chapter 2

Michelle's POV~

I wake up, and look over to my phone. Oh my gosh!!! Today's the day they're coming!!! I had already asked my mom if I could wait for everyone at the hotel they're staying at. She said I could only go if I walked, which I didn't mind. Considering it was only three minutes away. So I got up and started to get dressed. Ding. I look down at my phone and realize Keylee just texted me.

Keylee: hey! We're about 10 minutes away from the hotel. It took us FOREVER.

The drive from the Heathrow Airport to the hotel in total is about 45 minutes.

Me: I'm about to go to the hotel to wait for you. Do you have any free time when you get there.

Keylee: yeah. Why?

Me: because the hotel has a pool and I want to swim. But I can't unless I'm a guest or with a guest.

Keylee: ah, so that's what this is about.

Me: yeah, and I wanna see you guys! Does everyone already know I live here?

Keylee: only the ones you told. Other than that, they won't know you'll be here.

Me: so no one but you. gotta go. I have to get ready and get there before you guys, or it won't be much of a surprise. Luv u, bye 😘😘😘

Keylee: luv you❤️❤️❤️

After I put my cloths on, on top of my bathing suit, and got a bag of spare cloths, I go downstairs, and get some bacon from the kitchen before I leave."Bye Mom, I'm going to the hotel to wait for my friends!" I yelled excitedly in no particular direction."Okay, don't stay out too late!" I heard as I walked out the door."Love you!" I yelled as I shut the door. It was a beautiful day outside, sun shining and not a cloud in sight. Perfect for swimming. When I was walking, it gave me time to think about the last few days. I don't think I've seen that man around again since that night, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been watching me. Or, he could have just been a creep that saw a young girl and stared. At least, I hope that's the case. Because if not, that means he really is a stalker. I should really stop thinking about such depressing things. I'm meeting my friend today for Pete's sake! I refuse to let that creepy stalker bring my mood down!

Before I knew it, I was at the hotel. It was huge. But I didn't have time to think about that. I had to get in before they got there, so I can jump out and scare, I mean surprise them. I go into he lobby and I'm immediately greeted with a calming smell that I can't quite pin down. It was like a mix of lavender with vanilla, and a hint of cinnamon. The floor is made of a shiny tile that looked like granite. The walls appeared to be made of black and white tiles. There were couches and benches littered conveniently around the lobby. As I continue in, I notice that the lobby is mostly empty and quiet. I walk over to a couch that's facing away from the doors, so they won't see my face when they get here. As I do, I look around for the doors that I want. I see a breakfast area on the opposite side of the lobby, exit doors, stairs, elevator, aha, the pool doors. Now I know where to go. Suddenly, I heard a loud crowd coming in through the doors, not turning around, I assume it's the school group.

Slowly, I get up and look behind me without turning my head fully. I was right, it was them. I almost cried at the sight of all my friends in the same place as me again. Slowly, I see then all, one by one. Lily, Keylee, Eliza, and Constance, but I held back my tears. I didn't want them worrying over me. As quickly and quietly as I could, I stalked up behind them. Since they were together, this was going to be easy."BOOO!!!" I yell, as I slightly tap their backs."Ahhhh!!!!!" I hear them all shriek. When they looked back, they looked almost as happy as I was."Michelle! We missed you so much."Lily choked out as she started to cry."About time you got here, I was wondering if you got lost." Keylee joked. They all looked at her somewhat shocked."You knew she was here?" Constance asked, as if one shouldn't expect this from Keylee. "I'm honestly not surprised." Eliza managed to say with a straight face. Then they all turned back to me and gave me a big hug. As we pulled back, I noticed a look of question creeping up on Lily's face."Don't you have school too?" She confusedly asked."I'm home schooled now. So I did all my work for this week last week so I could spend this week with you." I replied."Oh, that makes sense I guess." She said, still a little confused.

