Hola people! new chapter is as follows: Morgead is 16 and his true love Jez is 15 ;)

disclaimer: I do not own these characters, that is L. J. Smith's job

Lake

"You know what we need?"

Morgead growled at this tired routine, but still, he let Jez ramble on about whatever.

"I think we need a pool. It's a million and one degrees outside, and here we are slumming around your crummy apartment with no AC because someone is too much of a dead beat to pay for simple little things like electricity."

Morgead cut a glare at Jez as she balanced on the back of the couch for reasons that escaped Morgead. But Jez was bored. Morgead never did anything anymore.

"Why don't you go find some little kid and run through a sprinkler with them, hmm?"

Jez growled and threw herself over the couch and onto Morgead.

"What the hell?"

"Do something!" Jez whined and wrapped her arms around Morgead's neck and rocking to and fro in such a sense that the pair was in danger of rocking right off the couch.

"For Christ's sake, Jezebel!" Morgead snapped, shoving her off him and onto the coffee table.

Jez yelped and rolled off the far side of the table. Lying face first on the hardwood floor, Jez didn't bother to remove the hair form her mouth or even lift her head from its resting place on the ground before she slurred, "Come on, Morgead…anything!"

Morgead shook his head and straightened himself on the couch. "Jez, there isn't even –"

"Wait!" Jez hurtled to her feet and cried, "I just realised! The lake down past Bedrock farm!"

Jez grinned and gracefully hopped over the coffee table separating her and Morgead. She collided with the couch and clutched Morgead's arm tightly and begged, "Please Morgead! Please, please, please! Just this once?"

Jez batted her lashes and peered up at Morgead hopefully. He wavered a moment, glanced behind him, back at Jez. Finally, he glared heavenward and gave a barely discernable shake of his head. Then he looked back at Jez as she leaned her head on his shoulder and laid it on thick.

"Fine."

"Yes!" Jez squealed and threw her arms around Morgead in a split second, bone crushing hug. "You're the best! Where'd I leave my bathing suit?"

Jez launched herself from the couch and into Morgead's room, leaving him sitting alone on the couch with bright red cheeks. Good thing Jez was gone.

While Jez rifled through some of his drawers in search of a bathing suit she was sure she'd left somewhere in his apartment, Morgead stalked up to his bedroom door, folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the frame.

As Jez searched, she felt Morgead watching her. Finally, she slammed shut the drawer she was pilfering and spun around to glare right into Morgead's ridiculously green eyes. "What? You know where it is?"

One corner of Morgead's mouth twitched and he nodded towards the bathroom.

"Fine, bathroom it is then," Jez grumbled as she trudged across the room to the bathroom. A quick scan of the bathroom revealed a distinct lack of bathing suits, and Jez already had the word liar waiting to be released, when she saw a black string peeking out from under the door. Kicking the door away from the wall – she didn't want to touch more than she had to in there – Jez spied her black bikini lying in a small heap in the corner hidden behind the door. Reaching down to pick it up with the tip of her finger, she quietly cursed Morgead for kicking it in there and leaving it.

Speak of the devil. "Did you find it?"

"Oh, I found it all right!" Jez called as she examined the nearly hard garment pinched in between her fingers. More quietly, she added, "And I know exactly where I'm going to put it!"

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

Morgead made an Mm-hmm noise and Jez rolled her eyes.

She quickly rubbed her bathing suit under warm water cascading from the rusty tap. Adding soap to the party, Jez scrubbed the small black garment for a good five minutes before she deemed it clean enough to put on her body.

Filthy Morgead, she thought as she traded her clothes for the suit. leaving my favourite black bathing suit lying on his bathroom floor for who-know-how-long?

Slipping her clothes over the bathing suit, Jez darted out of the bathroom to find Morgead lounging on his bed. She stopped beside his head and stabbed a finger at his chest. "Get up, Morgy. We're leaving."

One of Morgead's emerald eyes slowly opened and regarded Jez, unimpressed. "You do know that lake is technically private property, right? So really, we'd be trespassing if we went."

"And when have you ever concerned yourself with vermin laws?

Morgead shrugged. "Since it would mean I have to get up and do something."

Jez scoffed and grabbed the front of Morgead's back t-shirt in an iron grip. "Come on." She dragged him roughly out the door and to the stairs leading down three stories to the lobby.

"What are we even going to do once we get there?" Morgead sounded like a big baby as he whined to Jez while she dragged him through the lobby. The over-weight guy manning the front desk lifted his eyes form the small TV screen they were glued to as the young pair hustled out the door.

"I don't know, see who can drown the other first?" Jez shoved Morgead towards his bike and tossed her hair in contempt for her lazy excuse of a best friend. "Just build a bridge, get over your issue, and let's freaking go already!"

Without waiting for a response from Morgead, Jez hid her face behind her helmet and swung onto her bike. Morgead watched as she mounted the bike and gave him a sharp look hidden behind the visor of her helmet. She leaned forwards and roared away at a speed that would have every cop within five miles dropping his donuts and chasing after her.

Morgead puffed a lungful of air past his lips and tugged at his hair. He shook his head and followed after Jez.

"Yus!" Jez ripped off her helmet and tossed it over her shoulder, not caring where it landed.

