Real

Arrival

Tessa's POV

We finall got here. It took forever, but we made it to our summer house on the coast of Nerja, Spain. That meant a lot of swimming, parties, and relaxation. I could already feel how amazing of a summer this would be.

"Tessa!" Louis, one of my triplet brothers, yelled at me. "There's some people who moved in next door!" As if I could care. Louis and my other triplet, Jesse, knew that I was extremely shy. It's not nearly as bad as it is in New York, where I live. Here, I actuall talk to people and have lots of friends, but I'm always a little shy around new people.

"Louis, you can go meet them if you'd like, but you know how I feel about new people!" I called back, not caring if he went or not. I was still taking in the feeling of the sand between my toes. It was warm and crunched underneath my feet whenever I took a step. The smell of the ocean only served the purpose of the entire beach. It was relaxing. I relished in the feeling, not wanting to give it up.

When their was no reply from Louis I assumed he went over to greet the new neighbours by himself or with Jesse, so I decided to go swimming in our pool. I didn't want to waste my first time in the ocean after having not been in it for three years. Dad had started filling it as soon as we had gotten here, so it should be done by now.

I rushed upstairs, put on one of my multiple swimsuits, and grabbed a book, sunglasses, and a towel before running out to our private pool. When I got out there I heard Louis', Jesse's, and two other guys' voices coming closer to the fence. Within the minute they'd be at the gate and could see me. Louis and Jesse were probably going to show off to the new neighbors. Bragging rights and crap.

Hoping they hadn't -or wouldn't- seen me yet, I dropped my stuff by the pool and cannon-balled into the water, but with my luck, they came in right as I jumped in. I emerged only to hear Jesse saying, "And that is our dear sister displaying her water abilities in order to not have to meet new people. That's our source of entertainment for tonight." He finished using a commentator's voice.

"Hey," I exclaimed, acting all hurt. Okay, I thought to myself, showtime. Whenever I meet new people I pretend to be playing a role so as not to let my shyness take over. It helps a little bit, and once I get comfortable I let the real me shine through. It's one of the things I'd learned here.

All of the boys were laughing at my feigned expression, which caused me to break my character by laughing. "Aww, we're just messing with you, Tessa." Louis, my favorite triplet, says. He then turns to look at the two guys who must be our neighbors. "Guys, this is our triplet, Tessa. Tessa, there are our two neighbors from Ireland, Greg and Niall." He forgot to point out who was who, but I'd find out later.

I waved at them and then realized how awkward of a meeting this was. I was dressed in a string bikini with my arms folded over the edge. It probably looked like I was trying to show off or something. My cheeks started to burn. Luckily, they didn't seem to notice and waved back before walking off with my two brothers. The last thing I heard was from Jesse's mouth, "...better stay away..." I didn't catch it all, but what was that supposed to mean? Was he talking about me? What had I ever done to him? Whatever, Lou can tell me later.

Once I finished swimming, I layed on one of the pool chairs to tan. I was naturally tan, but I just wanted to read. Luckily, I didn't burn easy. It had been one of my greatest advantages when I first came here. Usually, you can tell who tans and who burns. In Nerja, if you were marked as a tanner, you had almost instant popularity no matter who you were. If you were marked as a burner, you had to work a little harder. It was a weird system.

By the looks of our two neighbours, they were both burners. There are few exceptions to the ''rules,'' but the only one who'd care would be the younger one. The older one seemed in his later twenties, so he probably wouldn't care about popularity statuses. The oldest person in our group was twenty-two, and the older boy looked, well, older than that.  The younger boy would probably have to work to get popular, if he even wanted to. In my experience, the burners tend to stay to themselves, but who knows? This one seems confident, which could be a good or a bad thing.