April Fools' Pool Party Open Closed

"I'm not swimming," George replied to Jake, nodding down at himself, still tucked neatly into his school uniform with his tie tight around the collar and everything. The younger Hufflepuff had obviously meant to express his concern for those who were swimming, but that idea sailed smoothly over George's head. The boy gave his bag a playful shake, a heaping pile of candy sliding around inside. A bright grin flashed on his face. He was just here to spread the joy. "Besides, it's not like you just keel over dead if you eat then get in the water. My mother always told me that what they sell as candy barely passes for food, anyhow!"

And that made it all the better! George thought he was finished being interrupted by his younger housemate, only for the clever little badger to sniff out another truffle of minor fraud. Well spotted. George wrinkled his nose, giving Jake a shrug as the issue of his older brother was brought up. In a last ditch effort to placate the boy, he thrust a chocoball right up to @Jake Morris' lips. "If you eat it now, you'll be good to swim by the time you change into your swimsuit. Trust me."

George looked up again to see @Breana Oliveire munching on the chocoball he had given her a moment before, her arm extended for a shake. He took her hand in his and gave it a firm, professional shake, trying to reassure her with a winning smile even as she choked on what was left. George's smile faltered, peering at her to gauge whether or not he should call for help.

"Ahh - look, Jake! You'll kill more people by talking about it than I will by doing it!" the boy teased. He patted the girl's hand gently before finally releasing it, fidgeting with the collar of his shirt as he waited for her to finish choking. Luckily, the choking ended because she could breathe again, not the alternative. "Good to hear it only scrambled your head a little bit! I'd feel bad, otherwise. And... thank you, I think! Can't quite understand when you talk with your mouth full."

Then Breana announced her intent to follow @Jack Warren's example, and George took a few steps back to give her ample runway space. The girl took off gracefully, much more gracefully than her past performance. She was a better diver than a flyer.

@Alan Vanes' arrival had hardly been noticed, but when George looked and saw him, he was pleasantly surprised. He wore an easy smile, and started digging in his bag for another treat to give to his Gryffindor friend. Seeing Alan and Jake right beside each other gave him pause, as he'd never yet had cause to compare them. There was a childishness to them both that was both endearing and a little bit irritating. Thankfully, children love sweets, and George had plenty of those to smooth out the prickly edges of his personality. "Hello Alan! That was Breana, I rescued her from a broom."

Finally, he pulled a treat from his bag for Alan. It was small, mouse-shaped, and not intended for human consumption. The other boy would likely recognize them as the very owl treats that he had given to George just days before. Hoping nobody would notice, George dropped them right back in among the chocolates. "...How'd that get in there?"

Interacting with @George Henry @Alan Vanes @Breana Oliveire
Mentions @Ruka Tân

George said that he wasn't swimming (which was disappointing, Jake had hoped he would come play) but even if that was true, the other kids were still swimming. But George said candy didn't count as food. Jake wasn't so sure about that. You still ate it, even if it was small. And there was no way that it would take an hour just for Jake to go find his swimsuit, change, and come back. George did say he'd be ok though, and George usually knew those things...His Mum had clearly said one hour though, and she knew these things too. Maybe since it was just a little bit of food it was even less time that you needed?

Either way, when the chocoball met his lips, a nervous Jake spit it back out into his palm. It maybe was a little gross, but he still hadn't decided if it was a safety issue or not. Jake may have loved sweets (and he did love sweets) but he loved not dying more than just about anything there was.

But more important than any of that was the girl who had started to choke.

"S-sorry! Sorry! I'm so sorry...!" Jake said, horrified, watching the girl he had startled so badly. George's admonishment that he was going to kill people by talking about it made him blush and feel suitably shamed. "Sorry I didn't mean to..." he mumbled. It had been a close one.

It was the first time that Jake had really noticed the other girl since arriving to talk to Georgie, and he seemed to realize her all at once. Jake's eyes widened. She was SMALL. Like REALLY small. Smaller than HE was. It was close and he wasn't standing right next to her but it seemed to him that if they were standing next to each other he'd definitely be winning. He had never even seen that happen before. He was so used to everybody around him seeming giant. It was surprising enough when he didn't have to look up to see people close to his size like Willow and Ruka but this was something else entirely. He wondered if she ever felt scared like he did, being smaller. She didn't look scared though. Not even after her brush with death.

