Interlude: The Swimming pool

Valerie's POV

Maura and Fien were excited to go to the swimming pool. Ever since Mia and I had befriended Fien, things had been going better between the two of us, and adding Maura to the mix seemed to have improved things even further. After having heard Fien's story, Mia had sworn to protect Fien. I felt like it had released some kind of motherly protective side to Mia that I had never seen before, and I found it truly endearing. Seeing that side of her made me feel truly relaxed, and I would do anything to protect this atmosphere between the two of us.

Even though it wasn't the play itself doing it, Claire had been right. Doing something together to give the two of us a chance to start over, was really working wonders for us. Our relationship was not going back to the way it was before I confessed to Mia, but it was becoming something new. We were sailing toward uncharted waters, and it had been a long time since I felt so excited to be around a girl. Usually, I became disinterested soon after the conquest. As they say, the chase is better than the catch. It is not that I was in love with those girls. I just gave them a little of what they wanted and took something back in return. Not all of them took it as lightly, but I never promised them anything, so I considered that to be their problem.

Now that I was no longer playing the part of the prince, but of a princess, I thought I would become less popular, but acting like a real lady appeared to be just as effective on the girls, if not even more so. Mia did not take kindly to girls flirting with me, but it was just innocent flirting. She, on the other hand, became really popular too after taking up that knight act, and I knew a large part of my fan club switched to her camp. Some of the girls even squeal while running away whenever they see her.

We changed quickly into the swimsuits that we all wore under our clothes and were ready to get into the water. Mia looked really stunning. She wore a punky black swimsuit that was a net on all the places that did not need to be covered. Which was really sexy and suggestive. I felt a bit out-dressed, and that was at the swimming pool! I wore the tomboyish sports bikini that I always wore. I had not yet taken the time to buy a new more ladylike one. I had to make sure to make up later for looking more manly than Mia here.

Luckily she did not seem to mind. She was preoccupied with stopping a small fight between our two cute mascots. Maura and Fien were having a fight because, for some reason, they were wearing the same swimsuit. A cute marine blue and white swimsuit with a cute skirt-like bottom.

“Did you copy me on purpose?” Fien asked.

“Mom went out to buy this for me yesterday. She told me I would look cute in it.” Maura said apologetically.

Fien seemed a bit upset. It seems like she did not like wearing the same thing as Maura, but I thought it was brilliant to see our mascots wear the same thing. It gave the impression that they belonged together.

Mia tried to settle things, by saying they both looked really cute, but they weren't really listening to her, so I decided to help her. “The two of you fit so perfectly together like that. I guess great minds think alike!” Fien acted still a bit angry, and Maura a bit hopeless, but I could see Fien was playing coy. I had seen that act plenty of times when I was seducing girls. So I whispered to Maura “Don't look at her immediately, because she will think that whatever you're saying, is just repeating what I said. Fien is playing coy, she wants to be complimented. She probably thinks you are outshining her.”

Maura's eyes opened wide. I noticed that she wanted to look at Fien, but then remembered what I said. I noticed Mia was whispering something to Fien. I saw that Mia noticed me staring, so I quickly turned my head. I felt myself blushing. Why couldn't I keep my usual cool? I had enough experience with girls to know I should not act like this, but somehow around Mia that went all down the drain.

Maura went up to Fien and said “That swimsuit looks really good on you. That blue accentuates your blonde hair perfectly! I wish I had such beautiful blonde hair.” Fien looked like she had just taken an uppercut. It was the first time ever that I noticed she did not know what to say.

She took Maura's hand, and said with a little blush “Let's go down the water slide together!” Maura looked back at me, clearly happy with the result, so I gave her a little wink.

Mia walked up to me and took my hand. “Let's follow them!” She said spiritedly. “Yes, we can't let ourselves be outdone by our mascots!” I answered enthusiastically. Strangely focused on Mia's hand that so casually had taken mine.

After all, it was the first time Mia was holding my hand since we were kids, and I could not help but feel a little nervous about it, but for her, it seem to come just naturally. I was being led, that had never happened to me before. When we arrived at the top of the water slide, Maura was being a scaredy-cat and was afraid to go down, but Fien just pushed her in and jumped in immediately after her. We could hear Fien and Maura's screams turn into mutual laughter while they were going down the swirling tubes. When we saw they were far enough Mia sat down and let me take a seat between her legs, and then pushed us down the slide. I was getting more and more nervous. I was not used to being treated like a girl that needed protection, but at the same time, it felt nice. I put my hands around Mia's elbows that were around my waist and enjoyed our slide down.

