Seven More

4. Tension

"How can he just fall asleep like that? I'm stressing out here!" Vincent's teeth had been chattering all day, he was terrified Mia and her friends were going to retaliate. Riley on the other hand, was taking a nap in the sand.

Everyone else was out playing in the sea, but I just wasn't feeling in a playful mood, until and idea struck.

"Oh Riley, my sweet and innocent brother," I chuckled as I rose to my feet and began putting my plan into action. I began scooping wet sand over his body, forming a sort of cast.

"He'll wake up!" Vince worried aloud, but I knew better.

"He could sleep through a marching band, now help me," covering the lanky Montgomery was at least at two man job.

Soon Blake saw what we were doing and decided to join in, much to mine and Vincent's dismay.

"Lets give him boobs!" Blake suggested excitedly.

"Lets not," Vincent shot him down straight away.

"You're no fun," Blake pouted like a toddle.

Needless to say Blake got his own way, despite our protests, and many pictures were taken of Riley in his near comatose state.

"What do you think they have planned?" Vincent asked, looking over to our rivals who were messing around on the beach.

"I don't know, but it can't be good. It has to be an escalation of what we did to them," I sighed.

Mia had been known to be a genius at pranks because despite her gullible façade, she was actually highly intelligent.

"How worse could it get!" Vincent's ominous question hung in the air.

***

Riley woke up eventually, because of the smell of food I'm assuming, as we sat around a camp fire toasting marshmallows to make s'mores. To any onlookers it was probably a picturesque scene, a group of friends laughing and joking over an open fire. But there was an underlying tension that someone not amongst the group would not be able to detect. 

"Blake, you're doing it wrong!" Vincent knocked Kai's hand away from the fire, as he got scarily close. "You're gonna burn yourself," he sounded concerned. 

"You could help instead of yelling at me," Kai pouted out his bottom lip like a toddler. Vincent sighed and gave in, taking his marshmallow from him and holding it over the fire. "By help, do you just mean make it for you?" 

"Of course I do," Kai chuckled, his child-like facade had faded away. 

"You look distracted buddy," I heard Eli speak up next to me. It was rare for him to sit away from Peyton, for some reason he had decided not to. 

"I'm just on alert, there's no way Mia's group aren't going to let last night go," I spoke to him quietly as everyone else debated the best way to make s'mores.

"You've not been yourself for a while, since we got here really," he commented. 

Trust it to be Eli to notice. He was a man of few words, which meant he noticed things before everyone else did. 

I sighed, considering whether to open up to him or not. In the end, I decided he could be trusted and I knew he wouldn't judge me, he just wasn't that sort of person. 

"I guess I've just been feeling kind of left out lately, you know, I always considered you my best friend and then you got together with my sister. Then Riley and Silver got together. I know Vincent, Kai and Blake are still single here, but I can't help feeling left out," I admitted, feeling vulnerable. 

"It sounds to me like you're looking for a girlfriend," Eli chuckled, sending me a suggestive smile. 

"You know I don't do girlfriends Antonelli. If I ever pine after a girl like you do my sister, then please shoot me," I sneered. 

"You say that now," he shook his head, laughing slightly. "Just wait till it happens to you, you won't find it so sad then." 

"Till what happens?" I queried. His superior attitude was kind of pissing me off, but he got me curious. 

"Till you find the right girl, who makes you pine because you've never met anyone like her."

"That is actually the dumbest thing you've ever said, and what makes it at least ten times worse is that you're talking about my sister. My sister who wet the bed till she was eight and who thinks diet coke tastes nicer than regular coke," I shook my head in disbelief. 

"I'll remember you said that," he laughed out loud. 

It was going well, I felt like Eli and I were talking like we hadn't done in a while. It was going well until we heard war cries and saw Mia's group charging towards us, wielding water guns. 

As soon as they were within reach, they killed the flames of the fire and left us in darkness. 

"Run!" Riley screamed and I just about saw his figure running and falling over in the sand. Idiot. 

As stealthily as I could manage, I began running for the bushes, hoping to cut through and make it to the house. The darkness was causing a lot of confusion, and I kept running into people, not knowing who was who. 

I kept getting pelted with water until a hand came out and pulled me into a little alcove, removing me from the line of fire. 

I had no idea who would rescue me like that. For a moment Mia's face flashed through my mind, but it wasn't her. It was Gabriella. 

"I believe this is my second time rescuing you now, Sebastian," she smirked up at me. The girl had confidence, I liked that. I knew exactly what she wanted, and I wasn't entirely opposed to the idea.

"Actually, I think its more like your second time capturing me," I replied, stepping closer to her. 

"I seem to be making a habit of it," she reached out and ran her fingers along my chest, pretending to inspect my wet shirt. 

"I wonder what you could possibly want from me," I smirked. She was making it pretty clear 

"I'll show you," she grinned. 

Before I knew it she had pressed me up against the wall and planted her lips on mine. 

*** 

I apologise for any typos or spelling errors, I'm not in the habit of checking chapters after writing them. 

Thanks for reading!

JJ xo