𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫? - 𝐓𝐌𝐑 𝐀𝐔, 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐨

004 - why does my head hurt?

"Ugh," I groan, my body shifting as I try to get the hands off my shoulders.

As soon as I move, my head begins to violently throb. What the hell?

"Ow," I murmur, shoving my pillow against my face.

I can't remember anything from last night. I only remember the boys introducing themselves to me. Nothing else. Maybe my head got hit and I lost my memory. Who knows?

"Come on, Whitley," Sonya whines, her voice entering my ears. "I know you have a hangover, but you need to get up."

"Hangover?" I ask into my pillow.

"Yes, a hangover," she repeats.

"Why would I have a hangover?"

"Maybe because you and Braedyn drank an unhealthy amount of alcohol, and now your head hurts. You were drunk," she tells me.

"Oh."

Braedyn. He's the one with a buzz cut, right?

"He's also in bed," Sonya says. "Now come on. You need food."

"Do I really?" I ask, attempting to shove her off me so I can sleep.

"Yes, you do." She rolls her eyes. "Come on."

"I hate you," I complain, forcing myself to ignore the headache and get up.

I manage to stand up and walk towards my suitcase, but then the nausea hits.

Oh shit.

My hand slaps over my mouth, covering the vomit. Luckily, Sonya notices, and she runs to get me a bucket.

When she returns with it, my throat is burning, and I immediately let everything escape my mouth.

And it's disgusting.

Sonya gags beside me, but I continue to throw up into the bucket, which she drops to the floor.

**

My head rests on my hand as I sit in the main hall, a plate of food in front of me.

Braedyn whispers to me, groaning, "I think we drank way too much last night." I can tell his head is pounding too.

"No shit," I reply, squeezing my eyes closed in an attempt to stop the throbbing. It doesn't work.

"Sorry for giving you the vodka," he says. "It's my fault we're drunk."

"No, it isn't. Don't apologise," I tell him.

"Guys, come on," Harriet orders. "We're going to the beach, put on your swimwear."

I do just that, and a few minutes later, I head to the beach, my body covered in a baby–pink bikini.

"I love your bikini," Sonya compliments, smiling.

"Thank you." I return the smile happily. "It's cute enough to distract me from my head."

That makes her chuckle. "It's pretty, so it would probably distract anyone if they wore it."

"Except for your brother?"

"Except for my brother. He's too ugly."

When we reach the beach, most of our friends are already there.

Teresa and Harriet are wearing matching yellow bikinis. Harriet's dark hair is no longer in box braids; it's now flowing freely in the wind. Teresa's hair is styled the same as mine: a low ponytail.

Sonya—who is now walking up to them—is wearing a one–piece dark red swimsuit, her blonde hair in the same plait as the day before.

"Hey," Teresa greets us before turning to me. "How are you feeling? You drank a lot of alcohol yesterday." She chuckles. "You and Braedyn seem to be getting along."

I nod. "Yeah, he's nice."

There is something on the tip of my tongue, but I hold back. What did I tell him when I was drunk? I hope I didn't mention Tyler.

Luckily, Harriet shakes me out of my thoughts by speaking. "The groups are on the door to the main hall, by the way. We're in pairs."

I cock my head to the left. "Who am I with?"

"It says you're with Minho," she tells me. "For sports, at least. It changes every rotation. But beware, Minho is very competitive when it comes to sports. And he's fast. Nobody beats him, he's the fastest here."

"Dammit," I mutter. "I'm the slowest."

"Maybe he can teach you some things," Sonya suggests. "Anyways, let's go swim."

The cool water feels refreshing against my skin as the sun beats down on my pale skin, and I can't help but wish for a tan. Maybe I'd feel more comfortable in this bikini; I can't shake the feeling of people judging my body.

Did I put my bikini on wrong? Does the colour not suit me? Is my hair messy? Is there mascara running down my face? Am I too fat? Am I too skinny? Can they see my scars? Is Tyler watching me? Do people hate me? Is there—?

"Whit," Sonya nudges me, splashing water as she does so. "You okay? You seem stressed."

"I'm fine," I answer, looking down at my body. My stomach looks a bit bloated; I'm on my period. But other than that, I think I look fine.

"Are you sure?" Sonya whispers. "We can go in if you want. Do you need anything?"

"No, it's okay," I reassure her. "Stay out here with everyone. I'm just going to talk to Braedyn."

I tread my way back to land, and spot Braedyn, who is sitting alone on the sand.

When I reach him, he looks up. "Hey, Whitley."

"Hi."

"Why'd you come back?" He asks. "It looked like you were having fun out there."

I shrug. "I don't really know. Do you not like swimming?" I nod towards his clothes.

"Thalassophobia," he tells me. "The ocean scares me."

"Fear enough," I say, chuckling at my joke. "Anyways, do you remember anything that I told you last night?"

Braedyn thinks for a moment. "You're a cat person. You prefer summer."

"Yeah, but personal things."

"Like what?" He questions. "Do you remember what we talked about?"

"No," I respond. "That's why I'm asking. I want to know if I said things I shouldn't have."

"I don't remember." Braedyn shrugs. "So if you did, it's fine. I only remember us talking like normal people. And we talked about alcohol, but the rest of that's a blur."

I nod. "Alright. But I did see some of our texts."

"Yeah." He chuckles.

Bradun

1:19 am today

You

hetuy

alkahol

I lik vodca

Bradun yu col

Bradun

What?

I can stil tipe, haha

You

Hahahsasl

Poo

"I also posted a photo on my instagram," he tells me. "It's captioned My new best friend."

A laugh escapes me. A real laugh. "We were really drunk, weren't we?"

He nods, chuckling himself. "Yeah, we were."

I spend another few minutes talking to him before sneaking back to my cabin. I still feel sick.