I reached for the back door when a girl nearly ran me over.

"Whoa!" I gasped, jumping out of the way in time before she flattened me. The girl was a little taller than me. She was a streak of wild dark hair, but in that small moment, I noticed her eyes were red, tinged with fresh tears.

I recognized that terrible look, that tender look of a fresh wound.

"Sorry," she mumbled, her voice breaking into a sob.

"It's okay," I whispered, watching her run for the front door.

I only realized who that was when I reached for the door. Emily Kaplan. Brushing it off as nothing, I stepped outside. The crowds were murmuring for some reason. I caught someone whisper into someone's ear and point towards the pool. I followed their gazes to find Parker looking at the ground.

"Oh!" I straightened up and hurried across the lawn. "Hey, Parker-"

"God." Parker closed her eyes and raised her head to the sky. She raised her hand at me, and I realized her hair was wet. There were stains on her shoulders, bruising the pink petals on the kimono. "Not you..." Parker's voice was tight as if I was distracting her from something more important, like she was an acrobat balancing on a tightrope. "I can't deal with you right now. You're the last person I want to talk to. Go away..." She waved her hand at me. "For my own sanity."

"Jeeze," I grumbled, taking a full step back. We're two seconds into this conversation and I could already feel heat fester in the back of my head. I glared up at Parker. "I just said hey. You don't have to bite my head off. All I wanted to say was-"

"No! No!" she shouted, reaching for her own head with claws out. "I don't want to hear it because I know you're just going to whine and I'm not in the mood-"

"Why are you being such a dick?!" I roared back, stomping forward. "I just came to tell you, Camille and I are ready to leave."

"Fuck off, Lizzie! Emily dumped me. Again!" She threw her arms out and her hands fell fast, slapping her sides. She yelled more at herself. "I didn't even know a person can get dumped twice, but I guess you can!"

"What?" I choked out a whisper and my whole face burned. It felt like I shoved my whole foot into the middle of my throat. "H-How was I supposed to know that?! You didn't tell me-"

"I couldn't! Not with your whining!"

All my guilt burned away, and my heart slammed into my chest and my feelings took over. I wanted to get rid of everything that weighed on my chest. I wanted sweet relief, the kind I could ball up and throw at Parker's stupid face. "You know what? I'm not surprised that someone dumped you! How you even tricked someone into dating you is shocking! I can't stand being around you for more than a minute!"

"Then get out of my face!" Parker shoved me.

I shoved her back. We both swatted at each other, pushing and shoving like a couple of idiots. I gave her a great push on the shoulder that Parker attempted to dodge, but her ankle went crooked and her combat boots squeaked. At her height, I'm shocked she didn't fall over all the time. She reached for me, grabbing a handful of my sweater and yanking forward. Gravity was a menace.

We both shouted as we toppled over, slamming into the pool water. The water wrapped around me and I panicked, thrashing and kicking until my shoes touched the bottom. I shot up to the surface, hacking up a lung. Parker emerged next and I splashed her with a yell, "Why are you the worst?!"

"You pushed me!" Parker snapped, splashing me back. The cold water had a horribly sharp bite that burrowed deep into my bones, making me sore all over. The water had drenched my clothes, filling the cotton.

"You pushed first!"

We both roared at each other with now a lack of words; reduced to animals, we splashed each other mercilessly. People gathered around the edge of the pool with mixed reviews. I didn't care. I leaned back, floating and kicking the water right into Parker's face. She grabbed ahold of my ankle and yanked me under for just a moment.

"OH MY GOD!"

I stopped.

Parker stopped.

Together, we snapped our heads to the side to find Camille with her arms crossed. Her black-painted lips thinned into one small angry line. She practically snarled. She slammed every word out like a horrible clap. "What. The. Actual. Fuck?" Before we could get a word in, she snapped, "I've had it up to here—" she threw her hand up, making it higher than Parker, "—with the both of you! Out of the pool. Now. We're leaving."

#

Check back in for the next part where Camille brutally murders them! I tried to imagine how great this would all look like in a movie and just wrote my head off. Lol.