Aqua

by Haley Winn

  Chapter 7

  We stopped to rest for the night in a hotel this time. It was twenty bucks apiece. I shared a room with Mallory and Emily. Brooke and Jessie shared a room. Dylan, Ethan, and Mikey shared a room, and Skye and Austin shared a room. We were all on the same floor. Before I went to bed I put on my jeans and stepped into the fancy hotel lobby. There were three couches, tons of chairs, and a flat screen TV. There was a pool next to the lobby, and I figured why not. Everyone said that they would come down in a few minutes after they found something to swim in. I checked that no humans were around, and stepped into the poolroom.

  The smell of Chlorine flooded my nose and I reached up to hold my necklace. Still no humans were around, so I dove into the ten-foot area. I loved the water all around me. The feeling of being wet was incredible to me. I swam from the ten-foot end to the three foot in a mere thirty seconds. I lifted my head from the water, even though I had no need to breath. I looked around the pool. Still nobody was there. I plummeted back into the water and swam about half way across the wonderful pool.

  Skye

  I stared at the copper-haired girl standing in front of me with a petulant pout on her face. “For the love of Christ, Mallory, you’re not freaking obese.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at me. She wore a neon chartreuse swimming top with purple spatters all over them that tied at the back of her neck, and a matching pair of shorts. But an oversized McCluskey Tennis Center t-shirt obstructed her body, which nearly went to her mid-thigh. I knew she was modest, but not to this magnitude.

  “Who are you to talk? You don’t even have a belly!” She walked over and smacked my flat stomach with the back of her hand. Mallory narrowed her eyes and looked me over critically, while I shrank under her gaze. “Put on a little weight, you make me feel like a pregnant cow.”

  “Oh come on.”

  “Shut up and go.” She shoved me in the back and followed as I jogged down the hall and into the elevator. The younger girl caught up with me and shoved the button for ‘Ground Floor.’ Some strange eighties music began to play, and Mallory began squealing in delight.

  “Oh my God! I love this song! My parents play it all the time!” She waited a few moments for the intro, and began mouthing the lyrics while dancing enthusiastically. “Why waste your time? You know you’re gonna be mine. You know you’re gonna be mine. You know you’re gonna be mine. I’m gonna get you baby! I’M GONNA GET YOU, YES I AM! I’m gonna get you baby, I’M GONNA GE-”

  I slapped a hand over her mouth as we entered the lobby. She glared at me as I led her gently into the empty atrium leading to the pool. I led her to the empty atrium.

  “Why did you bring me here?” She asked curiously, judging her surroundings.

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “Bout what?”

  I had no answer to that so I changed the subject. “Your eyes are pretty.” I said in that creeper-way, just to get a smartass comment from her.

  She laughed half-heartedly, and then blinked up at me through her hair timidly. I was shocked; that was the first time I had ever seen her that nervous. “Really?” She whispered.

  “Uh, y-yeah.” I shoved my hands into the pockets of my swim trunks.

  “Aw, thank you.”

  “Y-you’re welcome. You know, I was trying to tease you, but they really are. They flash white sometimes. Like lightni-” I was rambling, but Mallory stopped me. And I sure as hell liked the way she did.

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and smashed her lips to mine. I was still for a moment, but my hands inched to her hips, pulling her closer. I could feel her fingers gripping tufts of my hair. At last we stopped kissing, our foreheads pressed together and the both of us gasping for air.

  God, that girl was strange. But, hell, I liked strange.

  Haley

  I surfaced and saw a blurry figure. My eyes adjusted and I saw that it was Austin. I swam over to where he was sitting on the side of the pool. His long legs were swaying and making ripples in the cyan water. I grabbed the concrete and held myself there. He offered me a hand and I pulled myself up beside him. I sat only inches away. He smiled, "You’re a really great swimmer." He said.

  "Thanks. You know the reason for that." I replied. I glanced down at my bare feet. My Converse were now sitting beside a twin size bed that I had declared was mine for the night. Austin laughed and nodded. He was wearing shorts, which I guess for now were his swimming trunks. He leaned over towards me slowly. My heart stopped for a few moments, but I said nothing. I sat perfectly still, in other words, I just let him kiss me. I kissed back this time, but it was quick.

  "Hey you two!" Mallory started laughing and Skye did too. I laughed nervously and glanced over at Austin. I could tell he was embarrassed. I nervously rubbed the back of my neck.

  "How much did you two see?" I asked. My feet were making splashes in the deep water. I was going to jump in soon. Mallory grinned, as if she had caught us doing a crime.

  "Enough Haley. Enough." she answered. My eyes widened miles wide. I was about to slip into the pool to escape the embarrassment. I looked down at their linked hands. Austin and I weren't the only ones with a secret around here! Skye looked between us and sighed.

  "It's okay guys. It's not like we're going to tell anyone." He said. My patience was growing, little bit by little bit. I smiled and started staring at them. I felt a shove from behind me and screeched when I plunged into the depths. I was going down, sinking almost at incredibly slow speed. I opened my eyes and gazed up at the pool above me. The person who had shoved me was Ethan. I rolled my eyes. Of course it was somebody utterly stupid. I sat on the bottom of the pool and watched as Austin stood and walked over to Ethan. I fought to keep myself from swimming to the surface.

  My senses were perfect underwater; they just took a few moments to come to me completely. All senses were good. Now my hearing was coming to me. Austin was muttering something to Ethan, the look on his face. I looked over at Mallory. She had her hand covering her mouth. She was staring intently at Ethan and Austin. Skye was just standing there glancing at everyone. He caught my eye and smiled. I turned away and listened to them again.

