chapter 13

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"Oi!"

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

I jolt up at the sound of the two voices that are coming from the left side of the beach. I pull out my earbuds and stuff them back into my pocket. I feel myself starting to shake a little in fear, starting to feel anxious, as I recognize the voices that belong to Ricky and Mark, thinking the shouting is meant for me. But as I look to the left, I see that they were not shouting at me, they are shouting at Adam who is standing near the water. I quietly watch from my spot, not wanting to get involved.

 I quietly watch from my spot, not wanting to get involved

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"Fucking little prick."

I watch as they tug at his shirt and push him around and I start to feel guilty for not doing anything. I look to the right and see that Jenny and Steve have also heard the commotion and notice what's going on, but they stay out of it as well, even though I can clearly see a look of disapproval on Jenny's face. I look back to the left to see Adam run off into the woods, the two boys following right behind him, "get the fuck out of here!"

For a moment it is silent and all I can do is sit still, afraid that they'll come back to bully me instead. But after a couple of minutes of silence and nothing happening, I stand up and take off my jeans and shirt, leaving me in my dark blue bikini. I'm very selfconscious and insecure about my appearance and I never really wear a bikini in front of other people. I only swim here if there is no one around, but Jenny and Steve don't seem to notice anything as they're just doing their own thing. Slowly I make my way over towards the lake, desperately needing to cool off a bit. I step in, shivering at the cold temperature of the water, but I force myself to keep walking until the water reaches my waist. I wash off the dried blood from my arm and let myself fall into the water. I turn around and float on my back, looking up at the sky, not a single cloud in sight. Closing my eyes, I try to block out every sound around me and for a moment it seems to work. But the peaceful silence comes to an abrupt end when I hear loud music, that's coming from the beach.

Groaning in annoyance, I open my eyes and look over at the beach. My eyes widen a little in shock and fear as I see Steve swimming to the shore, before making his way over to the gang that is now at the left side of the beach, awfully close to my spot. I already feel anxious about having to go anywhere near them.

I swim to the shore and make my way over to Steve. I'm not entirely sure why I decide to follow, perhaps I don't want things to escalate, because I know that they most likely will. My legs feel like jelly as I walk, as if they'll give in any second and I start to feel scared and nervous. Pushing away the fear, I keep walking and stop next to Steve, who seems to be having a little argument with the kids, "turn your sounds down." He tells them, referring to their loud music.

"Can't hear you, mate." Brett says, who is sitting on the ground in between Paige and Mark, as Ricky, Cooper and Harry stand around them. Ricky is smoking a cigarette and there are empty beer bottles scattered all over the ground behind them. Brett then turns his attention to me and smirks, sending me a wink, causing for me to raise an eyebrow in return, while trying to hide the disgust that I am feeling. He then glares up at Steve who has just decided to turn down their volume himself. Stupid move. "What are you doing?"

I mentally facepalm at Steve, knowing it'd be wiser to just leave it alone. After a few seconds of silence I finally decide to try to get Steve to leave it alone, not wanting for things to escalate even further, "Steve, come on, just leave it. Jenny's waiting for you." All eyes land on me, except for Steve who still glares at the kids, mainly at Brett. Blood rushes up to my cheeks as I see the boy's eye me up and down, smirks on their faces as they whistle and that's when I actually realize that I'm still in my bikini. I bite my lip, feeling like I could punch myself out of stupidity and I look down nervously.

"And watch your dog." Steve says, continuing the argument, which I won't lie, slightly pisses me off. "He's scaring my girlfriend."

"She." Paige says.

"Hmm?" Steve looks at her with both eyebrows raised.

"Bitch, she's a bitch." Brett nods his head towards the dog.

"Don't be dicks. This is a big beach, there is room for all of us." Steve tries to reason with them, but as I expected, to no avail.

Paige looks up at him, raising a brow. "Who are you calling a dick? And what are you looking at? My tits? Fucking jog on." She glances away for a moment before looking back up at him. "Prick."

The boy's laugh at her comment and I huff, feeling irritated with this entire situation as fear is being replaced with anger and annoyance, "shut it, woman! No one one would want to look at you, you're really not that special! Hell, no one would even be able to look at you without having the urge to barf!" Before I know it, the words have left my mouth. Ricky and Cooper smirk at me and Paige just looks livid. I look and see a hint of surprise on Harry's face, probably since I've never really spoken up before, out of fear. And when I have, I never sounded this confident. Not knowing what else to do and feeling as if I've just completely embarrassed myself, I turn as Steve's already walking up to Jenny. I turn my back to the gang, mumbling a 'dammit'. I hear them laugh and whistle behind me, causing for my face to heat up. I go back to the tree and see Brett look me up and down with binoculars. I immediately throw my clothes back on over my bikini. Brett watches my every move, making me feel very selfconscious and insecure, but I try my best to hide it.

"Nice view you gave us there, babe!" Brett shouts at me and I flinch, brushing off the nickname as the others continue to laugh, their eyes scanning me up and down. Except for Harry, who seems to be looking away from me, not bothering to check me out, which I highly appreciate. As soon as I'm done, I rush off the beach, my face as red as it can possibly get, the sounds of laughter and whisteling fading away into nothing.

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