"We're walking?!" Louis screeched and I broke out laughing at his reaction. I turned around and walked backwards.

"Yes we're walking, is that a problem or are you not fit enough?" I teased him and the others broke out laughing. Fifteen minutes later we arrived and no one was there.

"Where is everyone Ari?" Kyle asked me and I laughed.

"Your mum takes you to a different beach, but this is my beach." I said haughtily, but couldn't hold the seriousness for long.

"You mean this is private?!" Liam and Louis asked at the same time, their faces lighting up with glee. I nodded and they gave each other high fives. I rolled my eyes as I unlocked the gate and the lads took off sprinting. I laughed and took my time down the hill that lead down to the beach.

After an hour, all of the guys had gone waist-down into the water, but I was perfectly dry. Louis jogged over to me and shook his wet hair all over me. I shrieked and covered my face.

"Stop it! Louis, no! AH!" I screamed with laughter and he sat down in the sand next to me.

"Come on and play!" He bugged me and I shook my head. He groaned as he stood up and suddenly scooped me up bridal style. I screamed as he ran into the water and tossed me.

I felt my body break through the water. I pressed my eyes closed, not wanting any salt in them, and started kicking to the surface. I felt my head breakthrough, but not before I was pulled back under by the tide. I swam desperately to the surface, but I wasn't going anywhere. I was going to die. I struggled to swim, determined to reach the surface, but my body tired quickly. I was numb from the ocean water by now, and my lungs were begging for air. I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and pull me upwards. I gulped in a breath of air as my face hit the breezy air.

"I got her! What the hell were you guys thinking!" I heard an American voice shouting as tears started streaming down my face. I was sobbing and filling my lungs with air at once, clinging to my savior. My head was gently resting against his wet t-shirt and I kept my eyes closed. A towel was wrapped around me as my teeth started chattering, and I tried to calm myself.

"We were just trying to have fun, we didn't know she would get sucked under like that!" I heard Harry's voice shout and I felt a shudder run down my spine as I started shivering.

"She hasn't swam in five years, what the hell would make you think she could swim against the tide?!" The voice sounded so familiar, but my thoughts were starting to collide with each other.

"Ari was a great swimmer seven years ago, so yes we assumed she could swim!" I heard an Irish accent register clearly in my head. I opened my eyes slowly, my body aching and numb.

"Seven years ago...you were the one she wrote about in her diary. You were the one who left her when Michael got sick!" James barked, infuriated. My maternal instincts suddenly shot on and I snapped my head at him.

"Stop! D-do not talk to my best friend like that! You have n-no position to put him in that place James! He was th-thousands of miles away, so either way there wasn't much he could have done. B-besides, do I even have to mention what you and y-your friends used to do?" I snapped at him through chattering teeth and James immediately fell silent.

"Look here lad, Ari and I already talked this out, and she's forgiven me. I was good friends with Michael, so you need to take a step back and look at the big picture." Niall said calmly, but that was the last thing he was, I could hear it in his voice.

"I am looking at the big picture and you don't seem like a very good friend. None of you do, and you aren't going to do her any good. You don't know her like I do, and you don't know what she's been through." James snapped as he put an arm around me, trying to warm me up.

"Pop Ari Quiz. What does she do when she's angry?" Niall questioned James and I bit my lip, knowing he didn't know the answer.

"She clenches her fists." James answered slyly and quickly. I bit my lip in attempt to hold back a smile. Niall was sticking up for me...exactly like he used to.