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Leona sat on the tree stump in the Aegia Park near her house. It was where she always sat when she decided to think about something, as rare as that is. Her boyfriend, Thad, stood with their small group of friends near a center table. They were leaving her alone so she could clear her mind. She had nothing to think about. That fact did not stop her from wanting to think about something. So, she decided to watch her friends chat without her. It was one of her very favorite pass times.

Thad had just shoved a Cheeto up each nose. Selena, Leona's best friend, burst out in her bubbley laughter. Her brown hair fell into her face while she batted her eyelashes at Rod, the group's jock. Pan and Yassen were sitting on top of the table chatting away about something. In all, it looked like an everyday hangout for them. Leona began to wonder if something new was going to happen.

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Baylee skipped past everyone else, giggling erupting past her bubbly pink lips. Lyn followed after in a much less excited fashion, her hands stuffed into her jacket pockets and died black hair with red streaks being blown lazily out of her face. Cade strolled along side her, trying to nudge the quiet female into talking by chatting about something that had happened to him the other day.

"Mmm, just look! It's nice and cloudy."

"Most people would think that would be depressing, Bay." Drake laughed and shook his head, reaching up to run a hand through his dark dirty blond hair that was probably dyed.

"But it's shady," she replied, giggling and twirling around to where her braid went flying and nearly hit Drake in the face. He managed to jerk back and grabbed the braid, pulling on it gently. "Ow! Hey, let g- aww, our table is taken."

"I'm sure that they're willing to share." Lyn responded in monotone, walking up to Baylee and leaning over to see who had taken their usual spot. Cade "hmm"ed and absently pulled on his zipped, drawing it up and down and listening to the sound it was making. He opened his mouth to say something but Lyn walked forward and took a seat right beside a random person. She looked back at the others and motioned her head, swinging her legs around the seat so that she could lean on the table. "Cass, did you bring the drinks?"

"Pop for everyone." Cade responded, running up and jumping up onto the table. He set his feet on the seat where he was supposed to sit, setting the bag he'd been holding down and twisting his body to look at the people who'd previously been preoccupying the spot alone. "Any of you like soda? We've got plenty." Lyn ruffled through the bag and pulled out a red can, stood up, and then walked over to a tree and sat down beneath it. Baylee ran up and quickly stole her spot, smiling warmly.

"Hi! I'm Baylee! That's Lyn, this is Cade, and the slowpoke over there is Drake. You can call me Bay or Lee or maybe something that's like, Aylee. I don't think that I've been called Aylee, actually! Hey Cade, can I have that one? I've never tried it before. So what are your guys' names?"

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Selena’s laughter grew louder as Thad proceeded to try and shove one more Cheeto up each nostril. “You’re such an idiot, Thad!” She said with a shaky voice after her laughter subsided. Thad was too distracted to reply back with anything word worthy, so he just concentrated on the Cheetos. The two Russians in the group stopped talking to watch the normalcy happening. Pan was closer to Selena and Thad, so it was Yassen who noticed the approach of a few new comers.

It was the word “Pop” that brought Selena’s and Thad’s attention over to the new group. As an automatic reaction to the word Thad said extremely loud, “I’ll have one!” It took him a moment to realize why he sounded like he was sick. He then quickly removed the Cheetos, but not with out crumbling half of them on his face. Selena threw a napkin at him and turned to look at the others in time to get their names.

Her eyes quickly locked onto all of the guys in the group, scanning each one to see if she might be able to snag a date or two from one of them. Her eyes settled on the one Baylee named as Cade. Immediately, she stood and walked over to him. “Hey,” she said in what she hoped was a seductive voice, “You’re cute. You have a girlfriend?”

“Selena!” Pan and Thad said at the same time. Yassen just mumbled one word in Russian, “Шлюха.” This earned him a kick from Pan. He shrugged his shoulders and took the role of spokesman. His Russian accent leaked through, though it was simple enough to understand him. “I am Yassen. This one is Pan. The,” he paused trying not to say a mean word, “Blondie there is Selena. He is Thad. And Leona is over there on the tree stump.” He nodded his head towards her and looked just to make sure she was ok. He stated one word after that. “s**t.” Thad looked too and realized what was happening. “How did he get out? Why does he always go for her when he knows she is frightened of him?”

