Chapter 11

"Thanks." Emily smiles before unloading everything, causing some sand to fly onto my towel. I glance at Vera to see a confused look on her face and I quickly realise why, "Oh! V, this is my friend Emily from my old high-school. And Emily, this is my other best friend Vera Miller." "So, you went to the Academy too?" Emily questions as she pulls her shirt over her head to reveal a dark green bikini that contrasted with her very pale skin. "Oh, so you've hear of me. I'm not surprised, you'll find I'm quite amazing." Vera explains as she flips her short curls that were mostly hidden by her large, designer sun hat. Emily gives me a slightly panicked look and I scoff. "You'll get use to it." I chuckle as Emily finishes settling down everything as if she was moving in. When she was down, she sits down and folds her legs while playing with small grains of sand. "So...uh, where's Chase?" Emily questions as both Vera and I exchange glance, "And the other guys, of course." Of course. "I think they all went swimming." I explain as I peer out towards the very busy ocean. "Well, it is quite hot. It makes sense." Emily mumbles on and I knew what she was going to ask before she even did, "Do you want to go swimming, Hayden?" "Uh.." I glance up at Vera who was watching us quietly, "Sure. Vera, you in?" "Someone's gotta watch over our stuff." Vera explains while settling back into her chair, "I will guard it with mine and my daughter's life." "Thank you for your sacrifice, your majesty." I say with bow before we both start giggling. Emily watches us in quiet and I start to feel bad that she had to witness this. I lock my arm with hers and pull her towards the ocean, "Let's go." Emily nods as we start walking towards the water, dodging the groups of people and families like land mines. "Hey," Emily starts as she tucks her dark hair behind her ear, "I was just wondering if Chase was seeing anyone? Like does he have a girlfriend or something?" I knew this was coming since the second I had introduced them but I still hate it. "Nope, not that I know of. But Everett is always with some other girl so it'd probably be better if you didn't get involved with him." I ramble, hoping to some how put her off him. I shouldn't be doing this, I have no right to control who Chase can and can't date. Emily leans towards me, "Why do you call him by his last name?" "Uh...I don't know." I shrug truthfully as I begin to explain, "In Elwood, all the boys called each other by their last names. Chase called me Jones and at the start I just called him Everett to piss him off but now it's kinda stuck." "Hmmm." Emily nods in understanding, "I was just wondering since everyone else calls him Chase." "I mean Noah calls him Chasey but I doubt anyone else would want to call him that and end up with a broken nose." I scoff as I unhook my arm from hers and my toes touch the chilly ocean water. I notice a couple of familiar heads swimming in the deeper part and point towards them, "Over there." Emily and I waddle through the water until we were so deep that we had to start swimming. "Hayden!" Noah exclaims when he spots us swimming towards him. He was lying on his back in a complete starfish position. "Look who finally showed up." I grin as I gesture to Emily. Everyone greets her with a small hi as I slowly swim up next to Penelope. I was purposely ignoring Chase's gaze that I could feel burning my skin more than the sun above us. Noah's foot suddenly floats in front of my face, almost kicking me and I quickly push it away, "Oh my god, Noah." "What? I'll have you know that being touched by the foot of Noah is a great omen." Noah says as he perks his head up. Everyone scoffs and I roll my eyes. I snort, "Bullshit." Noah gasps as he stands up, tall enough to reach the sandy bottom. All of the guys were while we were struggling to keep our heads above the surface. "Oh I know you didn't just say what you just said." Noah sasses with one finger in the air and the other on his hip. Everyone couldn't help but laugh at him. "Oh I just did." I smirk as I swim closer to him, "Bull....shit." And that is how our totally immature water fight started. Penn, of course, was fucking lethal but this time she was on my team. People that were around us slowly moved our away from the complete chaos that was unfolding. We were squealing and cursing and just having a great time. Half way through I feel an arm wrap around my waist and pull me back against a chest. A chest I knew all too well. I was having to much fun to care and while Chase held me still Levi and Noah completely pummelled me with water. I felt like a secret spy being waterboarded by foreign agencies. I was squealing and giggling and eventually gave in by apologising to the Oh Holy Noah. "Ok, I'm in need of a nap." I yawn as I slowly begin to paddle backwards to the shore. "We're coming too Hay!" Penn says as her and Noah start to follow. Eventually Chase and Levi begin to swim back and just Emily stayed. I frown as I call out to her, "You coming Em?" "No, I think I'll stay out here for a bit." Emily says as she continues to float in the ocean water. We all nod and wave to her before turning to the shore and swimming backwards. We were all walking up the sand bank towards our spot, laughing about our water fight. "I think got fucking water in my lungs." I say as I cough once again and slap my chest.