3rd POV
It was a hot summer day in August, the sun was beaming down the heat. Many animals take shelter to avoid the heat, while others enjoy a nice cooling in a pool or a cold room. Unfortunately in the Cherryton dorms, the air conditioning isn't powerful for the rooms that face the sun. One of those rooms was the three female humans that were using it. Mary, Susan, and Lucy began to discover that their dorm room has the flaw of facing the sun. Yes it comes with good perks by laying on the ground to soak in the sunlight, but heat wasn't a perk they liked. It got hot, the room became stuffy past noon and peaked at 2, before staying that way through until 5 before it started to cool down. They may have window curtains, but it doesn't block out the heat.
They all agreed to leave their window open at night so the summer breeze and cold can enter the room. It was actually Lucy's idea that it was so stuffy, that they began to sleep off their beds and on the floor near the window. Lucy also wished they had a portable air conditioning unit that can be for a sliding window. So the day would begin normally, but as soon as it becomes 12 o'clock, they all depart the dorm building to relax in a shaded area. Either from a tree, being a building, or anywhere they could go. The three girls were at the moment next to the tennis courts under the trees.
Lucy was using a hand fan, "Why can't we just visit the polar bear room downstairs?"
"I don't think they are in use at the moment." replied Susan who lifted her head before laying back down as she rested a cold can of ice tea against it, "It's only during the school year when those rooms are used."
"Darn it."Lucy quickly closes the fan.
Mary had a wash cloth against her head. She got it from their bathroom and has used an outdoor faucet next to the tennis courts to wet it.
"Look at the bright side," Mary looks over, "We're not collapsing from heat stroke."
Lucy reached over and taps Mary on the leg with the hand fan before reopening it to use, "Ice cream sounds good right now."
"You can say that again." Replied Susan.
"Has Jack said anything about the pool situation?"
Mary pulls the washcloth off, "He hasn't yet. Principal Gon told him that the pool had to be filled and cleaned. It hasn't been filled since last year when the swim club used it last."
"Ughh..." groaned Lucy, "I brought my swimsuit I wanna try."
"We know Lucy... we know..." Susan muttered.
"You gonna drink that?" Mary points to Susan's ice tea.
"Eventually..."
Mary's phone then buzzed, she lowered her washcloth before pulling out her phone. It was a text message from Jacob.
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Jacob: Hey
Jacob: Jack just notified me that the pool is now open for us. You wanna swim?
Mary: Absolutely
Jacob: Great. I'll tell Jack and we'll meet you on the roof.
Mary: 👍
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Mary puts her phone down and looks over at her cousins, "Hey Lucy, guess what?"
Lucy looks over at her, "What?"
"Jacob says we can go swimming now."
Without missing a beat, Lucy jumps up and raises her hands in victory. "Yes! Let's go!"
Mary stands up to help Susan to her feet. They quickly rush back to their dorm to change.
"Remember to slip on a shirt and pants so we're not just walking around the school in just our swimwear." Said Susan.
They all removed their school uniforms and into swimsuits. Susan slipped on a zigzag of different colors of mostly purple then with cyan, black, white, and light blue tankini athletic swimsuit with board shorts. Lucy excitedly put on a teal color lock cut back bikini. Which had a mix of teal, mint green and orange on the bikini top and bottom.
"Can someone zip me up?" Asked Lucy.
Mary walks over as Susan was at the moment applying sunscreen to herself.
"What are you gonna put on, Mary?"
"You'll see." Mary zips Lucy up.
Mary walks over and undresses, she has an underwire tankini top that was cobalt blue. The pattern was different tropical leaves scattered across it, they were black and white. And it had a black bikini bottom.
"Mary, catch." Called Susan before tossing the bottle of sunscreen.
"The only downside of swimming in a pool is that the chlorine affects my dyed highlights." Said Lucy as she looked at herself in the mirror, "It's annoying to have to dye my hair again."
"It could be worse." Commented Susan.
Mary finishes applying sunscreen to her legs, arms, neck, and face, "Can someone do my back please?"
Lucy takes the bottle from her, "Sure. Turn around." She applies the lotion on Mary's back before handing the bottle back, "Now my turn."
Mary applies it to Lucy's back.
"What should we take?" Asked Susan, "I know we're taking towels, but what else?"
"Ooo. Let's bring the frisbee." Lucy quickly suggested.
Susan goes over to the closets and pulls out the frisbee. She tucks it into a bag that had towels in it. "Anything else?"
"Ummm... I think that's it." Said Mary.
"Alright, let's go then." Susan pulls out a shirt and shorts to go over her swimsuit.