Leona wanted to stand up and stretch. There was just one key factor stopping her. Right in front of her squawking like nothing in the world could be wrong was a Thad’s Mallard, Drake. The little birds were her one odd fear. She had no reason to fear them, but she did. That is why when little Drake stopped squawking; it put her farther on edge. She had already moved to a sitting in air/standing position when the drake turned his head to the side and squawked again. Leona bolted. She did not care where she was going as long as the place was high. As it turns out, the high place for Leona was the tree Lyn was sitting underneath.

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"Eeew, is that a cheeto?" Baylee's nose curled but she couldn't help but let out small fits of giggles. They increased when Thad crumbled some of the cheetos on his face, an action that made Cade snort and choke on the soda he'd been trying to drink. He looked up with water rimming his eyes at Selena, beating loudly on his chest in an attempt to get some of the pop that had gone done the wrong tube out. Drake gave one good-sized smack to Cade's back as he finally walked up, causing the other male to cough loudly. But, after that cough, he cleared his throat and wiped the tears from his eyes. He grinned up at Selena and held his hand out for her to shake.

"Hmm, I might be." He answered in a small chuckle, his voice a little raspy from just choking. "Uuh... Serena?"

"Selena, genius." Drake stuck in before cracking open one of the cans and starting to chug it.

"Lemme see, Yassen, Pan, and- oh, it's a duck!" Baylee blinked in surprise before standing up and making an odd squeal. "Lyn! Lyn!"

Lyn had her hood drawn up, sitting peacefully while looking dreamily up at the sky. Normally she would've just ignored Baylee, but the urgency in the normally air-headed girl's voice made her jerk her head up just in time to see a girl running strait towards her. Lyn pushed herself up off from the ground and saw that the girl was running from a duck- wasn't that a mallard or something?- and probably heading for the tree. Lyn pushed herself up and took a few quick steps forward, pursing her lips before holding her hand out for Leona to grab. Dear god, it was just a duck. Oh well, she'd used to be terrified of pool drains when she'd been a little girl.

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Thad shrugged, wiping the Cheetos off of his face. He grabbed a soda and copied Drake. Selena giggled with her hand covering her mouth. She grinned and sat on the table. The grin faulted a little when he said Serena. It fixed itself again after a few seconds. “Serena is- was my twin sister. She can rot in hell.” She grabbed an orange soda. “Thanks for the soda!” She proceeded to sip at the drink as if nothing was happening.

Pan shook her head at everything and watched Yassen closely. She had a feeling she knew what he was about to offer. He hated that duck as much as Leona feared it. He did not fail her. “I could kill the little beast and it won’t cause anyone anymore problems.” Pan then stood and kicked Yassen in the stomach. She walked off to stand next to Drake. Yassen, who was used to Pan attacking him just rubbed his belly and moaned a little.

“No!” Thad screeched through the liquid. He dropped it and ran to protect his favorite pet while coughing up soda. By the time Thad got the duck under control, Leona grabbed Lyn’s hand and hid behind her. Tears streamed down her face from embarrassment and fear. Maybe a little bit of shame in there too. “Can’t you keep that duck away from me, Thad?” her voice was shaky, but loud enough for him to hear. He turned crimson. “HE is a DRAKE, people! DUCKS are the females! God!” He stormed off to his car. Yassen tried renewing his offer, but stopped when Pan glared at him. Instead, he focused his attention on Baylee. “Hello. We can call you Aylee, yes?”

Leona peeked over Lyn’s shoulder to see if Thad was taking the duck away. As she saw that he was, she sighed and rested her head on Lyn’s back.

