It was mid-August. Ren, Zoe and I had spent most of our summer with the J sisters. Red and I became best friends pretty quick. What surprised me was Jess and Zoe were best friends also. Jess managed to help Zoe get over her shyness by putting the fairy into different situations. You could say she brought Zoe under her wing. Jess and I were friends but nothing great. She was too snobbish for my taste and had a huge ego. But, she made the activities we did together really fun. She and Ren though, were inseparable. They were glued to the hip. And Jimhaya, well she still is that anti-social bitch of a girl we met a while back.

Today, we were going swimming in a lake a few hours from town. Zoe and I drove to the Hundale’s house with her van. Ren was already at their house, he spent the night there. Jess met us on the front porch and gave each of us a huge hug. She and Zoe went rushing back in the house squealing all the way. I guess Jess didn’t know which bathing suit to bring and needed help. Girls.

I let myself through the door and spotted Red coming down the stairs at great speed. I smiled as she tried and failed to tie her dark red hair in a ponytail while coming down two stairs at a time. I went to meet her when she came all the way down. I took the elastic from her hand and tied her hair up in a messy bun

“Hey gorgeous” I said to my friend. I gave her a quick hug.

“Hey Sy” she said.

“So” I said dangling my arm around her shoulder, “Where is your anti-social bitch of a sister?” Red raised an eyebrow at me. It was not the first time Jimmy and I insulted each other. “I say this because I have something for her” feeling the need to justify myself. I showed her the bag I was carrying. Red took a curious peak inside.

“You bought her a bikini? Are you nuts?” She exclaimed.

“Come on. We’re going to the beach, she needs something to wear. Plus, it would help her integrate with people.”

“What makes you think she will wear it?” she asked.

“She likes me” I winked at her, moving towards the stairs with her in tow. “And the proof is I’m still alive”. My relationship with Jimmy was pretty easy. I annoy the shit out of her by talking until her ears bleed. I also take things from her and I physically touch her all the time. Most of the time she ignores me or insults me and it’s awesome. She is such an easy target to tease. I managed to have a five minute conversation once, that was the longest one we had. We even flirt once in a while; at least that’s what I think. Well I do, but who wouldn’t? She is beautiful, when she doesn’t speak.

When we arrived at her door, I stopped Red who was about to leave. “Can you come with me?” I asked.

“Why, it’s your present to her. You said it yourself that she likes you, so why can’t you go in alone? Are you scared?”

“No!” I exclaimed. I took a few seconds to think about what I was going to say. She did have weird effect on me when I’m near her. “She creeps me out” is what I said. Those were the wrong choice of words by the look on Red’s face. It was a true though; Every time I’m alone with her, she makes me nervous.

Red gave me a knowing smile, as if she knew something I didn’t. I knocked on the door and went in without a response. I knew she wouldn’t answer anyway. Jimmy was drawing at her desk, with her earphones on. She turned around when she heard us come in; guess her music was not that loud.

“Ever heard of privacy?” she asked me, ignoring her sister. I gave her a goofy grin, the one that she hates, and shook my head.

“I brought you something, that you have to wear because you are going to the beach with us.” I shoved the bag in her hands and pointed to the bathroom. Jimmy looked from the bag to me and to the bag again.

“You want me to wear this?” she asked in disbelief. She looked at Red to see if I was kidding, which I was not.

“Yes now go change, unless you want to change here and that is totally fine by me” I laughed. “ Today is the day you get out of those sweatshirts and put decent summer clothes for once. And we are going to have fun. Ever heard of fun?” I said. Jimmy shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“I brought you some clothes to put over your swimsuit” Red told her sister, trying to help her situation.

To my surprise, Jimmy went to change in the bathroom with an exaggerated sigh. I looked at Red who seemed relieved that her sister complied so easily. When Jimmy came out, she was wearing black Bermuda’s and a large t-shirt that went under her bum. It was progress; we could actually see the skin on her arms.

“Awesome beautiful, let’s get you wet” I told Jimmy when I place my arm around her shoulder. She looked up and down at me, not removing my arm, probably because she knew it was useless to try.

“Aren’t you wet already?” she said raising her eyebrow. See? Flirting. Red made a gag sound behind us.

“You catch on quick hot shot” I told her. I gave her my goofy smile and led her downstairs where the others were waiting for us. We said our goodbyes to the sisters’ parents and went to the van. I noticed Red talking to her parents before she caught up with us. Zoe was the driver with Red in the passenger seat. Ren and Jess were in the middle, cuddled together. That left Jimmy and I in the back seat.

“You are gonna have to take your clothes off you know” I told her.

“I will if you don’t talk to me the whole ride” she said. Fair enough. I took one of her earphone and put in my ear. Jimmy looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

“If you don’t want me to talk, I am going to listen to your music” I said. I closed my eyes and got comfortable for the two hour drive. I listened to Jimhaya’s music the entire way to the lake house and as promised I didn’t say a word.

Once we arrived, everyone got out of the van and went in the house. The cabin was big enough for all of us to fit in. It was surrounded by forests and a small mountain. We could hear a waterfall close by but it was hidden by the trees. There was two ways to get to the fall: the first is swimming and the second is a ten minute hike. This lake house belonged to the principle. When I was young he used bring me here all the time, even in the winter. Those were the best days, when it was just he and I. Here, he taught me to swim, to hunt and to control my powers. He taught me to cook with nothing but fire and sticks. The memories I hold here are dear to me, this place was my second home; the school being the first one.

