Westwood School

Posh Pool Party

Magnolia

I looked around the room Matteo had taken me to. It was light and airy with its whitewashed walls and open windows, letting the light filter through. The bed was a large queen bed on a vintage-looking- white metal bed frame. The bed itself was piled with pillows and blankets in shades of seafoam green and harvest gold. It was quite beautiful, and weirdly, it smelled amazing. It smelled like a library and vanilla ice cream put together.

I unpacked my suitcase and hung my clothes in the all-white walk-in closet. I went into the bathroom and was struck by how gorgeous it was. The entire floor was intricately patterned blue and white tiles. The walls of the shower were white marble that went up to the ceiling. The shower had a sliding glass wall that was made into sort of rectangles framed by black pieces of wood. There was beautiful hand-painted wallpaper, in matching colors to the bedroom of seafoam and harvest gold. The mirror was huge and ornate. The sink was gold and carved to look like a giant shell resting on a marble countertop. The whole thing was very well down, elegant but not dated or over the top. I could tell the bathroom alone cost a fortune.

I washed my hands and face, and then went back into the bedroom. I saw there was a record player on the dresser across from the bed, with a crate of records next to it. I flipped through the records and noticed they were all rare and vintage. Score!

I was a particular child, and I had already started my own vinyl collection when I was 5, as well as became pescatarian when I was five, so I was a bit of a vinyl snob. I flipped through until I found a vintage beach boys record. I had the exact same one at home, which was my grandmother's, but this one seemed to be in better condition. It was Summer Days (And Summer Nights!). I played one of my favorite songs on the record. I played Then I Kissed Her, and felt like I was in the opening scene of Adventures in Babysitting, (Great movie I would recommend).

I danced around the room as I dug through my bag for my swimsuit. Finally, I found it. Personally, I am adamantly against one-pieces because it is so damn hard to pee in them. And that is the sole reason I much preferred bikinis. It was a warm-toned red swimsuit, which suited my skin tone very well. It was square-necked with spaghetti straps and was fairly revealing, showing off my chest. I have some amount of chevage, but my younger sister honest to god had more than me. Not that anyone cares, but I am a 32C, and she is 13 and a 34D. I am bitter.

The bottoms matched and were a little cheeky, but not too much. I pulled on a pair of high rises distressed cut-offs over my swimsuit bottoms. I sprayed myself down with some sunscreen and checked myself out in the mirror. I felt good so I walked upstairs to find the boys.

I walked into the kitchen and saw Matteo filling up a cooler with beers and other assorted drinks, all of which were probably alcoholic. I had to remind myself that these boys were 18, so it was legal for them to drink here.

"Hey! Do you need any help?" I offered cheerfully.

Matteo looked up at me with a surprised look on his face, "Ummm not here. But you can go ask the guys outside, the pool is in the back."

I simply nodded and walked outside to where he had pointed, which took me a minute because the house was huge, especially when it was only one of their summer homes.

The pool itself was extremely impressive. It was multilayered, had a grotto, a hot tub and a swim-up bar. The grotto sorta reminded me of the playboy mansion...

I looked around to find Rowen in just his swim trunks chatting with Laurent under a covering by the bar.

"Hey guys! How can I help?"

Both boys turned around and gaped at me, as if I was some sort of inhuman creature. I made a face at them and that seemed to snap them both out of it.

"People are going to start arriving any minute, you can start playing some music while people come in. I trust you to start the vibe off well," Rowen said, looking at his watch. I nodded and walked over to where he stood and plugged in my phone to the speakers.

Just then cars started arriving and a bunch of guys started coming in. I ignored them and quickly scrolled through my phone to find my handy-dandy pool party playlist. I had a playlist for literally every occasion, nothing was more calming than making playlists. I hit shuffle and Miami by Kali Uchis started to play, which had this super sexy, summery vibe to it. Rowen looked over his shoulder and our eyes met. He nodded approval to me, and I felt so proud of myself.

I walked up confidently to where the group of guys were standing, talking to Laurent and Rowen. Matteo had come out from the house and was messing around with drinks at the bar. Caspian was no were to be seen, and I was a little worried about that.

"Hi y'all I'm Nola," I introduced myself to the group of boys.

"Oh yeah, that Honky-tonk angel, we heard about you!" one of the guys said. A Bunch of the guys were elbowing each other and no doubt saying stupid stuff about me. I rolled my eyes but then looked to Rowen and he just shrugged.

Matteo interrupted the little get together by announcing there were drinks. Rowen asked me if I wanted anything and I asked for a beer. I really didn't drink often, but I knew to hold a drink in my hand as a social thing. And I was feeling a little reckless so maybe I would have some.

He came back with a Guinness. Ok, I really, really liked Guinness so I definitely would be drinking some of this. The Irish side of me was coming out for sure.

More and more people started walking in, even some girls but it was mostly guys. The girls did not seem like they had any interest in talking to me. Who cares? I shrugged to myself, they are probably just jealous. Of what? Honestly, I don't know but it felt good to tell myself that.

I took off my jean shorts and climbed into the pool. The water was cold, but it wasn't horrible, and it definitely felt good compared to the hot, late august weather.

Suddenly I heard a high pitched voice and turned around to see this girl that honestly looked like a supermodel. Like an early 2000s supermodel. She was wearing a baby pink Dior swimsuit with the logo patterned all over it. As a cover-up, tho it definitely didn't hide anything, she had pink sheer, faux fur robe looking thing. She had dyed blonde hair that was tied back in a low bun, with two pieces framing her face. The whole thing screamed "Y2K Princess". In true, mean girls-plastics form, she had two girls on either side of her. One was obviously french, wearing a green swimsuit with an unbuttoned purple button-up over it. The other girl had auburn hair and fair skin and was wearing a super strappy black swimsuit.

I stared at them. Goddamn, this really is cliché.

I climbed out of the pool and started walking over to the speaker where I had put my phone playing music. I was stopped by one of the girls, the french one.

"Hey cowgirl, what do you think you are doing?" she said, her accent thick and full making her voice sultry. She had a lit cigarette in one hand.

"I'm changing the music," I snapped at her. I sure as hell wasn't gonna let some skinny, pampered rich girl think she could beat me.

"Hah, who said you could? Isn't that the host's job?" she stepped towards me again.

"Yeah, and it's kinda funny, umm, I mean you're not gonna believe this, but I fucking live here," every word dripping with sarcasm. " So back the fuck off."

I watched as her face was plastered with surprise before she could mask it. I smirked and continued to go change the music. I changed the song to Peach by Kevin Abstract, which had the best summer vibes ever.

Just as I began to sway to the music, I heard shouting. I saw Caspian come in with his face completely busted up, dragged in by Matteo and Rowen. Shit. 

Hey- I hope you like this stuff! all I have done is write all day despite the fact I should probably figure out how to do my chem hw. thanks for reading! take any songs referenced in this book as song recommendations... <3