-Simon-
I leaned back in my chair and sighed, pulling out my phone, which was vibrating wildly. It was Theodore. He said:
hey si ru goin 2 midsummer nite siwm?
Michelle looked at my phone over my shoulder and said, "You're not supposed to ha-"
"Shut up Michelle, Simon can't help it if he's badass," Eileen interrupted, ruffling my hair as she walked by.
"Michelle, can I just reply to this, please?" I asked, jokingly making a puppy face. She smiled a bit, but was otherwise unphased. I added, "It's my baby brother."
She sighed and walked to her seat, saying grudgingly, "Fine, whatever, I'll let it slide this time."
"Thanks, Michelle, you're beautiful," I said, texting him back.
After I put away my phone, I looked up at Michelle, who was sitting in her chair and staring at me.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
She jumped, and looked away from me, turning back to her desk. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, just was thinking..."
Right then Celia walked out of the employee lounge (yep, we have one of those), wearing a t-shirt and a skirt with a pair of tights and legwarmers, and below that, a shiny new pair of point shoes. She walked over to the printer and went off point and back on and back off as she waited for all of the papers to print.
Me and Michelle just sort of sat there in silence for a minute and stared at her. She didn't notice us, just continued humming what sounded like "Bulletproof" by La Roux quietly to herself and going on and off her toes.
Finally, Michelle took a sip of her latte and said in a very quiet voice, "Celia..." Celia looked up, suprised, saw us, and quickly blushed and looked at the ground. Michelle continued, "Is there a reason for this thouroughly strange attire?"
"Well, you see, Michelle," she began in that very quiet, timid way of speaking that Celia has, "You see, these are new, and I just thought I might break them in, you know, before ballet camp..."
"What happened to your old ones?" Eileen asked suddenly, seeming to appear out of nowhere on the other side of my desk. "They were in impecccable condition."
"Uh," Celia blushed, and brushed a few strands of wavy auburn hair out of her eyes. "Uh, well, you see..." she cleared her throat, then said, as if she were afraid and embarrassed to talk about it, "Well, Sophi threw them in the river."
-Eleanor-
"Simon says he thinks he will be going," Theodore said, sliding his phone shut and putting it away.
Jeanette's face lit up. "Great!"
"Oh my god, this is going to be so much fun!" Alvin said, hooking his arms around Jeanette and Theodore's shoulders.
"Alvin?" Jeanette asked, ducking out of his embrace.
"Yeah?"
"What IS 'Midsummer Night's Swim', anyway?" Jeanette asked.
Alvin's mouth fell open, and he shouted, "MY GOD, WOMAN. DO YOU LIVE UNDER A FREAKING ROCK?" Jeanette winced. Alvin is a little too intense for her at times. "Midsummer Night's Swim is only THE most amazing teen pool party EVER!" Jeanette looked unconvinced, so Alvin explained, with grand hand motions and overexagerrated facial expressions, "Every summer they hold a huge-frickin'-mongous pool party at the public pool that's open to everyone over fourteen and under eighteen, and they it Midsummer Night's Swim. Personally, I wouldn't have chosen such a cheesy name, but I don't own a pool, what do I know, right? It starts at seven and goes to one in the morning, and they play music and have lots of food-" he looked at Theodore on that one, "- and set up a kareoke machine and... well, you get the idea. And the party goes on and on and everyone always has a blast and sometimes there's even a beer or two, you never know."
Jeanette smiled slowly. "Sounds... like a lot of dangerous, underage fun..."
-Simon-
"She did WHAT now?" Eileen said, looking shocked and pissed off.
Celia quickly said, "Oh, it's totally not a big deal. I needed a new pair anyway-"
"I can't believe this! She's such a bitch!" Eileen threw her arms up, then put them back on her hips. "She only did that because she knows you're better than her."
Celia sighed, and rolled her eyes. "Eileen, no I'm not."
"Yes you are," all three of us said at the same time.
Celia blushed and picked up the papers she needed, and shook her head. She made her way back to her desk, which she shared with Eileen. Eileen made an aggrivated noise before going back to her seat as well.
I looked over at Michelle, who sighed, and said, "I hate it when they talk about Arts school girls I don't know."
