Chapter 9

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"Elyse, please," I pleaded making her groan for the umpteenth time. She rubbed her temples in hopes of getting rid of the headache. It's really her fault that she decided to tell me this in the morning.

Elyse and Dad were going away the whole day on Saturday which meant that Damon and I would be left alone. But Damon was going on Ryder's family boat with the rest of the team, and Dad and Elyse wouldn't leave me in the house alone.

"Ashie-pie, you know I can't leave you alone in the house. Even if I completely 101% trust you," she said with an amused smile.

"Elyse, come on, you already know I'll end up reading on Wattpad the whole day or watching Netflix." I groaned as I slumped on the couch much to Damon's amusement. "And you trust me more with 11 guys?"

   "What can I say? I'm a weird mother," she said, leaving the kitchen.

   "You're supposed to be the responsible parent now!" I called out from behind her.

   "When was I ever the responsible parent?" She called back laughing.

   I was awaken the next morning with a groan when I felt someone shake my body aggressively. The consistent shaking wouldn't stop until I slapped whoever happened to be in front of me blindly. The person with the death wish groaned painfully. Opening one eye lazily, I caught sight of a pained Ryder with a bright, red, left cheek.

The fact that he was in pain made me smirk, but that quickly dropped when it finally dawned on me that Ryder was on my bed, and I wasn't wearing pants under my comforter.

"Get out! Now!" I pulled up the comforters over my chest, hiding my Spongebob pijamas. His face was confused for a second before he understood. "Ohh."

His ears and neck were tinted bright red and he started backing away, leaving the room. It was the first time I see him blush, and I had to say it was so cute.

   Well, that's weird. I'm pretty sure he saw plenty of girls with less than their pijamas. I shrugged it off, and went to the bathroom when I was sure that Ryder had left.

After freshening up and changing into a triangle pink and orange bikini, and slipping on a short dress, I packed my Ray Bans, sunscreen, phone, and ebook reader before heading downstairs. Strangely, all the boys were already waiting for me there.

"I thought we were all supposed to meet up by the boat," I said confusedly as I grabbed an apple and took a bite.

"Change of plans. This'll just be faster," Damon explained as he started heading to the car, the cooler in his hands.

The team consisted of Drake, Damon, Ryder, Liam (the guy i kissed at the party), Chris, Alec, Eric, Abe, Luke, Kyle, and Brydon. They all seemed pretty nice. And pretty cute, if I may add.

"We obviously can't fit in one car so we'll be divided. Damon, Ryder, Ash, and Luke will be in Ash's car. Liam, Chris, Alec, and I will be in my car. And Brydon, Eric, and Kyle will be in Eric's car. Capiché?" Drake explained in one long breath. We all nodded before going to our assigned cars.

Before entering my precious car, I looked to all of them venomously. "If one of you just sneeze on my baby, I'll rip your small intestines out your mouths, and rip your large intestines out your butts, and use you as a skipping rope."

They all looked petrified, and I think Luke may have crapped his pants, but the message needed to be drilled in their brains. Before starting the engine, I gave them all one last sweet smile before buckling my seatbelt and driving off. Damon sat in the passenger seat, whereas Ryder and Luke sat in the back.

"Is she always like that?" I heard Luke whisper nervously to Damon in the back.

"Yes," Damon and Ryder said simultaneously. "That's why we call her Foxy The Badass," Ryder chuckled.

I ignored them and kept my eyes on the road. Even though it would be nice if I gave them a small fright.

   Wait a minute, I thought deviously.

Waiting for the right moment, I swerved the car to the left sharply, earning curses from the guys.

"Would it kill you to stay in your lane?" Damon asked annoyed.

I started going at a faster speed and way over the limit. People around us honked their horns, and some even flipped me the bird, which I gladly gave back.

"Jesus Chris! Ash slow down!" Ryder's eyes were as wide as saucers by now. I burst out laughing at their terrified faces.

I sped up even more making Damon whine and grip the car seat . Soon enough, we reached our destination, and I unbuckled my seat belt.

"Come on, ya cry babies, we were just having some fun." I turned off the engine, and looked back at them.

Damon had his eyes closed and was praying quietly to himself. Luke had left the car, and was kissing the ground, saying dramatically, "I'M ALIVE, THANK YOU GOD!"

Ryder was hugging his knees and rocking back and forth in his seat.

Meh. At least they didn't ruin my car. And they weren't dead, so everything's Gucci.

