Falling For Ms. Popular

Relaxation

After an excruciatingly difficult day, Mari took both Nathan and I down to the pool outside to hangout and, most importantly, relax. It's been so long since we could just sit down and rest somewhere, so naturally I took full advantage of it. Mari hopped into the pool first followed by me. We didn't speak to each other at first until she swam closer and gave me a hug.

"What's up with you?" I asked, confused by her behavior. She shook her head and said nothing before grabbing my chin lightly and pulling in her direction. "Oh nothing. Just thinking to myself." She replied, letting me go right after and swimming to the opposite side of the pool. Nathan hadn't jumped in yet, so I went over to where he was sitting and plopped right next to him. "Nathan, what's going on dude?" I asked, hold out a fist to bump his with. Nathan looked at me and then at my hand before turning away from me and waving me off.

"Sis, I'm not going to come in the pool. Don't make me mad because you know what happened last time you did." He said, grinning from ear to ear like the little demon spawn he is. With a quick flick of my hair I returned to the pool, only to be greeted with a water balloon to the face. Mari snickered at me while I laid on the ground, plotting my devious revenge against her. Without any warning I jumped into the pool and picked her up. She giggled and threw weak punches at me before I finally threw her into the water with a loud splash.

"No fair! You're like a modern Marion Jones, except without the steroids... or at least I hope." I laughed at her before helping Mari out of the water to sit and rest. We both wiped ourselves off, joining Nathan by a set of chairs. "Oh yeah, you never told me that Nathan doesn't like to swim. I could've taken us somewhere else you know." I shrugged and looked back over to Nathan who was avoiding all eye contact with both of us.

"It's a long story..." I replied, trying to calm myself down. Mari grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently, making sure not to hurt me. She nudged me a bit and, soon, I started to flow like a river, "Our... parents tried to drown both of us when we were little. That's more or less why he doesn't like to go into deep water, but I'm used to it now so I'm not bothered by it. Why do you think we don't live with them anymore?" I asked, squeezing her hand tightly. Mari rubbed the back of her neck, struggling to come up with any sort of response until she managed to get her words out.

"S-sorry... I didn't mean to trigger unhappy memories. Really, you guys need to tell me these things alright? I do care about you guys." She replied before letting my hand go and standing up, "Let's go. We're heading to the mall." Mari grabbed my hand and Nathan's, dragging us into the house to get dressed and ready to leave. This girl... such a drama queen, but I'm happy she's caring for us... Mari decided that we wouldn't need any butlers to go with us, so she asked me to drive us there in her personal car.

"Don't blame me if I crash this thing. I haven't driven in years." I warned her, putting the car into drive and soon taking off down the road. It wasn't long before we reached the mall, which was packed, so we headed right on in as soon as we got there. Nathan wanted to check out Game stop, Mari wanted to go to Bath&Body, and naturally I wanted to go to Spencer's. We all agreed to meet up at the food court after we were done shopping, so I hurried and ran off to Spencer's. I must've been in there for at least an hour trying on a variety of hats,  testing t-shirts, and looking at body piercings. Finally, I decided to by a ribbed red beanie, a few funny shirts, and some stud earrings. As soon as I walked out the store, someone bumped into me from the side. It was a man around his 50s with a woman about the same. They looked familiar to me, but I paid no attention to it and continued to walk until the woman grabbed my arm.

"Aren't you going to apologize, little girl?" She asked me in a angered tone. I shrugged and grabbed her hand, dropping it without a single word. She grabbed me again, but this time she forcibly turned me around to examine my face fully, "Oh my God. It's you! I thought you died!" She yelled, gaining the attention of all those around us. I looked at her closely and then realized who she was. It was our mother and father. Before she could say anything else to me, I ran away from them. Luckily, I stopped when I reached the food court, but it was too late. Tears were already flowing down my face like no tomorrow. Nathan and Mari both saw me and hurried over, asking me what was wrong. I couldn't get any other words out besides "It's them", but that was enough for Nathan to realize who I was talking about. I didn't help the situation that they also followed me back to the food court.