~Five minutes later (4:28 pm)~
"Who wants to play Beach Volleyball?" Spruce said, tossing a volleyball in the air, catching it.
Clay raised his hand. "I'm in!"
"Oooo, yes!" John Dory said.
Floyd nodded. "Okay, but I don't know how to play."
"Me neither," John Dory pointed out.
Branch caught the volleyball when Spruce tossed it to him. "It's quite easy. Poppy and I played this game once, so I know how to play. So, we need to split up into two teams...."
Clay interrupted him. "How are we supposed to do that when there's only five of us?"
This is when Spruce got excited. He had been waiting for this moment to happen, and it was about time too when Clay mentioned this.
Spruce looked around the beach. "Glad you mention this because I have called a special BroZone fan to come play beach volleyball and....oh, there she is! Hey, Seluna!"
"BFF??" John Dory, Clay, Floyd and Branch said together.
A Troll with long, dark green hair with bangs covering her forehead, wearing a light blue bathing suit. She walked like a fashion model, putting one foot in front of the other, vice versa.
His brothers faced them with pure confusion, except for John Dory who had his mouth dropped as he eyed Seluna. She gave out a genuine smile and hugged Spruce.
"How's my surfer BFF doing?" Spruce asked, hugging her back.
"Doing wonderful. Thanks for inviting me, Spruce Bruce. I'm loving your speedo," Seluna said.
Spruce whipped his hair, doing a pose. "Why thank you...."
Seluna giggled and gasped. "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, these must be your brothers....."
She squealed for quite a moment, covered her mouth apologizing. Then she squealed again, hugging them, asking for each of their autographs too, which they signed.
Seluna squealed. "Hi, I'm Selena Luna, but you can call me Seluna. It's a way how I put both my names together, got inspired by John Dory's name. Hehehe..."
Spruce cleared his throat, facing his brothers. "Oh, bros, if you're wondering....Seluna is my surfer BFF whom I met when she first came to Vacay Island....plus, she is a BroZone fan since she was ten years old!"
Branch, John Dory, Clay, and Floyd greeted her again, which she waved at them in a shy way. When she got to John Dory, Seluna blinked at him, twirled her hair, and blushed, though she kept on smiling while shaking his hand.
Seluna brushed her hair. " Oh my gosh. It's nice to meet you in person, John Dory. JD. The leader....the charming one.....the handsome one."
John Dory smiled real hard and giggled. Spruce raised an eyebrow at his older brother who adjusted with his goggles and kept giggling.
"You look so amazing up close, plus I love your swim shorts, which matches your gorgeous hair," Seluna pulled out a book from her backpack. "Could you sign my diary, please? On this page here."
John Dory kept smiling, still adjusting his goggles. For a moment, silence came along, except for the sound of waves. John Dory held onto the pen and gazed at her for quite a while before Floyd waved a hand over his face.
"Bro. Bro, she's talking to you," Floyd said.
John Dory shook his head. "What? Oh. Sorry. I'll just sign your diary now."
Clay snickered, Floyd stood there in silence and Branch and Spruce shook their heads. Seluna giggled, covering her mouth.
Ooooooo...I can sense a somewhat spark between them, though I know Seluna's a huge fan of JD, because she tends to talk about him a lot. But let's not focus on that right now.
Spruce cleared his throat. "ANYWAYS, let's start the game."
~~~
Spruce teamed up with Branch and Floyd while John Dory teamed up with Clay and Seluna. Team Spruce Bruce versus Team JD. They prepared themselves to play this game: Spruce brushed one of his bangs, Branch did triceps stretches, Floyd did side arm stretches, Seluna smiled a minute away at John Dory, Clay hopped around while shaking his hands, and John Dory stood there.
Branch explained the rules of the game. Afterwards, Seluna suggested to practice tossing and passing the volleyball to each other. After five minutes of practicing, were ready to start the game.
"Remember, if the ball hits the ground on the opposite team's side, you get a point," Spruce explained.
Seluna spoke in a shy way. "I might win again, Spruce Bruce."
Branch and Floyd looked at Spruce. "Again!?!"
Spruce looked away. "I lost a game against her once, but that won't happen again. Let's play ball."
Clay gave them a confused look. "We're playing baseball now?"
Before anyone could answer him, the game began.
Spruce tossed, jumped and hit the volleyball towards Clay, who did a quick forearm passed to John Dory, who passed it to Seluna who hit the ball towards Floyd who screamed and ducked as the ball fell to the ground. He tumbled to the ground.
"Ball in. And the first point goes to us," Seluna said, letting out a soft-spoken cheer. "Whoo-hoo."
Spruce picked up Floyd from the ground. "It's okay, Floyd, the ball wasn't going to hit you."
Floyd wiped his forehead. "It was close though."
Seluna grabbed the ball and tossed it towards Floyd who this time passed it to Spruce, he passed it towards Branch who jumped and used his hair to hit the ball towards Clay who missed the ball as he slid across the sand.
