A/N Hi all!! This is our first time writing a joint fic, which means, hopefully, it'll be twice as good as anything else we've written! It also means we appreciate reviews much more, which means… review!!! Please!!! It's an L/J love/hate, with less clichés than most, but a good amount just for seasoning! Um… it's set in the Caribbean, so the title is in Spanish, and sums up the story nicely, we feel. And…that's about it! We'll let you get on with the reading!! Don't forget to review!!!
Lily lay back on her sun bed, and grinned. She had the whole summer in front of her, eight whole weeks of James Potter-free bliss, in a tropical resort. She would even be able to avoid Petunia, because her younger sister would be off flirting with the most unattractive males the resort had to offer. Petunia's taste in men worried Lily to an extent, but now she was grateful for it. Because of it, her upcoming weeks would be completely free of torture, pain, or annoyance. No Petunia or James Potter to deal with!
She was just slipping into a doze when there was a huge splash, and then, suddenly, she was drenched in pool water. Lily sat up in shock, determined to shout at whoever had splashed her. And then she groaned in horror. It couldn't be true! Swimming away from her, his hair messy despite being wet, was a tall boy with jet-black hair. His figure was remarkably like Potter's, and, as he turned around, Lily felt her happiness deflate. It was Potter. James Bloody Potter, always there to make her life a misery.
Right now, though, he was gaping at her in shock. His face, actually, showed emotions remarkably similar to the ones she was now feeling. Annoyance, shock, and dismay were the most obvious. Lily gulped. Well, shouting at James Potter was something she had loads of practise at.
"Will you watch where you're jumping, you bloody-minded imbecile! Next time, kindly refrain from splashing me with water!" She glared at him, and then stomped off to find another towel. Preferably, it would be a dry one.
She was wondering if she had been a little harsh by the time she returned to her bed. After all, James probably hadn't meant to splash her. But he's done so many other things, a voice in her head whispered. Think of all the other things he's done to you! Besides, the arrogant prat needs a good cutting down to size. But no, she argued internally with herself, maybe that was uncalled for.
Shaking her head to clear it, she looked back at Potter who was resolutely swimming laps of the pool, and studiously ignoring her. It was strange that he hadn't yelled back at her. Perhaps he was ignoring her? Yes, that was a good strategy. If she could ignore the idiot, surely this holiday might actually be quite enjoyable! So Lily sat back in her seat, determined to get a suntan. With luck, maybe Potter would go home tomorrow.
That evening, Lily sat at the table with her parents, bored out of her mind. Petunia was gushing about one of the guys she had met today, her parents were talking quietly to themselves, and Lily was forced to listen to Petunia. "…and he's got this brother that's supposedly really weird, just like you! In fact, I think he's a… a wizard. Can you imagine? We are just soo perfect for each other! We both have freaky siblings, nobody understands us, and we're both stuck on this island-"
It suddenly all caught up with Lily, and she choked on her peas. "He has a brother like me, you say?"
"Yes, I knew you'd be interesting! He's over there!" Lily followed Petunia's pointing finger and saw, to her utmost dismay, James Potter. He was listening boredly to a pudgy boy who was talking with great animation. As she watched, he stiffened, and asked a quick question. The pudgy boy smirked and turned and pointed straight at Lily. James met Lily's eyes, and for a second they were staring at each other in horrified silence.
Lily turned abruptly back to Petunia, ignoring James's staring eyes, and said, "You really like this guy, Petty? What's his last name?"
"Ohh, he's amazing!" Petunia gushed. "Absolutely wonderful. His last name is Dursely, Vernon Dursely. Isn't his name so sweet? Imagine it! Petunia Dursely! Mrs Vernon Dursely!"
"It suits you perfectly," Lily muttered under her breath, and then said "But you said the black-haired guy is his brother?"
"Yeah, James or something. Isn't Vernon so cute? His hair-"
"Yes, yes, very cute. But James's last name is Potter…?"
Petunia's face suddenly lit up. "You know James? Are you friends with him? Can you find out more about Vernon for me? Could you ask if he likes me? Please?"
"No way! I hate P- James! Besides, they can't be brothers. James has a different last name."
"Oh, I think Vernie said that James was his stepbrother, or something. Yeah, that's it. Look, please Lils? You never do anything for me, please? Pretty, pretty please?"
"I'll think about it," Lily told her, having absolutely no intention to talk to James at all. This was horrible! If Petunia and Vernon started going out, she would have to be with James a lot! What if their families started eating meals together? She would be forced to sit with James every single night for the rest of the summer! And what if, God forbid, Petunia actually married this Vernon? They would be… James would be her brother-in-law! Well, maybe not her brother-in-law if he was Vernon's stepbrother, but… she would be forced to see him at every single family reunion! It would be horrible!
There was only one thing to do. She would have to break Petunia and Vernon apart. Something would work, surely. There was absolutely no way that Lily Evans would ever, in any circumstances, tolerate James Potter. No, Lily would find Petunia another boy to drool over. Or die trying.
Unknown to Lily, James Potter, four tables away, was having the exact same thoughts.
~*~*~
That evening, lying on her bed in the room she shared with Petunia, Lily was about to scream. She had spent the last hour listening to Petunia rave on and on about this Vernon. You would almost think that Petunia had never had a boyfriend before, she mused, except for the fact that it's always a different guy every time I come home. Still, Petunia had never sounded this serious before, to Lily's knowledge.