Morgead shoved hair from his eyes with his knuckles beside her. Jez didn't bother to wait for him to get over himself. She laughed and ran for the dock, peeling off her shirt and hopping out of her shorts so that by the time she reached the end of the floating wood, she jumped straight out and curled into a tight ball, screaming, "Cannonball!"

She delighted in the shock of cold water enveloping her warm body, and reveled at the feeling of tiny bubbles sliding along her skin and turning her blurry vision white as they raced for the surface. Jez followed their example and her head broke the surface. She gulped in a lungful of air and grinned like mad at Morgead standing fully-clothed at the far end of the dock. He stared at Jez as she stared at him.

"Well? Are you coming in or not?"

Morgead didn't move, only looked at the ground, so Jez pulled herself back onto the dock. It was a foot above the water, and she scrapped her belly climbing up, but she had to get to Morgead. He was getting in the lake.

When Jez was on her feet she started in Morgead's direction. Her sudden movement attracted his attention, and Jez watched as his eyes raked over her exposed body and his face slowly turned red. He tried to cover it by scowling at her, but she wasn't fooled.

Jez rolled her eyes and muttered, "Typical." Adding louder, "So are you coming in, or not?"

Morgead scowled harder and opened his mouth to no doubt say how stupid this idea was. Jez refused to give him a chance.

"Morgead," she coed. "I know you're ashamed of your flabby tummy, but you have to overcome the embarrassment! Embrace your fatness! It's okay," Jez patted his arm sympathetically and he glared down at her.

"You know what, Jez?" Morgead growled. Instead of finishing his sentence, he yanked his shirt over his head to reveal a chest that made Jez's mind play traitor on her. He tossed his shirt at her face and pulled off his jeans. He stood before her in black swim trunks and a scowl.

"There, now was that so hard?" Jez laughed and skipped her way back to the water. Though, she didn't make it there before the felt something…pull.

The string holding her top together had just been un-knotted by a devious Morgead. Jez gasped and reached behind her to secure her top before it fell off while Morgead snickered. He darted past Jez and made a brake for the water, but before Morgead could take two steps, Jez was tackling him, sending them both skidding down the wooden dock, and sending splinters deep into their skin.

With the momentum provided by Jez's leap, the pair rolled off the end of the dock and splashed into the water in a tangle of limbs and exited bubbles.

In the frenzy of their rough lake landing, Jez almost lost her top completely as she paddled furiously and pushed on Morgead to raise herself to the surface. She certainly hoped he wasn't able to see under that water.

By the time they both had their heads above water, they had moved in towards shore enough for Morgead to stand. He held onto Jez and she held onto him as they both panted. Jez looked at Morgead. He was holding her head above the water so she wouldn't drown trying to keep her infernal top in place. One of her legs was wrapped around his waist while one arm wrapped around his strong back and clutched him close. Both Morgead's arms were wrapped around Jez's waist, and she couldn't deny that it felt almost…good. Right.

Morgead turned his head to look at her and she immediately realised how…close they were. Half of Jez's wild red hair had attached itself to Morgead's neck, and his stuck up in wet spikes in some places, the tips just grazing Jez's cheek. Their noses brushed, and their breath mingled.

Morgead must have realised the situation at the same time as Jez, as she felt his breathing hitch and his heart pump out a few extra beats. His Adam's Apple bobbed as he swallowed thickly. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing made it past the blockage in his throat.

Jez let out a breath and tried to fight the feeling stirring inside of her, making her stomach flip-flop and her head spin circles. Suddenly, she knew what to do.

Slowly, she ran the hand wrapped around Morgead up his back and through his hair. He shuddered and gave another gulp. She felt his hands unconsciously digging into her back. Gazing into blazing green eyes, Jez fingered the long hair at the top of Morgead's head. She leaned in close. Gripped his hair.

Morgead's breath stopped. His heart pounded.

With a burst of unexpected strength and quickness, Jez forced Morgead's head under the surface of the lake, and used him as a spring board to launch herself into shallower water where she could touch the sandy bottom.

Laughing so hard it almost hurt, Jez ran through ankle deep water and up the grassy hill to where their bikes were parked. Morgead's head broke the surface of the water and Jez listened as he spluttered while she quickly knotted her bathing suit top back up.

By the time it was secure once more, Morgead was already charging out of the water, red faced and yelling, heading up the grassy slope to where he was planning on killing Jez.

Jez let out a breathy laugh as she darted in the opposite direction. Running away from Morgead full tilt, she laughed harder as she heard him yelling.

"Get back here Jezebel! Stop running and let me pound you!"

"Thanks for the offer Morgy, but I think I'll pass!"

Slipping behind a tree, Jez bit her lip and tried to forget the fluttering mess her stomach had turned into while she'd been pressed close to Morgead. He was her best friend, an absolute idiot and a hot-headed madman. There was no way – nothing in the universe, no power strong enough – that would change how she felt for him.

But still, something always nagged at her subconscious, never relenting, never going away. Whispering things about Morgead that she tried not to notice or think about it. These were just the things she shoved to the back of her head and ignored as his pale form came to stand before her, beautiful eyes smoldering and black hair swept away from a strong face, tight muscles twitching from anger and embarrassment.

"Jez, I swear, you're going to pay for that."

thanks all you guys who read this and don't forget to review :)