"I'll judge," Abby offers, swimming to the ladder and climbing out. Adam joins her a moment later, giving us two judges.
The rest of us line up by the diving board. It isn’t a high board like they use for competitions, but it's still high enough for a decent dive. Trent gives a few bounces and then does a painful looking belly flop. He comes up for air and starts laughing as our judges each hold their thumbs down.
"Oh, come on! That was at least a five!" he yells back before climbing out and shaking his hair over Abby. She squeals and bats at him to stop.
“Have you done this before, Charlie girl?” Cole whispers in my ear, making me break out in goosebumps. I give him a nod but don’t give any indication that it's a big deal. Alice takes her turn next and does a decent dive, only her legs smack hard when she hesitates. They give her a six and a seven.
My turn is next, so I take a deep breath and keep a blank expression on my face. I'm light enough that I should be able to get enough height to my jump for a decent flip. Lining my feet up at the perfect spot, I bounce as high as I can before doing a flip in the air and executing a pretty good dive. I’m a bit rusty so it’s not perfect, but I’ll take it. I come up for air and snort as I take in their shocked expressions. Adam and Abby recover and each give me a ten, though they may be a bit biased. A huge smile is on my face as I look back at Cole. He shakes his head and throws up his hands.
“Come on, how do I go after that?” he complains dramatically. I swim out of the way as he makes his way to the diving board and decides to just do a cannonball. I quietly laugh again as water splashes over me.
When he pops back above the surface again, he swims to my side. “You are just full of surprises, aren’t you? I’m going to have so much fun getting to know them all,” he says, kissing me on the cheek and swimming away.
We finally drag ourselves out of the pool an hour later. Trent and Adam are already complaining about how hungry they are and if we don’t feed them soon we’ll have to deal with hangry teen guys, which isn’t pretty.
We change quickly and pile in the cars to head back to Sophia’s house, since everyone already has their bags. Sophia had informed me before we left that everyone’s parents were on board.
“So, pizza, Italian, or Chinese?” Sophia asks as we all walk into the house. “I know you guys are starving.” Half of my friends say Chinese, and the other half says pizza. “Well since this is the first sleepover here, how about both?” she says with a laugh before taking the menus with her.
Sophia is taking this sleepover very seriously. Since she wanted us in the living room, she went out and bought six air mattresses. I guess no kids of hers are roughing it on the rug. Before we decide anything, I make sure to write down a thank you for the food and sleepover supplies. Instead of a quick brush off like she usually does, she gives me a serious look, which startles me.
“Stop thanking me so much, love. I do this because I want to. I want to help you heal, I want to spoil you, I want to experience what it’s like to have a daughter. Plus, you guys will put those air mattresses to good use if these sleepovers are a normal occurrence, otherwise I wouldn’t have done it. And I wouldn't have bought them if I didn't want to,” she says, keeping her voice light at the end to try and recover from the tears that started to form. My heart aches for Sophia. When she lost her husband, she thought she'd never get to do these things. She is just as broken and lonely as I am… well, was. We are a perfect match. I give her a hug and hold her for longer than I generally do. I want her to know how much I appreciate her.
When I let go, she pats my cheek and takes the menus to her office to finish working while she orders and waits for the food. I join the others who've all already found the stack of games that Sophia's been buying up. Abby immediately picks a truth or dare game, and I hold back a groan. This won't end well.
"Let's do this!" Trent says, clapping his hands and taking a seat on the rug.
"Why do we need a game board?" Alice asks. She has a point.
"All right," Abby says, shrugging and setting the box back down. She sits next to Alice and looks over to her with a grin. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth," Alice chooses, eyes narrowing at Abby.
"Have you kissed what's his name yet?" Abby asks with a grin.
"His name is Andy. Yes, we kissed last time he was down," Alice admits reluctantly, before turning to Trent. "Truth or dare?"
"Dare," he challenges, his smirk a little too evil.
"I dare you to post a selfie with a goofy face," she challenges, and we all laugh. Trent always posts his best angles and big smiles on his social media. Our school even has its own site, called the Riverfront Update. It works like a picture posting site and blocks certain words to help prevent bullying. Not to mention the PTA monitors comments. Shockingly, despite all of the policing on the site, everyone uses it.
Trent squishes his shoulders up, giving himself an exaggerated double chin and gives the camera a weird face. He posts it with #dare before turning it around to prove he completed it.
"All right, all right. Charlie, you're up next," he says with a grin that tells me I'm in trouble. "Truth or dare?" My notebook is already on my lap, so I think about my answer for a second.
'Dare,' I finally write, hoping to avoid any and all relationship questions. Plus, despite his mischievous side, I trust Trent not to do anything ridiculous.
"I dare you to show us a hidden talent." I grin at the dare, knowing exactly what I’m going to do. Throwing my notebook in his lap, I stand up and bend over, letting out a breath as I bend so far my head tucks between my legs. I grin at them from my position, each breath pushing my chest into my thighs.
"Eww, you're literally folded in half and then some," Alice says, peeking from between her fingers as my back pops.
I straighten up with a grin and take my seat. The others are all half cringing and half smiling at the display. Cole and Abby even clap for me, so I give a quick bow.
"Hey, nothing wrong with flexibility," Cole says with a wink that has Abby smacking him.
'Truth or dare?' I write down to show to Adam.
"Truth," he says without hesitation. I have to think for a moment, not sure what to ask Adam.