Chapter 12: Swimming Up

As most of the campers and the pack walk head to the lake, they were fiding awesome ways to cool themselves off even further by diving to the lake, kicking back and swimming on their backs, splashing each other and all the fun stuff. Most of the pack were doing the same as well and a couple of minutes into the swim, they were unaware that both Aaron and Siris were coming in the water with them to join them. The only person that noticed them coming in was Koa as they recognized them from further away and he said, "Hey, guys!"

Aaron waved back at them as he swam towards the rest of the pack with Siris on his back and when they reached towards where the pack are, they were overwhelmed by hugs and hi-fives as well as greetings for Siris. Mana looks up at Siris and sees that he's growing a little bit and he said, "Your dad been feeding you well?"

Siris nods his head stating yes and Aaron chuckled a little bit and said, "He gets that from me."

"Very true. So...what are you and this little guy doing here?" asked Koa.

"We're actually camping together. I've got a little summer job here and the best part about it is that I get to take Siris with me and show him nature." Aaron replied.

"Amazing." Koa said, amazed.

Jojo walks over towards Aaron and asked, "So...how have you been?"

"I've been doing okay. I mean...since Lehua died in a car crash, things have been a little rough for me. But...I try my best to raise him the best way I can." Aaron replied.

Jojo could tell that Aaron still carries Lehua around with her since she was killed in a car crash not too long ago and that event made a huge impact on the pack, mostly Diego because they've been like brother and sister and they would always do everything together; play guitar, give out advice, rag on boy bands and pop stars and Lehua would always get the sharp tongue that would always make Diego laugh out loud. Diego blinked his eyes a little and said, "We all miss her too. She meant a lot to us."

"Did they find the person responsible for her death?" asked Mike.

"No. They don't even have any leads, other than surveillance vids of the drunk driver's license plate and a clear face of the guy. If I find that guy, he's gonna get such a thrashing butt kicking." Aaron said, angrily.

"We'll be there on that day." Brutus added.

Though he's still grieving over the loss of his beloved Lehua, there's one thing that always seems to keep Aaron going and that's Siris and he sees Siris tickling his dad, making Aaron laugh a little bit and said, "Come on, Siris! That tickles!"

Just having Siris tickle his dad gave Aaron the joy that he has to be around and Aaron said, "He's always there to make me happy when I don't feel like it. I can't imagine my life without him."

As the gang talk a little more, Brutus, Koa, Dustin and Ryan decided it was best to see who could do the best cannonball as they all ran from the dock and just jumped out and did a cannonball, which took some of the pakc by surprise. Diego looks up and said, "What the heck?"

Brutus popped out of the water first and started laughing and asked, "Did you guys see that?"

"Yeah, we did. And I got splashed by you as well." Diego replied.

Koa felt so much energy from this cannonball that he wants to try it again, but as he was climbing back to the dock, he was unaware that his trunks was slipping out through the lake right in front of some of the pack members and Diego was the first one to notice this and when he rose his head up, he saw Koa standing there naked. Brutus turned around and saw Koa standing naked and he was both surprised and in awe with this as his jaw was dropped down.

"What are you guys looking at?" asked Koa.

"Koa..." Diego said, picking up Koa's trunks.

Koa looks down and noticed that he's butt-naked in front of his pack members and Aaron quickly covered Siris' eyes to prevent him from having that image planting in his head forever, but to their surprise, Koa didn't become embarrassed by this and he said, "Screw the trunks. I'll go for it."

Very daring for Koa to do a cannonball naked and as he did so, he jumped back into the water and popped out victorious with a peace sign and that attracted Brutus some more, despite the fact that it was hard for him to keep it to himself. Brutus said, "Wow...that was awesome."

"Thanks, dude. Sometimes you only live once. Why not take a chance?" Koa added.

"I would've been so embarrassed." Brutus stated.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Slade and Casey were doing the same cannonballs, but both of them were unaware that their trunks slipped while they got in the water and as they went out to do it again, Marcus and Seth were just gawking at their naked butts and both of them said, "Dude..."

"Okay...I think we've seen enough." Aaron said, covering his and Siris' eyes.