He would have said more, but by the time he got over the shock, she was off and diving back into the pool. He really hoped that she was ok, but she seemed to still be having fun. He had forgotten George's confusing statements about his older brother, and still feeling guilty about his near murder he looked back to his bunkmate.

"I better go change, right...?" he mumbled, feeling a bit like leaving and not coming back. But he would come back - especially now that he saw a new friend coming by.

"Hi Alan!" Jake said happily. He was growing more and more comfortable around the older boy who he had seen a lot around the school since the holidays. "I can't wait for your birthday...!" he blurted out, before immediately regretting his words and side-eyeing whoever was around them. The idea that not everybody had been invited had occurred to him too late in his excitement. Looking for something to occupy himself with he popped the chocoball back into his mouth. "Um...I'm gonna go change," he said, temporarily storing the chocoball in his cheek, and then he made his way back towards the castle. He wanted to go back and tell Ruka where he was going (since he'd been in the middle of talking to him) but when he saw Ruka surrounded by friends he just made a motion so the older Gryffindor would see and hopefully figure out what he was going to do.

As he made his way back to the castle, he felt the chocoball roll around in his mouth. Maybe if he just sucked on it a little that didn't count as eating...he let it stay, intending fully to remove it upon getting up to Hufflepuff house. As it turned out, the chocoball did not survive the trip up to Jake's room.

After some time, the boy made his way back down to the group, now wearing his favorite blue bathing suit with the fishes on it. He also brought along a Mickey Mouse towel. He slipped off his shoes and shirt with the other children' clothes and then slightly self-consciously made his way back towards the water. He shivered a little, the air outside still a bit much for being without his clothes. He had heard the water inside was warm though. He had been determined moments ago. But now, seeing all the kids playing together and laughing, he found himself feeling shy.

"Um...I better wait a little. I did have that chocoball," he mumbled sheepishly, backing up a few paces.

Interacting with @Jack Burnett and @Willow Anderson

Eyes focused on the way Jack's face flushed with embarrassment at the Fire Dancers's words, Ruka couldn't help a small laugh falling from his lips. His eyes sparkled lightly with fondness for the other boy and for at least this moment he felt like he could let go of the dark clouds that had pulled up inside his head.
He didn't try to argue when Jack protested the title weakly, instead just shrugged his shoulders when asked how he knew about this specific God in the first place. "My dad used to tell me stories," he said, a sad little smile crossing his face at the memories of late nights sat by the fire and listening to the most fantastical stories to escape the hardships of reality for at least a little while. "Greek Mythology was one of his favourite things to talk about."

Biting his bottom lip lightly, Ruka turned his head to the side for a moment, staring at the water surface like he was observing something ridiculously interesting. He felt silly in that moment, like a child, dependent on other people to function properly among a group of people. It had to seem ridiculous coming from someone who had grown up performing to an audience, but fact was that he had never actually needed to try and make a connection with any of those people, hadn't needed to mingle and make an effort to find someone who wanted to talk to him. 
Right here, surrounded by all these kids who clearly knew each other and were having a good time together, he just felt kind of lost, like he was simply there without actually existing.

His eyes found Jack's again when the Slytherin admitted to not really having expected the amount of people that had shown up, and the way he moved his hand to the back of his neck made Ruka think that, maybe, he would have been more comfortable with a smaller crowd as well. Deciding not to comment on it, Ruka just let his eyes drift across the crowd for a little while longer, not sure what he was looking for exactly.

In the end he found that watching everyone else just made him feel worse, so he turned his attention back to the one person that constantly managed to make him feel grounded, no matter how turbulent his mind seemed to get. Ruka let out an ungraceful snort about how some people didn't necessarily need to know someone to develop a crush on them, and while that may have been true, he didn't really consider himself part of that group. "I'm not like some people," he protested with a slight tease in his voice, like he was almost offended that Jack was trying to put him into that category.

If there was one thing Ruka was quite confident about, then it was that he wasn't really quite like most of his peers, didn't seem to function quite the same way. He didn't really consider it much unless he found himself in a situation like this, where other people his age were so openly displaying the joys of youth like they had no other worries in the world, where friends were hugging and laughing and pulling each other through the water.

Ruka's gaze found Jack's face again from where it had been cast to the ground for a moment. Out of everyone he had met in Hogwarts so far, the Slytherin was the only person who made him feel like he didn't need to pretend, like he could just let loose and enjoy himself. He momentarily found himself eternally grateful that Jack was spending his time here with Ruka instead of mingling with the insane amount of people who had joined his not quite so little Pool Party. 

