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"I'll risk the water balloons!" He declared obstinate, he was NOT removing his shirt, swimming or otherwise making a fool of himself.
He did however figure to distract Dem...

"He Dem!" He said and fished a fresh glow stick out of his pocket and cracked it into blue luminosity.

"Trade you if you can get those balloons back!"

He glanced at the new comer, not one of the team... and gave a small wave. Young lady, shy... he filed away details getting slightly distracted in trying to look casual when filing away information out of habit.

"A little, maybe," said Elke, sitting down by the side of the pool. Zac, and Heather, and Demy. She looked at each face and nodded, trying to commit them to memory, and then she beamed at Audrey. Now she knew names and it wasn't quite so awkward! She twisted in place to pick through her camera bag, pulling out the Nikon and grinning as she snapped a picture of Audrey.

It should be noted that Elke could not swim very well.

Instead of saying this, she smiled. "It's nice to meet you." She looked at the glowsticks, then to the floating water balloons. It was an awfully eclectic-looking extracurricular group, and she found herself wondering if all of them went to Meadowview with Audrey. That would explain why Elke didn't know them.

She shrugged one shoulder. "Maybe I'll come in later," she said to Audrey, apologetically. She kicked her feet back and forth in the water and picked up her camera again.

"What?! ...NO!!! HEYPUTMEDOW -AAAUGH!!"


And Zac's short lived No pool protest came to a soggy end.

He came up sputtering and shoving his bangs back. "I said No pool!!" He protested despite now being part of the soggy 'extracurricular' crew.

And with that -plucked- the glow stick from behind Dem's ear and gave it a good toss away into the pool.

"Fetch..." He said dryly.

Thankfully, the shallow end of the pool wasn't taller than Zac, at least not at its shallowest so he could find a place to stand even after ANOTHER dunking.

"Oh for..." He eye-rolled and grinned in-spite of himself and fished a 2nd glow stick out of his soggy shirt, cracked and tossed it after retrieving the blue.

A green line vanished towards the deep end.

"I'm saving some Dem, if we're here till dark it'll be more fun."

Audrey was so busy giggling at the antics of the weird pair under her command that Bixbyite, lesser known as Alairi to the captain, took her completely by surprise with her splash and request to try on her gift. Gift? Oh right! The bluenette had been taken aback at the idea of anyone bringing gifts to her party, but then, it was masquerading as her graduation celebration. Arms hefted her body out of the pool with a swing, much stronger now than they had been nary two weeks ago when Fallon had been required to help her out.

Three towels were immediately commandeered to wrap up her hair and two tried to dry as much of her body as she could. The point of a pool cover was that it wasn't supposed to be soaking wet, but when you'd just climbed out of a pool, what could you do? Twist, flip, and the bulk of water was contained in her hair, and the cover was slipped over to much squealing. Audrey turned this way and that, letting the light ripple over it and was so immensely pleased by the iridescence that even when it was pulled off she held it to the sun again to twist. Eventually though, the siren lure of the azure water won out over the lovely gift, and her slim body knifed into the water and surfaced next to the pigtailed teen, wrapping her in a huge hug. "Thank you so much, I will use it a lot! I live at the pool during the summer, it'll be amazing!"

It was still stunning to her that not only had people shown at her party, but they cared enough to consider a gift for her as well. As far as Audrey was concerned, this day was perfect! There was, however, one or two others she would have liked to see, but the day was young! After all, it wasn't even three pm yet!

She and Audrey weren't very close, but as they shared classes at Meadowview and would be graduating at the same time, it could be said that they knew one another- in that groundless way people who see each other almost every day but never actually talk know each other. It could be said that they were on friendly terms, but Vanessa assumed herself to be on friendly terms with everyone. Except mean people.

Audrey wasn't a mean person. Vanessa was also inclined to like her blue-haired classmate because John Jr did.

"She has the prettiest hair," the little boy chirped by her side as they rode in the taxi from their apartment to Jada's lavish home. There was a plastic bag of towels in his lap and he hugged it in his excitement. "And the prettiest eyes and the prettiest voice- and, Vanessa, do you think she'll remember me?"

"Sure she will," Vanessa smirked, and punched him on the arm, "your face isn't hard to forget."

John Jr looked like he wasn't sure if this was an insult or not, but decided he didn't care. He was about to see Audrey again. Nothing else mattered.

Vanessa was mostly unconcerned about her little brother's crush. She had been in his shoes before, and knew it to be harmless. It was cute to see him adore somebody so.

They had arrived on time. Vanessa barely had a chance to pay the driver before John Jr was dragging her off in the direction of the pool. He gripped his sister's hand in his, followed the signs that pointed the way, and stopped only once they rounded the corner and spotted the teenagers that played there. It wasn't like him to be nervous, but these were special circumstances.

"What're you waiting for, squirt?" Vanessa nudged him playfully. There was a teasing lilt to her voice that John Jr didn't like. He stuck his tongue out at her and fidgeted where they stood. She sighed, taking pity on him. "Come on, let's go."

Vanessa, who wasn't generally bothered by strangers no matter what their age, placed both of her hands on his shoulders and steered him closer to the pool. There was a sheepish smile on John Jr's face.

He was happy to see her! John Jr's face lit up like the sun when Audrey, whom he recognized even though her hair was soaking wet, addressed them. Vanessa also appreciated their hostesses warm welcome, particularly because she could tell it had made John Jr's day, and beamed at Audrey.

"OH," John Jr shoved the bag of towels into his sister's hands (she took it with a laugh) and almost choked himself in his haste to get rid of his t-shirt. He wore a simple pair of dark blue swimming trunks that were a tad too small for his growing frame. It was clear, to Vanessa at least, that John Jr was destined to be as big a man as their father. "I'm the best swimmer. I was top of my class in swimming lessons."

He was top of his class in everything. Vanessa was very proud. John Jr thrust his t-shirt at her with uninhibited zeal, and she took it with a smirk.

The little boy was no longer nervous. Audrey's positive greeting had quelled any anxieties he might have had about showing up. He took a deep breath, plugged his nose, and jumped into the water.

Vanessa took a moment, placed their bag of towels off to the side where they wouldn't get wet, and also stripped out of her t-shirt and shorts. Underneath she wore a bikini that she'd found on sale. It was the first bathing suit of the sort she'd ever owned and, while Vanessa wasn't shy, she couldn't help but feel a little naked in it.

This was a good thing. Life was always a rush when you tested yourself.

She took a deep breath, checked to make sure that John Jr wasn't drowning (he wasn't), and then cannonballed into the deep end. "LOOK OUT BELOOOOW."

If someone was going to show up at a party in a school swim suit, it was bound to be Tallulah. Of course, this was the only swim suit she owned and she wasn't about to go out and buy another just for this party. Once on the pool deck, she felt a brief flash of regret in her decision - everyone else had gone for fashionable swimwear, while she wore a
competition-rated one piece in black and Meadowview orange.

She quelled this, though, and towards the poolside. "Hey, Audrey?" she called as the familiar bluenette surfaced. She waved a slick blue envelope at her. "Where do you want me to put this?

She wasn't sure who exactly she recognized here. A few from stargazing, a person or two from Meadowview- "Is Pasha coming?" she asked.