I groggily woke up in the morning. I blinked and recalled all the things that had happened last night. Then I tried waking everyone up. Well, everyone except Mom and Dad.
Dad had already gone to work because, after all, we were on his business trip, but I didn't have a clue where Mom was. I walked over to the kitchen and noticed a note stuck on the fridge door. It read: Girls, I've gone grocery shopping since I just realized that there's a sale going on in the store, so just wait for me until I come back (I won't take long). Then we'll go swimming and do fun stuff after I come back! - Mom :)
Swimming? I thought curiously. I hadn't really expected to go swimming during our time here in New York, but it was still going to be pretty fun, of course.
Skipper tiredly opened her eyes and called, "Bree, is there something going on?"
Oops. Maybe I had made too much noise.
"No, Mom's just out grocery shopping, and she left us a note," I replied. "Apparently, we're going swimming or something after she comes back."
"SWIMMING?" Skipper sat up on her bed.
"Let's just see when Mom comes back. But if we do go swimming, I'm assuming it's going to be at the swimming pool in this hotel," I said.
"I saw it on our way upstairs yesterday, and it looked SO fun. There was even, like, a ZIPLINE and everything!" Skipper said animatedly. "I even saw this cave thingy that I think leads outside! OMG! What if it's actually connected to the SEA?"
"That sounds pretty fun," I said, my excitement slowly rising.
"Skip, what are you jabbering on about now?" Kiara sat up on her bed.
"Mom said we're going to the swimming pool after she comes back from grocery shopping, Ki-Ki! Won't that be SO fun? Gosh, I haven't gone swimming in MONTHS," Skipper raved.
"Whoa! Swimming? Yay, that's so exciting!" Kiara gushed. "I bet we'll do so much more fun stuff while we're here, too."
"Guys, do you think we should ask Chris to come swimming with us once we figure out if we really are going swimming?" Skipper suggested suddenly.
"Who's Chris?" Kiara said, looking puzzled.
"Yeah, who are you talking about?" Stacie woke up last.
Skipper gave me a teasing look. "Oh yeah, Bree, about Chris . . ."
"What?" I was genuinely confused at Skipper's suddenly weird behavior.
"I think he likes you."
My heart started to pound. I didn't know why.
"What? Of course he doesn't like me. Why would he?" I somehow managed to keep my calm composure even after the announcement of Skipper's outrageous suspicion.
"Because . . . he kept looking at you when you did or said something. And I heard him defend you from Vanessa back at the Converse store yesterday. Not everyone would do that for someone they basically just met at school," Skipper said slyly.
"I don't know what you're talking about. He probably just thinks I'm insanely weird. I don't think anybody would ever like me. I mean, I write stories about zombies and cemeteries, and my nose is always buried in a thick murder mystery novel. How WEIRD is THAT? And besides, all of you guys are WAY prettier and more attractive than I am," I protested.
Kiara, not paying that much attention to the actual conversation, twirled her blonde hair and said, "Wow, thanks, Bree. I think that's the only time you've ever really complimented me."
I was surprised that Kiara's comment, although she hadn't intended it, actually had some meaning to it. It probably was the first time I had actually complimented my sisters on anything, and I got the feeling that I was doing it to cover up something.
. . . But what?
"Who is this 'Chris' you're talking about?" Stacie asked curiously.
"I met him at school last week. He's in my English class, and we briefly talked, so that's why I remember him. I didn't know he was coming to New York at the same time as us. He's currently staying in the room right next to ours, and he said he was probably on the same flight as us, too," I explained. Again, I left out the part about us finding a magical portal that led to a mysterious world. Which meant, of course, that we hadn't actually just "briefly talked".
"Whoa, that's such a coincidence! But why is Skip talking about him liking you or whatever?" Stacie said.
Skipper rolled her eyes. "I just told you guys. I noticed all the little signs! I even saw them talking on the way back to our hotel. And I noticed him looking at you like you were the coolest thing in the world or something when you suggested that we go to the Statue of Liberty. I mean, I thought you were crazy and all, but he looked like he thought you were coolest person ever," Skipper added to me.
I laughed, trying to ignore the wheels spinning in my head. "Skip, how could Chris' perception of me be different from yours? And plus, you know me better, so your view of me should be more accurate. He doesn't even know me that well yet," I tried to explain. "And how is a crazy, murderous thirteen-year-old girl in a purple beanie cool?"
Stacie and Kiara laughed, but Skipper still wasn't buying it.
"C'mon, Bree. I know you don't want to believe that someone could actually finally like you -" she rolled her eyes - "but it's true. There's no denying it."