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'Wow, scary.' Cade thought to himself as Selena made the remark about her sister. 'Riiight, no hitting on her.' "Huh? Oh yeah, no prob." He waved his hand and turned to watch as a scene unfolded involving... a duck? "Did she get attacked by a duck when she was a little girl or something?" He knew that sometimes things from a childhood could effect things like that. Lyn had admitted once that she'd been afraid of drains as a little girl and she didn't like to swim. Maybe she just didn't like the water, though....

"Wow! Violent." Drake laughed at the sudden act of hitting appeared in front of him, turning his head to take a glance at the duck that was causing such a racket. "Yasso- I mean Yassen, right? I'm Drake, if you didn't catch it before." He stuck his hand out for the other man to shake, trademark smile appearing. "You from Germany or something?" There was some kind of an accent coming through but he couldn't tell exactly what it was. He wasn't really a pro at these sort of things. But whatever it was, it definitely wasn't Irish or English. "Hmm... what about Russian?" Yeah, yeah, that was good. "It's either German or Russian! Am I right?"

"Mm? Oh, yeah! You can me Aylee!" Baylee said right after Drake had finished speaking, practically bounced in her seat, feet swinging at an alarming rate. Then she turned her head, batting her eyelashes while her eyebrows lifted up. "Oooo! Is that a duck?" With no hesitation she leapt to her feet, almost spilling the soda that she'd been handing on Cade's pants before chasing after Thad.

"Did someone give her sugar?" Cade asked with a lifted eyebrow, rubbing the stubble that he had on his chin while he checked to see if there were any spots on his pants.

"She had like a huge thing of ice cream before I picked her up from campus." Drake answered, laughing for a few seconds before continuing. "Seriously, someone needs to keep her away from the stuff. Soda pop ain't helpin', either, Cade. Did you bring so much on purpose?"

"Welll... it's funny to watch Bay go crazy on a sugar high."

Lyn's fingers tightened around the girl's and she only glanced over to watch as she hid behind her. The duck was coming closer and she drew her leg back to kick it (ducks could be vicious little bastards), up until someone ran forward and grabbed the duck. The duck, it seemed, belonged to him. The duck was gone soon enough, but the girl who'd decided to hide behind her didn't move. Instead she felt a pressure on her back, something that Lyn could only guess was her head or her hand. It was kind of... awkward, so Lyn had to be silent for a few moments to try and think up of what to do. She wasn't sure if she should just let the girl stand there or if she should say something- Baylee would've been better suited for something like this, not her. "Ah... so you're afraid of ducks?" 'Damn it.' Of course she just had to state the obvious, as if that wasn't clear already. "My name is Lyn."

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‘Damn! Lost another one.’ Every time she spoke of her sister, this sort of thing always happened. Selena put down her coke to watch the scene. She might be able to use it in one of the plays she has to write. “No. Sometimes I wish she was, though. It’d make more sense that way.” She replied to Cade’s question. She grinned at him trying to get another shot at him, but was backing away from the group sub-consciously. Her mind already knew what might happen to Drake’s question. Though, it did not happen the way her sub-conscious thought.

Yassen’s attention snapped to Drake before the word Germany came out of his mouth. His head tilled to the left, kind of like the way dogs do it. He took a deep breath to try and calm his over active anger. He was seeing counseling for it, but it was not working out. The counselor seemed to make him angrier from when he walks in to the time he walks out. The one thing he hated more than that counselor was Germans. Well, the mention of them anyways. He was about to comment angrily, but Pan beat him to the punch. “Russian,” She stated nicely, sending one of her meanest glares at Yassen, “We are Russian.” In a quieter tone to Drake, she added, “Please refrain from saying Germany near him. It has something to do with his experience in Russia. I was born in America when he was five. I don’t know what happened and I don’t want to ask our parents.” She glanced at Yassen who was watching Baylee run to get Thad. “I think it’s because of all the inbreeding.” After that, she giggled at her little joke.

Thad paused at his car door to look back at the others. He saw that someone was running after him. ‘Oooh. It’s a chick. I can see the hooters from all the way over he-‘ He coughed trying to clear the thoughts from his mind. He had a girlfriend for goodness sake! He opened the back door and threw Drake into the car as he waited for the girl to show up. He closed the door and was able to see that it was Baylee. “Hey!” He waved, “How is everything over there?” He asked.

