Chapter 4

Rue put on her black swimsuit and then a dress over it

"Gorgeous, As always " said Miles as she left ger room.

"Oh shut up" responded Rue.

Eleanor looked at ger and smiled. Then, the three of them headed to the pool.

They talked and laughed but suddenly the sky turned grey. Rue stopped as she saw Eleanor panicking.

Eleanor took a deep breath and everything was back to normal.

" What the bloody hell was that? " asked Miles.

" No idea " murmured Rue.

Eleanor was surprisingly silent. She shrugged and continued her way. Miles and Rue looked at eachother and followed her.

At the pool there weren't so many people. But Brandon was there. And he was worse than 200 people.

Rue, Miles and Eleanor occupied some chairs and changed into the swimsuits.

Miles was wearing a black swim trunk. Eleanor had an one piece swimsuit just like Rue. Except that Eleanor's was pink and Rue's was black.

Miles jumped into the water and started splashing the girls.

That's when Brandon saw them.

"My dear friends!" He shouted and came closer

He was wearing a red and black swim trunk. He had abs which wasn't such a surprise.

His curly black hair was wet and was getting in his eyes.

" Hey guys!" Said Brandon again now that he was standing near them.

"Hey..." responded Eleanor.

" She speaks! " exclaimed Brandon. " What a surprise " Then he looked at Rue " I knew you couldn't stay away from me"

"You wish "

" Hey Miles"

"Wiat did Brandon just called Miles.... "Miles" ? " thought Rue.

" Hey " responded Miles smiling.

"What the hell is going on?" Rue's mind was definetly confused.

" Earth to Rue " she heard Brandon saying.

Rue blinked and shook her head

"Yeah what?"

"Jump! "

" Not yet"

" So you came to the pool just to stare at the water?" Brandon asked.

" No. I just don't want in it  Yet. "

" Very well "

Brandon was about to jump when he took Rue's hand and threw her in the pool. She swimmed to the surface and rubbed her eyes.

" You - " Rue started but was interrupted by Brandon throwing Elanor.

"Are you out of your - " she was again interrupted by Brandon jumping too.

He swimmed to the surface and splashed Miles. The boy laughed and splashed Eleanor. Eleanor splashed Rue and so on.

After a few minutes of splashing, they stopped.

Brandon wa staring at a guy that was staying at the other side of the pool.

" Who is that? " Rue asked.

" Nobody " responded Brandon

The boy came to them and jumped into the water.

" What are you doing? " asked Brandon coldly.

"Swimming " said the stranger cheerfully.

" Well swim somewhere else "

The guy came closer to Brandon.

Then, Rue saw Brandon all over the other boy keeping his head under water.

He managed to escape his grip and they started fighting.

" Brandon stop it !" Yelled Miles.

But he didn't listen. He put the stranger's head under water again but this time the guy couldn't get out of his grip.

" Brandon. STOP! " shouted Rue.

The boy looked at her then looked at the stranger who was struggling to get his head out of the water.

Brandon let go and patted his shoulder.

" Sorry Harry " he said smiling.

Harry was barely breathing and was spitting water.

He looked at Brandon and left.

" What's wrong with you? " demanded Rue.

" Just... no" responded Brandon and got out of the water.He took his clothes and left the pool in a rush.

The others stayed for about half an hour and then left. The plan was to go at Rue's house to eat something.

On their way, they found Brandon leaning against a tree.

" Are you ok? " it was Eleanor.

Rue looked at her shocked. So she does speak.

"Yep. So guys, meet me at the pool at 3AM" said Brandon.

" It's closed at that hour " protested Miles.

" I know " Brandon winked and left

They were all confused but agreed to meet Brandon there.

Rue's mother made some fries and they all sat at the table.

" Miles how's school going? " askedher mother.

" It's going well "

" Eleanor. You are new right? "

" Yes, I am new. The food is great by the way... "

" Thank you! Did you guys have fun at the pool? "

They all looked at eachother.

" Yeah. It was... fun" shrugged Rue

Her mother was now suspicious.

"What happened? " she was interrogating them.

" Just... Brandon threw Rue and Eleanor into the water " Miles saved them.

Rue's mother looked at Rue and blinked a couple times before shaking her head and eating another french fries.

" So you guys are friends with Brandon? " her mother broke the silnece.

Rue looked at Miles before responding.

" No... not really "

" Stay away from him. His not a good guy " her mother said.

Eleanor looked terrified.

" Oh, it's nothing. My mither is just paranoid "

They continued eating in silence and then Rue said goodbye to Miles and Eleanor

Her mother gave her a judgemental look but Rue left and went to her room.

She checked her phone to see if she got any messages...

Zero.

Now she just had to wait till 3AM to go to the pool.

She tried on the scarf again. She absolutely loved it. She then fooled around a little bit with it.

Pretended to be in a music video. Just like every normal teenager. She hoped.

After a few seconds her mom bursted into her room.

Rue tried to put yhe scarf away but she just put it behind her back.

" Have you ever heard of knocking? " Rue asked annoyed.

" What's behind your back? "

" She busted me " thought Rue.

" Nothing " she lied

She was a terrible liar.

" Come on, show me. Oh is it a... text? "

" No "

Rue showed her the scarf.

" Ah that's gorgeous. Where did you get that? "

" Now what? " Rue had to be very convincing.

" Miles bought it for me " she said confident

" Aw, that's so sweet of him." Responded her mother. " I bet that Brandon guy would never do that " she muttered to herself

" Ok, you had your fun. Get out of my room " laughed Rue.

" Ouch, fine. "

Her mom left and now she was all alone again. She had no idea what to do so she decided to sleep.

Sleep always helps. That's what Rue thought. " Sleeping is a gift " she usually says.

She dreamt about Brandon almost killing Harry. More like a nightmare because she couldn't forget that.

Why was that guy so important?

She woke up and started thinking about Harry and Brandon.

" Nobody deserves to die for some teenage drama. " she whispered to herself.

She stopped thinking about it. It wasn't worthy of her time.

She looked at the clock and it was barely 5PM.

She hadn't practiced with her arrow in a while. That would be a good idea.

So she set off to the woods.

It wasn't quiet anymore. The birds were chirping.  She could hear the leaves dancing at the sound of the wind. She could feel the sun on her skin.

Everything was different now. She felt safe in the forest.

She found her bow and quiver and decided to practice on some trees again.

She fired some arrows, all of them in the aimed spot. But it was getting boring.

So she thought that it would be a great idea to explore the forest a little more.

She walked and walked and she didn't find anything interesting.

" Well.... this is BORING " she shouted.

But suddenly she stumbled and fell.

" Ouch. Thanks Mother Nature. "

Her left ankle hurt. And she had a scratch on her palm.

She looked around and then she saw a little stream.

She stood up and went to investigate. The water was clean and it had this... thing like it was charmed.

She just couldn't stop looking at it. It was sparkling.

She felt safer than ever. Relaxed. Like nothing mattered anymore. So drank a little bit of water.

It. Tasted. Amazing. Like she was drinking... water. It was so ordinary but spectacular at the same time.

She returned home feeling amazing. It was already 10PM so she had to meet her friends soon.

She took care of her wounds, put an alarm at 2:30 AM and fell asleep again.