It turned out that taking a group of teenagers to a lake for a day might not have been the smartest move.

The moment we were all in our swimwear, we turned into children who had consumed too many sweets. Mark was probably the worst out of all of us, deliberately splashing and trying to pull us under the water whenever the opportunity happened to present itself. He tried several times to sneak up on me and punch me in the arm but forgot that water moved and I caught him before he could even break the surface of the water.

I managed to push Eva's comments to the back of my mind and focused instead on enjoying myself and having some fun. Having never been to the lake before, I could hardly believe the beauty in it and I couldn't help but wonder if the country housed anything ugly. Everything I had seen or been to in my time with the Goodwin's had amazed me beyond belief and it all looked so beautiful. From the colours of the grass and the foliage around us to the sounds that encased us, everything had its own beauty.

Except that beauty could very easily be shattered by a fifteen-year-old boy screaming before he jumped feet-first into a lake.

Mark hit the water with an almighty splash, causing a ripple effect in the water and managing to spray all of us at the same time. Enid shrieked and tried to cover her face, but nothing could protect her from the shower of water that followed Mark's collision with the water. Out of all of us, he's the one that reverted back to adolescence the quickest and when he broke through the surface of the water, pushing his damp hair off his face, the laugh that followed was almost hysterical.

"You should have seen your faces!" he said, clutching his stomach from laughing so hard. "You looked terrified."

"So would you if someone's buttocks came flying towards you," Eva said.

"How about a competition, to see who can make the biggest splash." Alec scrambled out of the water and stood on the bank, staring at us.

"What do we get if we win?"

"Bragging rights."

Mark shrugged. "That's good enough for me."

"What is it with you two and turning everything into a competition?" I asked, climbing out of the water and standing on the bank. I had no plans to join in with the splash competition, but I didn't want to be anywhere near the water when it happened.

"It makes life a little more exciting, Syb."

Alec grinned and stood beside Mark, the two of them trying to figure out the rules of the competition and determine how they would be able to judge who created the biggest splash. I watched them, half amazed to see Alec engaging with Mark and not just standing off to the side which was something that he had been prone to doing the few times we had all been together. He never appeared too comfortable with my friends, and I didn't blame him. It must have been hard to be the odd one out in our group.

The four of us had known each other since we were children and I was the only one who had really spoken to Alec and spent time with him frequently since we arrived. Alec was having to try and fit into a friendship group where the only connection he had to it was me. I would have been surprised if he merged into the group seamlessly, but after almost a year, I thought they might be a little more at ease with one another. That didn't seem to be the case unless he was talking about a competition.

It didn't take them too long to figure out the rules of their competition, especially since they just had to make the biggest splash in order to win. Mum used to say that the simplest of things could amuse boys; she was right.

"Anyone else going to join in?" Mark asked, pushing his hair off his forehead.

"I'll be a judge," Enid said, "I don't think jumping into a lake like that is very graceful." Enid hadn't even changed into a swimming costume and had just removed her stockings and spent the entire morning dangling her feet into the water.

"If you ever managed to make jumping into a lake graceful, Enid, I'll eat my socks and I expect they would taste as bad as they smell."

Alec turned to look at me and Eva. "Anyone else?"

"No, thank you." Eva shook her head. "I don't like holding my breath underwater."

"I'll think about it," I said.

I didn't hate the idea of taking part in the competition since it was completely ridiculous and I had never been above making a fool of myself, but I wanted to see how seriously the boys were taking it before I tried. If they took it too seriously, then I wouldn't bother but I would join in if it were just a bit of fun. Mark had a habit of taking competitions too far, although, with a winning prize of bragging rights, I couldn't imagine he would be too interested in it. He liked to actually win things.

Mark went first, not that that surprised anyone. He spent about thirty seconds standing on the back of the lake stretching and pretended to be checking the wind direction, even though that would have no impact on how big his splash was. Enid backed away from the water to avoid getting hit whilst Eva and I stood just off to the side; neither of us were bothered about being splashed.

After a few seconds, he backed away from the edge of the bank and crouched down on the grass. To anyone else, he might have looked like a professional runner, but to us, he just looked like an idiot. He pushed himself off the grass and sprinted as fast as he could towards the bank of the lake. When he reached the edge he jumped and flew just a short distance into the air before colliding with the water.

Ripples of water spread out around him and Eva and I were showered with small, cold drops of water. We stared at the surface of the lake until Mark's head broke through and he grinned at us.

"Beat that," he said, brushing his hair off his face and spitting water out of his mouth.

"Oh, I will. I've been doing this all my life after all." Alec winked and turned away from us, walking back across the grass. "You might want to move."

Enid shook her head. "Boys."

I stifled a laugh and watched Alec until he stopped walking. Unlike Mark, who had only gone a short distance, he had walked even further and appeared closer to his parents than he did to us. After spending so much time with Alec, I knew he wouldn't take the challenge lightly so I took just a few steps back from the bank of the lake. I didn't want to be hit by the full force of the splash once he hit the water. The boy who had chosen to get hit with a hammer would do anything to win.

