Float

Original Edition: Chapter Eighteen

There are two ways I hate being woken up. The first is with the false promise of food, because there's nothing worse than getting up for some scrambled eggs and hash browns only to find out that your mom lied and you've got a dentist appointment and need to floss instead of stuff your face. The second is on a Saturday morning, because I consider Saturdays to be totally sacrosanct when it comes to sleeping in until noon.

But apparently Lena Fletcher doesn't respect my religious beliefs.

"Rise and shine!" she hollered.

I had just barely opened my eyes when she yanked back the curtains, letting the harsh Florida sunshine beam me right in the face. Considering I had spent all of Friday sitting inside watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Rachel's new obsession, and taking long naps to pass the time, I hadn't seen much sunlight in the last thirty-two or so hours.

"Lena! It burns!" I cried in agony, floundering around in my bed as I tried to grasp hold of anything—a pillow, a blanket—to shield myself with.

"Quit being so overdramatic," Lena scolded.

I couldn't see her because I had my eyes squeezed shut, but I knew she was smirking.

"You are evil incarnate," I grumbled, finally grasping onto the edge of my down pillow.

"Waverly, don't be such a—"

The last word got muffled as I smashed my pillow down over my head, sealing out the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the world happened to include oxygen, which I sort of needed. After about ten seconds, I pulled the pillow up so I could take a gulp of air. When my eyes flickered open, I found myself five inches from a freckled face.

"Gah!" I let out an almost inhuman shriek and jumped backwards.

Unfortunately for me, my bed wasn't all that big. I went tumbling off the side and landed flat on my back, my legs bouncing as they hit the carpeted floor, with a resounding thud. From the other side of the bed, I heard Lena gasp.

Then she erupted in laughter.

I started grumbling some very unladylike words.

"You—I—I'm sorry, Waver—ly!"

Lena was laughing so hard her words came out in gasps.

"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled, grabbing a fistful of the fitted sheet on my bed and using it as leverage to pull myself to my feet. When I was upright again, I twisted my pajama shorts around to their rightful position and looked back up at Lena.

Her lips quivered as she fought to hold back her laughter.

"Good morning?" she offered as innocently as she could manage.

"Watch your back, Fletcher," I warned her.

Then I turned and stalked off towards the bathroom, snatching up my towel from its designated spot on the floor next to the dirty clothes hamper along the way. The second I had kicked the door closed behind me, I heard Lena erupt into laughter again.

"Not funny!" I shouted through the door. 

"Wear your bathing suit, Lyons!" Lena shouted back.

I heard her footsteps thump out of the room and down the stairs, so I assumed she was probably headed to the kitchen to raid Rachel's fridge.

It was a whole forty-five minutes before I finally came padding into the living room, dressed in a big white tee shirt and a pair of Rachel's jean shorts over my blue and white striped bikini, at Lena's request. I had already guessed that we'd be wading into the ocean—why else would Lena put me in a bikini? It wasn't like I needed to even out my tan lines—but I figured that if I stayed in the shallow water, I'd be fine. I couldn't drown in six inches of water.