"Wakey wakey Tambourine" the voice said.

Tambourine? Last time anyone called me that was in the third grade.

"I'm up" I say, as I sit up, or more accurately, try to sit up in bed.

"Why am I up exactly?"

"The guys are taking us swimming later today" MJ says as she put two bathing suits in front of her

"Which one is better?" she asked showing me the two. One was a black one piece with white polka dots while the second was a dark pink bikini.

I examined the two before saying "The bikini"

"That's what Grace and Hannah said but I don't think I can pull it off" she says looking at herself in the full-length mirror on the wall. Courtesy of Hannah.

"Why are you trying so hard anyway?" I ask as I climb off the bed and trip which causes me to fall on my back.

"Are you okay?" MJ asks as she rushes to kneel beside me.

"The light, it so bright" I say as I pretend to shield my eyes from the imaginary light.

"You're so overly dramatic" MJ says with an eye roll and a chuckle as she goes back to pick up her swim suits which now lay on the floor.

"You didn't answer my question?" I say getting up

"No reason" she says avoiding eye contact.

"That's a total lie" I say staring her down but she still refuses to make eye contact with me. Pretending to be busy putting her polka dot back.

"No it's not"

"MJ, look me in the eye and tell me you're not getting dolled up for one of the boys" I say holding her shoulders

"Fine. I can't lie when I look someone in the eye. Force of habit from my dad" sha admits

"Good to know" I say with a smirk

"But you're gonna have to guess who it is" she says, "You have three guesses and you have to guess before the end of today. If you guess right I won't deny it but if you guess wrong you'll have to drop it. Deal?" she offers holding out her hand.

"Deal" I say shaking it

Before the end of the day, huh. I only need til the end of the pool hangout. MJ doesn't seem hard to read. It'll be easy as pie.

'Though pie is very hard to make. I never got that saying. Maybe they mean as easy as eating pie' I thought to myself before being snapped back to reality.

"You gonna pick out a swim suit or not?"

•♥♥♥•
We were at the school pool. Turns out it's always open during the weekend from 6am - 9pm but today the boys booked it for just us and their friends.

'To celebrate the start of the season' Matt had told me when we arrived.

The whole basketball team was there, cheerleaders inclusive. Some members of the dance team, some close friends of the guys and a bunch of other kids I didn't recognize.

The pool had a building next to it, which was like a pool house but we called it the lounge. Then there were the lawn chairs, where girls sat to talk or attract boys to flirt with them.

Seeing as the party was on campus, there were no kegs or any alcohol so everyone was thankfully sober. Except a few who snuck in alcohol for themselves or their friends but even they were careful not to get too drunk.

The place was packed with people everywhere. On and out of the pool, around and inside the lounge, on the grass. You name it.

When I made the deal with MJ I hadn't imagined such a large crowd. No wonder she was so confident. She must be feeling smug right about now. Where was she anyway?

After we got here Matt distracted me for a while and introduced me to a few of his friends but when I got back to where I had left the girls, they were gone.

'No shock there' I thought to myself, 'They obviously went to socialize and enjoy the party and that's what I should be doing too' I had thought to myself.

So I did just that but after a while I got really bored and wanted to go back to my dorm. I was in the lounge now. It was a duplex and I was upstairs, on the balcony. Almost everyone was downstairs anyway seeing as that was where the party was.

I had spotted Hannah with a guy and MJ with a group of people laughing and talking. I didn't want to ruin their fun so I headed upstairs and was grateful that no one was here. If you ignore the few guys drinking vodka and the occasional couple making out like their lives depended on it.

I stared at the people below me. They all looked like they were having fun then I began to wonder how we had very different definitions of the word, fun.

"Hey" I turned my head to acknowledge the owner of the voice.

"Hi Logan" I say as I turn back to the view.

He was one of Bryce's close friends. Captain of the soccer team. He's a big joker and a total flirt. I swear this boy would flirt with anything in a skirt. I hope he never goes to Scotland.

"Why are you here by yourself" he asks joining me.

"It's pretty boring down there" I said referring to the crowd below us.

"Yeah, you know what would make it a lot less boring?" He suggested with a mischievous smile.

"What?" I ask truly curious know.

"C'mon" he said dragging me away from the balcony.

•♥♥♥•
It took us a while but we finally filled about three hundred plus balloons with water.

And one special balloon with a grape slushie.