  "What made you think you should do that?" Austin asked Ethan. Tears were flowing from my eyes. I didn't want Austin to hurt Ethan. A simple shove into a pool was no reason to kill him, which I knew he was very capable of. I managed to get up enough strength to rise to the surface. When I ran out of the pool Austin had Ethan by the shoulder, about to throw him into the glass wall.

  "Austin no!" I screamed. Austin spun around, and seeing that it was I, he just held Ethan there. "It's okay!" I insisted. Austin had a crazed look in his eyes, but it was starting to soften. "Austin just... just let him go." I murmured as his grip tightened on Ethan's shoulder. I could feel the tears pouring out of my eyes now. He glanced at my tear soaked face and released Ethan.

  I ran to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. He hugged me back. Behind me I could hear Ethan's bare feet slapping the pavement as he ran away from Austin. I released him and turned in the direction of the pool. I dove in with deep satisfaction.

  I pushed open the door to our room and walked to the bed that was declared as mine. Across the room was Emily, and the bed next to mine was Mallory's. I pulled back the covers and lay down in my clean, dry clothes. Emily was already asleep, but Mallory was sitting in bed with the lights off, the volume up loud on the radio. Paramore's "Ignorance" was playing. Mallory was quietly singing along. I wondered how Emily was getting any sleep at all, but as soon as my head hit the pillow I was gone.

  I blinked open my sleep heavy eyes. Nobody else was awake yet, but Paramore was still blaring. I walked over to the radio and turned it down just a bit and got in the shower.

  I stepped out of the bathroom to see that Mallory was still asleep, but Emily was awake and ready to use the shower. I gave her a brisk hug and let her get on with her morning. I turned up the radio and gave a satisfied smirk when Mal
lory flipped over in bed groaning. I poked her shoulder, but she continued to keep her eyes closed. Well, I supposed she could sleep until it was her turn in the shower. I walked over to my bed and sat down, staring out the window. There were lush forests and a full parking lot. Over the trees, though, I could see a large hill, and a sign that said Los Angeles. I screamed and Mallory jumped out of bed, her hands and hair a bright purple, as if she were about to electrocute someone. She walked over to the window, and when she saw what I was screaming about she jumped up and down. "Tape dance!" she screamed.

  I grabbed her elbows and she grabbed mine and we jumped up and down yelling "TAPE!" Emily stepped out of the bathroom, "What in the world are you doing??" she asked. I released Mallory's elbows and grabbed Emi's arm. I led her over to the huge glass window and smiled in satisfaction when her orange eyes widened. She said "Oh my god! Do you think the guys know?" she asked.

  I shrugged. When Mallory got in the shower we locked the door and ran down the hall. I pounded my fist on Dylan, Mikey and Ethan's door. Dylan pulled open the door, and seeing us he stepped aside. We walked into their room with excited faces. "Dylan, come here." I ordered. He looked at me in a way that sometimes made me feel guilty, but this time it didn't. I grabbed his wrist and lugged him to their window. "Look right there." I said. I pointed towards the hill and smiled when he did. "Almost there bro." I murmured.

  He nodded and ran off to tell Ethan and Mikey. "We're going to go check on Mallory." Emily told them. I closed the door shut behind us and followed Emi down the long hallway. We unlocked our door and stepped inside. Mallory was wringing her hair out with a white towel and packing up her things into her black Florence and the Machine bag. I walked over to my bed and grabbed up my gray tote bag.

  I put it on one shoulder and walked over to the radio. It was playing Fences, also by Paramore. I wished I was an eleven year old again, back when I thought I was human, and all I had to do to find happiness was turn on a laptop.

  I sighed and plopped down on the silk sheets of the hotel bed. We would reach L.A. soon, and then Austin and Skye would take us to the head Poweras. I was happy that Rolega wasn't a head Powera any longer. He had turned on us all, wishing to enslave humans and control all Poweras except himself and his son like dummies.

  His son was supposedly tall, and hung around L.A., but you never knew if he was short, fat, and had a mustache. He could be anybody, and he, or his father would supposedly kill any Powera that came in contact with him. It was scary to be so close to Las Angeles, knowing he could be anywhere. He could be swimming in the pool downstairs, or even in the room next to us. Either of them could be. It was a lot to take in, especially because we were technically on the outskirts of L.A.

  Mallory tapped my shoulder and I glanced at her. She laughed "Come on. We're going into L.A.!" She said excitedly. I grabbed my bag that was lying on the floor and walked over to where she and Emily were standing by the door. I smiled at both of them and we walked out the door and into the hallway. We waited rather impatiently for all the guys and Jessie and Brooke. Jessie and Brooke ran out of their room and down the corridor to us.

  We all whispered excitedly about how far we had come. Brooke was leaned against the yellow wall, staring blankly into space. She looked pitiful and helpless, which, by the way made me want to scream at the guys for being so slow. Ethan came running, and I mean running, from their room. Following him were Mikey and Dylan, and a few doors down Skye and Austin were walking from their suite. When I saw Austin my heart stopped, and I stared at him blankly. I loved Austin, even if it was a little early to be saying that.

  When all of the boys caught up with us we headed for the exit of the hotel. We were in a huge group and everyone was bumping into each other. However, somehow during the entire ruckus Austin grabbed my hand. I looked over at him in pure surprise. He gave me a reassuring grin. I continued to stare, but after a few moments he started to pull away. I grabbed his hand before it could get out of my reach. Austin smiled down to me and I glanced away.

  We were walking safely down the streets of Las Angeles, California when Austin came to an abrupt halt. "Are you guys ready to meet him?" he asked.