Notes before this chapter starts-

I know some angsty stuff is going on now, but this idea kinda popped in my head and I really wanted to write about it after not writing for a while, just pretend this is before all the Lily and Esperanza stuff happened!! Enjoy! (Also, thank you sm for 300 views on this story!!)

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Keith picked at his nails as he glanced around nervously, like someone was going to run up at any moment and snatch them up.

"This is dangerous.. What if someone sees my beautiful looks and tries to throw me in their trunk, driving off into the moonlight just for me to never be seen again?" He gawked exaggeratedly, putting his hand to his forehead like he was about to collapse.

Peter scoffed. "I'm surprised you know such big words," He threw a towel purple towel at Cole, scrambling to find a shirt to cover himself. "Its a real shocker."

Keith glared at him, but quickly turned his attention to Yehl, who was standing at the apartment window with a impatient look on her face.

"We're going swimming. It's night! No one is going to see you, and even if they did, who are they to judge a shirtless guy.. At a POOL? It's not like we're going skinny dipping, guys always go shirtless with their swimming trunks! Y'know, if a girl were to do that-"

Cole groaned and instinctively rubbed his right arm, looking down at the scars left from the spirit bear. "We get it, please don't go on another one of your rants. Your not the one with tons of scars on their chest and arm," He stated with a finger pointed to his chest.

"I dunno. I think they're pretty sick." Keith shrugged as he glanced down at Coles scars. "Well, not in a like.. Throw up way, of course. In a 'woah.. That's awesome!' Way." He scrambled to find the right words in his exaggerated surfer voice, not wanting to piss off Cole in anyway. In actuality, it took a lot more to piss off the guy. He was a pretty mature, cooled dude. He learnt the hard way not to push his buttons, evident from the chip in his tooth from that skateboard incident.

The interaction was quickly cut short as Lily rushed out of the bathroom, dragging Esperanza with her. She wore a tankini with the cutest design on it, while Esperanza stuck to her normal, oversized T-shirt. But she at least was wearing shorts, a change from her usual long jeans. Lily wore her hair up in a cute claw clip in the shape of a seahorse, it matched her.

"I finally got this one to come with us, can we go before she changes her mind?" She gasped, exasperated as she kept her arms clenched around Esperanzas. She had a look of uncertainty on her face.

Yehl immediately lit up, quickly opening the window and looking back at the others. "You heard her! Let's go!" She whispered, quietly crawling out like some fraud. It made Keith giggle.

"This has to be illegal," He said stupidly.

Esperanza pursed her lips and looked back at Lily, that look of uncertainty clear on her Ruby-colored eyes. "I don't know. What if we-"

She was interrupted by Lily quickly rushing her out the window, gently helping her out as she let out a quiet yelp from the small drop. Yehl was grinning like a madman, she certainly wasn't a expert at sneaking out.

Lily glanced back at the others and motioned with her head to the outside, smiling a little too. "Cmon. It's not everyday you get to sneak out and go to a pool late at night with your friends," She grinned as she hopped out.

Keith let out a shakey breath, but got up from the bed and headed out next.

"If we get caught, my parents are gonna kill me."

Yehl lended him a hand, leading him down like a little princess. "They wouldn't want their little prodigy to be getting into trouble, huh? They have no idea their son is a total dumbass."

Peter snickered and quickly got out next, suddenly not as opposed to this idea as he helped Cole out too. It was harder to move around without your right arm to help out.

As the others quickly rushed to get to the pool through the small backyard behind the apartments, Cole and Peter stayed considerably behind. Peter glanced over at him, a small frown growing on his face as Cole self consciously tried to hide his arm. Not like he could do much, though.

Peter gently nudged him. "Hey. I think your scars are.." He paused for a minute, not sure how to handle this situation. Cole looked at him curiously as he waited for his answer. "Yes?"

"Hmm.. I think your scars are hot. There. Did that make you feel better?"

Cole shrugged and smiled, still rubbing instinctively but he didn't look as self conscious as before.

"Thanks, Peter."

He gently took his hands into his, rubbing his Peters wrist with his thumb.

"I think yours are too."

Peters eyes widened, he didn't know either to be offended at the backhanded complement or take it. He knew Cole's dumbass probably didn't realise how weird or insensitive it was to say that about someone's past self harm. Instead, he smiled softly and squeezed his hand gently.

"Ha."

--

Yehl gasped as she quickly swam up for air, shivering.

"I told you you shouldn't have jumped in right away!" Cole called out, laughing.

"Fuck, i-its so cold!" She gasped out, reaching for the side of the pool to lift herself up a bit.

"It can't be that bad." Keith mocked her as he dipped a toe in the water, immediately jumping back and shivering. "Holy-"

Yehl took this opportunity and grabbed his hands, yanking him into the pool.

"M-man up!" She yelled suddenly before completely yanking him in.

He let out a short scream before he was in the water, quickly swimming up to shake the water out of his ears as Yehl, Lily, Cole, and Peter laughed at him. Esperanza didn't seem amused, her eyes only widening.

"H-hey- what the hell?" He shivered, giggling a bit at himself.

"Quiet, guys! What if someone hears us and calls the cops or something?" Esperanza whispered quietly, clearly a bit shaken.