Another squeeze of his hand made Ruka smile lightly, more genuinely this time as he dropped his gaze to where Jack seemingly refused to let go of him. He could tell by the looks the other boy gave him, that the Slytherin wasn't exactly satisfied with the vague answers Ruka had been giving him to his questions about what was wrong, but he didn't push him to elaborate, and the Gryffindor was grateful. 

When Jack questioned his reasons for not wanting to go in the water, Ruka's smile faltered again. The other boy was being ridiculous with his reasoning of the Gryffindor being too much of a Fire God to go inside, and it made him roll his eyes fondly while shaking his head. "I fell into the Lake," he corrected Jack's statement with raised eyebrows, hoping against all odds that maybe the Slytherin would catch on to what he wanted to say with that, but without waiting for a response, Ruka tried to make his leave.

If he had thought, however, that Jack would simply let him go, he was wrong, because before he could really set foot anywhere he felt his hand being squeezed again, the grip on it not easing up in the slightest. Green eyes met Jack's hazel ones as he tilted his head to the side questioningly as if not quite understanding why he wasn't letting go. Something in his chest contracted painfully at the way Jack's voice sounded when he asked why Ruka was leaving, and within a second all thought of escaping the crowd vanished from his mind. "Did you... want me to stay?" he asked quietly, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth for a moment.

Just in that moment he could hear a familiar voice questioning his intentions to leave as well, and he turned lightly to face Willow who looked like she was having an extremely good time out here in the water, surrounded by so many people. He wondered what it felt like to be as sociable as she was, but the question left his mind again almost instantly as he tried to return her bright smile with one of his own. "I... Yeah, I might stay a while longer," he mused while simultaneously squeezing Jack's hand again. 

Before he could say anything else to Willow, the Hufflepuff had already turned to talk to the newly arrived girl, and for a second Ruka was so distracted with trying to keep up with what was going on, that it fully took him by surprise when he felt himself hoisted off the ground and onto Jack's back. "Woah," he exclaimed, instinctively wrapping his arms around Jack's shoulders and his legs around his waist to keep his balance and not fall.

"Jack," he said through momentary laughter, unsure what exactly it was that the Slytherin was planning on doing, but he got his answer just a second later as Jack climbed back into the pool with Ruka still tightly attached to him as well as fully dressed.

For a second Ruka's breath caught in his throat at the first contact with water, his jeans feeling heavy and clammy as they got soaked through. His arms tightened around Jack's shoulders and he burrowed his face in the other boy's neck as panic flooded his body. His first thought went to the way his lungs had filled with water that night in the Lake when the Squid had pulled him under the surface over and over again, how he had struggled to reach the boat he'd fallen out of. 
Then, once he got over the initial shock, the second thing his mind realised was that with his current position attached to Jack's back, the water barely touched his shoulder blades, much less his mouth, and it made him look up again to take a couple of deep breaths.

"I..." he started as he tried to relax again to not cling to Jack quite as desperately as he was in the moment. "Please don't let go of me," he asked of the other boy in an almost desperately pleading tone.

This was fine, this was okay.

From his position on Jack's back he wasn't deep enough inside the water to feel like he was going to drown any second, but he wasn't quite sure about what it would be like if the Slytherin was just going to drop him in the water. He was quite a bit shorter than Jack after all, so he assumed he wouldn't be able to properly reach the bottom of the make-shift pool, at least not without getting his mouth and nose under the water surface as well, and he didn't think he was quite ready for that.

Adohiro would continue to dip his feet in the cold water as he listened to everyone speak. He didn't know how he could pop in the conversation. "Should we play a game? Maybe chicken fight?" He asked @Jack Burnett, @Ruka Tân, and @Jake Morris It would be just boring to sit and relax here. He was wanting some interaction with everyone and he was a bit worried if he would look weird. He didn't know if the others would get along at all and he was a tiny bit worried his game idea would spark a class war. But who knows, maybe they would like it? He was a tad bit worried and he continued to sit there unsure about all of this and he certainly didn't know these people one bit and didn't know their interests that much, bur a game might be a good way to get to know them. "So is anyone interested?" He asked Sean, Hopefully, no one would get any bad injuries and it would be a fun ice breaker sort of game. Hopefully, he wouldn't be the one who had someone on top of his shoulders, he was way too light for that kind of activity.  "It's kind of boring to sit around here doing nothing."  He would state his opinion letting out a sigh. It was a bit boring and there were too many people here.