I nodded. "Me too. But I know this one. She's Alvin's most recent ex. Well, actually, that depends on how he's doing with Brit, which at the moment doesn't look so good." I paused, then turned back to the front door as it opened and shut and a mother and three kids walked in. "Sophi's kind of a bitch," I added in a quieter voice.
Michelle rolled her eyes and responded in a whisper, "Just Alvin's type, huh?"
I snickered. "Exactly."
-Alvin-
We arrived at the pool. When we walked in and paid, I immediately headed for the diving board. I stopped when I saw that Jeanette was making her way to an empty chair and pulling a book out of her bag.
"No, Jeanette," I said. " You're gonna swim."
She sighed and rolled her eyes, but reluctantly put the book back into the bag, then went downt he stairs into the shallow end. "Happy, Alvin?" she asked.
I nodded. "Yes."
Then I walked to the diving board, where Eleanor already was.
-Theodore-
So, I'm not a very good swimmer. This would be the part where you ask, "Theodore, then what the hell are you doing in line at the diving board?" And my response would be, "My stupid girlfriend made me."
"Eleanor, this is a bad idea in about a million different ways," I said, watching the guy three people in front of us in line do a spectacular series of flips before hitting the water. "I'm going to either break the board or jump and plummet to my death."
"Theodore, that's ridiculous. A), guys way bigger than you have gone off that diving board, and B), you're not going to plummet to your death. All you have to do is swim straight up and then directly to your left as quickly as possible. And I'm here, and Alvin is here, and the lifeguard is here. And all three of us are great swimmers, and none of us are about to let you drown."
Alvin got in line behind me and said, "Whoa! That can't be Theodore Seville in the line for the diving board!" he lightly punched me on the shoulder and said, "Way to be a man, Theodore."
I whimpered, mainly because at that point that was just about the only noise I could make.
It was Eleanor's turn, and she gave me a kiss on the cheek before climbing onto the diving board, and as she walked, I noticed that her butt looked great in that swimsuit, not that I was looking or anything. She jumped off and i swear I had a mini heart attack. She did an absolutely perfect dive, and the however-many-seconds that she was under before her head popped up felt more like three hours to me. She swam to the wall, and sat there, looking up at me with a big grin. I weakly smiled back, and felt like my breakfast was about to reintroduce itself to the outside world.
Alvin, who I had totally forgotten was behind me, smacked my butt and yelled, "Go get 'em, tiger!"
Thanks, Alvin. Thanks a lot.
Eleanor laughed, and gave Alvin a thumbs up.
I climbed onto the board, and walked slowly out, the turquoise plank being the focus of my attention for the first few steps. i reached the end, looked down at the water, thought i might puke, and started to turn back. When I turned around, Alvin was standing at the end of the board, blocking my way back. He simply shook his head no. I sighed shakily, and turned back to the pool. I looked down at Eleanor, who smiled brightly up at me.
Finally, I held my nose and jumped.
-Alvin-
I threw my arms up and cheered as Theodore jumped and landed in the water, making a big splash (what can I say, Theodore's a chubby fella), and then came back up a couple seconds later and somehow managed to swim to Eleanor.
-Eleanor-
Theodore grabbed onto the edge next to me, and turned to face the pool, his eyes still huge. He was panting.
"Hey," I said, squeezing his hand. "I could tell you were really scared up there. Thanks for trusting me."
He grinned. "Thanks for making me do it." He lightly kissed me on the nose and then turned back to the pool, saying simply, "And now I'm never doing it again."
I giggled, shook my head, and looked up as Alvin ran all the way down the diving board, bounced twice, then flew in the air and flipped before splashing into the water.
"So you're saying you have no ambition to be able to do that?" I asked, motioning to where Alvin had landed.
"Nope. None," he replied.
Alvin's head came out of the water next to Theodore, and he cheered loudly before patting Theodore on the shoulder and saying, "I'm proud of you."
I smiled. This was the part of Alvin a lot of people didn't see. Alvin may be obnoxious and loud and selfish, but he's also a really great big brother and he loves Theodore and Simon very much.
"Yeah, I bet you are, but I'm not doing it again," Theodore replied.
Alvin rose his eyebrows and said, "Well, I wouldn't be too sure about that." Then he climbed out of the pool and ran to get back in line.