Leona lifted her had to look at Lyn, but found she was staring at the back of her head. She jumped back in surprise and started babbling off apologies. She felt like a coward. Hiding behind someone she didn’t know. Though, it was very nice of them to let her. As she thought about it, she calmed down enough to reply. “Yes. I’m afraid of them. I have no idea why,” She laughed almost comfortably, “It’s nice to meet you, Lyn. I’m Leona. You can call me Leo, if you want.” She stopped talking, unsure of what else she should say. Then she remembered her manners a little. “Thank you. For letting me hid behind you. It was very nice of you.”

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Cade blinked, lifting up an eyebrow while he took another deep drink from his soda. Damn, this stuff was good. A cheap too, which was the most important part. It wasn't as good as the regular brand stuff, but the store branded types were good too. And cheaper. Which made them even better. Anything that tasted good and had a low price tag was good for him. "Sucks man, ducks are pretty funny to watch." Oh well, everyone had their own weird fears. Kinda like maybe, being afraid of heights or the dark... yeah. Duck fears fit in with heights and darkness. Uh... somehow.

"Huh? Oh, right, gotcha..." Drake answered and nodded slowly, looking between the girl and the boy. He had issues, but damn it, he was really hot. And that accent was pretty cute, too. He seemed nice enough, too. Good. 'Just don't mention Germany and everything would be fine.' Drake slid off of the table to sit down on the bench, leaning on an elbow and smiling and looking between Yassen and Pan. "Alright, I got it. So, anyway, where are you two from? Are you siblings or something? Me and my buddies come from the university on the other side of town."

"Over there? Where?" Lee's eyes grew wider and she turned to look back. She giggled and then looked back at him, shaking her head. "Oh! It's just fine. Lyn is being tough and everything and ooh is that a duck?" She hopped over and leaned over to look through the car window and at the duck. "Ooh, how cute! How could anyone be so scared of such a thing? And I'm Baylee, but you can call me Bay or Lee or Aylee or anything that you can come up with; I like just about anything. And I forget what your name was- am I talking a lot? I had a lot of sugar before I came here because the ice cream was looking really good and I knew that I shouldn't have had so much because I get on sugar highs and people tell me that I talk a lot but I couldn't resist because it was so good looking and delicious and all." She stopped and took in a deep breath before turning on her heels to look at him. "I'm sorry, I totally lost track. What was your name again? Chad or something?"

"That's a nice name." Lyn answered softly, turning her torso to look at Leona. She brought up a long, thin finger to brush back some of the hair that was in her eyes. "Ah, so..." what to say now? She honestly couldn't think of anything. So instead she held her soda out to Leona, blinking slowly. "Here. It's uh, for you."

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”Uh, hello?” Selena asked into her phone. It started to ring as soon as Cade began to speak. “Honey, come home. We have a surprise for you.” It was her mother. Selena made a face, pulled the phone quickly away, nearly yelled ‘Ugh!’ before moving the phone back to her ear. In the sweetest voice she could muster, she said, “As you say, mother. I will be right there. Bah-bye, kiss-kiss.” Click. Selena chugged the last of the soda in her hand and tossed the can into the recycle that just so happened to be right next to her. She then burped so loud, Thad could hear it echoing. She thought, ‘Hell, I’m not getting a date anytime soon by acting sweet. Screw it. All men suck.’ She waved to all her friends and nodded to the ones she just met. “The mother wants me to be home. You guys better show up at my basketball game. Two o’clock tomorrow. Later.” With that, she trotted off to her house.

