Wishes and Wizards (ON HOLD BC I'M LAZY)

2

As Romy made her way towards the pool, she noticed a loud, rather obnoxious family dressed in matching Hawaiian print clothes.

"Yeesh, and I thought I was having a rough time here," the girl said, pushing her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose as she eyed the only girl out of the three kids who held a gloomy look on her features.

With a shrug, Romy moved on, finally making it to her destination and immediately forgetting about the awkward-looking family she had passed.

~

"Max, what are you staring at?" Alex questioned, snapping her fingers in front of her brother's face as she followed his gaze. "Are you ogling girls you'll never have a chance with already?"

"No, dude, Alex, that girl over there was totally checking me out," Max said, his hand faintly gesturing towards the dark-haired, olive-skinned girl that had walked by a few meters away.

"No dude," Alex began, mocking her little brother as she spoke. "The only thing she was 'checking out' was our horrible matching outfits," she snapped, gesturing aggressively with her hands at Max's shirt and her dress. "Besides, she way outta your league," Alex ended with a snort of laugher as she eyed the boy up and down.

~

Romy scoped out the pool, trying to find the best spot in the sun to sit in. Once she spotted the perfect chair, she made a beeline for it. Before she sat down, Romy slipped off her backpack and cover-up, her tanned skin immediately soaking up the warmth of the sun that beat down.

"Ah~" Romy sighed in content as she stretched her legs out on the pool chair. She kept her sunglasses on as she reached for her bag, slim fingers unzipping it as they gabbed out a small pocketbook. The small book was bound in old, black leather, gold script on the front reading "Wizard Training 101: Pocketbook of Basic Spells".

Quickly glancing around to make sure the coast was clear, Romy began reciting a spell to disguise her spellbook "Only for wizards and the wise, hide these words from mortal eyes," Romy whispered, flicking her hand around as her fingertips glowed a soft green. She then tapped the pocketbook with her index finger, completing the spell and allowing her to do some light studying as she basked in the sunlight.

~

"What's going on?" Theresa questioned, a look of concern on her features. "Where's everybody going?"

"I'm going snorkelling," Max stated, pulling a pair of goggles onto his head. "Once you get used to swimming in a fish's toilet bowl, it's awesome."

"To see the ruins," Justin declared excitedly, map in hand as he grabbed his sunglasses. "The most important battles of the first and third troll wars were fought there."

"I don't know, but I'm getting out of here," Alex said with a snort, her hands gesturing around the room in disgust.

As all her children responded with different activities, her smile dropped from her face, a heartbroken look replacing it.

"No. No. No. This is a family vacation," she said assertively, crossing her arms as she glanced between all three of her kids.

"Your mother's right," Jerry said suddenly, walking in shirtless, in his swim trunks, and white zinc sunscreen slathered on his body. "We should do everything together."

All three kids eyed their dad, startled looks in their eyes as the took in their father's appearance. They all made eye contact with each other that said "god no".

"With you? In public? Looking like that?" Alex questioned, looking her dad up and down as she spoke for her brothers as well.

As his family spoke, Max remembered the girl he had seen earlier; she had been walking towards the pool, barefoot with a brightly coloured swimsuit showing off her features.

"Hey uh, actually, why don't we all go to the pool?" Max said suddenly, looking between his mom and dad as he held a boyish grin on his lips. "It's kinda hot out today, and dad's already ready to go."

"You know what Max, that is a great idea," Jerry agreed, a large smile gracing his white, sunscreeened lips. "We'll leave as soon and everyone's changed and ready." With that, he and Theresa left, going back into their room to get ready.

"Oh would you just-" Alex muttered aggressively, stomping over to her little brother and pulling him by the shirt over towards her. "The pool? Really? Is this all because you saw that girl from earlier walking over there? Let it go, Max, she wasn't looking at you."

"Dude, Alex, she was hot, how-"

"What are we ah, whispering about over here?" Justin's voice suddenly chimed in as he had snuck up on his two younger siblings.

"Some girl that Max saw for about two seconds before she walked away," Alex said with a scoff, a hand moving to rest on her hip as her dark brown eyes rolled.

"Like I said, she was hot and looking at me and-" Max began again, only for his sister to cut him off this time.

"And way out of your league," she mocked, a fake smile on her glossed lips as she taunted her brother.

"Hmm, how do you know she wasn't checking out the J-man?" Justin said, running a hand through his hair as he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"With pasty legs like those, no way," Alex chuckled, both her and Max letting out snorts of laughter at the thought.