C H A P T E R 1 4
?We're not born just to pay bills and die.?
"Chicken fight?"
"No."
"Diving for treasure?"
"No."
"Marco Polo?"
"How old are we? Eight?"
"Pool volleyball," Tristan stated, ignoring Olivia's comment.
She seemed to consider that. I wasn't bad at volleyball so I think we could win.
"Okay," Olivia finally said.
"Get ready to lose," he said, smirking as if he already won the game.
"No, we won't. We will win and I'll show you!" Olivia seethed.
Ten minutes later, we all were in the pool. The volleyball net as well as the boundaries were set and Ethan was stood on the far right end of the pool on the opposite side with the rubber volleyball in his hands, as he had won the coin toss and he was to serve first.
"Ready?" Tristan shouted from the other end of the pool.
"We were born ready," Olivia said, giving me a slight nod.
On cue, Ethan served overhand by tossing the ball over his head and using his dominant right hand to hit the ball, sending it over the net. Olivia managed to fire it back to the other side, the ball narrowly escaping being caught in the net.
Tristan jumped in front of Ethan, and threw the ball back at us so fast that we barely had any time to react to it. The ball fell into the water on our side, earning Ethan's team a point.
I heard Olivia curse under her breath as she glared at a smirking Tristan.
This time, Tristan was the one to serve. He tossed the ball at us with such a force that Olivia couldn't handle the ball and ended up being in contact with it two times, which earned them another point.
We continued the game and although Ethan and Tristan had a three point lead in the game, it suddenly took an exciting turn when we came in the lead by two points after almost half of the game was over.
By the time we reached 25 points and the two men reached 24, we decided to continue on with the game as a team needed a two point lead to win.
After that, the game started getting unfair.
Ethan and Tristan would often cheat. They would have more than three contact points at a time before sending the ball on our side, and when we argued about it, they denied it.
Then there were times when Ethan contacted the ball two times in succession, which again was denied by lame excuses like we didn't observe clearly what he did.
Despite them cheating like anything, we managed to win over them with a three point lead. And it was worth seeing the faces of the two sore losers after we won.
Olivia, being herself didn't miss out on a single opportunity to taunt them about their loss.
Tristan just grunted out a "shut up" to us before leaving the pool.
Ethan looked absolutely unaffected by their loss and just shrugged it off.
Even Olivia's harsh taunts couldn't get to him and he too left after flipping us off.
"Did you see Tristan's face when he lost?
" Olivia laughed. "What was he even thinking challenging me at a game as simple as pool volleyball.
I was the captain of my school volleyball team," she said, flipping her hair back, "I wish he knew that so he would have saved himself the embarrassment of losing over me," Olivia smirked devilishly.
I stepped into the shower, stripping my clothes off and turning the shower on. I had just returned from the pool, after celebrating our victory over Ethan and Tristan in pool volleyball.
It was still a bit hot as it was still late in the afternoon and the game just made me all sweaty and red and all I wanted now was a cold shower.
I turned on the water, flinching a bit as the cold water suddenly made contact with the bare skin of my back.
I grabbed a strawberry shampoo among the many types of shampoos that were there.
I squeezed some in my hands and applied it to my hair, making sure every strand was slathered in the shampoo.
I washed it off after applying some conditioner.
I was in the shower for almost half an hour.
Turning the water off, I grabbed a white towel which was hanging on the hook and dried myself off.
There was a white bathrobe hanging just beside it.
I put it on, not wanting to walk out just wearing the towel, even though it was my room and my bathroom and practically no one could enter without my permission.
I got out from the shower, combing my fingers through my hair to ease out the tangles.
I didn't realize when my feet landed on something incredibly slippery, and before I knew it, my feet had already slipped from under me and I had landed square on my butt on the wet bathroom floor.
My foot slammed into the wall and I experienced a shooting pain from my left foot to my ankle and I let out a hiss of pain.
That's when I noticed that I had fallen on some slippery liquid. It was thick green gel and judging from it's fragrance, it was definitely a shampoo. My white bathrobe at the butt area was now green.
