The cool air-conditioning swirled around her as she stood by the pool side. She was completely alone—not an unusual feat. She spent most of her days just sitting by the pool side curled up on one of the cushiony lounge chairs while reading her latest treasure-find. This week it was "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore." But that was beside the main point. She would always known to be the girl with her head stuck in a book, or even sometimes, she would be the girl just stuck in her own world. Friends were hard to make in her living situation.
You see, her single father worked as the main manager at the prestigious five-star hotel, Grand Cali, or also known as Hotel California. But unfortunately, one of the main perks about being the manager of such a grandiose place was that your living situation would never be compromised. She and her father lived deep within the realms of the multi-story building, and for a young girl, who was always homeschooled, to be living in a such place where people were always going in and out of, friends were never permanent. It did not help that she was more of an introvert rather than an extreme socialite; any other twenty-year old teen living in Hotel California would have completely taken advantage of its constant stream of famous guests.
But she didn't. She burned it out, and she lived out her life quietly. She had no qualms about that. She enjoyed her quaint tendencies, but every now and then, her one and only friend, Oskar, would draw her into a little bit of trouble. Oskar was the hotel's chef's son and just like her, he also lived at Grand Cali. He was basically the only connection she had to the real world. He showed her everything, from the hotel's midnight surprise parties to the hotel's secret suites for celebrities. And she did not question his knowledge of the hotel's ongoing activities because from the first day that she arrived at the sweet hotel of the fresh age of eighteen, she had quickly learned that it is sometimes best to not know about how Oskar knows. Although Oskar had his rebellious tendencies, she did genuinely enjoy his company; he was good friend.
In fact, he was the one that she poured her heart out to about the reason why she and her dad had moved to California in the first place. Not only that, but after Oskar had heard her story, he quickly set out to help her. Oskar was the one who got her the key to the hotel's indoor swimming pool, he was the one who told her about how no one was allowed to go in past midnight, and he was the one who was able to convince Gibson, the camera security man, to constantly turn a blind eye to her midnight ventures into the pool area. She was not going to question how Oskar pulled all those strings, but she was just glad he did. She owed him big time.
She had constantly gone to the pool during the quiet nights for nearly an entire month now, but she had never dived in. Every time she got close to the pool side, her nerves would completely overtake her. But just like every other night, she told herself that today would be the day. Today would finally be the day that she actually got into the water, so she quickly shut her eyes tight and held her breath. She mentally commanded her limbs pushing against her hesitation. On the count of three, she thought.
One...
Two...
Three...
"What are you doing?" she heard as a deep, husky voice melodically echoed throughout the room.
And she opened her eyes.