Mary and Lucy go over to their closet and quickly put on a shirt and shorts as well. Then they slipped on flip flops and grabbed their bags. Susan opens the door and they follow her out. They were all excited to swim, it was gonna be fun. They exited the dorm and walked towards the school. Once inside, up the stairs they went to the roof.
Finally they reached the roof and the smell of chlorine filled their noses. Arriving on the roof, they are welcomed by the sight of a clear and refreshing pool. And sitting on a bench that had a roof hanging above it that gave some shade was Jacob, Jack, and Legoshi.
Mary opened the fence door, "Hey guys."
Jacob stood up to greet them, "Hey, you ready to swim?"
"Yay!" Cheered Lucy.
Jack and Legoshi stood up to greet them as well. All the boys were wearing swim trunks, Jack had green, Legoshi had blue, and Jacob was wearing gray. And they all had just a random shirt on as well.
"Let the swim day commence!" Announced Jack as he removed his shirt.
Jacob and Legoshi did the same.
"Wow Jacob, you are athletically built." Commented Jack.
"Thanks, I exercise a lot."
Susan nods in agreement. The boys put their stuff on the bench as the girls dropped their bags off and flip flops. But then Jack and Legoshi stopped in their tracks when the three girls revealed their swimsuits. Jacob noticed that they both were blushing.
"Hey Jack." Smiled Lucy as she took notice of his staring.
Jack's tail began to wag a bit, "You... you... you look b-b..."
Lucy giggled as Jacob nudged Jack's shoulder. Mary walks up to Legoshi who was still blushing.
"Hey." She smiles at him.
"Hey." Legoshi continues to blush and stare,
"Ready to swim?"
He nods.
They all walked over to the pool and looked down at the water. The sun's light glimmered in the water.
"So... how do you enter a pool?" Asked Jack as he turned to Jacob.
"We normally do-"
Splash!
Before Jacob could finish, Mary had run past him and jumped in with a slap. She resurfaces giggling. They all looked at one another until Jacob pushed Lucy into the pool as she let out a gasp as she shrieked a bit.
"Jacob!" Lucy resurfaced with an annoyed look, "I wasn't ready to get my hair wet!"
"You're gonna get your hair wet anyways." He replied laughing.
Lucy then splashes Jacob, he seemed unaffected by the water but Susan walked right behind him and shoved him in. Mary and Lucy dived out of the way as he splashed in. Jacob floats up as he is then quickly splashed again by Lucy. They both get into a splash fight.
"Incoming!" Yelled Susan as she interrupted them with a cannon ball.
They all laugh before they turn to Jack and Legoshi who haven't joined them in the pool.
"Come join us!" Lucy calls to them as she motions over.
Jack then smiles as he walks over to the edge of the pool before taking a deep breath before jumping in.
Splash!
Lucy begins to do a backstroke, Susan dives down underwater, and Jacob compliments Jack on his splash. Mary was at the side of the pool looking at Legoshi, waiting for him to join them. He walked over to the pool before sitting down on the edge with his legs submerged.
"Come on." Mary motioned to him.
"I'm coming." Replied Legoshi
But he didn't get to do his way before Mary took his hand and pulled him in. Legoshi gasped as he splashed in. He resurfaced and turned around to see Mary giggling. Legoshi watched as Mary dived down under water and swam towards the others. He smiles before following her.
They all started by swimming back and forth until Jacob and Lucy reignited splashing each other. But it quickly became just splashing each other. Lucy splashes Jack who then retaliates. Mary turns to Legoshi who had his hand on the edge to better hold himself. Mary makes a small splash at him. He looks over at her as she giggles, Legoshi then splashes her back as they both go back and forth. After a bit of splashing, everything calmed down.
"Let's play a game." Said Jack.
"We got the frisbee with us." Susan gestured over to the bench, "I can get it."
"Sure."
Susan swims to the ladder and leaves the pool. She pulls out the frisbee out of the bag.
"I'm open!" Called Lucy as she pushes through the water.
Mary also takes off, followed by Jacob as Susan throws it. Lucy makes a jump to it but gets tackled by Jacob. The frisbee was about to to land in Mary's hand when Jack quickly jumps forward and grabs it with a splash.
"Nice grab." Mary complemented as Jack resurfaces.
"What's the game called?"
"Let's play ultimate frisbee, pool addition." Explained Lucy as Susan jumps into the pool to join in. "There's two teams, the goal is to get the frisbee to the scoring line. Which is in this case would be to touch the end of the pool. Can only take five steps while having the frisbee, pass to other players. If you drop the frisbee or throw it out of bounds that's a penalty against you and the other team gets it and throws it where it is."