But how had the shampoo landed there?
I tried to get up, almost stumbling into the tub behind me when a sharp, acute pain coursed in my ankle.
That was when I noticed a silver locket, half hidden behind the doorframe.
I picked it up and examined it closely. It had the alphabet 'E' written in French.
I had studied enough French in school to understand what alphabet it was.
Ethan.
I vaguely remembered Ethan wearing a similar silver locket at the pool. Then it struck me.
How dare he?!
I limped my way out of the bathroom and out of my room, not caring that I was still just in my bathrobe.
I marched to his room, kicking the door open and fuming when I saw it was empty. Where was that bastard?
I trudged down the steps to the kitchen which was as empty as his room, except for Olivia who was pigging out in the fridge.
Upon seeing me, she furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "Wow are youe dwing here?" through a mouthful of food.
I didn't answer her and instead, stalked towards the living room. I heard her call out to me as I heard the fridge door click shut.
"Hey Julie, you are okay, right?" She asked and I turned around to give her a confused look. "Did you get diarrhea?"
"What?!"
"Well, your butt is all green-yellowish and it looks like shit...," she trailed off, "...literally."
"Shut up. I didn't shit my pants!" I gritted out in annoyance as I heard her laugh from behind me.
"Do you know where Ethan is?" I asked brusquely.
"What happened?"
"Liv, tell me where he is," I asked her again, my patience running out.
She held her hands up in defense. "Hey I don't know where that loser is sulking," she said. "Have you checked his room?"
"Yeah, he's not there."
"I don't know where the hell he is," she said, going back to her food.
I next checked the living room and three more bedrooms, which I had no idea who used it, but Ethan was nowhere in sight. I decides to give up and return to my room. But that didn't mean that I wasn't going to give him a piece of my mind.
Just as I rounded the corner to take the stairs to my room, I bumped into someone, almost toppling down the stairs I had climbed.
During this, my ankle, sort of twisted and I let out a quiet cry of pain.
A strong arm wrapped around my waist to steady me and my hands shot out to grab onto the hand.
I looked up to see a smirking Ethan. "Whoa there, Juliet. Falling for me already?"
I sent him a menacing glare. "You wish, Evans," I muttered, shoving him aside to hobble up to his level. My ankle was probably sprained and it would be better if I just made it to my bedroom at the earliest.
I looked at him in the eye. He may have been a bit intimidating at the dinner table when I had my first dinner here, but not anymore.
He had changed into a black shirt and grey sweatpants and his hair looked wet and disheveled.
It was clear he had recently taken a shower.
Oh, so maybe he was in the shower when I rudely barged into his room.
"Were you the one who spread shampoo all over my bathroom floor?" I asked calmly, waiting for his reply, which he did with a question of his own.
"Would you believe me if I said no?"
"No," I said flatly, finally showing him his locket by dangling it in front of his face. He snatched it from my hands, muttering a "shit" under his breath.
"Then yes, it was me. What're you going to do about it?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at me as he put on the locket.
My fists balled up in anger. My ankle was throbbing with intense pain which made me want to cut it off. Okay, now was not a good time to bicker with this kid. I better walk off and rest. And after my ankle is healed, I can get back at him.
"You better watch your back," I said slowly. And without another glance, I started hobbling up the stairs. I heard him laughing behind me and I decided to ignore it. I wanted to get to my room as soon as possible. But it was easier said than done.
I had to ensure I wasn't putting too much pressure on my ankle, which meant I had to try to walk without the use of my other foot at all. And how the hell was I going to do that? I had no idea.
"What happened to your ankle?" I suddenly heard Ethan speak near my ear and I almost jumped as I didn't hear him get close to me.
"Why don't you ask yourself? Did you think that I was going to fly over that stupid shampoo?" I said, finally managing to at least step one step up the stairs. God, did that take me too long. With this pace, I was sure I wasn't going to reach my room until tomorrow morning.
He chuckled. "Whoops. You need some help there?" He asked and I nearly fell off the step I had just taken.
"What?"
"I think you need some help getting to your room," he said again.