Pan was laughing so hard, she could not hear Drake. Instead, she fell over to her side at Cade’s feet. It was so like Selena to switch from “I-am-a-totally-sweet-innocent-blonde-chick-that-everyone-wants-to-date” to “I-can-out-man-any-guy-any-day-of-the-week-chick”. The Russian girl believes she would never find it any lease funny. That left Yassen, who shook his head at Selena, to answer Drake’s questions. He turned to him and spoke, “We live just a block from here. The purple house with red trim. Parents painted it.” Yassen moved down onto the bench with Drake. “We are siblings. She is two years younger than me. She does not act it, does she? Always hitting me.” As if just remembering it, he lifted up his shirt to look at his stomach. There was a medium bruise forming right in the middle of his ‘Usher’ abs. He looked at it a moment or two before deciding it was good to leave alone. “Anyways, you are in the university? Really?” Yassen’s eyes lit up a little at the thought of the school.

”Lyn…? Oh!” Thad mumbled a little. “That’s good.” He watched her ramble on about whatever she was rambling about. He wasn’t paying attention. The only thing he really concentrated on was her lips. How they formed each amazing word. Their fullness and slightly wet look. It made him want to kiss them so badly. But no! He had a girlfriend already. ‘Be gone thoughts! I banish ye!’ he screamed in his mind. Sadly, it was not working for him. In the end, he gave up and just watched her lips move in a daze. He only snapped out of it when she stopped talking. “Uh. Huh? What?” He asked. He mentally hit himself for sounding so idiotic.

Leona blushed, though she had no idea why. Lyn was a quiet person, but not in a bad way. Leona was already starting to like her. Her eyes locked onto the soda that was being offered up to her. She looked back up to Lyn and quickly looked off to the side toward the group. Her blush deepened into a darker color. “Well, uh. I…” She looked down at the ground in her lose for words. “Th-thank you.” She took the soda in her hands and wondered what she should do. She had never been unsure of what to say to someone before, much less another girl! After a few more moments, she got up the courage to say something else. “Can I,” She brought her eyes up to Lyn’s for the remainder of her question, “sit with you?”

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Even Cade had to say that the way that the chick was switching faces so quickly creeped him out a bit. Only girls could do that, honestly. 'She knows how to belch it out...' he turned his head to watch as she walked off, cocking an eyebrow before reaching up and pulling off the beanie that he had on his head. He sat up and grabbed another soda, cracking it up and setting his empty can on the table. "Basketball, huh?"

Drake listened to what Yassen was saying, the corners of his mouth curling up for a smile. Not only was he cute, but he also seemed to be really nice too. 'Sweet...' he nodded, blinking while he tried to think about if he'd seen the house before. It sounded pretty familiar, and he was sure that he'd seen it at least once. He and his group had been just about everywhere in this place. Drake leaned over and blinked as the muscular abs, averting his eyes and covering his mouth. He coughed, trying to stop himself from the blush he knew was about to form. 'Either this guy is hitting on me really hard or he's totally oblivious.' He wiped his forehead and licked his suddenly dried lips. "...Huh?" He blinked and looked up at Yassen's rather innocent looking face. "Oh, right! Yeah, university..." he nodded a little stupidly and then his face lit up. 'Crap! I need to answer him...' "oh um, yeah, we're all from the university. I'm an undecided major, still trying to figure out what I'm going to do... Cade's in business and foreign trade stuff, Baylee is into studying old things and Lyn is going into some type of law enforcement. Ice kind of girl." He nodded and rolled the soda he was holding around in his hands. "So, um, what do you do? Are you in the university? Dating?"

"Oh, you weren't listening? Well that's okay! I was just talking a lot." Baylee smiled and bobbed her head, bouncing a little bit on her heels. "Oh! Do you wanna have a soda? Chad or Drake I don't remember who- they brought a lot, like an entire bag full! It's really good."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure; whatever." Lyn nodded and gestured to the tree before glancing over to where the sodas were. "Go ahead and sit. I'll be back." Lyn waved before walking over to the table and pulling out a random soda from the bag. She checked to see what it was before opening it and then walked back over to the tree, glancing over at Drake. 'Looks like he's found his dream date...' she shook her head before taking a seat beside Leona. She leaned against the tree trunk and grabbed her hood, pulling it off of her head and letting out a puff of cold, frosted air.