"Did you all bring your swim suits?" I ask excitedly. They all looked at me with confusion in their gaze, except for Keylee who sends a nod in my direction. "So we can go swimming together!" I say in 'duh' tone. I hold in a laugh as I see the realization on their faces, wide eyes and everything. Keylee on the other hand doesn't even try. Everyone nods as they give sheepish smiles. "I missed you guys." I say with the biggest grin I've had all week. But that grin quickly fades when I hear the most sickening voice. "Oh my gosh! Michelle? Is that you?" I heard Kiara, the entire grade's mean girl, exclaim as she spotted me at the edge of the crowd. "Why did you move away?" She asks in a innocent voice, knowing exactly why I moved. "I was just starting to like you!" She said with an obviously fake pout. "And let you bully me until I actually killed myself, I think not." I say dryly. Not caring if what she felt was real or not. "Go away Kiara! We don't want to lower our IQ." Constance spits at her with poison lacing each word. "But, I thought we were friends!" She says as if she were hurt, obviously not. Suddenly, she starts laughing that evil cackle that everyone hates. "I'm sorry! I couldn't keep it in. You look so pathetic right now!" She says as she comes out of her moment. I just glare at her before putting on the most sincere fake smile I could. "It's okay." I say. My friends looked to me in shock. "I mean, you're obviously not in your right mind," I start as I give her a fake look of pitty. " It's not every day that the wicked witch the west comes out of Oz. You must be so out of it." I say, ignoring the daggers she's glaring at me, and the snickers from my friends. "By the way how is your sister, the wicked witch of the east, doing? I heard she had a house dropped on her." The cherry was on top. Kiara just scoffs and walks away. I beam at myself, proud that I had finally defended myself from her. Even though I felt sick through all of it.

"When did you become so...so..." Lily started, not finding the right words to say. "Witty." Eliza finishes for her, just as astonished. "I was always witty. I was just too scared to say anything. That is, until I got therapy before moving." I say in response to not only Lily's surprise, but the rest of the group as well, except or Keylee that is. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get your room keys so you can change and swim with me. I'm dying to beat you all in a race!" I say with a bragging tone somewhere in my voice. The water was my turf, and all of my friends knew it. I was looking forward to finally catching up with them. I may not have much to talk about, but I bet they did. It felt like it had been forever since I had seen them. Even though it had only been a month."I'll go with Keylee to get a towel, and then I'll meet you all at the pool." I tell them. "Okay, sounds good." Constance says in a cheery voice."See you in a bit!" I say to the rest of them as I follow Keylee to her room. "So, any news on that stalker of yours?" Keylee asked curiously. After that night, when I woke up and ate, I had immediately texted her about what had happened. "No. I haven't seen him since. But then again he is a stalker." I told her. "True!" She says in agreement. When we got to her room, she unlocked the door and we walked in. It was quite spacious. She had a room to herself because of something she has. She had gotten a note from her doctor and everything. Luckily, whatever it is, it isn't too serious. The floor was made of wood, the walls looked to be made of some sort of varnished, white tile, with black little specks. There were two beds, even though she had the room to herself. There was also what looked like a small kitchen. Complete with a large fridge, and a table for 5. There was a balcony on the opposite side of the room. It was big too. It had a few chairs, a table, and a... Hot tub? Wow. Lucky.

"I'll go ahead to the pool. I just need a towel real quick."I said, heading for the bathroom where I assumed the towels were."Okay. See you in a bit." She said as she started to dig into her suitcase, trying to find her swimsuit. The bathroom was big too. It had a shower with glass walls, and a huge tub built into the floor. When I had my towel, I walked out of the door and down to the pool. When I get there, I look around and notice that hardly anyone is here. Just a few girls I didn't recognize on the opposite end, and a guy sitting in a lounge chair. I walk to some lounge chairs on the opposite side of the pool from the side facing the doors. I set my stuff down on a chair and started to take off the shirt I had on, revealing the top of my one piece swimsuit. It was striped with a pretty shade of blue with white as the background. It went pretty low cleavage wise, but I was a little flat, so it didn't reveal much. The straps went in an X shape down my back. After I had taken my shorts off, I went to look at the pool rules. I wanted to see if I was allowed to dive.

Pool Rules

1. No diving in shallow end

2. Ages 8 and under must be supervised

3. No swimming unless you are a guest or visiting with a guest

There were quite a few rules, though, that was all I needed to read. Luckily, I am over 8, by quite a few years, and I am visiting a guest. I headed over to the deep end, which went up to 12ft deep. I looked to the diving boards. It surprised me to see that there were different hights to dive from. I just stuck to the lowest hight, since I was afraid of hights and everything. I noticed my friends start so come in one by one, looking around to see where I put my stuff. Once I had made sure they saw where my stuff was, I got onto the diving board and took a few deep breaths. After about 30 seconds, I started to dive in, taking in a deep breath right before hitting the surface with my arms in a pointed triangle to brace my impact. As soon as I felt the water cover my feet, I started to kick, pushing me downwards. I then broke my arms apart and started paddling forwards. I loved the way I glided through the water. It felt as though I was flying and had no fear of falling. I was also able to hear things differently. For example, out of water, if someone was sneaking up on me, I wouldn't know. But in the water, I can hear them with ease. As I started to run out of breath, I started to slant my body upward, kicking and paddling myself up. As soon as I reached the surface, I wiped my eyes, and looked at how far I had come. I had swam from the 12ft line, to the 5ft line. Pretty good. Then I heard a familiar cackle and looked over to the area where my friends were. I saw a familiar cake faced witch and her minions bullying them. Them! She can get away with it if it's me, but not them. I don't want them to go through what I did. I don't want anyone going through what I did.