»»————————-　♔　————————-««
interactions @Jack Burnett, @Dale Kurt, @Willow Anderson
mentions @Ruka Tân, All
word count 857 | text colour #274E13
abilities terrible presence
»»————————-　♔　————————-««

It seemed that her initial plans of visiting shortly and then disappearing off once again without a hitch were not going to work. The students gathered were a rowdy bunch, all too happy to talk amongst themselves with an exuberant friendliness that made Astrea seem very out-of-place, both attire and personality-wise.

"Hi!" She had just ventured all the way to the pool's edge and lingered with a hesitant stare when a voice greeting someone in her direction sounded- yet she had specifically chosen a small stretch of silver rim around the 'pool' that was as empty as it could have been with the number of people gathered. She looked up to be greeted with the scarred sight of Jack Burnett, still half-submerged in water and one hand clasped tight in another's- she had seen the boy before, though she didn't remember how or why other than the fact that his name was Ruka- and the other up in a wave.

"Your name...was something like...Neptune, right?" Defensive caution flashed in her eyes for a split second before she nodded slowly. Close enough- though she did not know why the male would say it. "Really cool name. And perfect for this party. Why don't you hop in? You can show Ruka, here, how it's done."

Astrea's gaze flickered toward Ruka, taking in the obvious hesitant rejection of the idea and the white-knuckled grip. "Apologies, I'd rather not at the moment." Her response was quiet and admittedly quite easy to overlook. After all, she would be completely content in just sitting near the water for a bit before leaving instead of being dragged into a 3-way conversation in which 2 of the three- herself included- were doubtful.

"Jack- I'm not... getting in the water." From the corner of her eye, she could see Ruka tug on Jack's hand. She was not judging- there seemed to be a valid reason on why the other was so skittish about the idea- and water was something that could be easily feared with just the right amount of trauma. Before the fallout with the Aristo clan, she had heard that one of their heirs had become deathly afraid of the ocean after a particularly stormy day at sea that threatened to capsize the ship they sailed in.

"In fact, I should probably get going. But you guys enjoy the nice weather some more, yeah?" Ruka had let go of Jack's hand and stepped back, a sleeve coming up to swipe at green eyes as a big smile spread across his face. Astrea was well-acquainted with putting on a show and shielding emotions- though in the complete opposite form as Ruka, putting on a marble mask of impassiveness instead of trying to seem 'alright- and so diligent eyes watched silently from where she stood.

Others seemed unsatisfied with Ruka's answer, it seemed, yet Astrea was distracted by another greeting, this time from a certain brunet of the name Dale. "Hey Astrea, fancy seeing you here. Jack said the pool's open to everyone-" A smirk appeared on Dale's face, not necessarily mean, but more like poking fun. Yet it still Astrea roll her eyes without any real heat in the move at the reminder- as if she did not know, Jack could not have possibly invited so many random people in such the short span that the water was still warm. "If you know how to swim."

"Don't worry. I assure you that if I was to get into the water, I will not drown." The corners of her lips quirked upwards as the pitiful image flashed in her mind. If she weren't in more of a subdued mood than usual, she could have felt offended that Dale accused such incompetence from her. Drowning in a pool, a makeshift pool, at Hogwarts on a sunny April day. In second year, with no one to blame but herself.

The sound of water lightly lapping at the silvery walls of the swimming area caught her ear as she turned once again- well, that was her plan out of the window- and the familiar head of blonde hair made her heart skip a beat for a second in surprise.

"Astrea, you cut your hair!" Willow's face was a pretty pink with blush and Astrea's chest felt pleasantly warm at the sight. "I did, yes." And what a tragic loss it was, cutting the singed ends was difficult. Her short interaction with Dale already pushed to the side to focus on Willow, the young heir took a short half-second to look over the bouncing other. "You look just as lovely as ever. Do you plan on swimming at all?" The offhand comment struck her off-kilter mentally, the reigns in her mind reeling in surprise and her slight smirk of a smile leftover from speaking with Dale becoming just a bit more genuine over sarcastic.

"Hm. Perhaps later. Your swim outfit is quite cute, though, I like the colours, the flowers."

Stormy eyes tracked as Willow nonchalantly let down her hair from the failing scrunchie and dipped herself into the water again with all the grace of a seal before resurfacing, hair dripping with the warm water and pulled up. The Hufflepuff's puppy-like energy was infectious, and soon Astrea felt herself quite amused at the other's actions. Cute, very cute indeed.