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Pan was able to calm down enough to breath properly after three minutes of pure laughter. Dispite how unemotional she looked at times, she was the easiest to make laugh in the group. She sat up slowly to wipe the tears from her eyes. The black haired girl was just barely able to herar Cade's statement, question. "Yes. She has been playing it for about ten years now." Pan sighed loudly and stood up on shaky knees. "She is really good, actually. Her attitude swings are strange, but she can be a fun person." Pan fully recovered at her last statement. She sat next to the soda can Cade put on the table. She said nothing as she began to watch him continue to drink his soda. Her phone rang once and she pulled it out and opened it in a flash. She spoke in Russian and listened a few moments. She said something else and closed her phone. "Yassen! You have a letter from the University. Mother wants you to come home now. Oh, and we can bring everyone just as long as we get there in five minutes." Pan then went back to staring at Cade.

Yassen leaned closer to Drake to not miss a word he was saying. He was so happy he found someone close to his age, maybe, that went to the university. He'd been wanting to go there since the day they moved into the small town. Not that small anymore, but still. Maybe he could finally talk to someone about the school. Drake seemed willing enough. 'Undecided major.' Yassen thought in his mind, 'I wonder why that is.' Yassen had a small smile at what everyone was trying to major in. They sounded like they were a interesting group to be near. "Me? I'm not in the university. I wish I was." Yassen leaned back away from Drake because he had gotten really close. He blushed a little because he had near done that before. "I'm still waiting on the answer to my application to enter." Yassen looked over at Drake. "I'm not dating anyone. I'm not sure if I will. I have to find out about the university first. I want to major in anthropology and cytotechnology." Yassen heard his sister speak to their mother over the phone. He jumped up with a grin on his face at the news. Their mother never let them bring anyone over. She must have opened the letter and read it. That meant only one thing could have happend, he was in. "Да!" He turned to Drake. "Do you want to come over? We have a hot tub everyone can go in."

Thad smiled at Baylee. 'She talks too much, but she's cute. Gah! Bad thought.' He began walking back to the group. "Sure. Do you guys have coke?" He said trying to act smooth after the cheetoes feasco.

Leona nodded and sat down at the tree. She watched Lyn grab her soda and come back. 'Wow, she is really good looking.' Leona thought and blushed a little bit more. To try and get her mind off of Lyn, she watched Yassen and Drake. Yaaen was being very energetic with Drake. It was an odd sight, but it was even more oddly soothing. Maybe it was just Lyn beside her. "They would make a cute couple." She said, not knowing she said it aloud.

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Drake grinned, raising his hand excitedly as he heard what Yassen said. "I could show you around the university! Personal tour." He nodded before lowering his hand, rubbing them together despite the fact that Yassen had said that he currently wasn't interested in dating. It was a shame, but then again, Yassen was probably strait. He raised his head, eyes growing wide as he heard the words "hot tub." Hell. Yes. "Oi! Guys! Let's go to Yassen's! He's got a hot tub!"

"You've got funny stuff all over your face," she giggled loudly, hiding her mouth behind her hands before nodding. "Oh yeah! Definitely, Cade can't go a day without the stuff. Wait, hot tub? I'm sooo in!" She bounced before running past the male she was talking to and over to the others.

"I suppose so." Lyn answered quietly before lifting the soda can up to her lips and taking a long sip from it. The fizzy bubbles burned idly at her tongue and throat as she swallowed it, glancing at the girl that was sitting beside her. 'This is fantastic. Why, oh why, must I like girls? Of all things... could've been asexual....' She sighed and set her can down, eyes lowering momentarily as she heard Drake's announcement. "...Hot tub?" Her eyebrow rose, showing that her interest had been peeked. She pushed herself up from the ground, happy to just a little bit farther away from the other girl. "Are you coming?"

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Pan stood up next to Cade with a grin on her face. Then she grabbed a coke and popped it open as she started walking backwards. She knew where she was going. All the while, she stared at Cade some more, knowing that it was a good way to freak someone out. Apparently her stare was unsettling to most people. She enjoyed that little power of hers.