After we all dumped our bags into the cabin, we made our way to the water. Man, I couldn’t wait to see Jimmy in her black bikini. I made sure her bottoms were mini shorts so she was more at ease. Jessica, Ren and Zoe went in first. Zoe and Jess tag teamed to get Ren into the water, it was hilarious.

Red and I waited for Jimmy to come out of the bathroom. When she came out, my jaw dropped to the ground and my eyes popped out of their sockets. I was pretty sure I was drooling but didn’t care. Jimhaya’s body was gorgeous. Her entire body was muscular, not as muscular as Jess, but blended in. Her legs and arms were slim and flawless. Her round firm breasts were more on the small scale but fit perfectly with her body. But what caught my eye the most was her stomach. I have spent some time imagining what was under her baggy clothes but I never imagined this. She had a perfect six pack. It was not a forced six pack that some girls have, it was a natural one. And her skin, her pale skin shined in the sun.

I felt a hand on my chin lifting it up, so my mouth was closed but it just dropped right back down.

“Can I touch them?” I said, still mesmerised by her stomach. I slowly made my way towards her. “Please can I touch them to see if they are real?” No, I was not creepy in the least. I couldn’t help but notice her scars on her stomach. They looked like claw marks that went from the right side of her belly button to end up on her lower back. How can a hybrid of three different species attain scars like hers?

“No” I heard Jimmy say. “I’m putting my shirt back on”

“What? Why?” I asked her.

“Because I don’t like people when stare at me. And I don’t want them to come and try to befriend me just because of my looks. Or at all for that matter.”

“Why aren’t you friends with them already?” I blinked after I said that. I looked up into Jimmy’s face that held her famous ‘are you kidding me?’ look. “Right, horrible personality” I pointed my finger at her. I took one last glance at the stomach I couldn’t touch before Jimmy put her shirt back on.

“What a waste” I said in a sad tone. I heard Red giggle beside me as Jimmy came closer to me with a mischief gin. I saw something flash in her eyes, but I had no idea what it was because I never saw anything in them.

“Maybe next time” she murmured. She grazed her cold fingers on my bare stomach as she walked by me towards the lake. I had shivers running into my entire body as she did so, especially where she touched my. After a while, I was finally able to compose myself I turned to my best friend.

“Red? Did you see something in her eyes when she passed by?” she nodded. “What was that?”

Red gave me a small smile “Amusement”.

-

It was the middle of the afternoon; we had played in the water all day. We bathed in the waterfall and jumped into the lake from the rocks above our heads. We all talked and joked around and competed against each other giving ourselves challenges. By the end of the day we were so tired, we lied down in the sand enjoying the sun rays heating our skin. After a while of comfortable silence, Jess started the truth or dare game. We kept trying to get Jimmy to play but she always refused, stating she preferred to watch. Of course the way she said it was pretty insulting, and not worth repeating. Everything was good until Ren asked a stupid question.

“Truth or dare Red?” he said.

“Truth”

“If you were in a situation where you could only save one of your sister, which one would it be?” We were surprised by his question.

“Jamie” Red said with no hesitation. Silence followed. We were all shocked of her answer and how determined she was. I looked at Jess and it broke my heart because she was on the verge of tears.

“Why?” she whispered. Jasmine looked at her sister dead in the eyes and told her calmly “Because everyone else in the world would choose you without a second thought. Someone has to take care of your sister”

“Are you stupid?” Ren shouted, not happy by the answer of his own question. He had wanted to show Jimhaya that his mate was better than her. Fucking arrogant prick. “How can you choose a low life, selfish bitch that can’t do anything and has no powers over my mate?”

Suddenly, black clouds invaded the sky, darkening the ground. The wind picked up a little got colder. In a blink, Jasmine was holing Ren’s head to the ground with a death grip. Her knee was on the small of his back, preventing him from moving. The redhead slowly bent down until she was almost lying on him and her eyes were bright blue. She growled a low threatening that gave me chills down to my core. My bones vibrated with the strength of raw power that came out of her.

“Never, ever insult my sister like that again do you understand me” she said. Her voice held anger beyond anything. Right now, I knew she was holding herself not to kill him. “You know NOTHING of my sister. Don’t you EVER pretend you know anything about her and don’t you ever criticise something you have no knowledge about. Do. You. Understand. Me?”

“Yes” Ren said. His answer was barely hearable, but you could hear his fear. She let him go and stalked off, away from the group and the weather went back to normal. I wanted to go with her, to make sure she would be ok but I knew better. I knew she needed time alone to control herself. I had never seen this side of my friend and frankly I never want to see it again.

“Is Jazzy mad or something?” Jimmy said. I looked down her way and she had an innocent look, like she had no idea what just happened. We all looked at her in disbelief. “Sorry, I tuned out a while ago”

I could see Ren and Jessica shaking in anger and hatred from the corner of my eye. I quickly got up and grabbed Jimmy’s arm and dragged her roughly away from the couple.

“What are you doing?” she asked me

“Showing you my wings” I took off my shirt and my white wings that were resting under my skin out into the open air. My wings were about four feet long each and had light grey designs on them. I grabbed Jimmy by the waist and with a few thrust of my wings, we were airborne and away from the cabin. Ren and Jess needed to calm down before I allowed Jimhaya to come back. This was our last couple of days of vacation and I didn’t want to wash their blood off my hands.