Grace was getting a bit bored, but then this one kid, @Adohiro Moira asked if they wanted to do a chicken fight, Grace swam over to him “Hey! Adohiro, right? I heard you asking about doing a chickens fight? Because I’m in!” Grace remembered she and her brothers used to play that all the time in the pool. “CHARGEEEEEEE” a voice yelled, and a familiar one, Grace shipped around to see her friend @Savannah Griffis splashing in the pool, Grace laughed “Wow!” but then heard @Lark Flaer  say “Oh no..” Grace’s eyes widened, she turned to Adohiro and said “Sorry, one second” she swam over to Lark, and said “Hi Lark! You probably don’t know me, but I’m Grace, we’re on the Quidditch team together!” Grace looked at what Lark was holding, it was a backpack,  Grace turned to her “What’s the problem? Did Savannah get it wet?” it didn’t look wet, Grace smiled at her and said “Sorry if I’m bothering you” she swam back to Savannah and looked at her “I don’t think you did anything” she smiled, throwing her hair back, Grace looked at her bathing suit, where did she even get it? Grace suspected one of her brothers, but she then smiled, if it wasn’t for one of them she wouldn’t be able to swim, Grace then looked at @Jack Burnett and her eyes widened, he had scars all around him that Grace never noticed, she shivered, she didn’t mean to, she blushed and looked away.

Interacting with: @Adohiro Moira

Serena walked through the grounds, looking for a nice spot where she could sit and read. The noise emitting from a large group caught her attention, however. Glancing over, she blinked. Did they have a pool? This seemed like a weird April Fools' prank. A part of her could not be bothered to deal with some dumb kid's pranks but the other part of her was kind of curious what was going on.

She made her way over to the group. A lot of people were happily chatting with their friends. She recognised a few of the Hufflepuffs but they were on the other side of the pool to where she was approaching from. Deciding to just go for the nearest person, she spotted a young boy that looked like he might be able to help, "Hey, what's going on here?" She asked a nearby boy [ADOHIRO] that seemed to be in need of company. She did not recognise him, perhaps he was one of the first years or in a different house to her. Either way, she decided to start a conversation, hoping to figure out why everyone was sitting in a pool in the cold Scottish weather.

She had a coat on - and yet people were sitting in a pool! It seemed a little strange to see people out in this cold, and that too not wrapped in multiple layers. This had to be an April Fools prank, right? She kept a short distance away from the pool, to avoid getting caught in whatever prank this might be. Hopefully the boy [ADOHIRO] would be able to explain the details of this odd gathering to her.

He would hear Grace agree with playing the game. "Okay awesome! So we need to decide who will be the top and bottom and who-" However soon the girl had left to meet with her friends so he stopped talking. He would let out a sigh until he heard @Serena Towers speak and he would glance at her. She seemed rather confused too about what was going on so he would help her. "Oh someone made some pool party for April Fools using a tin can or something. I thought it would be more fun and lively if we did a chicken fight in the pool. But we would need to get out out the people who won't play so they don't get hurt... But I don't know if they will listen to me." He explained to the unknown girl, he hadn't seen her around at all. "Who are you? My name is Adohiro Moira. I am a first year.." He said. He didn't like to reveal he was a Slytherin, people often looked at him differently when he done so. It was a bit of an annoyance, but maybe he should boat about it? "I am a first year Slytherin." He stated. 

Interacting with: @Ruka Tân
Wearing: Purple shorts with a pocket that has his wand in it
& various scars showing (Drawn by Selim; not me)

"Oh, yeah...I mean, that's awesome, but...even people who know Greek Mythology really well don't often know about Pan..." Jack started to say, but then trailed off when he noticed the sorrow edging Ruka's smile - no doubt at the bittersweetness of the memories with his late father. How stupid of Jack to have made him have to think about that, let alone speak of it.

Ruka was biting his lip now, distracted by the other people again. Despite the mild, teasing banter between them regarding crushes, it didn't feel the same. Since Jack had woken up that morning not feeling himself, he wasn't sure if it was him, Ruka, or something about the both of them that was making everything seem so different. The knot in the pit of his stomach tightened simultaneously with his chest. He had wanted things to be different today, yes...but not this way.

