Gabriella swished her feet in the ice-cube cold pool as she thought about her move. Her family of four hadn't moved officially into the condo/town house yet, but they had already bought it. Her room was exactly the same size as it was in her current home (thank God!), but it still felt empty. The memory of the rundown, no space town house from three years prior was gnawing at her slowly but surely. She was forced to sleep on a recliner that was older than she was, and her sister slept on the couch. Their "TV" was Gabriella's old Hello Kitty, pink with flowers, crappy cable TV. She would never live in something like that again, if it was the last thing she did. And, even though it may be silly, she refused to call her new town house a town house, always calling it a condo instead.
"Hey," a voice said, pulling Gabriella out of her thoughts. She looked up to be accompanied by Troy, smiling at her. He took a place next to her on the ground, but kept his feet on the ground instead of the arctic pool.
"Hey," Gabriella said, mentally smiling. "What are you doing here?"
"You're mom invited me," Troy stated simply. He growled at his little brother who had splashed him. Leave it to supermom, Gabriella thought with a sigh. "So, why don't you have your bathing suit?" Troy questioned.
"I didn't plan on swimming…" Gabriella said slowly. Truth was she didn't want Troy seeing her in a bathing suit. "Speaking of swimming, aren't you gonna, I don't know, swim?"
"Oh, right," Troy said, getting up. He walked to the deep end of the pool and took a couple steps back. Then, he ran up to the edge and dove in. When he came up to the surface, he screamed. Gabriella broke into a fit of giggles. "By the way, it's cold!" she shouted to him, still giggling.
"You couldn't have told me that before?!" Troy said, climbing out of the pool. He shook his hair out like a dog, making random water drops fall on Gabriella. She giggled again. Troy sprinted to the hot tub, but didn't go in.
"Are you going to go in or are you just going to stare at it?" Gabriella yelled from across the pool to Troy.
"Well, like an ice cube, I'll melt!" Troy yelled back. Gabriella smiled and pulled her numb feet out of the pool.
"Hey!" Taylor called, and ran up to Gabriella. She was in her softball practice uniform – a bright pink shirt that screamed "EAT PITCH SLEEP SOFTBALL!" in white letters and soccer shorts the stopped at the knee. "Why aren't you in the pool? It's a beautiful day! You should be in the pool. GET. IN. THAT. POOL!" By the time Taylor was done ranting, Gabriella was dragged her into the bathroom and shoved her in one of the stalls. Taylor got changed in her bathing suit and gave her softball clothes to Gabriella.
"Wear them."
"No!"
"You're going in that pool."
"Who's making me?"
"Me!"
"No you're not, Taylor. My feet were numb when I stuck them in that water. IT'S FREAKING FREEZING!"
Somehow Gabriella ended up in the bathroom stall with Taylor's softball uniform in her hands. She got changed slowly, and came out of the stall with a pout.
"I hate you."
"Love you too!"
-
After many squeals and "OH MY GOSH I HATE YOU FOR MAKING ME DO THIS!" Troy had his towel and other belongings in his hands.
"Going somewhere, Bolton?" Taylor asked bitterly.
"Yeah, home."
"Oh… See ya, Troysie," Gabriella said sadly. 'Troysie' was her cutesy pet name she had given them after a couple of months of their friendship. She watched him walk away to the gate, and her eyes followed him until he disappeared from sight. Stupid Taylor. If she hadn't dragged me in here, I would've had more time with Troy. Oh well, there's always Tuesday, Gabriella thought.