-Kyla's POV-
Someone barges into the room, waking me up.
"Good morning, girls," I hear Talia say.
"Nuh-uh," Evelyn mumbles as she rolls over in the bed, "It's too early."
I begrudgingly open my eyes as Talia places a smoothie on my bedside table.
I force myself to slowly sit up as I ask, "What's this?"
"Simon's special hangover cure," Talia says.
"Should I be scared?" I ask as I pick up the brownish liquid.
"Not at all," She replies, "This thing is a lifesaver."
I take a small sip and my eyes widen at the surprisingly good taste.
"Good, right?" Talia laughs, "He puts a shit ton of peanut butter in there to mask the healthy stuff, but everything else in there will actually help you."
"It is really good. Remind me to thank him," I say and Evelyn nods sleepily as she drinks her own glass.
I pick up my phone and I nearly choke as I say, "It's already 1?"
"Yeah," Talia lightly laughs, "But don't worry, only a few of us are up. I was tasked with waking up the girls and Simon is currently trying to get the guys up. We're just sitting by the pool, so drink up and come down whenever."
"Thanks," Evelyn says, seeming more awake now. Once Talia leaves, I down the rest of the smoothie before standing up and walking to the bathroom. I grimace as I see myself in the mirror. I must have forgotten to take off my makeup last night. I spend the next few minutes washing my face and trying to look somewhat presentable before walking back to the room to grab a bikini.
"Am I losing it or is this drink actually helping?" Evelyn asks.
"No, it definitely did. I need to ask Simon what his secret is," I say as I pull out a scarlet bikini. Evelyn heads into the bathroom to get ready and by the time she comes out, I'm changed and applying sunscreen.
"I feel like I'm teetering on the edge of feeling like death and wanting to conquer the world," She says and I laugh.
"Four consecutive days of non-stop drinking will do that to you," I say. I grab my sunglasses and a book before the two of us finally make our way downstairs. The sun is hotter than I expected but it feels nice.
"That was quick," Talia grins, impressed with our fast transformation. Evelyn and I sit down on the tanning chairs next to Talia, and I'm shocked to see really no one else is awake. Freya, Josh, and Tobi are the only ones here, but I'm guessing Simon is still upstairs trying to wake up the guys. I read my book for a few minutes, but the sun is so strong I feel like I'm melting.
"I'm going to go for a swim," I say, putting my book and sunglasses down.
"I'll join you," Talia says.
I debate on walking into the pool through the steps, but Talia convinces me to jump in off the back wall. We jump in together and my body in completely submerged under water. I swim to the surface and push my hair out of my face.
"How is it?" Evelyn asks.
"The water feels amazing. You should come in," Talia grins as she swims over to the wall.
"I will," Evelyn promises, "Once I finish this chapter."
Talia and I start talking about the night before when I suddenly hear Evelyn scream. I whip around to see Simon and Harry picking her up.
"Hey!" Evelyn yells as they start to carry her over to the pool.
"Hey, Evelyn," Harry giddily replies.
"Put me down," Evelyn says through laughter.
"Your wish is our command," Simon grins wickedly as they reach the deep end.
"Oh my God. I'm going to murder you guys," Evelyn says just as they drop her. The two boys laugh as Evelyn swims up to the surface.
"Why did you guys go for me? Freya is literally right there," Evelyn points out.
Freya smiles as she moves her sunglasses down her nose, "They know not to mess with me while I'm tanning."
Harry nods, looking slightly terrified. I laugh at his reaction just as Chris comes sprinting out of the house, with Chip close behind him. Chris aims straight for Harry, tackling him into the pool. Simon and Chip jump in straight after them, and water flies everywhere.
"You bastard," Harry laughs when he reaches the surface, "I just swallowed a gallon of water."
"That's not my issue, mate. You should have had your mouth closed," Chris smirks.
Harry springs over and dunks Chris under the water. Chris manages to swim away and when he comes back up, they both agree to a truce.
"Where was the hangover cure I was promised?" Chris asks.
"There should still be some in the fridge," Simon replies.
"Thank God. My body feels like it's going to implode," Chris says as he swims to the pool edge and lifts himself out. I catch Evelyn staring at him, but I can't read the expression on her face. I give her a questioning look, but she just shakes her head.
"What's a fun game we can play?" Evelyn asks.
"How about Chicken?" Harry suggests.
"What's that again?" Talia says.
After explaining the rules, we all partner up. I swim over to Harry and before he goes under water, he says, "Don't be afraid to push a bitch."
I nearly snort at the comment as Talia calls out, "Hey. I heard that, Lewis."
"And?" Harry charmingly grins, "The game's the game."
The boys all go under water at the same time and soon me, Talia, and Evelyn are being lifted into the air.
"Oh, shit," Evelyn says as she wobbles slightly on Chip's shoulders. Chip looks like he's dancing in the water as he attempts to stabilize them.
"Oh my God," Evelyn says, death-gripping Chip's shoulders, "I feel like I'm going to fall off before we even reach them."
"No, don't even worry about it," Chip says, sounding nearly out of breath, "We're doing great."
Chip takes a solid step forward, and Evelyn nearly falls off again.
