Chapter 5: -

Logan's P.O.V

We had almost finished the song that Gustavo made us redo a hundred times. We hoped that this was the last time we had to sing it for him.

"That was alright." We brought our ears forward like that would make are hearing better. "But I'm letting you go now." We all cheered, including Peyton who came with James for support. "Don't get too happy, you still have to perfect it for Griffin on Friday." It was Wednesday so we had just less than two days to get it right. "Now get out!" He yelled, pointing at the exit.

After that we went back to the apartment to get ready to go the pool. James and Peyton shared a kiss before she left to go to her own apartment.

Peyton's P.O.V

As soon as I arrived at my apartment I went straight to my room. I opened the door to my wardrobe and took out a pink bikini, a white top with pink detail and a high wasted denim skirt. I put the clothes on, tucking the top into my skirt, and walked out of the apartment after grabbing my things. I went next door and knocked on Alyssa's door. A little girl opened the door.

I bent down so I was at her level "Hi. Is Alyssa there, Princess?" I asked. She nodded happily and moved out of the way for me to go into the apartment. She ran down the hall shouting Alyssa! Soon after, Alyssa came into the main room.
"Do you want to come to the pool with me and the guys?" I invited.
"I would but who's going to look after the kids?" She replied.
I thought for a second "What about your brothers, next door?" I suggested.
"They've gone to Kaine's audition." She claimed.
"Well then bring them with you." I commanded. I turned to face her little sister. "Hey Melody. Do you want to come to the pool with me and big sis?" I asked her.
She planted a huge grin on her face "Yeah!" And with that she ran off into her room.

I pushed Alyssa towards her room "Now go! Get ready!" I said.

About five minutes later someone was shouting. "Peyton! Could you help Melody? I'm busy with Declan." Alyssa called. I walked into Melody's room to find her struggling to reach something on a high shelf. For me it was easy so I just grabbed it and gave it to her. After she thanked me, I walked out of her room shutting the door behind me. As I walked down the hall I saw Leila sitting on her bed, playing on her Nintendo DS. I knocked on the open door. She looked up at the door. Then invited me to enter her room. "Aren't you coming?" I enquired to only be replied by a shrug. "Kendall will be there." From what I heard, she got along really well with him that day they met.
"Okay then." She shrugged, jumping off her bed to pick some clothes out. I went back into the main room.

A few minutes later they all joined me in there. Alyssa was wearing red shorts and a white tank top, Leila wore a green T-shirt with khaki coloured shorts, Melody had a cute little yellow summer dress on and Declan had his blue and black swim trunks on and a blue T-shirt.
Once we had arrived at palm woods pool, the boys were waving at us. We went over to them. I kissed James, wrapping my arms around his neck. Leila went to Kendall and they began talking about all things hockey related. Melody and Declan mingled with Logan and Carlos whilst Alyssa just stood there awkwardly.

Soon we were all in the pool, playing a little four on five, volleyball. It was James, Logan, Melody, Declan and I on one team and Kendall, Carlos, Leila and Alyssa on the other. It was a close game but eventually they ended up beating us despite us having more members on our team. You see Melody and I are way too girly to be good at sports and Declan had no idea what he was doing. After that was decided to play another round.

Just as the ball was heading in Logan's direction, his name was called causing him to turn to see who it was which ended up with the ball smacking him in the face. The ball then bounced off of his head and under the net towards the opposing team.
"I'm bored now." James claimed and wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me to a passionate kiss which turned into a full on make out session causing us to be oblivious of our surroundings.

Once we felt the need for air we broke apart only time realise that our friends had left the pool and were gathered around the lounging chairs with two new faces. James and I shared the same thought so we climbed out the pool and dried ourselves. We got changed and joined the others who were in the middle of a conversation.
"Well ever since we were little our parents expected us to be good at everything."
"And not just good but the best."
"They pushed us to be perfect."
"Sometimes it would work and it would just come to us naturally."
"Like Jayda with her sports."
"Or Freya with her smarts."
"Other things, yeah we'd get them eventually but they push us so hard to be good at them that we hate doing them."
"And then there's the things that no matter how hard they worked we just wouldn't get it."
"But did they want to accept that?"
"Noooo. So they keep pushing us even more."
"We finally had enough and insisted that we move out with our aunt."
"Somehow they agreed and that's how we ended up here."