"…and Lily, I think he really likes me, too! Please will you talk to James for me? Please? I really want to know! I promise, if you do this one thing for me, I'll… I'll never annoy you again! Please?"
"Look, Petunia?" Lily said into the darkness.
"Yes? You'll do it for me?" Her whiny voice really was pitiful. Lily felt almost sorry for her.
"Petunia, I know James Potter. I know all about him at my school. He… he's the most insufferable person you could meet. And his brother's even worse," Vernon would probably be worse if Petunia liked him. It wasn't really a lie, "Look, trust me for once, Petunia, you really don't want to get involved with them."
"Lily! How could you say something like that? I know James is a freak, Vernon told me that, but Vernon is completely different! Totally different! Look-"
"No, Petunia, you look. I know James. I know what he's like… he has a different girlfriend every month, and he leads them on horribly. This Vernon will be exactly the same, trust me, Petunia."
"Just because you're jealous because you fell for this James guy is absolutely no reason-"
Lily's shriek cut her of. "Never! I would never go out with Potter! That's just… gross! No, Petunia, so many of my friends have gone out with him. I would hate for you to be hurt that way by his good-for-nothing brother-"
"You're just jealous that I get the nice, cute, hot brother! That's all it is! And if you won't help me, Lily, then I'll just have to do it myself!"
"Argh!" Lily said, and slammed her fist into her pillow. This was not going well.
~*~*~
The next morning, Lily got up, dressed herself in her new bikini, wrapped a sarong around her waist, and was putting on her shoes to go to breakfast when she suddenly caught sight of Petunia and remembered. Petunia liked James's brother. Sighing, she put her shoes on, pulled her brush quickly through her hair, and ran out to join her parents on their way to breakfast.
By the time it had finished, Lily had finished planning what she had decided to call 'The Anti-Vernon Project' or the 'AVP.' Part one, continued on from last night, would hopefully be enough to do it. If not, there would also be parts two, three, and four.
A voice interrupted her thoughts. "You in, Lily?"
She looked up to see her whole family looking at her. "I'm sorry, Dad?"
He sighed. "Did you miss the whole conversation we just had?"
"Um, yes," Lily replied, smiling sheepishly.
Her father sighed again. "The hotel arranges activities to keep its guests occupied. This morning there's a volleyball tournament. I thought we could do it."
"Sure, Dad. Good luck!"
"No, Lily." His patience was very strained. "All of us. You too."
"Oh. Um, I guess. Do I have a choice?"
"Nope," her mum put in. She grinned. "You know what your father's like with sports. Besides, I'm sure it will be fun."
"But I was hoping to go swimming this morning!" Lily moaned, indicating her swimsuit.
"That's okay, you can wear that. And we'll all go swimming off the beach afterwards." Lily mother said, trying to placate her.
"I'm wearing mine!" Petunia put in, sitting up straighter so Lily could see the blue bikini she was wearing. Lily smiled weakly.
"Okay then." Petunia was only wearing that one because it was the most revealing. She really did want to impress this Vernon guy. She was in for a tough job. "I'll do it."
~*~*~
Ten minutes later, they were all on the beach. There were about twenty-five people altogether, and Lily noticed grumpily that James's family was one of them. On the upside, James was scowling. He obviously didn't want to be there, either. On the downside, Vernon was also there, and staring at Petunia. She was staring back at him, and equally lovesick look in her eyes.
"Petunia, snap out of it!" Lily muttered. "He has the personality of an earthworm, and he's related to Satan!"
"No, I'm the one related to Satan, and he doesn't think any less of me for it!" Petunia snapped back, one of her better comebacks.
"Petunia, please listen to reason! I know James. He's absolutely awful, and he'll have contaminated Vernon! I bet the only reason Vernon's talking to you is because James dared him that he can get with you by the end of the week!"
That threw Petunia, but only for a moment. "It's not true! Vernon hates his brother! He told me, and he was serious! You're just jealous that I got the nice brother, Lily. Now shut up!"
Lily was just about to make a reply when a man of about thirty appeared with a megaphone.
"Welcome, everyone, to Island of the Sun's weekly volleyball competition! I am Mike, events co-ordinator here in the resort, to announce the start of the competition. We have six teams of four participating, and, luckily, three volleyball courts! So, let the games begin! First of all, is everybody familiar with the rules of the game?"
There was a murmured assent as everybody nodded, and Mike grinned. "Good! So here's what we'll do. You've already been divided up into your teams, A, B, C, D, E, and F. A will play B in game one, C will play D in game two, and E will play F in game three. The winners of the first two will play each other in game four, and then the losing team of that game will play the winner of E and F, from game three. If the winner of game three wins the fifth game, they will play against the winning team of the fourth game, to determine whether they place first or second. You all understand?"
Lily nodded, thinking it was a complicated way to do things, but she guessed it worked. Petunia was still staring at Vernon, Vernon looked confused, James was scowling, and her parents were smiling and nodding happily.
Mike continued. "Good! A and B play on court one, B and C on court two, D and E on court three. We'll play the best of three games!"
Lily groaned when she saw that James's family was team C. She was on team D. Great. Just great. If James won this game, she would never live it down. Never.
