Brainburn

   

  I was about to come out of the water when Luke pushed me back in. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"We're not done yet." He chuckled. I watched as he slipped his shirt off his body.

Great abs, I thought. This must be why he's so full of himself. He stood there in the sun, shining in his tanned glory.

"Checking me out?"

He swirled around like a girl.

"You wish." I settled back in the pool.

He jumped in with a splash that startled me. People cheered, most especially girls.

I watched as he swam around in the pool, greeting people, fist bumping some and high fiving the others.

The guy was really popular. He's not a bad guy afterall. He's just a teenager who likes to date multiple girls at the same time.

"Stop staring, you'll give him sunburn with your eyes ." That high-pitched voice chirped behind me.

I turned around and rested my hands on the poolside.

"What do you want this time?"

She sat on the lounger where my stuff was.

"I just came to remind you that Luke's mine,no matter what how hard you try to steal him."

"Are you done?" I heard his voice behind me. Great,at least he can deal with his girlfriend.

"Luke," she chirped loudly.

"Alessia, let this be the last time that you will say that to Theresa. I'm warning you."

"She's not even that beautiful!" She stomped off and for the first time, I took in her dressing.

She had a pink bikini on, with purple stones. Five on ten,I graded her.

"Swim with me?" He asked and I felt a headache coming.

"No,I wanna go home."

I said and pulled myself out of the water. My hair was dripping.

"What?" He exclaimed. "But we just got here an hour ago!" He whined.

"I didn't say you should come with me. I was just informing you that I was leaving." I packed the last item into Ivy's bag and slipped on my shorts and shirt.

"Why are you even leaving?" He also got out of the water.

"I'm tired." I replied flatly, scanning the pool to find Ivy.

I was about to yell her name when I spotted a big brown spider beneath me.

My breath quickened and I screamed as loud as I could.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked, frantically looking at me. He was totally confused.

I couldn't blame him. I was acting like someone who had mood swings.

It felt like my heart jumped into my throat,I'm suddenly short of breath.

I kept screaming until my throat hurts. Ivy finally took notice of me and came rushing.

My head was spinning and my vision was blurry. I fell to the ground and Luke was hovering over me until I closed my eyes.

"Are you sure she's gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, she'll be okay when she wakes up."

I opened my eyes and found Luke standing and Ivy sitting, on the edge of the bed.

I sat up, holding my head in my hand.

"Tess!" Ivy came rushing to me.

She crashed into me and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"I can't breathe," I whispered weakly.

"Shut up," she silenced me.

"So, what happened?" Luke asked when I was released from Ivy.

Ivy and I exchanged a knowing look.

"No, you tell him. I'm not in the mood for stories," I stood up and walked downstairs into the kitchen while they followed.

"She has arachnophobia." Ivy said.

"And that is?" Luke raised his eyebrows. I gave him a ' are you serious?' look.

"Don't blame me, I'm not that smart." He defended.

"She's scared of spiders."

He gave me a confused look before he started laughing. I grabbed a chocolate bar from the counter and went to the living room.

He still followed me.

"You act mighty and all but, you're actually scared of a spider?"

"I'm leaving," Ivy said.

"What about Scott? He didn't come?"

"His mom needed him and I brought my car." That was when I realized that she was no more in her bikini. She must have gone home to change.

"How long was I passed out?"

"It's a nice record today. Just two hours."

"Nice," I smiled to myself.

"Bye,"she banged the door.

"Since when did you develop that phobia?" Luke asked, straightening up.

"Since when did we become friends?" I stood up and he raised an eyebrow.

"Our contract ended when we arrived from the beach. You promised not to bother me again if I went with you so,out." I pointed to the door politely.

He took in a deep breath and walked towards me. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

He caressed my face and tried to kiss me. I took his hand in a swift motion and twisted it behind his back.

"Ouch!" He shrieked. He tried to free himself but that only caused him more pain. "Theresa, please let me go," he pleaded.

"Only if you promise to leave."

"I will,after saying what I wanna say."

I let him go and stood arms akimbo.

"I just wanna be friends with you." He said with a smile.

"I don't keep friends, Henderson."

I tore the cover off the the chocolate bar and stuffed it in my mouth.

"Do you ever eat more than that?" He pointed to the bar in my hand and I stared at him, expressionless. "You said you don't keep friends, what about Ivy and Scott?"

"BFF's."

"Can't I be one?"

I stared at him before laughing so hard that tears started to roll down my face.

"What's so funny?"

"You."

"I'm funny?"

"Yeah. Remember when you said that I was different?" He nodded.

"I am."

I walked to the kitchen and opened a cupboard. I retrieved a large book and walked back to him.

"If you read through this and you're okay with it,no problem. You can be my friend."I gave him the book.

"Guidelines to being Tess Harvey's friend," he read the title aloud. "Are you kidding me?"

"No, you can drop it if you want."

"You keep books in the kitchen? You're weird."

I went upstairs and changed into a Nike sports bra and Nike shorts with my black Jordans. I walked back downstairs and grabbed a bottle of water.

"Where are you going?"

"The gym." I closed the door behind me.

††††

"So, you're staying?" I asked excitedly.

"Just for a few days." Ryder said.

He was my cousin from Dad's side.

Two years older than me and he was also attending the same college as Julian.

"That Mendes guy,do you have to keep dating him?"

"Julian is a great guy, Ry."

"If you say so," he held up his hands in surrender.

"I'm bored." I slipped upside down the couch.

"Me too."

"If you had a girlfriend, you wouldn't be."

"Actually,I have tons of them. Girls line up just to take a pic with me. I'm like a Greek God."

"You're such a player."

"And you love me like that," he teased and I sighed.

"Sadly, I do."

"I got a new tattoo, wanna see?" He pulled his shirt over his head.

I saw 'Ryder' written in calligraphy on his upper back.

"Wow, it's so nice."

"I know right? You should get one."

"I told you and I'll keep telling you that I don't want anything except for piercings on my skin."

"Okay,as your lordship pleases."

"What should we try today?"

"Hmmmm, let's blend pizza and hotdogs together to make a juice."

"Even the thought of that makes me wanna puke."

I smiled until I felt something hairy on my elbow. I glanced over and saw that dreaded creature that most teenage girls feared.

"Ryder! Spider!" I screamed.

"Hey, that rhymed." He smiled at me before realizing that I was serious.