Chapter 9

I was wide awake before Emmett and took advantage of the private time and tried to figure out how to get clean. Obviously taking a shower or bath was out of the question but there was no way I could go without one. In the end I just used a wet towel to wipe myself down. It would have to do until I could get into the ocean and get completely wet, which I wasn't sure when that would happen.

I could smell food being cooked when I was finishing up with my makeshift bath and it made me wish I had thought of making food instead of getting clean. My stomach growled and my mouth water at the aroma. I stopped in my tracks at Emmett cooking in nothing more than his boxers which just made me hungry but in a different way. I stood and watched him for a while just enjoying the view and what a view it was.

"It's rude to stare."

I knew he was right but honestly what woman would be able to resist. When I got to the counter where he was working he leaned down and gave me a sweet and simple kiss. "Did you sleep well?" I nodded, "Yeah, I was so tired from working last night. I can't believe how hard it was." He went back to cooking, "Well you must have done a good job or else Jasper wouldn't have offered you a job." I shrugged my shoulders as he hand fed me a piece of fruit.

"OK let's eat breakfast then I have to take a shower before we head to the beach."

I was so taken back by the beauty of the beach I had to take a moment to just stare at it. Being banned from the shore lines it was rare for me to see the waves roll into the shore. Add that to the families playing in the water, people sun bathing, and Emmett topless I was in heaven. "Bella, over here!"

Practically running, I hurried over to Rose who was lying out on her towel that was between mine and Brad, the guy from the amusement park. "Jasper forgot the umbrella so he ran back to the bar. Oh you two look so cute in your matching bathing suits."

I hadn't even noticed that Emmett and I matched until Rose mentioned it but she was right we were cute. My navy and white sailor bikini, that Rose said was a must buy, matched Emmett's navy and white striped shorts. I would have sworn that Rose planned it for us to match if it wouldn't have been that she was not there when we got dressed this morning.

"All right, there is your stupid umbrella Rose. I hope you are happy even though I know you will sit out in the sun all day anyways." Jasper looked run down and the day had just started. Cold water splashed on my leg when Emmett tossed him a cold bottle of water, "Here ya go man." Quickly I wiped it away and hoped that no one saw the instant change in color on my leg. "Thanks," he drank nearly the whole bottle before he stopped to take a breath, "alright there are some guys a little further down the beach setting up a volley ball net. Who's up for playing?"

Brad was instantly ready to play volley ball which meant that Rose was in as long as her hair didn't get too messed up. Emmett wasn't as excited as Jasper was but he agreed to play the game. When all eyes fell on me waiting for my answer I didn't say anything. I had no clue what this game entailed let alone if I would be able to actually play it. "I've never played before but, why not. I'm in."

"GREAT! I'll go tell them that we are gonna play against them while you guys move our stuff that way."

Rose groaned as she re-packed all of her stuff so that we could move and I was very glad that Emmett and I had not been able to get settled in or else I would have been groaning too.

Rose and Brad were in their own little world as we walked down the beach towards the volley ball net. "So what is this Volley Ball thing and how do I play?" Emmett turned to walk backwards so that he could still face me while he spoke, "Basically there will be a net between the two teams and the object of the game is to keep the ball in the air by smacking it with your hand and arms and cause the other team to miss it gaining us a point." From the way he described it sounded like a fairly simple game, but I figured there had to be a catch of some sort.

"Oh my God, look its dolphins!"

I stopped and looked out at the sea wanting to see one of my favorite animals in action from above and dropped my bag I was carrying. There mixed in with the dolphins were merpeople. We were never allowed to come this close to shore for this very reason but at this distance if you didn't know what to look for you would assume it was just a large group of dolphins. I knew why they were allowed to be this close but I was still shocked to see them.

"I would think that you wouldn't be so captivated by dolphins?"

I smiled but couldn't take my eyes off the sight as I answered Emmett, "I've never really seen then from this point of view." I didn't mention that in the middle of the dolphins were merpeople most assuredly looking for me. "Are you guys coming or what?"

Emmett grabbed my arm and pulled me away towards Jasper who already had everything waiting for us by the net. Since we were evenly split five on each side no one picked teams and we just battled it out on the court.

I was terrible at the game and so was Rose so the guys tried to field our playing area but it was impossible for us to not have to get involved. Once the ball flew straight towards my face and I just batted it away smacking Brad in the face with the ball. Jasper was able to keep the ball in the air and get it back over the net and gaining us a point when it hit the ground but Brad had a broken nose.

I apologized profusely but he just shrugged it off. I cringed when he grabbed it in both hands and cracked it back in place. Rose offered to take him to the hospital but he refused and just sat on the sidelines while we finished that game.

By some miracle we came out on top, barely, but the guys were very happy that we had won. One of the guys on the other team was very upset about loosing and he threw the ball and almost hit me but I stepped to the side just in time to have it miss me. I tried to get the ball and almost made the mistake of running full throttle into the water. I stopped at the edge where the waves missed my toes by a hair.

I could hear Jasper calling out to me to get the ball but there was no way I could do that. The ball was less than four feet in front of me but given the circumstances it might as well have been two miles away. "Why didn't you grab the ball?" I had to step back as he splashed his way through the water to get the ball.

"Oh my God, you're afraid of the water!"

"I'm not afraid of the water I just don't want to get wet."

It was a stupid respond but I couldn't exactly think of anything else to say, thankfully Emmett stepped in and ran full speed into Jasper knocking him further into the water. I took several steps back and was able to avoid the splash zone. I figured the safest place to watch the guys play was from the safety of the dry towels.

"How is Brad's nose?"

He was holding a cold bottle of water to the bridge of his nose but it didn't look as thought it was swelling. I guess he knew what he was doing when cracked it back into place. "He's fine right now. It will probably be huge in the morning but as long as he keeps putting cold stuff on it, it shouldn't be too bad."

"I'M GONNA GET YOU!"

Rose squealed and I threw Emmett's towel over me trying to avoid Jasper's water attack. "Jazz I swear to God if you get my hair wet." Rose took the words right out of my mind except I was thinking about my legs. If my tail popped out right here I would be screwed. Emmett was there to jump in front of me just before Jasper threw the bucket of water at Rose and me but he wasn't able to block it all.

My entire lap was now the top part of my tail. I tried to cover it with the towel before anyone could notice it. "What was that?" Everyone looked at Rose waiting to see what she was talking about. I dried my lap with the towel as quickly and inconspicuously as possible. "I thought I saw something shiny and blue on Bella's lap." I pretending to look around me acting as if I had no idea what she was talking about and carefully lifted the towel from my lap happy that I was now dry and not sporting a partial tail. "I don't see anything." She looked confused but shrugged, "Maybe it was just the light reflecting off the water in my eye line." I could see Emmett relax which made me relax.

"I think you have been out in the sun too long today."

Rose threw her, now soaked, towel at Jasper hitting him right in face. "Fine then you can carry all the stuff back by yourself." I took a deep relaxing breath after she left and Jasper went to work at gathering all of their belongings. Emmett turned to look at me and wiped some water off of his forehead before mouthing that was close. I took another deep breath and nodded.

Jasper finally got everything gathered and headed back to the bar to get cleaned up before it opened. Emmett promised we would make an appearance at some point but we stayed at the beach for a while. It was nice to just sit there and do nothing after the exhausting game of Volley Ball. The sound of waves crashing in was almost enough to lull me to sleep. Just as my eyes started to close Emmett decided it was time to go get dinner.

Last update for a little while. Reviews are always appreciated