Yassen glanced at his sister trying to unnerve Cade. Really, she could be so dominating sometimes. The Russian shook his head at her trying to get her to take the hint. It did not work. So, Yassen began walking too. As he walked he replied to Drake. "A tour would be great." He turned slightly to see if Drake was following him. The others in the group would follow as they pleased. Yassen grinned in anticipation. Forgetting his anger at being called a German and at that damn duck of Thad's. If Yassen was accepted into the University, he would be on his way to his dream job.

Thad's hands flew to his face as he followed the group. There were still some Cheetos crumbs on his face. He brushed them off the best he could, but knew it wouldn't work. 'Yassen's place?' Thad thought as he watched Baylee's back. Man, he really needed to stop with his staring. He had a girlfriend! Who hated his drake. Baylee liked it on the other hand...

Leona sipped the soda Lyn gave her to try and hide her blush. She had not meant to say that out loud! Leo looked up at Lyn just as Lyn was glancing at her. She turned her eyes to the ground, afraid to look into the other girl's eyes. They were so beautiful! Like diamonds in light even if it was cloudy. Leo heard the words and felt the absence of an other human body. She stood up and nodded to Lyn, not trusting her voice to say the right words. She followed slightly after Lyn. What was she thinking? What would Thad say if he heard her thoughts?! And over another girl! Leona shook her head and pushed those thoughts aside. Yassen's hot tub would definitely help her now. She needed to relax.

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Cade definitely didn't miss the staring that the- what was her name? 'Crap, I forgot it already. I hope she doesn't notice.' He looked up at her and blinked before looking around him to see if she was looking at something else. When he realized that she was looking at him he turned to face forward and blinked again. "Do you uh, need something?"

When Yassen rose up from his chair Drake did as well. A bit too eager to those who were watching carefully. Which, in fact, Lyn was. The girl quirked an eyebrow as she looked between her friend and the Russian. She hurried her pace to catch up with them (and, in a little of her mind, to get a bit farther away from Leona) and as soon as she was close enough she grabbed Drake's arm. He nearly jumped in his skin and swore as his head jerked to face her. "What!? s**t, you scared me."

"I saw. What about bathing suits?"

"Bathing what- oh. Shoot. I guess you don't keep yours on you do you?" Drake asked as he ran a hand through his hair. Lyn only gave him a spectacle look before replying with, "do you?"

"Uh, no. Good point. Okay!" He clapped his hands together before moving back over to Yassen. "I'm going to take everyone back to our places really fast so that we can grab our bathing suits. I'm pretty sure I know where your house is, so we'll be over in like an hour, okay? Okay! Back into the car, everyone!"

Drake burst into an excited run back to where his car was. Lyn followed quickly behind, although she didn't actually run. The pair were the first to the car and Lyn quickly snagged the front seat as soon as the doors were unlocked. As soon as the pair were inside Lyn twisted in her seat to face him. "Drake."

"What?"

"You're making a puppy dog face."

"...What?"

"Yassen. You've been giving him googly eyes."

"Oh! Well, yeah... he's kind of... y'know... and the accent. Have you heard him, y'know, talk?"

"Yes. Just don't fall head over heels, please."

"Okay, okay. I won't."

"I mean it," Lyn stated as she reached out and punched him in the arm. "Last time you looked at someone like that so fast-"

"Yes, yes, I get it. Learned my lesson once," this sentence came out as a mutter between gritted teeth as he stuck his key in the ignition and turned the car on. "He's probably got a girlfriend anyway, though. Guys who look and talk like that are always strait. You women get the good ones, I swear."

"You can keep them to yourself."

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Pan sighed as she saw that her ploy did not work. She sipped her coke as she still continued to walk backwards. She watched him glance behind himself and asked her if she needed anything. "No." She said. She moved her eyes to her brother and Drake. She grinned again.

Yassen paused in his walking to listen to Drake. He had not thought about that. The Russian nodded his head to show that he understood. He stood still for a short moment to watch them go, then he turned his attention to Thad.