I swam over to them as fast as I could and pulled myself out of the pool."Hey wicked witch! Don't you have better thing to do with your time? Like getting crushed by a house!" I threw in her direction. She snapped her head towards me as if I had the key to destroying her life. "Well, If it isn't little miss overdramatic. You didn't really need therapy because of me. You just want the attention." This got my blood boiling. "You know full well that's not true. But the past is in the past, and I know how to deal with fake little princesses like you now." I retorted as she glares at me. And man, if looks could kill. "Let's get straight to the point, stop bullying my friends or you'll wish you had never met me." I threatened. I don't like to act like this at all, but these were my friends. And for them, I would kill. "Did you just threaten me? Because you know what happens to people who get on my bad side." She warned. "Yeah, I do. I was on your bad side for 4 years, and you nearly pushed me to suicide. That's why I can't let you do that to anyone else." I said with poison. "Now, now ladies," we snapped our heads towards the direction of the voice. It sounded English. It was the guy who was sitting in the lounge chair when I first came in. I didn't recognize him from school, and by the looks of it, neither did Kiara. He looked to be around our age. I saw Kiara looking him up and down with hungry eyes. "You have no shame, do you?" I question, which makes her snap out of it to scowel at me. "I couldn't help but overhear you two lovely ladies arguing. Loudly." He says the last part dryly and looks in Kiara's direction. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you. I was just defending my friends." I apologise, kinda embarrassed about someone hearing about what happened. "I could hear. As it happens, I'm quite the peace maker. So I have a proposal." He says looking from me to Kiara for approval before continuing. "How about a race. From one side of the pool to the other. Whoever loses, has to leave." That was actually a good idea. I looked in Kiara's direction to see her nod of approval. "Okay then. It's settled. Now here are the rules. 1. No fowl play, I want a clean race. 2. You have to touch the other side and then swim back, or else you have to restart or are disqualified. 3. No getting out of the pool. 4. If you don't stick to the agreement, you're going to be labeled a plain jerk who can't stand not getting their way." He said glancing to Kiara for a split second. I held in a laugh. Even a total stranger could tell how self absorbed and bratty Kiara was.

"Fine by me." I say with a devious smirk. I would definitely win. Either Kiara would cheat, disqualifying her, or she would just plain lose. As we headed over to the edge of the shallow end of the pool, I locked eyes with the English guys sea blue ones. As they pierced through me, I was snapped out of the trance like state by him."Good luck, not that you'll need it." He said with a wink. Then it hit me. He was watching me for who knows how long. My heart spiked, until I realized that he looked nothing like my stalker. In fact he was quite the opposite. From what I could tell, my stalker's silhouette and face was a bit chubby, and had a gray mustache. This guy, well, let's just say his eight pack was enough to justify that it wasn't him. Not that I stared, it's just hard to ignore. It's like an elephant in the room. "T-thanks." I stuttered, feeling the heat race to my face. When I got in, Kiara started to try and intimidate me. "You're never going to win you know." She said in a snarky voice. "And why is that?" I question. "I take private lessons every week. You probably don't have the money." She was really starting to irritate me. "Wow! You're so bad you have to have private lessons?" I said in fake shock. "You're so lucky. You have the money you need to help you! I don't need to have money to be good." I brag. She just rolls her eyes and gets in position. After I get into position, I start to breath. "On your marks." he started. "get set. GO" I kicked off the wall and started to head lower while moving forward, and I didn't look back to confirm, but I heard Kiara kick off through the water. Her reflexes are pretty slow. I started to kick my legs rapidly in sync. When I reached the surface I didn't bother wiping my eyes, I just pushed myself forward with my arms. When I touched the wall on the other side, I wiped my eyes and looked back, Kiara wasn't even halfway here. I chuckled to myself. I then took a deep breath and and repeated the process I had done before. I was getting close to Kiara, I could here her. Suddenly, I felt a blow to my stomach. All of the air was literally knocked out of me. I heard a familiar laugh through the water. Kiara! Why would she do this? No, what I should be asking is why I didn't see this coming. Everything is going black, or at least it would be if my eyes were open. Wait... I feel... Something warm around my waist. And now my stomach. "Michelle!!!" I heard faintly. Why are they so quiet? And why do I feel so tired?I'll just take a quick nap.

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