Chapter 177:

Ace left his room, a huge grin on his face, he had just received an email, his application to the exchange program he had applied to was successful, he would be travelling for a whole year - as expected. He had already seen it coming of course, but it was still pleasant news - even if they were expected ones. He quickly informed his grandmother, even if she had most likely learnt about it before he had. Next, he had read over the file he had been given about the family he would be staying with, and had Alfred research all there was to them.

Now though, it was time for a celebratory milkshake, and he knew the exact place, Floor 84.

***

"We have just received an alert, someone is gathering information,", a man spoke, in a steely and measured voice.

"Don't worry, that was expected, it's fine, let them in, but only give them the first door.", the man who responded had a pleasant voice, and he spoke with an air of superiority over the other man, and yet, from their body postures and language, one could tell they saw each other as equals.

"Yep. C?"

"That should be ok.", the man replied, and the other person nodded, then waved goodbye as the other man left the room.

Some clattering on the keyboard later, and he laid back on the chair, a cheery grin on his face.

***

Ace was lying on one of the sun chairs, peacefully reading a book, when suddenly, someone grabbed him. Or well, it would have been a surprise had he not heard their footsteps coming from ways ago.

"Hello Sophie, please don't even try it.", Ace said, his book hiding the small grin on his face, she stomped in frustration, and Ace could almost hear her thoughts.. Cursing him repeatedly, whilst also trying to figure out what trick it was he used to find her out.

"So,", Ace turned around, placing his book on the sun chair, "What's up?", she grinned at him, "Hehehe, did you forget, it's fun time.", Ace laughed, and she cackled madly, which made him laugh even harder. Today, they had agreed to go jet skiing together, Amy had never gone, and she said she had always wanted to try it.

The plan was to spend the morning doing so, and then go to one of the 'water restaurants' that could be found surrounding the island. These were restaurants whose main infrastructure was actually floating. They served food, as well as offering amazing views of the ocean and the island.

It would be funny, however, because Igor hated it, he apparently did it before, and it had been a traumatic experience that involved a giant octopus for whatever reason. He had not said more, however, unwavering when faced with Sophie's insistent questioning. Ace applauded his steadfastness.

"Ok, then, let's go.", Ace stood up, and left with Sophie, making his way to the docks where they would suit up and get their skis.

***

They arrived at the docks after a short walk, and both Amy and Igor were already there, one staring expectantly, while the other dreadfully. The mixed reactions, contrasting with each other, only served to amplify Sophie's already considerable amusement.

She cheerily waved at them, and Ace could hear Igor's groan from where he was standing. They were all wearing swimwear already, so they quickly slipped on the neoprene suits, and quickly selected their bikes.

Sophie insisted on choosing the most powerful jet skis, appeasing a concerned Amy, telling her that "It'll be ok, this is easy stuff.". She was not fully wrong, it was quite easy to pick up, but starting with the jet skis that had the most powerful engines was probably not the way to go. Regardless, they ended up choosing them, Ace opted for a dark purple one with black highlights, Igor got on a green one, Amy on an orange one, and Sophie on a flaming red one.

***

They were ready to leave within minutes, and after giving Amy a short tutorial, where Sophie pretty much only showed her how to accelerate, she got on and left. Igor followed behind her hesitantly, and Ace followed later, after making sure that Amy knew how to steer, brake, and start the engine. He waited for her to go first, to ensure that it was all good, but was soon speeding after the others.

Jet skiing is an adrenaline-inducing sport, impressively so, considering the fact that there was not much of a challenge to it. And yet, the fast speeds and the rocking waves made Ace's heart jitter with excitement, he loved it, and from the looks of Sophie and Amy, it seemed they did as well.

Igor was another thing altogether, he seemed more focused on his surrounding waters, rather than what was in front of him, they teased him about it, but nothing changed in his actions, 'I wonder what actually happened, I will have to ask him once Sophie and Amy are not here.'

***

They raced around the waters for the whole morning, and at the end, it even seemed that Igor had begun enjoying it. They also did some sort of two versus two war, where Ace and Sophie teamed up against Amy and Igor, splashing each other, and trying to push each other off their bikes.

Once they got tired and hungry, they decided to go to one of the many restaurants that were dotted around the surrounding waters. There were people who knew where each restaurant was, so after they found one, he asked them where they wanted to eat, and then led them to their place of choice.

They had decided on a fish and seafood place. The key to the place was that it was all freshly fished from the day. This meant, of course, that the options available when it came to food varied from day to day, but the quality of the fish was supreme, and the chefs were all extremely talented, only exquisite meals came out of their kitchen. After selecting an assortment of foods, they sat in one of the tables, only wearing their swimsuits as their neoprene wear dried out on the sand. The skis had been parked by the floating building, and they enjoyed their food calmly, spending almost three hours eating and conversing, before they decided to head back to the island.

Once they got there, they were all lazy, and decided that a calm afternoon by the pool was what they all needed. They spent the rest of the day lounging, switching from varying activities like playing cards or water polo in the pool. They only decided to part ways once the sun had set, and it was dark enough where they could not see clearly without using the torch on their phones.

They agreed that they would take a shower and change, before going to one of the cinema rooms in one of the lower floors of the Tower, there, they would order dinner and watch a movie or two.