Game Changer

THIRTY-FOUR

The weather is hot and humid just like yesterday and I wipe the sweat from my forehead with my arm, adjusting the cap on my head.

"Damn but it's fu-" Martin is cut off with a frightening glare from Christina. "Don't say it again."

"-dging nice out here. That's what I was gonna say." Martin corrects himself.

I laugh at his failed attempt to cover up his lie. For the past ten minutes, Martin has probably said "it's so fucking hot" at least a million times which has annoyed Christina to no ends. "Sure that was it." Nina rolls her eyes.

"Shit but it's hot out here." Alex says as he sits down beside me.
Christina groans and I laugh lightly at the situation.

"See! I'm not the only one who thinks it's hot!"

Christina suddenly springs up and grabs her sunglasses off her towel.

"I'm going for a walk." She says curtly, annoyance clear in her voice. As she walks away we all laugh. "Did I miss something?"

Alex asks, looking at each of us.
I giggle and shake my head, "Nothing much." He glances in my direction and smiles brightly.

"What time does the fest start again?" Alex asks Cole.

"Two. So we have an hour to go. They're already setting up."Cole gestures to a bunch of people laying out baskets filled with different coloured powders.

Alex nods in response, running a hand through his damp hair from swimming. "Are we going to go back into the water?" Nina asks.

Alex nods, "Yeah, let me just go pee. I'll catch up with you guys." He stands up again, dusting his shorts off before walking off in the direction of the beach's bathrooms. The rest of us stand up to go back to the water and I pull my cap off, exposing my salty hair. Martin, Cole and Nina start walking off while I wait for Rachel to pull her shirt off of her bikini. Once she's done, I smile. "Ready?"

"Yep." She says popping the 'p' as we follow after the others.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" I ask her.

She nods her head vigorously,
"How could I not?"

I laugh and nod my head, "Thats a very valid point." I throw my arm over her shoulder and pull her into my side, "I missed you so much while you were gone." I say softly.

"I missed you too." She smiles back.

Before I can say another word, I hear my name being called from behind me and Rachel and I stop so I can turn to see who it's coming from. Dylan in all his shirtless glory is standing behind us, his hands in his pockets as he stares at me. I drop my arm from Rachel's shoulders back to my side and raise an eyebrow, "Yes?"

He looks at Rachel for a second before looking back at me, "Can I speak to you for a minute?"

I frown slightly before nodding curtly, "Uh.. yeah, sure. I'll catch up Rachel."

She turns around so that only I can see her face, "You sure?" She whispers quietly so that he doesn't hear. I nod "Yeah, I think so."
She nods and walks away hesitantly and I watch her figure meet the others as Cole grabs her hand and pulls her to him. I turn back to Dylan who is still staring at me and I sigh, putting my hands on my hips tiredly. I really don't have the energy to talk to this douche of a guy. I mean, he did basically call me a good-for-nothing person from the sounds of it.

"What is it, Dylan?" I ask, getting straight to the point. I'm here to enjoy my holiday away from all the drama at school and he is definitely not going to ruin that.