Unstable

Chapter 8

"Hell must be freezing over," I muttered as I stretched out my bare legs on the lawn recliner, wiggling my toes, "because it's actually sunny."

"And there's no sign of a storm." Fran added next to me. She had on black sunglasses and her hair, which had grown a great amount and was actually down to her shoulders, was pulled back in a side braid, left thrown over her right shoulder. She was wearing a white and pink one-piece swimsuit.

"It always seemed to be cloudy in London," Eleanor chimed in next to me. She wore her brown hair up in a loose, high ponytail, and she was also wearing sunglasses to cover her eyes. I could tell she was wearing a lot of foundation over her face to hide the scar on her cheek; the scar wasn't that visible unless you really looked. But I honestly didn't think it made her look ugly or anything—it was just a mark. She wore a bright blue two-pieced swim suit, which showed off her long, skinny legs and flat tummy.

I, on the other hand, wore a two-piece swimsuit as well although I wore some short swimming trunks over my thighs. I wasn't a fan of showing off my thighs, mainly because I believed I had thick thighs, so I hid that well with these trunks. My swimsuit was simple—it was a plain black, and my swimming trunks were a light green color.

"Do you have enough sun screen on?" I asked Fran.

Fran had pale, delicate skin. I didn't know much about Eleanor, but it seemed like she knew what she was doing. Fran, on the other hand, was born and raised in London, which barely ever had a full sunny day.

She nodded in response, eyes closed, and I pulled my head back to lean against the chair.

The pool area we were at was actually very nice because there weren't that many people here. There was a family across the pool with two children, and there were also some kids in the water, but for the most part, it was pretty much empty. The pool was large—extending to 12 feet in the deep end, and it had two diving boards; one was low and close to the ground, and the other was much, much higher. It even had a ladder you had to climb to get to the top.

I opened my eyes to see two boys, probably around the ages of 10-12, trying to convince the other to go on the tall diving board.

It felt really good—healthy to feel the sun on my skin. I never knew how pale I looked until I got outside under the actual sun.

We had to ask Louis if we could go out here, since Harry was on the phone and had been on the phone for 45 minutes. We figured he wasn't getting off the phone anytime soon, so we asked Louis and he surprisingly had no problem with us going. Of course he did seem a bit busy at the time, distracted and whatnot, but we were so eager to get outside that we didn't wait around for him to change his mind. Perrie was still up at the apartment—she was actually feeling sick lately, and she slept a lot to feel better. We considered taking her to a doctor's office to have her looked at, but she strangely refused to go.

The kid had finally convinced the other one to climb the ladder. I watched him go, sitting up a little when I felt myself grinning. The poor kid was obviously nervous; as soon as he got to the top, he peered over the edge and his eyes got all wide. I could read his expression easily. He was thinking what-the-hell-did-I-get-myself-into?

"Don't just stand there," His buddy, standing with two other boys, were laughing at his fear. "Jump!"

He continued to stare over the edge, his feet refusing to move. He took tentative steps towards the edge, and he quickly backed up. I thought he was going to climb back down the ladder, until he took a deep breath.

"Watch this, you blokes," He called before jumping onto the diving board, which slightly bent from his weight and propelled him upwards. He was thrown off of it, landing ungracefully in the water with his body curled into a "cannon ball."