When we got down, I looked around to find our mascots, to see 2 tall boys standing next to Maura and Fien. Fien was rather fierce in trying to get rid of them, and Maura was hiding behind Fien. If this continued, I would have to interfere, but it seemed like Fien was doing a good job, and I did not want to steal her thunder defending Maura. When one of the boys grabbed Fien's arm, I could feel Mia snap. In under 3 seconds, she stood in front of those boys, pushing the one that grabbed Fien away and telling them to take a hike, while glaring them down. The guy that got pushed fell, and I could see he was pretty angry at being humiliated by a girl. Fien and Maura looked happy with the support, but those boys were not about to let go so easily. I could see by how their muscles were formed that they weren't just normal boys. They were strong and well-trained. Their demeanor changed and became really threatening. I had a bad feeling about this.

I saw one of them turn around, and reach for something in his pocket. He then moved toward Mia with a determined gaze. I was pretty sure he had some kind of weapon. My reflexes kicked in. Before I knew it I was pushing that boy to the ground. Even with all my training, I was having a hard time keeping him down. I noticed it was indeed a knife he was holding. The other boy tried to kick me off of his friend, but Mia surprised him with a hard smack in his gut before he could touch me. Then she picked up the knife and realized what had just happened. It was one of those illegal clip things. For a moment I thought she considered using the knife, to get revenge, but she just stepped to a lifeguard, gave him the knife, and explained what had happened. Seeing the lifeguard, those boys tried to make a run for it, but I kept holding the one that tried to attack us with a knife down, and the lifeguard assured us that the other one would get caught soon.

He took the boy over from me and the second they were gone, I just felt the energy leave my body and started to realize what had just occurred under an adrenaline rush. Even though I rescued Mia, and she had been the one in danger, I was the one who started crying. This could have gone horribly wrong if I had been only a split second later. That was way too close. Mia signaled the two girls to leave us alone for a second, and then she hugged and comforted me. “There there. It is over now,” she said. I felt she was doing her best to stay strong for me because her hands were shaking too. She wiped my tears, got up, offered me her hand, and said “Let's not let a couple of idiots ruin our first date! You saved my life, you can't do much better than that on a date, you know!”

First date? Did she consider this our first date? Is that why I was feeling so nervous up to now? I felt like she was giving me a chance, and God knows, I would take it. I took her hand, she pulled me up into her embrace, gave me a soft kiss on my cheek, and whispered to me, “Thank you, for saving my life.” I was a bit flabbergasted. She was playing me so easily. I looked her in her eyes and felt myself melt. I think she was getting closer to me to kiss me so I leaned in, but then I felt the ground under me move, and before I knew it, Mia and I were in the swimming pool. Mia was laughing. She was really just toying with me. Oh, I would get back at her. We started playing in the water, and soon I saw Fien and Maura followed by all the other girls coming toward us. They had told the other girls what had happened and had gone for help. I noticed the worry on Claire's face. She really was a sweet girl. I always got the feeling that she was someone that really cared about what happened to others. It wasn't fake interest. I hoped Anna realized how lucky she was with a girl like Claire. If Mia wasn't around, I was sure I would have been going after Claire with full force after that date of ours.

When the girls noticed we were fooling around, and both okay, Eve and Therese threw an inflatable mattress in the water and we started playing games with all of us in the water.

It had been a long time since I had just hung out with friends on the weekend. Usually, I just dated, so this feeling was a nice change for me.

Eve and Therese clearly had prepared this, because they came up with all sorts of games involving the mattress.

At one point Mia and I were defending the mattress as a castle, not letting anyone else on, and we were being a little too successful, so the other girls decided to join forces and turn the mattress upside down. Mia and I tumbled into the water and dove right under together.

In the depths of the water where no one could see us, I felt her embrace me tightly from behind. I could feel her breasts against my back After that, she let go and swam back to the surface. I knew what she was doing, she was doing what I used to do with other girls. I felt that she was starting to forgive me, but at the same time, it felt like she was punishing me. She seemed to know every little trick I ever learned. Was she a natural or had she always been watching me that close? She seemed to know all the little moves. I was surprised that my own tricks worked so well on me, even after I recognized them, they were doing exactly what they should. And what was even worse, I was enjoying every little moment of her attention, and only wanted more.