"Well, whatever you say, Skip," I rolled my eyes. "But I'm still not believing it. And besides, it doesn't matter. There's no real evidence anyway. Maybe you're just saying all this because you want some drama to happen around here?" I raised an eyebrow, slowly trying to change the subject.
Skipper sighed in exasperation. "Bree, you're SO BLIND. How can you not even NOTICE when someone likes you? Everybody ELSE would. But then again, you're one of the weirdest people I've ever met, too, so I guess it's explainable."
"Exactly. And it probably isn't even true. Now, Skipper, want to talk about YOUR love life -" I was interrupted mid-tease when the door opened and Mom walked in.
"Girls, I'm done shopping! What have you been up to?" Mom called.
"Hi, Mom!" Stacie and Kiara ran to the door to greet Mom.
Meanwhile, Skipper and I started a playful glaring contest. After pinning her down with one of my best (and favorite) death glares, Skipper finally gave up, sighed, and walked over to Mom.
"Hey, Mom, are we going swimming today?" Skipper asked excitedly while I grinned, triumphant that I had won yet another glaring competition.
"Sure. After breakfast, of course," Mom answered.
"Yes!" Skipper high-fived Stacie.
"Mom, I don't even have a proper swimsuit," Kiara complained.
"What? I thought you had tons of pink ones," Skipper said, confused.
"They're all small now. And besides, I think I've changed my style lately," Kiara continued.
Stacie, Skipper, and I all raised our eyebrows simultaneously.
"To . . .?" I questioned.
"I'm into darker colors now. Like blue and purple and silver and those kinds of colors," Kiara declared.
I rolled my eyes so hard they could've popped out of their sockets.
"Really, Kiara? You call those 'dark colors'? I thought 'dark colors' were black and blue and that kind of stuff," I said, exasperated. "Not silver and shimmery blue and purple."
Stacie and Skipper nodded in agreement, doing eye rolls of their own.
"Oh, really? Well, then, I'll call my colors 'mermaid colors', since we're going swimming anyway," Kiara giggled.
Seriously?? Even Stacie was more sophisticated than Kiara was, and she was a whole year younger.
"Suit yourself," Skipper finished for us.
We had ramen for breakfast. It was pretty good, and it really gave me the energy I would need later for swimming. Unlike Kiara, I had already packed my swimsuit, which was a set consisting of a blue and purple marble print short-sleeved waterproof t-shirt and a matching pair of waterproof shorts. My goggles were white, and I also had a pair of duck flippers with me in case I needed them.
Mom agreed to let Kiara buy a new swimsuit, so they went to a nearby aquatic store and came back with little souvenirs for all of us.
After around an hour or two of lazily watching TV on the couch with my sisters, Mom told us that it was finally warm enough to go swimming.
I changed into my swimsuit and purple flipflops with my handy duck flippers tucked under my arm and my goggles firmly attached to my head. I looked in the mirror. Swimming was one of the only times I had to take off my beanie and bracelets, which was kind of hard for me since I was so attached to them. I looked kind of weird without my beanie, in my opinion. Maybe it was because I was so used to looking at myself wearing it all the time, and the comfiness of its weight on top of my head. Like I had said to Skipper on our way to New York, my beanie was something that represented me. And without it, I felt like I was missing something. Oh, well. I guess if Chris was swimming with us, he would finally see me without my beanie. He would probably think I looked weird. Wait, why did I even care what he thought about me? Oh gosh, something was definitely wrong with me.
While I waited for my sisters to change into their swimsuits, I took out the magic iPod and texted Chris to let him know that we were going swimming and asked him if he could come with us.
Bree: Hey Chris, how are you?
Chris: Hey Bree, what's up? I'm doing fine, since we're in New York! :)
Bree: My sisters and I are going swimming in the pool downstairs! I was wondering if you could/wanted to come with us?
Chris: Oh, that sounds great! Meet you by the pool in 20 mins!
Bree: Okay, great! See you there!
Skipper was done changing first. She was wearing a plain black one-piece swimsuit with a cool rainbow music design on it along with black flipflops and blue goggles. When Kiara came out, she was wearing a blue long-sleeved waterproof zip-up shirt, purple shorts, and pink flipflops along with yellow goggles. Stacie was wearing a bright blue shorts one-piece swimsuit and yellow flipflops with black goggles.
We were finally ready to go. After packing some water, the First Aid kit, and a couple of towels, we said goodbye to Mom and rode the elevator downstairs.