"Whoa, what? You're offering to help me?" I asked incredulously.
He rolled his eyes at me. "I didn't mean to sprain your ankle. I just wanted you to slip and fall."
"Wow, and that was not painful, right? Well, congratulations, you not only made me fall on my butt, but also gave me a sprained ankle which hurts!" I seethed.
"At least I'm helping you get to your damn room. I'm sure you wouldn't have done that if our places were switched."
I opened my mouth to protest, but shut it when I realized it was probably true.
"Whatever. It will always be you who will provoke me to do that. I wouldn't be the first to do anything like this which could have hurt you physically."
"There is no other way you can hurt me other than physically. Now stop talking. Or I won't help you," he said, grabbing my hand which was on the wall and keeping me upright. As he grabbed it, I lost my balance and crashed into his chest.
"You're heavy," he muttered and I lightly hit him in the chest. "And a little violent." I furrowed my eyebrows and hit him again, hard. "Correction; very violent."
"Shut up. You can leave. I don't want your help."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," he replied.
"A hard kick between your legs will definitely help me sleep at night," I shot back.
He narrowed his eyes at me. "Do you want me to push you off the stairs?"
"You wouldn't dare," I said, rolling my eyes.
"Oh trust me, I would."
I decided to not push it further. I didn't know exactly what kind of a person he was and if he was capable of making me fall on my butt and sprain my ankle then he would be very much capable of pushing me down the stairs.
And there were no witnesses too who'd come to my rescue. So I just kept quiet.
He put one arm around my waist and made me place my arm around his neck. After taking a step, he decided that was not a very good position because in order to not put much pressure on my ankle, I was half choking Ethan to death by putting that pressure on his neck which my arm was around.
"Are you trying to kill me?" He asked as he removed my arm and grabbed me by my waist. Okay, I was starting to feel uncomfortable in such close proximity with him.
"It wasn't intentional," I said simply. "Although I would have loved to do that but considering the circumstances I'm in, I don't think it's a really good idea. Who'll take me to my room?"
"So you admit you want my help?"
"I never said that."
"It was implied."
Not knowing what to say, we just stared at each other for about ten seconds until at last I broke the silence and the stare down. Okay, now I was very uncomfortable in such close proximity with Ethan.
"Take your hands off of my waist," I said, looking down at both his hands which were resting on my waist.
Instead of what I expected, he did the opposite. He pulled me closer to him and I held my breath.
"Not so soon," he whispered in my ear and before I had time to comprehend, I was swiftly swung into his arms.
My hands instantly wound around his neck and he adjusted me in his arms so I wouldn't fall off.
"Put me down," I said, struggling in his arms.
"I'll drop you down," he said.
"Shut up."
"You shut up. Or I'll really drop you down."
I silently seethed in rage and let him carry me to my room. He really might drop me down. I didn't trust him.
He carried me up the stairs and into my bedroom, kicking the door open for us to enter.
"Your room is hurting my eyes. Pink curtains, huge pink teddy bears, pink pillows, pink table ew."
"You may leave now," I said.
He shrugged. "Okay, you ungrateful brat," he said and threw me in my bed. Like really he literally threw me in my bed.
Just when I thought he had left, he had to grace my ears with his annoying voice. "Oh, and Juliet," he said and I turned my head to look at him.
"What?!"
"I always win. You may have won the match today. But I'll win this war going on between us since we were five," he said, winking at me before he left.
There was a war between us? Of course, the prank war.
I wasn't that stupid to figure out he'd take this for a prank war.
When I met him, I had accidentally thrown him into the pool.
Considering the history he had with Juliet, it didn't take a genius for me to figure out that Juliet and him had often had such prank wars.
And then I had kicked him in his pintle.
Of course, he'd think that it was to get back at him, only that it really wasn't. It was an accident too.
And this was what he had done to get back at me for that.
Fall for fall. Pain for pain. Real mature of him.
I groaned into my pillow. Whether it was because of this silly prank war or the intense pain in my ankle, I couldn't tell. I guess it was a bit of both.
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