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.

I ended up re-reading one of my favourite books, Pride and Prejudice, for a couple hours. A sharp sound knocked me from my reading. It started to get dark and I didn't even notice; the pool lights had already turned on. I looked around for the source of the sound that had startled me. Turns out, it was one of those neighbour boys. Greg or Niall, I'm not sure. It was the younger one, from what I could tell.

"Hey, your brothers told me I could use your pool. Hope it's alright." From what I heard, he had a slight Irish accent. I just nodded my head and waved my hand toward the pool, a slight gesture. "Names Niall by the way." I just stared at him, confused. "Your brother didn't clearly state the difference between me and my brother."

"I'm Tessa." I said nonchalantly. I silently wondered, while he took his shirt off, if my original guess of him being a burner would turn out to be true or not. I'll find out eventually.

I got bored of reading, so I watched Niall swim. I kind of wanted to get in the water, but I think that would've been rather awkward. I stared mindlessly, just watching him swim back and forth through the water. From what I've seen, he looked more relaxed in the water. He seemed to have a pretty chill personality in the first place, but it was like he became the water. It was as if he was a part of the water. It was beautiful, just watching him flow through the water. I don't know him, but he looks pretty good.

"Hey, Tessa! Keep your wandering eyes to yourself!" I was completely thrown back by Jesse's exclamation. Niall turned back to see Jesse sniggering with Louis and my cheeks burned to a light shade of pink. He seemed to connect the dots between Jesse's comment and my cheek inflamation, and his cheeks turned red as well. Damn, I was caught.

"Shut up, Jesse. I was looking at the water trying to decide whether or not to get in." Man, that's a lame excuse. Jesse and Louis didn't even seem to hear my explanation; they were too busy laughing and congratulating each other on how good of one that was. I huffed and started staring at the sky.

Eventually, my triplets went inside and Niall continued swimming. After a couple minutes Niall said something incoherant.

"Pardon?" I asked.

"I said, 'You can come swim if you want.' You told you brothers...and you wanted...couldn't decide..." He trailed off, looking rather uncomfortable at having spoken.

"Oh, um, okay. Thanks," I got up from my pool chair and walked to the edge of the pool. I stuck my feet in and sat on the side before I noticed Niall's wandering eyes. I just let him. I figured it was practically payback for mine. He wasn't being as subtle as I was, though. I cleared my throat and slid in. He turned away and looked embarassed. I came up in the mermaid style with my face turned away from him, so I couldn't see how he reacted.

I just started swimming, allowing the water to cool me off. It felt good to be back in Nerja. My family used to come every summer from the time my brothers and I were six, but we stopped when I turned seventeen beccause of the accident.

Niall and I kept swimming together for a good hour or so. Not neccessarily together, just in the same pool. It was a little awkward at first, but I ignored it. Then, I forgot all of the awkwardness.

"Tessa, it's eleven thirty at night." My dad came out. Oh, great.

"Yeah. I'm just swimming. I'll be in later." I replied, probably with more attitude than needed.

"I don't think you understand, Theresa. I said it is eleven thirty. Your friend needs to go home and you need to go to bed." Woah, first names. Super scary.

"Niall can go home when he wants and I'll go to bed when I want. I am no child."

He just huffed. "Just make sure to turn the pool lights off when you go inside," And with that he walked inside, slamming the door shut behind him.

"I swear, he throws tantrums like a two year-old." Niall laughed at my comment. Did I say that out loud?

"That was intense." I just nodded my head, too trapped in my own thoughts. "Well, I better get home. My mom will be wondering where I am. Thanks for the swim." He started climbing out of the pool and putting his shirt on. I stood there, in the pool, watching as he dried off and put his shirt on. He started to leave. "Bye Theresa." He emphasized my actual name. All I could do was stand there in the water and wave; I was flabbergasted as I watched him hop over the fence, deliberately not using the gate and go out of sight.