Me and James had been standing there for a while listening to the girls speaking "Hey guys!" I said once they had stopped talking.
They turned to face us. "Hi, I'm Peyton." I said to the new girls.
"Freya." One of the girls said as she looked up to face us with a greeting smile.
"Jayda." The other girl said with a smile and a small wave.
"Twins right?" I enquired. They answered with a nod. After that James went and found his own seat, he claimed he was going to work on his tan. Logan and Carlos found their own deck chairs and read magazines. I sat with the twins to get to know them better. The kids went off to play and Kendall and Alyssa stayed where they were. Kendall was saying something to her but I didn't hear anything due to the fact that I was too engaged in my own conversation. The twins made it sound like having your parents around twenty four seven was like living a nightmare but I'd kill to spend that much time with my dad, even for a day.

A little while later Alyssa came back, I didn't even realise she left but I still asked. "Where did you go?" She just avoided the question by asking her own.
"Where are Leila, Melody and Declan? We need to get back to the apartment." We all shrugged because we had no idea where they had disappeared to. As if on cue, the threesome appeared right in front of Alyssa which resulted in them leaving the pool scene. I turned back around to continue my conversation with the twins but then someone's phone buzzed. Jayda pulled her phone out of her green basketball shorts. A few seconds later she claimed they had to leave too. They then stood up and faced Logan and Carlos.
"We told our aunt about you after we met the other day and she says you should come over." Jayda said. Her sister then turned to the rest of us.
She said "You guys should come over too if you want, I'm sure she won't mind."

We stood in front of the door to their apartment as Freya, being the mature one who took a key with her, unlocked the door. When we entered their place, we could smell the sweet smell of sweet and sour chicken. Freya yelled. "We brought a few friends over!" Jayda gave us a short tour of the apartment.
"Okay! Good 'cause I thought I made too much chicken!" Someone, who couldn't be seen, replied. A few moments after, a woman who looked like a slightly older version of the twins appeared in front of us. If I had to guess, I'd say she's about Kelly's age.
"Hi there, nice to meet you." She waved at us with a house warming smile. "Now, which one of these four handsome young boys were you talking about all night the other day?" She said to Freya and Jayda but she still faced us. Something inside me triggered me to pull myself closer to James.
"Aunt Debs!" They exclaimed.
She seemed to just ignore their moaning. "You mentioned something about a helmet, didn't you?" She asked the girl, her eyes directly looking at Carlos.
"Can we just go eat now?" Freya mumbled as she led us to the dining table.
The boys ate vigorously as if they hadn't eaten for days, I ate at a ladylike pace and I stuck more to the salad rather than the chicken, Freya and their aunt also ate with manners whereas Jayda was just as bad as the boys.

After lunch their aunt showed us some baby pictures and videos, they were cringing so badly. Turns out, Freya was hitting the library ever since she learned to read and Jayda was playing sports since she could walk. Once we had finished watching their 10th birthday party video, their aunt, or Debbie as she insisted we call her, claimed she had other places to be so she left the apartment to us. Well not us, but the twins, but we were there too so us.
"So do you guys want to watch a movie or something?" Freya offered when their aunt, I mean Debbie, left. She didn't sound too hyped, she was probably still embarrassed from the baby footage and the fact that it's so obvious that she has a crush on Carlos even though I wouldn't have thought he was her type but I must be wrong. Anyways after her little suggestion, we sat down to watch a movie that Jayda picked out. James and I cuddled on the sofa, Logan sat next to me, Jayda placed herself on the floor in front of James, Carlos sat beside her, Freya sat on the other side of Carlos and Kendall put himself on the other side of Logan. The movie was great; it had romance, action and comedy parts in it. Before the movie had even started, Freya had gotten three big bowls of popcorn. James and I shared one bowl, Kendall and Logan another, even though he kept reaching for our bowl instead, and the other for herself, Carlos and Jayda.

As we were watching the movie, one of the characters made a remark about girls and how they can't beat boys in any sport or athletic event. James happened to agree with the guy and he had to let it out. "So true, a girl could never beat me at anything." From that comment Jayda turned around, fury in her eyes.
"Oh so you don't think I could beat you at any sport?" She questioned.
"Well, anything physical." James added as his response.
"Well I bet you I could win at any sport against you." Jayda said. "Easy as pie."
"Oh it's on!" He replied.
"Like butter on toast." She smirked.