Princess

3

"Victory!!" Carson and Eric yelled after Clarissa got knocked into the water. "Oh please if we didn't all go at once we so would've won." Jesse argued. Everyone mumbled a ya right before all kind of splitting up.

Eric, Clarissa and Alex found themselves deep in conversation while Jesse challenged Carson and I to a race. "It's very simple." He began. "You dive into the water, swim to the other end of the pool and get out." "I call the diving board!" I called out. "Fine." Jesse groaned. "Wait. There should be some sort of prize for the winner." Carson said with a smirk. "What did you have in mind dude?" Jesse asked. "The losers have to be slaves for the winner for the rest of the night." Carson said confidently. "You're on." I said with the equal amount of confidence.

"Okay Ariel can do the count down." Jesse suggested. "Why not me?" Carson asked. "Because I trust her more than I trust you because after knowing you for like 8 years, I know you're going to cheat." Jesse reasoned. "Fair enough." Carson replied with a chuckle. "Ready?" I started, receiving two nods. "3, 2, 1, GO!" I screamed before diving into the water and began swimming.

Luckily for me, I'm a pretty great diver, and I managed to get about half way across the pool in my dive. Unfortunately, Jesse and Carson are really good divers too and weren't far behind me. And...Jesse is on the swim team. I really need to think before I accept any challenges.

I was leading with the boys hot on my tail when all of a sudden I see Jesse cut me off and jump out of the pool, winning the race. I hopped out about a second later, followed by Carson literally a millisecond after.

"Well! That was exhausting! I think I'm going to go inside and get a drink." Jesse said in a confident and mocking tone while I went to grab our towels. "Actually, I think Carson is going to go inside and get me a drink. He is one of my servants you know." Jesse smirked. "Fine then. Come on Ariel you get to come with me." Carson decided while he grabbed my arm. "Woah woah woah. Who said I was coming with you?" I asked, although the sudden butterflies in my stomach fluttered. "I did. Let's go!" He said once again dragging me to my house. "I'll have a Sprite." Jesse called to us as we made our way to the house, both wrapped up in green pool towels.

"So Ari, where's the Sprite?" Carson asked once we had stepped through he sliding door in the kitchen. "It's in the fridge in the basement. Come on Carson you've spent almost as much time here as I have." I said with a laugh. "Well I'm soo-rrry then Princess." Carson said in his sassy voice.

We walked downstairs and decided just to grab stuff for everyone while we were down there. "What should we bring up?" Carson asked. "Well I'll grab iced tea for Clarissa and I and a Sprite for Jesse." I said as I reached into the fridge and grabbed what I needed. "Okay. What do you think your brother will want?" He asked as he grabbed two Cokes for himself and Eric. "Probably a Coke." I replied before walking to the stairs with Carson behind me.

"We come baring drinks!" I yelled as Carson and I stepped into the backyard. "Great!" Clarissa said as she jumped out of the pool with the three boys behind her. I set the drinks on the table and stepped aside to open up my drink. "So Ari, how was it?" Clarissa asked me quietly. "What?" I asked her even though I was pretty sure I knew what she was talking about. "You and Carson. Alone. Getting drinks." She said in a dreamy voice. "Wow so romantic!" I said with sarcastic eagerness.

"What's romantic?" Eric asked and everyone stopped talking. "The Notebook. We were just talking about how we wanted to watch it." Clarissa said smoothly. Oh my god I'm thanking her for that later. "We could watch it after dinner if you want." Eric suggested. That's why I love my brother. Although he's some big, tough athlete, he loves making his little sister happy.

"Okay!" I said. "Speaking of dinner, you're all staying right?" Everyone mumbled a yes so I went inside to find some burgers that we could barbecue. "Let's see. So there's six of us, plus the guys might eat two, plus Mom and Dad so we can do twelve." I whispered to myself as I looked through the freezer. "Sounds good to me!" A voice said behind me. I jumped and turned around to see Eric standing there laughing at me. "Mom and Dad just called me and said that one, they're going to Aunt Leslie and Uncle Mike's house for dinner and two, if everyone wants to sleepover since it's a Friday then that's fine." He said. "Okay. I'll take these up and we can ask everyone if they want to stay over." I said after a minute of thinking.

"Do we really need twelve hamburgers for six people Ariel?" My brother asked as we went upstairs. "You never know with teenage boys. Besides Eric, it won't kill you to cook them." I said giving him the are-you-serious look. "Fine fine okay." Eric said, raising his hands in surrender. I laughed and ran up the rest of the stairs and I to the backyard where our friends were.

"Hey guys! Do any of you want to sleep over tonight?" Eric called out as I brought the meat over to the barbecue and went inside to grab some corn on the cob to cook as well.

Everyone said they would call their parents to ask and as a result only Jesse and Carson could. "I have a family thing tomorrow morning so I can't." Clarissa said. "Ya apparently I promised my grandma I would help her out in her garden tomorrow morning. I can stay till like 11:00 though." Alex explained.

I spent a bit of time talking to Clarissa while Eric and Jesse barbecued the food and Alex and Carson went to get drinks. Once the food was done we ate and talked and had a blast until it was pitch black outside and getting cold. "Maybe it's time to start that movie you promised us Eric." I smirked. "Okay guys let's head inside." Eric sighed with his three friends. "Clarissa when do you have to leave?" I asked as we went inside. "I'll text her when the movies over and someone will pick me up." She replied. I nodded and went inside with her to go watch The Notebook with four teenage boys.

Wish us all luck.