Whilst Mark had opted to showboat a little before he jumped, Alec didn't waste any time. Eva gave him a small nod of her head so he knew she was ready to judge him and almost immediately he took off running. He slipped and skidded across the grass, almost looking like he was about to fall over before he reached the edge of the lake.

Alec let out a small yell before he launched himself from the grass into the air. He tucked himself into a little ball seconds before he hit the water. The moment he hit the water, a torrent of water went flying into the air, soaking Eva. It even hit me and Enid who had tried to stand as far away as she possibly could. Mark didn't look all that impressed, but he never did when he lost a competition.

Breaking the surface of the water, Alec let out a loud cheer. "How was that?"

"Wet," Eva said.

"I did warn you." Alec grinned and pushed his damp hair back. Even though he was soaking wet, the water hadn't flattered his curls and instead just pushed them in front of his face. "I can't see your faces, but I'm going to assume that it was bigger."

Enid grunted. "Unfortunately."

"Come on Syb, your turn."

"I said I was going to think about it. I've thought about it. The answer is no."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to."

"That's not a real answer." He climbed out of the water and stood beside me. "Please? It can't just be me and Mark or it's not as fun. Besides, you haven't given a decent excuse for not joining in. Everyone else did."

"I don't need to give a decent excuse; it is my birthday after all."

"All the more reason to join in."

He grinned and a shiver went down my spine. Even though I'm more than certain that Alec spent most of his life with that stupid lop-sided grin on his face, something felt different about this one. He paired it with a small raise of an eyebrow and a glint in his eye that could only mean he was planning something. It took me a little too long to realise what that something was.

The moment I realised just why he had smiled the way he did, Alec lunged at me and wrapped his arms around my waist before I could even take a step. A small wave of energy travelled across my skin from where he grabbed me, but I tried to ignore it. Instead, I thrashed against Alec's grip to try and get it to loosen, but he had an iron grip and refused to let go. Mark, seeing an opportunity to get back at me for not allowing him to punch me, joined in and grabbed ahold of my legs to keep me from trying to kick Alec in a very painful place.

"Let me go!" I yelled, still trying to fight my way out of their grip.

"No chance."

Alec grinned and he and Mark carried me to the very edge of the lake. They swung me back a few times, trying to gain a little bit of momentum before letting me go. I held my breath and closed my eyes seconds before my body collided with the water.

It felt like my breath had been sucked out of my body when I hit the water, cold water washing over me. I sank a little further into the water before the shock from the cold faded enough for me to get my bearings. Kicking my feet, I pushed myself up to the surface and broke through the water, heaving a deep breath the moment I could feel the air on the top of my head. It took several deep lungfuls of air until it felt like the initial shock from hitting the water had worn off.

I swam back to the edge of the lake and sank my fingernails into the mud on the bank, using my arms to pull myself back onto the dry land. Once on the grass, I stood up and turned to look at Mark and Alec, both of them finding the entire thing hilarious and unable to keep their laughter in. With Mark's goofy laugh and Alec with literal tears running down his face, I found it hard to be mad at them but tried my hardest to glare at them. It didn't have the desired effect.

"Enjoy your swim?" Alec asked, wiping away the tears.

"I hate you." I slapped him on the arm.

"No, you don't. I'm too adorable to hate."

"Are any of you hungry?" Jonathan called from further up the bank. "This picnic won't eat itself."

"Excellent, I'm starving."

Mark immediately bolted up the bank to be the first person to launch himself at the food. Where he put it all would remain a mystery, but he ate like he had a hole in his stomach and we all knew there would be nothing left if we waited. The rest of us made our way up the bank, water still running down my back and my soaked hair moving in front of my face and blocking my vision. I spent more time pushing it off my face than I did before.

We reached the picnic blankets with Mr Thompson handing Alec back his glasses. Alec blinked a few times to adjust to being able to see clearly again, but at least he hadn't lost them at the bottom of the lake which he had apparently done before. I sat beside him, with Eva on my left and accepted a plate from Barbara. She watched me push my hair off my face again.

"I think it might be time you get a haircut. I'm fed up with you playing it," she said.

"Me too. I miss my short hair. Much more low maintenance and it didn't get my eyes as much.

"I can do it for you tomorrow if you like. Just come up to the farm," Mrs Thompson said.

"Thank you." I smiled. "At least I can tell Mum I tried long hair and that it just didn't work out."

Alec leaned over to me and whispered into my ear. "I missed your short hair anyway. It suited you better."

Even I couldn't hide the blush on my cheeks.

~~~

A/N - We are back with a brand new chapter! I've also returned to the sequel after a brief hiatus to write my ONC! 

Questions!

Do you think Sybil likes Alec back? Are they more than friends?

Comment below!

First Published - February 17th, 2022