Gate 24

Chapter Nine

It seems to be an average day as I stumble into the little hut that towers above the pool. The placement of the white building is great, for we sit right by one of the bars and the ice cream hut sits on the other side. Sure, the main bar and the buffet area are pretty far away from the hut; that’s had a slight impact on me for I used to sunbathe very near to the covered area that stored the salami hot dogs and such.

“I see that you’ve had an eating competition,” Frankie jokes, staring at my lips. “Did you really agree to partake in one of her ridiculous eating contests?” Her groan backs up the disappointment on her face. Do these two girls have a rivalry going or something? I’ve gathered that they don’t really like each other too much.

“I did, sorry to disappoint you Frankie,” I say, scratching the back of my neck in the process. “It was fun, but it was super hard.” Looking into the reflection of the glass, I notice crusted chocolate around the corner of my lips. I’ve just thrown up – there isn’t a hope in hell of me licking it away. Wiping it with the back of my hand and smothering my hand on my trunks, I look outside to see the first of the holiday makers arriving around the pool, sitting on the towels that they reserved at the crack of dawn, despite not really being allowed to.

“Let’s turn up the music,” Frankie smiles, cranking a small twisting button to the right; the volume of a terrible song increases and brainwashes society. Personally, I hate most music because of the raunchy lyrics incorporated into today’s sad excuse of music. Alternative music is where it’s at for me because the lyrics mostly have a meaning. Don’t get me wrong – some pop and rap songs are very catchy; however, the lyrics disappoint me for the most part.

Frankie lip-syncs to the current track playing – I recognise the words, but I cannot put a title to the song, nor an artist. She stares at something out of the window with a smirk on her face – most likely an attractive man with bulging muscles and a terrible ego to match the horrible haircut they have. It’s just a guess though; she could be staring at a kid that had fallen over for all I know. It’s hard to judge a person’s humour if you’ve never heard them tell a joke.

Lisa strolls along on her way to the bar, by the look of it. We wave at her from the box and receive a friendly-looking wave back from her. Although she smiles, I can sense that she’s sugar coating the sour tongue she has between her teeth, trying not to snap at Frankie for some unknown reason. Girls can be really bitchy sometimes.

“I gotta go help the academy set up stuff for the zorbing and swim club in a bit. Do you fancy coming along and helping us set up things?” Frankie asks, standing up from her seat and leaving the music to shuffle so that a variety of terrible beats flood the background noise. “Unless you want to say anything into the microphone to the three families sat around the pool at this point?”

Frankie walks away before I can answer her, so I just follow her to wherever she’s going. Along the way, a child stands in front of me, a confused expression on their chubby face, and lifts her arms up. “Who are you? I don’t recognise you. Are you new?” The little girl tilts her head, as if another angle will make me recognisable to her, even though I don’t think she’s seen me.

“My name is Ray and I’m new,” I say, bending slightly to attempt to match her height, intimidate her a little bit less. “I’m going to be helping around the pool for a little while. What’s your name?” I ask her, wanting to seem as friendly as possible to the child. Her mother looks happy that child is socialising; her father frowns as I look at the blonde child – she looks around about five or six – and await her answer.

“My name is Tabby, and I’m five,” she exclaims, closing her eyes and tilting her head towards the sun with a large grin on her face. Her teeth are small and clean, like a child’s teeth should be. Even though one is missing at the front, the tip of the incisor is like a pearl, shining as it peaks at me through the gap of her open mouth. “Do you do swimming academy?”