"I have a question." Jack raises his hand, "What happens if the frisbee bounces off of someone and goes out?"
"It counts as a penalty against you as well."
"So what should the teams be?" Asked Jacob.
"Hmmm... How about boys versus girls." Said Mary.
Susan nods, "We can do that."
"Alright, me, Jacob and Legoshi on one team." Jack excitedly pulled Legoshi over as Jacob joined him.
"Perfect, now I'm gonna place the frisbee in the middle of the pool. Thankfully it can float." Lucy turned and swam to place the frisbee down.
They all separate to the ends of the pool, having one hand on the edge.
"What's the score going to?" Asked Jack.
"We will go up to seven." Replied Mary.
"On 3. Ready?" Called Lucy. "Hands on the poolside. 1... 2... 3!"
On 3, everyone ran/swam towards the frisbee. Mary was the first to grab it and quickly jumped out of the way before the others splashed where the frisbee was. Then Susan and Lucy quickly swam to the open to catch the frisbee. However, Jacob and Jack were right on them. Jacob was guarding Susan and Jack had Lucy, which only left Legoshi with Mary, she quickly realized that he was gonna be hard to get by. Not only due to his height, but his long arms, his quickness, and his reach will make it hard for her to pass. Mary began to quickly find a way around Legoshi, but his long arms blocked any chance.
"Over here!" Called Lucy as she quickly jumps past Jack with her hands in the air.
Mary made one quick maneuver to the side of Legoshi before passing it to Lucy. She catches it and takes five steps forward possibly due to being in a pool. Susan waves over at her to show she's open. She passes it, and Susan dodges Jacob and does long jumps forward to get close enough to the side of the pool. Then finally Mary makes a break for it to the end of the pool with Legoshi right behind her. She jumps as high as she can out of the water to catch it. It lands in her hand and Mary reaches to the pool end and touches the side.
"Score!" Cheered Lucy.
"Alright!" Susan gives Mary a high five before they both quickly swim away from the end of the pool.
Jack picks up the frisbee, "Legoshi, go long."
And again, Mary has to guard Legoshi. But she's having fun. The game last for almost half an hour, back and forth with the frisbee, some catching it, others dropping or unable to catch it. At the moment it is tied, 6 to 6. Final round, the boys have the frisbee. The only thing the girls have to do is prevent them from scoring and score themselves to win.
"Go long Jack!" Called Jacob as he is desperately trying to get away from Susan who is blocking him, "Susan! Move!!!"
"No."
"I'm open!" Called Jack as Lucy darted in front of him.
Legoshi waved his hand signaling as well. Jacob quickly had to make a decision. He flings the frisbee towards Legoshi. But Mary quickly makes a jump towards the frisbee to catch it, but due to the water that was kicked up, it got some in her eye. Unable to see, and unable to catch it, the frisbee comes flying forward and hits Mary in the face.
Splash!
"Mary!" Jacob was shocked at what he did and quickly swam over. Everyone did.
Mary resurfaced holding her right eye.
"Are you alright?!"
"Are you bleeding?!"
"Do we need to take you to the nurse?!"
Mary quickly calmed her cousins down, "I'm alright... just my eyelash is in my eye now."
"I'm happy that you're not hurt." Said Jack.
Everyone was concerned, but Legoshi was more concerned. As the others calmed and gave Mary some room, Legoshi swam up to her and was making sure she was alright.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
Mary nods, "Y-yes." She tries to open her right eye but it still stings a bit.
Legoshi then reaches forward and rubs Mary's eye.
"Thanks." She smiles and giggles at Legoshi's sudden action.
As this was happening, Jack was watching. He was intrigued by Legoshi's sudden action and yet before today he was curious about his sudden change of character. Jack has noticed that Legoshi was more positive and not quiet or shy like he normally is. He doesn't look depressed but... happy. He may still do some of his old habits but not a lot anymore. Jack didn't know what caused Legoshi's change of mood when summer break began, but by what he was seeing, it clicked in his head.
'Is she the one...?!'
"So... what happens now?" Asked Lucy, "Is the game over?"
"I mean... a tie still counts as a win." Replied Jacob.
"Then we all win!" Cheered Lucy.
"Want to listen to music?" Susan gets out of her pool and walks over to her phone.
"Sure." Mary blinks a couple of times so that she can see again.
Susan pulls out her phone and quickly selects a song.
Lucy gets out of the pool, "Ooo this is my jam!"