'Why do you need one with a grape slushie in it?' I had asked.

'Patience young grasshopper' he said as he patted my head like a kid.

I still didn't get it but I didn't want to ask him anymore questions because it would just prove I was impatient. I mean I was but he didn't need to know that.

"Okay, ready?" He asked aiming the biggest balloon.

"I was born ready"

"You were born ready for a water balloon fight you just found out we were going to have-"

"Just throw the stupid balloon already" I said impatiently.

And he did, right at Matt's back making a big splash. He yelped like a little girl as he toppled forward from the impact which made us burst into laughter. He looked really mad as he scanned the crowd for the perpetrator.

There was a short silence before Jordan and I yelled, "Water balloon fight!" followed by the cheering of kids. Well, most of them were cheering except some of the girls of course who were enjoying their conversations with both the same and opposite gender but it was too late.

We had kept buckets of water balloons all around us so everyone would have access to them. We scrambled off to get more balloons and threw them at other people and so did everyone else.

It was the biggest water balloon fight I had ever been in, though I haven't participated in many.

I ran around throwing balloons and getting hit by balloons while laughing like a little girl with Logan as my partner. We made a pretty good team. High fiving each other whenever we got an opponent and helped the other duck opponents' attacks.

I had to admit, Logan did have a really good sense of fun and I was having a blast and so was everyone else.

I guess that was why no one noticed who threw the balloon full of grape slushie at Mr Martin. The strictest teacher Sunview High had ever and would ever see.

"Who threw that?!" He screamed, his eye twitching. I heard that only happens when he's extremely angry which just made me more scared.

"I am going to ask this for the last time" he said in a dangerously low tone.

"Who.Threw.That.Balloon?!" he growled.

The place was dead quiet. I just gulped and I could hear the sound audibly.

"They started it" someone yelled pointing at me and Logan.

"Yeah, but they didn't throw that balloon" MJ supported me.

"Right, but then who did then?" Hannah asked though she didn't expect an answer.

"Someone needs to fess up" Bryce demanded.

"It's your party" Hannah retorted.

"I'm sorry I can't control all the many people that come to my party" Bryce spat.

"Well maybe if you actually tried to control it sometimes instead of leaving it to chance, it wouldn't get as crazy" Hannah replies, her hand on her hip.

"Maybe I just like my parties wild and fun and carefree. You don't always have to be so controlling" Bryce responded glaring at Hannah and she just glared back.

Everyone was silent. It didn't take a genius to tell this argument went deeper than this. Ever since they broke up, Hannah and Bryce haven't really been on, what's the word, speakable terms. This was the first time they were exchanging words in the past four months.

At least that's what I heard.

Man, it's hard being the new girl. You have to depend on what other people tell you rather than have your own opinion because you don't know any better.

"It's not his fault, Hannah" MJ says speaking up for the first time.

"Stay out of this Mary Jane" she growls.

"You have no right to talk to her like that" Bryce glowers.

MJ blushed at this.

"Stop this at once" Mr Martin ordered, pulling everyone's attention back to him.

"You, you, you, you, you and you. Detention for a week. Everyday after school. Don't.Be.Late" he growls before storming off probably to the drycleaners or back to his room to change his shirt.

He pointed to Logan, me, MJ, Hannah, Bryce and Matthew.

"What did I do" Matt whines glumly.

"I guess he just doesn't like your face bro" Logan says putting his hand on Matt's shoulder.

"But can you blame him, who would?" he adds before running away.

"Why you little-" He said as he sprinted after Logan.

Normally, I would have laughed at that but I was too busy putting two and two together.

I didn't know why but I frowned as I realized who MJ had been talking about.

It was Bryce.

Hello again, my faithful lillies. How did you like the chapter? It could still use a little work but nothing some insightful criticism couldn't solve.

I just love the water balloon fight😂. I just hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.💝

Be sure to leave me something, a vote, comment, suggestion, a cookie... I have just have a weird craving for cookies the past few days and it's driving me nuts - which I wouldn't like in my cookies. Off to buy a pack of Maryland 🙃😘🍪

What's your fav cookie? Mine is chocolate chip (which is weird cuz I don't like any other form of 🍫 🤔). Tell me yours in the comments.

This chapter is dedicated to Mariafeliz_Thewriter Thank you for the votes and the comments. You inspired me to update.

Bye for now👋

Lots of love,
~Your fellow lillipad💖