"Why are your shoulders so slippery?" Evelyn asks and Chip's face drops.
"Nah, now you lot are taking the piss. You're telling me I'm both bony and slippery?" Chip says, "I'm just straight up being bullied at this point."
Talia, Evelyn, and I burst out laughing, and I have to catch myself as I nearly fall off of Harry's shoulders.
Harry squeezes my leg as he says, "Focus. We have a game to win," but I can feel him laughing too.
Once we all catch our breath, we finally move forward. I brace myself as Talia lightly shoves me, but I manage to stay up. She then reaches for Evelyn, but Evelyn falls into the water, dragging Chip with her, before Talia can even reach her.
"That was totally a technical foul," Chip argues when he comes up from the water.
"What? How? I didn't even touch her," Talia says.
Chip shakes his head, "Still a technical foul."
"I fell off cause of your fucking slippery shoulders, not because of Talia," Evelyn says.
Chip splashes her, causing her to giggle as she swims out of the splash zone.
"One down, one to go," Simon confidently says.
Harry and Simon move toward each other and Talia and I can't wipe the smile off of our faces.
We reach forward and our hands intertwine as we push and try to make the other person lose balance. We're at a standstill for a few seconds until Harry moves forward and kicks Simon's leg. Simon loses balance and him and Talia both go underwater.
Harry and I celebrate as Simon comes up saying, "Woah, woah, woah. Surely that's a technical foul."
"Nope. They won fair and square," Chip announces, purely to spite Simon.
"This game is rigged," Simon protests as he jokingly glares at Chip.
Harry holds his hand out for a high-five and I happily return the gesture. He then asks, "Ready?" but before I can reply, he falls backward, taking both of us under the water. I swim up and wipe the water out of my eyes.
"That was so mean," I say as I splash him. He laughs as he swims away.
"Let's play a real game now, shall we?" Chip says as he jumps out of the pool. Chris walks out of the house with a half empty glass, and Chip calls him over. They set up a net that divides the pool in half.
"What's this for?" Evelyn asks.
"Volleyball," Chip says with a wide grin. He chucks the ball at Evelyn's head and she catches it just in time.
"Chris, are you in?" Harry asks.
"Yeah, give me a minute," Chris says.
"We need another person then. To make it even."
"Josh or Tobi. Do either of you want to play?" Simon calls out.
"I can't. I'm working on my tan with Freya," Tobi replies, causing the two of them to laugh.
"I'll play," Josh shrugs as he pulls off his shirt and jumps into the pool.
"Cool," Evelyn smiles, "How are we splitting up the teams?"
"I vote for me and Bog to be team captains since we're clearly the best," Chip says.
"I take offense to that, but whatever," Simon says.
The two guys take turns picking teammates, and in the end, it's Chip, Chris, Evelyn, and Talia on one team, and Harry, Simon, Josh, and I on the other. Chip and Harry do a game of rock, paper, scissors to see who goes first, and Harry wins.
Tobi connects his phone to a speaker and starts playing music, which hypes everyone up. Harry serves first, and I'm impressed with how long we can keep a volley going. Simon spikes the ball down and it hits the water on their side. I didn't realize it until now, but we have all the tallest people on our team. Chip must realize this at the same time as he says, "I think I may have messed up lads."
"We're only a point down. We have better players anyway," Talia says as she squints her eyes at Simon.
"Exactly. It's time for the short kings to rise up," Chris says as he tosses the ball back to our side.
"Don't say that. I am so much taller than you," Chip says, looking disgusted at the insinuation that he's a short king.
"Yeah, maybe by an inch," Chris rolls his eyes.
Chip stands on his tippy-toes to create a greater distance in their height, "Nah, look at that. I'm miles above you, mate."
"Yeah, sure," Chris mockingly agrees.
"Alright, alright. Can we start the next round?" Harry says in amusement.
We play for a bit, and the score is at 10 to 6 when Freezy and Ethan walk out of the house, talking loudly.
"Nah, what is this?" Freezy calls out. I look over and see he has a camera in his hands.
"Are you vlogging?" Josh asks.
"Yeah," Freezy says.
"Never thought I'd see the day," Harry jokes and Freezy flips him off. He turns off the camera and puts it down on a table.
"Do either of you want to play?" I ask, "I'm tapping out."
"Noooo," Josh, Simon, and Harry collectively say, "You can't leave. We're winning."
"You guys are winning. I think I've touched the ball maybe twice," I laugh, "But I want to work on my tan anyway."
"I'll sub in," Freezy offers. I high-five everyone on my team and encourage them before hopping out of the pool. I grab a towel just as Freezy jumps into the water. I lay down on a chair next to Tobi, and Ethan sits down next to me. I apply some tanning lotion as the game picks up again.
Although I did want to work on my tan, I really just wanted to watch the game. I try to watch everyone, but I can't help it as my eyes trail Harry's movements. He's surprisingly good at volleyball. I laugh as Tobi picks up Freezy's camera and starts filming and commentating on the rally. Ethan, Freya, and I join in as we root for different teams.
Despite waking up late, today has already been one of my favorite days here.