Mary followed her until all three of them were standing on the side of the pool. They all lined up and Lucy started to dance to the music and then they all were doing it. They went with the beat and some of their moves were due to some parts of the song.
"They sure love music." Said Jack.
"Yep," replied Jacob, "Yes they do."
As the song progressed, the three cousins danced and laughed. They were all enjoying themselves, and the others watching them. Legoshi was watching Mary as she was dancing, laughing, and smiling. Then he looked down at Jack who was watching Lucy. He could tell that his friend was enchanted by her, he knows that feeling too but with Mary.
Then the three princesses started singing together.
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All together: Italic, Lucy: Bold
Yeah, we're driving down the freeway at night
I only got one thing in the back of my mind (you got me stuck on the thought of you)
I'm feeling like this might be my time to shine
With you, with you, with you, I got my head out the sunroof
I'm blasting our favorite tunes
I only got one thing on my mind
You got me stuck on the thought of you
You're making me feel brand new
You're more than the sunshine in my eyes
I got my head out the sunroof
Oh-whoa, oh-whoa, ooh
You got me stuck on the thought of you
Oh-whoa, oh-whoa, ooh
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Then finally all three jumped into the pool with a splash. Jacob and Jack applauded. They all started to laugh and enjoy being in the water.
"Ooo-can we do a splash competition?" Asked Lucy.
"Sure." Jacob agreed, "Have a splash off. I'll go first then." He gets out of the water before doing a cannonball in. And one by one they went and jumped in until it was just Jack and Legoshi left.
"Come on, do a splash." Lucy repeatedly motions to them.
"Alright, I'll do it." Jack replied with excitement. He swims to the ladder and gets out. He stands back a bit before running forward and jumps in.
Splash!
They all applauded.
"Not bad." Commented Lucy, "That was good."
Jack wipes some of the water from his eyes, "Thanks." He smiles as he was actually wagging his tail from underwater.
"Well it's just Legoshi left," Jacob turns to him, "Let's see your splash."
Legoshi looked nervous but he looked over at Mary and was smiling at him. He swam over to the ladder and got out. He stood away from the pool and was ready to jump in. Jack gave him a thumbs up. He ran forward and cannon ball in.
Splash!
"Wow... that was a big one." Commented Susan.
"I think we have a winner." Announced Lucy as Legoshi re-emerge from the water, "Legoshi."
"Huh?" He looked confused.
"You won the splash competition." Jack nudges him, "You had the biggest splash out of us all."
They all couldn't see it but Legoshi's tail was kinda wagging underwater.
"What other games do you have?" Asked Jack.
Mary smiles, "We have a couple."
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Mary POV
We spent hours in the pool. We played all sorts of games like Marko Polo, but Legoshi and Jack would find us really quickly due to them having a higher sense of smell. Then we did tag and we showed them some goofy jumping tricks into the pool. And finally we played a game where we grab the frisbee in mid air before falling into the pool. It was all fun, cooling and relaxing.
It was about a half an hour past 5, and we finally decided to get out of the pool.
"That was fun." Commented Jack as he exited the pool, "We should do it again."
I nodded, "Absolutely."
"I wish the others were here, they would have enjoyed it." Jack then shook his head and body which kicked off excess water.
"Did you get the frisbee?" Asked Susan.
Jacob hands her it before she packs it away. She then hands me my towel and then Lucy's before getting hers out. Jacob rubbed his head quickly with his towel before revealing his hair all flared up.
Lucy nudges him, "Nice hair style."
Jacob does a fake laugh before fixing his hair. Legoshi walks over to us and grabs his towel. He then shakes just like Jack did before drying off.
"I have a question, Jack." Lucy turns to him, "How do you guys dry off when you finish taking a shower or swimming?"
"That's a good question," Replied Jack as he wraps the towel around his waist, "We have a blow dryer back in the room. It's circular so we can pull it up and down our body so it can dry all over."
"That's very interesting, I've never heard of a dryer like that." Lucy finishes drying her hair before wrapping the towel around her waist.
"Are we all ready to go?" I asked as I slipped on my flip flops.
"Yes." They all said.
We all exited the pool and descended the stairs to leave the school.
"I'm gonna sleep well tonight." Said Jacob.
Lucy nods before yawning, "y-yeah... a good sleep sounds good."
"Would you four wanna join us for dinner?" Asked Jack, "Cause I am a bit hungry."
"You spoke my mind." Lucy smiles back at him.
I noticed Jack's tail was wagging a bit. After a couple of minutes we finally arrived back in our dorm. I felt really exhausted, all I wanted to do was collapse onto my bed and pass out. But first I must remove my wet swimsuit.