When I first stepped into the swimming pool center, I was taken aback by how gorgeous it looked. It looked like it was literally the ocean, but just inside a building. The water was fresh, deep blue, there were real plants on the "shores" where sand was scattered, and, like Skipper had said, there was a zipline and a bunch of natural surroundings like caves and underwater obstacle courses. I had never been to a swimming pool this extravagant. The pool itself looked about as big as a lake, too.
My sisters all gasped and immediately jumped in, splashing and laughing like crazy. The convenient thing was that there were very few people there at the moment, so it wasn't too crowded. I decided to wait for Chris before jumping in until he arrived.
A few minutes later, a panting, out-of-breath Chris arrived, and he was wearing dark blue swimming trunks, black flipflops, and blue goggles.
"Hey, Chris!" I waved.
"Hey, Bree! You ready for me to beat you in a swimming race?" he teased.
The corners of my mouth twisted upward into a smirk, and I suddenly got a dangerous look in my eyes. If anything about me was true, it was that I always, always took a competition seriously. Back in seventh grade, there was this online class game we played called 'Kahoot!', and I always used to win; it was kind of normal for me. But if I didn't win sometimes, I never let it go.
"Oh, you'd dare to do that?" I said softly but dangerously, taking a step closer to Chris.
"Uh . . . Bree? You're kind of being scary right now," Chris said nervously, slowly backing away.
My sisters had stopped playing and were now all staring up at our scene like it was one of their favorite heroine movies. Skipper was looking at me with a mischievous smirk on her face. She knew me too well. Kiara (the dumb one, no offense) was just staring dreamily up at us because she probably thought it was a dramatic love scene and was imagining herself being in it. Stacie was looking at Chris with a grin, amused by his reaction. She was probably wondering what would happen if she threw a particularly heavy basketball at his head one day.
"I'll make sure you don't win. Ever," I warned ominously before turning on my heel and jumping into the deepest part of the swimming pool. When I resurfaced, I gave him one last death glare before disappearing again just to let him know that I wasn't joking.
"Boy, she's scary," Chris laughed nervously to my sisters. They grinned, shrugged, and swam away, leaving him nowhere else to go but where I was - the deepest part of the pool. And no kidding, it was deep. And what was even more scary? There was also a murderous, dangerous thirteen-year-old girl lurking somewhere in the depths of it.
I saw Chris jump in hesitantly and swim over to where he thought I was. After I saw him looking around for me, I lost patience and popped noiselessly out of the water. When he turned, he gave a hilarious shriek and almost sank from shock.
"Relax," I laughed and splashed water on him.
"Relax? RELAX? Bree, you're the scariest teenage girl I've ever met! How can I possibly RELAX at a time like THIS?!" Chris hollered, turning pink from embarrassment.
"All right, I'm sorry for being who I really am," I rolled my eyes. "But I saw a cave somewhere on the other side. Do you want to explore it?"
Chris' face finally returned to normal. "Sure. As long as you don't drown me on the way."
I put on my duck flippers so I could swim faster to the cave. I was a really powerful swimmer, so I was way ahead of Chris when I reach the mysterious-looking cave. When he finally arrived, we put on our goggles and submerged under the water. I blinked and noticed something very, very strange.
It was the aura. The same magical aura I felt around Chris, the same magical aura I had felt around the portal that we had discovered at school. There was a certain spot on the underwater part of the cave. It somehow looked . . . different from the others, but not in a noticeable way.
I gasped internally and slowly approached it. Chris must have noticed it, too, because he followed close behind. I reached out my hand and lightly brushed the spot. Suddenly, the whole cave was illuminated by a blinding, golden light. I gasped even louder and peered inside. What I saw shocked me. I saw the same magical world that I had seen in the other portal at school, except this one portrayed the ocean. There were all kinds of fish that I had never seen before in my life, and I even saw mermaids and talking dolphins. I was amazed beyond belief. I couldn't feel my own body anymore. I looked back at Chris. His reaction was the same. I removed my hand from the portal, and it immediately closed, the golden light fading.
I resurfaced and gasped for air.
"Did you SEE that?!" I hissed to Chris, slightly afraid that my sisters would hear or see us.
"Of course I did," Chris said, out of breath. "It was amazing! It must be another portal to the magical world! The dots aren't hard to connect - every time we're someplace, the portal changes based on what kind of place we're in! Right now, we're in water, so the portal showed us the ocean in the magical world! It all connects!"
"Exactly! And there's definitely a possibility that we'll find even more portals in the future! And maybe in New York, too!" I added excitedly.
"That's what I was thinking!" Chris agreed. Suddenly, our eyes met, and we both knew we were thinking the same thing.
"Bree . . . I somehow feel like we're very close to finding out what's actually behind the portal."