Peter chuckled softly, quick to bring his voice to a low. "No offense, Esperanza, but I'm sure we're not the first to come over here during the night. I'm sure tons of other teens have done this exact thing, if not worse." He sat at the curb of the pool and let his feet be soaked before fully getting in. "At least we aren't drinking, or doing drugs, or skinny dipping. Or all of them combined."

"Yeah, Espi! Live a little! You don't get to be seventeen forever," Lily added onto his statement, gently pulling Esperanza to sit next to her, following in the footsteps of Peter.

Esperanzas face slowly softened as she smiled shyly and sat next to her, shivering a bit from the cold water reaching to her knees. "Okay. I guess your right."

Cole sat next to Peter, gently kicking his feet in the water. "Y'know.. I haven't swam in deep water since I got mauled..I wonder how it'll work without my right arm working?" He wondered, about to hop in. Peter realized this, too, and quickly pulled him up with him.

"Usually, I'd call you a baby, but we better not risk it." He said hastily, dragging Cole to the shallow end.

"Hey- I thought you were the risk taker!" Cole complained as he was dragged. Peter shook his head and sighed. "Not when it comes to you, man, now calm it and don't drown."

Cole grumbled as he stood in the cold water, shivering slightly. The lights placed in the pools walls made the water almost glow, he noted.

"S-so, it's okay to sneak into abandoned buildings and throw bowling balls around the place like a m-madman, yet I can't swim in the deep end. Very good to know."

Peter shrugged and smirked, trying to hide the fact he was cold too. "N-nah. That's different. Abandoned buildings are w-way cooler than going to court for the drowning of your crippled f-friend."

"So are you.. "

"Shut up!"

Esperanza looked puzzled as she glanced down at the water with pursed lips. "I.. I can't swim."

Lily looked at her, dumbfounded. "I-it's okay. We can join Peter and Cole than."

She gently helped Esperanza up, guiding her to the shallow end.

Yehl rolled her eyes and swam a bit closer towards the others. She'd stopped shivering by now.

"Esperanza, you should've told us your apartment had a pool! Do your parents ever take you here or anything?" She said happily, floating on her back for a while.

Esperanza smiled awkwardly. "Ah.. Not really. They're busy. With stuff."

Keith spat some water out of his mouth, moving his hair out of his eyes.

"Gross! You know little kids piss in here, right?" Peter called out, dunking his head in the water and letting most of his body aside for his head be in the water. Cole soon followed.

Keith immediately spat out some more and grimaced, a if the thought had never crossed his mind. What a dumbass.

Cole giggled as he saw Peters curly hair shrunk a little in the water, twirling a strand with his finger. "Hah.. Your hair looks funny."

Peter immediately pushed Coles head down into the water, holding him there for a good second.

Cole gasped as his hair suddenly was drenched, shaking the hair out of his face. "What the fuck- what happened to not wanting me to drown?"

Peter just smirked.

Lily quickly took a deep breath and plugged her nose, dunking her head in to.

"I wasn't planning on getting my hair wet, but oh well." She sighed as she swam near Yehl, getting on her back.

Yehl held her there and playfully bumped into Keith, giggling.

"Lily, if this was outside of the water, your fatass would break my back."

"Hey-" Esperanza tried to hide her small laugh.

"She's my sister, we joke like that," Yehl shrugged as she gently let go of her, though Lily was to busy giggling herself to really care.

Peter glanced a Cole. "No, I like that idea. Let's play Marco Polo.. Except we're on each other's backs!"

"Sure," Lily agreed.

--

Peter was on Cole, Yehl on Keith, who was very bad at Marco Polo by the way, and Esperanza on Lily as they basically battled to the death.

"Marco!" Esperanza called out, her eyes closed as she listened closely.

"Polo!"

Esperanza bonked a pool noodle towards the direction of where she heard the sound, laughing as the game continued. It made Lily's heart almost flutter seeing how happy she was for once, tackling people in the water. This was the most fun she'd had in weeks. Maybe even months.

--

"I'm tired," Keith complained as he finally let go of Yehl.

"Thats cause your so slow." Cole laughed.

"Hmm.. Let's just relax for a little. My eyes are starting to burn from the chlorine.." Lily stated as she rubbed at her eyes.

And so they did. It was fun, even in silence, the group was able to enjoy each other's company as the night got darker and darker.

--

"Ah.. It's cold.." Esperanza shivered as she dried herself with her towel, unknowingly getting closer to Lily for some sort of warmth.

"Tell me about it," Peter hissed as he quickly huddled up next to Cole for warmth as well.

Yehl held Keith's hand as they walked back, laughing quietly the whole time as they cracked small jokes.

Once back inside, which took a while, Keith gently laid his head on her chest, snoring gently as she played with his damp hair.

"Hah.. I'm a little bummed too. Now that I think about it, there's no way we can all shower without Esperanzas parents suspecting something.

Lily looked at Esperanza knowingly. Esperanza just chuckled and shrugged. " Nah, my parents hardly check up on me. Take your time! Who's first?"

Peter, despite being huddled up on Coles lap similar to Keith, shivering with his blanket, immediately sprang up and ran into the bathroom.

"I call dibs!"

"Hey-" Cole complained, before sighing softly.

"You forgot your towel.." He called out softly.

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More notes!! I'm sorry if this wasn't as good as my other chapters, I kinda wrote this in a hurry but I really like them all together as a group y'know? I hope you enjoyed<3‼️