"Who wants to take our swimsuits down to the dryer?" Asked Lucy.
"I will." I offered.
"It sucks that we can't wear our casual clothes for dinner." Lucy whined, "It's sooo- annoying to have to put on the uniform."
"Tell me about it." Muttered Susan.
We removed our swimsuits and gathered them into our towels, and again we all waited one by one to use the shower. I was lucky to go first, it didn't take long since I just had to wash my hair to remove the chlorine. After that I exited the bathroom with my brush and blow dryer so I could use them both out in the room. I plugged the dryer into the electrical socket near my bed and set up a mirror before starting. I brushed and dried until I felt like it was good enough. I didn't want water dripping onto my uniform when I go to eat. I'll let the rest air dry. After getting my uniform on I gathered all of our wet clothes and towels.
"I will meet you at the cafeteria." I looked over at Susan before picking up my phone.
"Got it, we'll see you there then." She responded with a thumbs up.
I exited our room and descended down to the laundry room. If you didn't know, all four dorm buildings have a laundry room. And they are all located in the basement of the buildings. The entrance was outside so I had to walk around to it. In the laundry room, there were about 12 machines, half of them were washers and the other dryers. On some of the shelves were cleaning products and detergents. I entered the room to see some clothes hanging above the clothes lines. I walked over to the nearest dryer and loaded the clothes before starting it. After that I looked around the room to see a vending machine in the corner and a change machine. I was going to head to the cafeteria when my phone buzzed. It was a message from Legoshi.
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Legoshi: Hey, do you wanna meet before going to the cafeteria?
(I smiled)
Mary: Sure. Where do you wanna meet?
Legoshi: Which place do you wanna meet at?
Mary: Somewhere near our dorm.
(I actually walked out of the laundry room and up the stairs until I was outside. Started to walk a bit until I saw the fire escape on the side.)
Mary: Like the fire escape. We can meet on the boys' fire escape."
Legoshi: Alright, I'll meet you there.
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I put my phone away and headed to the boys dorm. The fire escape wasn't like ours on Archeania where the ladder is tucked up and can be pulled down. And the reason for that is so people don't just crawl up and down it randomly. But here at Cherryton, instead of a ladder, it's metal steps and it's on the ground. An easy access. Plus another thing I noticed was the stairs were actually two. The right side was normal steps, but on the left were smaller. My guess, they are for the smaller students.
I walked up the stairs until I reached the 7th level where I saw Legoshi waiting patiently by the emergency door.
"Hey." I smiled.
"Hey." He stood up, "You wanna sit?"
I nodded. Legoshi then walks over to the stairs, I watched him curiously as he then dusted off a step with his tail and then motions to me to sit.
Such a gentleman.
"Thanks Legoshi." I sat down.
Legoshi is now up against the railing in front of me. We both were quiet at first until I broke it.
"Did you enjoy swimming today?"
"Y-yeah I did." Legoshi rubbed the back of his neck, "It was fun, Jack really enjoyed it."
"That's good."
"How's your eyes?"
"Oh... it's fine. My eye stung a bit but it was just my eyelash. But what's more exciting is that you won the splash competition."
Legoshi nods.
"So what do you wanna talk about?" I asked.
"Oh Um..." Legoshi looked a bit panicked by my question, "I was gonna ask if you wanna meet up more. To talk."
"Sure, I would love that."
I locked eyes with him, he was giving me a normal smile. Just then my phone buzzed, I looked at it. Susan sent me a message.
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Susan: Lucy and I have finished washing. We're on our way to the cafeteria.
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"Susan and Lucy are on their way to the cafeteria. We should go meet up." I stand up.
But as I put my phone away, Legoshi was standing in front of me. I didn't know what he was doing but we just looked at one another. Grey meets blue. I then gently put my hands on his as his tail started to wag. Until I hear Legoshi's stomach growl.
"Let's go, I think your stomach is growling." I turned to walk to the stairs before looking back at him smiling.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
I just smiled as he followed me down the stairs and to the cafeteria for dinner.
Another fantastic day.
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And done! Sorry about the month long silence. But don't worry, I am back! Had school to get through plus it helped me plan stuff and ideas. I enjoyed writing this. Also I come to you again and ask for help with outfits. Who knew swimsuits would be a challenge to find. If you have ideas of food and outfits, message me. It'll help a lot. And also ideas for a future chapter. Anyways don't forget to smash the vote button and comment below. Comments help motivate me to continue writing. Anyways, I'll see you in Chapter 3!😁💙💛