way." you hear Poppy say, and you peer round the door to see Marlon tying the straps at the back of her top.

"Oh, I'm not going." he mutters, and Poppy turns her head incredulously.

"What? Why?"

"'Cos, it's desperate. It's embarrassing enough going to training." Marlon shrugs, and you feel suddenly sorry for him - maybe Griff's comments at lunch hurt him more deeply than it seemed.

"That's ridiculous. I want you there." Poppy replies.

"Don't you guys have a training session tomorrow?" Manu pipes up, and you suddenly make your presence known by stepping out loudly off the stairs - it felt like you were intruding on something earlier, but now you know Manu is there, you can show yourself.

"Oh, relax Manu," Poppy says exasperatedly. "It's just team bonding. It'll be totally chill," she turns to you. "Y/n, tell your brother he needs to come to Summer's tonight."

You're about to tell him that he should come, when you rethink: you know how hard he's found being the sub, and after Griff's comments this afternoon, would he really enjoy going? You shrug. "If he wants to come, he should."

"Okay, is this about Griff?" Poppy asks, catching on. "Look, he's being an idiot, but that doesn't mean you should miss out because of him." she flashes Marlon a sympathetic smile, one that he can't seem to refuse. He sighs, rolls his eyes and musters a smile.

"Fine, okay. I'll come."

__________

There's music blaring from the house as you approach. It's the place Margot is renting whilst her and Summer are in Shorehaven; it's nice, and it's well-maintained, and it looks expensive. Probably not the best place to throw a party.

None of you bother knocking on the dark oak door, heading straight inside, and it's not hard to find where the party's being held. It's everywhere.

There's plastic cups and coke bottles littered across the floor, people dancing drunkenly, and the gathering extends out onto the decking outside, where the large swimming pool is being used as a crash landing space for boys doing flips off an adjacent trampoline.

You step over the party paraphernalia and tread carefully outside, where you spot Summer flipping burgers on the barbecue.

"Wow, she really went all out." Poppy says, and you nod in agreement, taking in the scene.

"Half the people here aren't even on the team," Marlon says, almost to himself. "How does she even know this many people?"

"Hey guys!" Summer yells, tearing herself away from the barbecue.

"America, this is...interesting." Marlon says, and Summer grins widely.

"I knew you'd love it," she replies. "Hey, let's go dance!" she grabs you and Poppy by the arms, drags you towards the area of space which people are apparently using as a dance floor. It's fun to let loose after today, even if your body is still stiff from training this morning as you try to dance with the girls.

"Hey, no texting your girlfriend tonight." Poppy says to Bodhi, who you realise has pulled out her phone.

"Wait, girlfriend?" Summer stops dancing, grinning at Bodhi who smiles back sheepishly.

"Her name's Tuscany." Poppy says before Bodhi can even get a word in. Poppy seems incredibly excited. You didn't even know anything about this. When did it start? Why didn't Bodhi tell you?

"She's this really cool surfer from Queesland," Bodhi says quickly. "We've just been texting for a little while."

"Get it Bodhi!" Summer says excitedly. "Hey, I just have one question though, what was wrong with me?"

Bodhi scoffs with a laugh.

You suddenly notice Wren, Ari and Baxter come through the door. Ari walks off to get some food, and Wren pulls out her phone, beginning to film the party, a sly smile forming on her face.

"Hey, what is she doing?" you ask Summer, gesturing to Wren. "Is she going to show that to Elo?"

A worried look flashes across Summer's face, before she tries to smile convincingly. "It'll be fine. I mean, Wren came to this party, so technically she's doing something wrong too." Summer shrugs, and you're about to point out an obvious flaw in her plan when a dancer (probably a drunk one) goes flying into an expensive-looking statue perched on a block of wood on the decking.

"Woah!" Summer catches it before it hits the ground. "Watch it!" she calls back to the dancer, who doesn't appear to hear her. "Y/n, can you help me take some of this stuff inside? My mom will kill me if any of these statue things get broken."

"You sure your mum's not going to kill you anyway?" you say, but she's already loaded a statue into your arms.

"Please just take this into one of the rooms that say 'keep out' on the door? At least no one will go in there." she says hurriedly - she seems stressed, so you do as she says, heading into the house.

You stroll along one of the corridors until you find a door with a sign taped on, saying 'keep out'. You head inside: this must be Margot's room, you think to yourself. There's a freshly-made bed, with crisp white sheets and clothes neatly hung in an open wardrobe.

But there's voices coming from the bathroom - one male, one female. You don't really want to interrupt, but Summer would probably kill them if she knew they were in her mother's room. You peer around the doorway tentatively, and you're surprised to see Baxter with a girl you've never seen before. She's in a bikini, and Baxter in board shorts, leaning over her with a hand on the wall behind.

You clear your throat, and the girl's giggles come to a halt as they both turn their gazes to you.

"Can you guys not read?" you ask, gesturing to the sign on the door.

"Oh, yeah sorry," Baxter says simply, then blinks twice, an idea obviously creeping into his mind. "Hey, you want to join?" he moves his arm in a sort of gesture between him and the girl, and you raise an eyebrow in surprise. "We're very inclusive, right?" he nods at the girl, who gazes at him incredulously.

"Are you serious?" she asks, obviously hoping for him to say he was joking, but to be honest, you don't think he was. Baxter just shrugs, feigning innoncence, before the girl mutters an 'ugh', throws up her hands and makes a quick exit.

And you're left alone in a room with Baxter Radic.