Chapter Nine: Can You Swim

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-'ˏ Margo's Pov ˎ'-

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Margaret Henderson's House
Sunday , 1:37 p.m
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"I'll see you later?" I scoffed to myself later on that day. "Who does he think he is?" I said continuing to talk to myself as I threw the oven mitt down.

Three batches of cookies later and I still couldn't wrap my mind around it. I dusted the flour off of my own rainbow striped shirt, refusing to wear anything of Billy's.

Dustin came running around the corner and snatched a cookie off the cooling rack.

"DUSTIN!" I called out. He guiltily walked back in thinking I was going to scold him for taking a cookie.

"Can you swim?" I asked him.

"No?" He responds tentatively.

"Perfect." I smile.

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A half hour later I had dragged Dustin, Will, Mike, and Lucas to the community pool. I made sure they all had a towel and shoved a bag of cookies into their hands before letting them loose. They awkwardly shuffled to an empty set of chairs and sat down.

"Go swim." I ordered them.

"Margo-" Lucas started.

"I brought you here so you will do what I say."

"No you DRAGGED us here!" Will whined. I lightly ruffled his hair ignoring what he said.

The bang of a door slamming open rung out as a well muscled and shirtless boy walked out of the lifeguard changing room. He took a brief look around the pool and blew his whistle.

"Hey lard ass!" He called out to a boy who was running across the pool deck. "No running on my watch! Run again and you are banned for life! Do you want to be banned for life?" The little boy shook his head. "That's what I thought." The familiar boy said before blowing the whistle again as the pool resumed activity.

He turned to walk towards the guard station which happened to be in my direction. He still had the whistle in between his lips but let it drop when he recognized my face and smirked. I quickly turned around and dug in my bag pretending to be busy.

"Ma'am."

I groaned and turned around slowly as all the boys looked at me in confusion.

His hand reached up to take off his sunglasses and I noticed he had my scrunchie on his wrist.

"Sorry but you aren't allowed to have any food or drinks inside the pool area unless it's water in a plastic resealable bottle." He said snatching a cookie from the bag in Lucas's hand and taking a bite out of it.

I started to open my mouth to argue with him but he leaned forward to whisper in my ear. "When I said 'I'll see you later' I was thinking about picking you up. From your house. And maybe going somewhere. Not you showing up to my work place to check me out." I could practically feel him smirking against my skin. I backed up from him and scoffed.

"Sorry didn't mean to break community pool rules." I said forcing a smile and snatching all the cookie bags back from the boys and shoving them into my backpack. He just nodded as I turned away from him, cutting off the conversation. He pinched my ass and left to go do his job. I gasped loudly and tried playing it off as a cough as the boys looked at me confused. I only looked up long enough to see Billy laughing at me from his station before he dropped his sunglasses back over his eyes and began lightly scanning the pool.

"Why was that so weird? Was that just me? That was weird right?" Dustin asked looking at everyone else for confirmation.

"She probably just thinks he's hot and is embarrassed!" Lucas stated folding his arms, clearly angry over his stolen cookie.

"I- NO!" I said, my voice cracking. "Go play!" I ordered them and they all scurried off to the shallow end of the pool. I sighed and ripped off my shorts and shirt leaving me in a maroon colored bikini set. I felt a pair of eyes on me as I laid out on the chair. But my thoughts were quickly interrupted as someone sat down in the chair next to me.

"Dustin what do you wa- oh." I started before realizing it wasn't Dustin. "Can I help you?"

"No, just wanted to say hi!" It was a boy around my age. He was very tan and had short dark hair.

"Oh. Well hi." I replied uninterested as I laid back down.

"You have a boyfriend?" He questioned me.

"Nope not really." I said popping the p as I stretched my arms over my head trying to relax.

"Oh- so I was thinking." He started but I drowned him out. He wouldn't stop talking so I got up to leave and he followed. I sat down at the edge of the pool, dipping my feet in while he stood behind me nervously babbling.

"So maybe like around 7?" He asked as I tuned back in.

"Wait what's going on around 7?" I added stupidly.

The eyes I felt on me earlier must have been Billy because out of nowhere the guy went flying into the pool.

Billy waited for him to resurface as the guy spit out water. "You need help? Don't want you getting in over your head there!" He said sarcastically to the guy who was standing up in four feet of water.

"What is your problem?" The guy asked clearly stunned.

"Me? I don't have a problem. Do you have a problem?" He asked staring back menacingly.

"No.." The guy muttered before he awkwardly swam away from Billy and to the nearest set of stairs to get out.

"Really? What is wrong with you?"

He just lightly shrugged. "I get off at 6."

"And?"

"And so I wanna take you somewhere."

"Like where?"

"Wherever you wanna go."

"Home." I said teasing him.

He rolled his eyes. "Not unless I get to rip this off of you." He said playing at the edge of my bikini top. I smacked his hand away and gasped. He just winked before leaving once again.

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After wrangling all the boys and dropping them back off I quickly ran to take a shower and get dressed. Scared that Billy might follow through and try to take me somewhere. I quickly pulled on some high waisted jean shorts, a band t-shirt, and my signature faded high top converses. A knock on the door rung out through the house as I swiped the last of my mascara on. I put on a quick swipe of lipgloss and collected my things. Throwing my bag over my shoulder as I opened the door I couldn't help but laugh.

"What is that?" I asked trying to cover up my laughter.


"What is that?" I asked trying to cover up my laughter

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