Before he could answer the second-year's question about if Jack wanted Ruka to stay, Willow showed up. Jack was somewhat grateful; he didn't think he had the right to answer, anyway. It wasn't about what he wanted - it was about what Ruka wanted. Which was why, when he heard the Gryffindor tell Willow he might stay a while longer after all, the Slytherin felt the tension in his stomach and chest ease up a bit.
It was like Ruka's squeezing of his hand had helped the relieve the pressure elsewhere within him.

Encouraged by the upperclassman's words and gesture, Jack had taken the oppertunity to lift Ruka piggy-back style before re-entering the pool. His resolve was like a tidal wave, surging forward when the Gryffindor wrapped his limbs about him and grabbed on tight, speaking his name with a laugh. And, also like a tidal wave, it broke when dashed upon the rocks - rocks manifested of Ruka's panic in the way he gasped when he touched the water; the way his grip tightened from what was necessary to clinging for dear life.

So, too, did Jack's body tighten as he froze up while treading water, immediately grabbing on to the edge of the pool in order to keep them both from sinking. Ruka was light enough for him to carry, especially so with the water supporting a great deal of even his meager weight, but suddenly it felt as though Ruka's fear was Jack's.

"I fell into the Lake," the shorter boy had told him.

No, Jack thought frantically. No, he wouldn't have. He couldn't have! He's smarter than that. It would already have been dangerous enough to try to head out to the lake in a boat in the middle of the night knowing there was an unpredictable giant squid in there...but why would he...why would he ever have gone if he...

The tidal wave crashed upon the shore, the rocks shattering and shredding it even as it tried desperately to cling to the sand and surf. Despite its best efforts, it was inevitably, slowly dragged back into the sea as was eventually the fate of all waves, no matter how large or mighty they had once towered.

Ruka was a Gryffindor. He was brave, but that also meant even he could be stupid.

And he had gone into the lake that night not knowing how to swim.

He mustn't have ever tried to learn since then. How could he have after a traumatic experience like that? And he hadn't told Jack. He hadn't wanted to tell Jack; not directly. Why? No, that wasn't the problem. Ruka had every right to keep his secrets to himself. Jack was the one at fault for, once more, blindly rushing in only thinking about himself and what he wanted. Today was supposed to be different, but if anything, it was only because Jack was more selfish than usual; not less. He'd taken Ruka's actions and words to mean only what he'd wanted them to mean and ignored the rest.

Suddenly gasping for air as if he were drowning, Jack graped onto the edge of the pool with both hands. He scrabbled with a fear-stricken effort to hoist himself back up out of the water once more, so eager to get back on the grass that he fell over onto all fours, still gaping like a fish. His rushing blood was the only sound that filled his ears, eyes wide as he stared at the ground under him, unable to suck in enough oxygen no matter how may breaths he took.

Then he began to laugh. It began low and deep at first, still spaced between his gasping, and then heightened in volume and intensity until it could only have been described as downright maniacal. He began to punch the ground with one fist, then the other, gasping and laughing, and beginning to feel dizzy with light-headedness.

"I am...I am, I am," he began to repeat, over and over, louder and louder. "I am, I am....I really am Pan," he announced, still laughing. "Pan, the originator of panic! Sending people running at the sight of me! Filling them with dread and fear! What does it matter if I want to change? Habits are not so easy to break..."

Suddenly, his laughter began to fracture into strange, broken sobs, causing him to giggle even while tears began to roll down his cheeks. His shaking body wracked with both sobs and laughter, Jack curled up against the ground, tugging at hair at the back of his head while he hid his face with his forehead pressed against the grass and tried to calm himself with the scent of the damp earth in his nose.

[quote]

[quote]Dale got his feet out of the water, he hoped Astrea would strike up more of a conversation... But it seemed like she was more interested to talk to some else. Dale again felt out of place, he looked around the pool. More and more people had arrived, the pool was getting a bit crowded now, Dale even spotted Alan, and hoped that he haven't seen him. He still felt sort of bad about lying to him, but nothing bad had happened, so no harm no foul... hopefully. Dale dried off his feet and put his shoes back on, as he was doing that, he caught a glimpse of Lark walking to a tree, as she was walking he saw something drop from her. As she sat down, he could see her starting panic a little. Dale looked around to see if he could talk to anyone, he always felt a little nervous around Lark. Jack was busy with a girl, and alan seemed to be talking to a group of people... besides Dale wouldn't really consider either of them friends. He walked over to where Lark was sitting, giving her a small wave "Hey, mind if a sit with you?"