After a few more minutes, everyone had arrived, and we started getting ready on the boat. The day was actually not as cold as it usually was, but Dad and Elyse said that it was a one-day-thing. The boat was as big as a yacht and it was beautiful. I couldn't wait to eat the pizza later.

After untying the rope that stopped the boat from moving, everybody went to play volleyball on the deck while I took off my sundress to tan whilst reading my book. I heard some catcalls and whistles after I was left in my bikini, but they all quieted down when Damon gave them a warning.

  "Are you sure you don't want to play with us Ash?" Luke asked, 10 minutes into my reading.

I looked at their expectant faces from above my glasses before shaking my head. "Sorry, boys."

I heard them all whispering, but I ignored it and went back to my book.

"Ash, can you come see this? I think someone's drowning," Abe said, looking down.

Leaving my book, I walked cautiously to the tip of the boat only to see no one in the water. "What? Where? I don-"

I was interrupted when someone pushed me off the boat, and I fell into the cold water. Even though I expected the water to be cold, there was still a shocking wave that crippled through my body taking my breath away. I fell too deep in the water, and it took some effort to resurface. Once I resurfaced, I took deep gulps of fresh air to silence my screaming lungs.

If they thought what I did in the car was horrible, then they still didn't see my other side.

I wailed my arms and screamed. "I CAN'T SWIM, HELP HE-HELP ME. I CAN'T SW-SWIM!"

I pretended to bob up and down in the water, supposedly drowning. The guys started to panic and looked to one another. But Ryder wasted no time in taking off his shirt and diving in.

He swam to me and put my arm around his shoulder, heading towards the ladder. I pretended to have passed out and closed my eyes. Once we climbed up—well he climbed up whilst carrying me—he held me up in a bridal position against his muscular chest. Thankfully, he wasn't looking when my cheeks blushed a deep red. Once we got to the part where everyone was standing, they all gathered around us as Ryder lay me on the deck.

"I know what to do," Drake said as he started pushing my chest in a steady rhythm to make me spit the water I 'swallowed'. At the right moment, I spat all the water in my mouth at all of their worried faces.

"What?"

"That's disgusting!"

    "I thought she was drowning."

   "What's going on?"

"But you were finally dying!" Damon whined which resulted in him receiving a punch from me.

I was laughing so hard that there were tears streaming down my cheeks. I felt a stitch form in my abandonment as I started wheezing from laughing.

"That was not cool," Damon said, recovering from his worrying.

Strangely, Ryder shook his head and stormed off. Everyone stared as he left before going back to whatever they were doing. After drying myself with a towel, I headed to where Ryder went to ask him about his storming off.

I found him at the other side of the deck, staring at the beautiful crystal blue waters. He must have sensed me walking to him because he glanced behind him at me before looking back.

"What happened back there?" I asked as I leaned on the bars.

"You shouldn't have done that, you scared the crap out of me," he said seriously.

Did the player care for me,I thought happily. He must be falling for me. That's why I'm happy. That is the only reason.

"I was only trying to scare you guys. As a joke, you know."

"Well, you sure did," he said bluntly.

"Why?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" he replied with a question confusedly.

"Why do you care for me? I'm just another chick for you to score. Aren't I?" I said bitterly.

He turned to me and gave me a funny look. Ryder looked me right in the eye. His chocolate eyes were so deep, you could drown in those beautiful brown depths. He was about to say something when a waterballoon hits his head. His jaw dropped and I laughed looking at the culprit.

My laughing stopped short when two hit my face and chest.

"Bullzeye!" Chris and Abe simultaneously yelled.

"Wait till I get my hands on you. You're dead men," I said making them m stop laughing. I ran after them with Ryder on my heals, but we both slipped and fell in a puddle of water. Ryder groaned due to the fact that he broke my fall.

   I laughed before getting up and running back to the guys. My eyes roamed the circle and it landed on Chris hiding behind Damon. I pushed them both into the water, but Ryder pushed Abe and I into the water.

   Hahaha, not too fast, buddy, I thought as I pulled Ryder with me. If I was going down then so was he.

   We all fell in a laughing heap in the water, and I couldn't help but think that this was way better than Netflix and reading my book after all.

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Author's Note:

Hey guys! Here's another fun chapter. I had so much fun writing this and finished it within an hour and a half 😂. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Feel free to point out any grammatical mistake bec I'm sure I have a LOT.

Much Love,

MD & SD ❤️