Spruce cheered. "Yes."
"Whoo-hoo!" Branch cheered.
"Wait, does that count?" Floyd asked.
"I call it a foul," Clay said.
"It's not a foul. You can use your hair to pass and even hit the ball," Seluna explained.
"Why didn't you say that before, Branch?" Clay asked in an annoying way.
Branch gave him an innocent look. "Oops."
~~~
Spruce's team was surprisingly on a winning streak as Spruce smiled at Clay and John Dory who were arguing. The score is now 3 to 2.
"You already had your turn with the ball," Clay pointed out.
"I want to hit it this time," John Dory said.
"You just want to hit the ball, so you can impress Seluna."
"Shut it, Cauliflower head. That's not true. I want to win just to win."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING CAULIFLOWER HEAD?"
Seluna spoke up. "Boys, boys. We are now losing because of you two fighting about who can hit the ball to the other side first. Is it really neces—here comes the ball."
Spruce hit the volleyball hard as it smacked John Dory in the face as he fell backwards. Seluna gasped, Clay laughed, and Spruce covered his mouth.
Seluna ran towards John Dory, helping him up. "Are you alright, John?"
Spruce came up to him too. "Sorry, bro. Are you okay?"
John Dory nodded and smiled.
Five minutes later, they continued to play the game as Spruce's team won the first round, due to Clay and John Dory arguing over the ball once again. After they took a two-minute break, they switched sides.
~~~
Somehow, John Dory's team ended up winning the 2nd round. Just one more round to break the tie and find out who would win. The score was now 8 to 9. Just one more point and Team John Dory would win the whole game. If Team Spruce Bruce score this one, they could tie up and have a chance to score two more points to win.
Spruce took a deep breath, tossed the ball, jumped and hit it towards the other side. As the ball went to his side, he passed it to Branch, Floyd hopped and used his hair to pass the ball towards Clay, who caught the ball as he slid across the sand. Seluna passed it to John Dory and he jumped and hit the ball towards Floyd who caught it. Four minutes passed, the volleyball hadn't fell to the ground yet. Everyone was getting tired.
"Are you guys ready to give up yet?" Seluna asked.
"Never," Spruce said. I can't let her win again. Not today.
Floyd groaned. "My arms are getting sore."
"Mine too," John Dory said.
Two minutes passed as Spruce planned to end the game by using his hair to hit the ball to the other side. To him, everything was moving in slow motion as Branch passed the ball and sat on the ground and Spruce jumped. Everyone stared at him as he used his hair to hit the ball towards the other side.........
Seluna jumped and used her hand to block the ball, and the volleyball moved slowly towards the ground.
Spruce felt like he was speaking in slow motion. "NOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo...."
"I gooooooooooot iiiiiiiiiiiiittttt........" Floyd leaped towards the volleyball, landing on the ground, missing the volleyball as it touched the ground.
Seluna, Clay, and John Dory cheered. After catching his breath, Spruce smiled and shook each of their hands and hugged them.
"Great game, guys. Seluna.....you were great out there. Nice job on boosting your confidence," Spruce said.
She giggled and hugged Spruce, thanking him. He again complimented her on how better she is getting every time they play this game. She complimented each of the brothers, including John Dory who kept giggling.
"Well, I better be going now. I've got a babysitting job to do. Thanks for letting me play with you guys. And...." Seluna walked towards John Dory who gazed and blushed at her. "I'll see you around.....John Dory. Bye."
Seluna smiled and hugged him.
He hugged her back, smiling and waving. "Bye, bye."
After Seluna waved goodbye and left, Spruce and his brothers oohed at John Dory, surrounding him. John Dory kept gazing out a distance before Spruce snapped his fingers at him, making John Dory snap out of it.
"What happened?" John Dory asked.
"You blanked out for a minute," Branch said.
"What was that all about?" Spruce asked, smirking.
"Yeah, you good?" Clay asked, smirking too.
Floyd gave John Dory a warm smile. "I sense something going on between the—"
JD shook his head. "Pffft. No."
Floyd folded his arms, giving him a look. "Mhm."
John Dory cleared his throat. "Anyways, should we go to a spa and get in a mud bath? I had seen a spa at the resort."
"Mud spa?" Spruce hesitated.
"Never tried that before. Is it like a hot tub? I have been on those before," Floyd said.
Branch smiled. "I have this mud pool back in my bunker, so I can say that it's kind of like a hot tub, except maybe this mud in the spa might be...thicker."
Spruce hesitated some more. "Thicker?" Maybe it won't be that bad....maybe?
John Dory nudged Spruce. "Come on, it would be fun! Plus, we have never done that before."
True, but I want to get in a hot tub. But this is a BroZone Sleepover, meaning to just have fun and go with the flow. Like the waves. Look, it may not be what I planned in the first place, but I want us to have a good time, plus I don't want to sound controlling either.
Spruce took a deep breath. "Okay. Let's go to the mud spa."