Thad was pulled from his thoughts when he felt Yassen's stare. Nervously he said, "What? There's no Cheetos still on my face, is there?" He brushed his hands on his face to check. Yassen shook his head in a negative. "We can walk to my home from here. Do you want to take your car back to your house?" He glances over to the older car and frowned. "After all, you do still have that like...drake to care of."

Thad glanced at his car and agreed. Then he made his decision. "Look, I have an essay to finish. I'll just head home, ok guys?' He turned and left.

Leona frowned after him, but said nothing. Well, she had lots to think about now and she did not want to anymore. She caught up with the Russian siblings. "Hey, Pan. Can I borrow one of your swim suits?" Pan nodded before Leo finished her sentence. "Thanks. I'll go on ahead. I want to stop by the store." With that, she left them to walk to their home alone.

They watched her as she retreated in the direction of the convenient store. Pan was the first to speech. "You were getting pretty close to him." Yassen rolled his eyes and started walking again. Their home was only a block or two from where they were. "He goes to the university. You know I've wanted to go there since we moved here."

"So? You've went on at least five tours of the place. What do you say to that, hmmm?"

Yassen blushed and sped up his walk. "So? None of those tours were given by a student."

This time, Pan rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright. But just to let you know." Pan leaned towards Yassen and spoke in Russian. "It's ok to admit that you like guys." She began running home and yelled over her shoulder. "After all, mom and dad already know."

Yassen frowned as his blush deepened, but said nothing as he ran after his younger sister

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As soon as the whole team was back in the car the car was moving. Drake made a beeline for the university. As soon as they were there they all headed for their dormitory, Baylee chattering excitedly about Yassen's house the entire time.

Drake, however, drove to where his own small apartment was. It took him a few minutes to sort through the crap that was scattered all around his room before he finally located his swimming trunks- right where they were supposed to be, ironically. He sighed in irritation before he quickly changed so that he was still wearing all of his clothes but the swimming trunks were right underneath. It made it easier than going into a stranger's bathroom and changing.

He returned to the university and was just opening his phone up to call the others up went his passenger door suddenly opened. For the second time that day he jumped out of his skin as Lyn sat down and then turned to look at him. "What?"

"U-uh, nothing, you just uh, yeah, s-scared me..." he coughed as he scratched his head, peering at the window past her to see if anyone else was there. "Where're the other two?"

"Cade suddenly remembered that he had a report to do and Lee will be here in a mo-"

"Hi guys! I'm here!" Said girl burst into the backseat, practically bouncing. "Okay, lets go!"

"Are you buckled?"

"Okay, fine. Buckling..."

Drake laughed before starting the car back up. He backed out and then began driving to where Yassen's house was. For once Drake's intuition had been right and the place where he'd thought the Russian's house was, in fact, where it was. He grinned to himself as they all climbed out and went for the front door. Baylee was ahead of them, braid and towel around her waist bouncing. She was clad in nothing much but her bikini. Lyn, however, looked the same as Drake and he could only guess that she was hiding her bathing suit underneath her clothes.

"Hello, we're here!" Baylee announced as she ran up to the door and started knocking on it. "Drake, Lyyyn! You guys are like, totally being slow! Hurry up!"

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Pan and Yassen got to their home before Leona did. As they entered, their mother rushed straight to Yassen and handed him his letter. She spoke so quickly in Russian that even the siblings could not understand her. So, Pan walked their mother into the kitchen to let Yassen read the letter. He indeed, was accepted into the university. "Yes!" Yassen exclaimed as he went to his room. He was finally going to be able to go. He placed the letter on his smudge-less dresser and changed into his swimming trunks.

When he returned downstairs, Pan was already in her favorite red one-piece. "Mom and dad have a business meeting. They had to rush, but they wanted you to know that we will celebrate when they get back. They'll be back sometime tomorrow." Pan grinned at him. Then she went and got their large hot tub started. There was a knock on the door. "Come it, Leona." Yassen said loudly as he entered the kitchen to pull out some snack foods and drinks.

Leona walked into the peculiar Russian home like she was never there before. She carried two large grocery bags filled with candy and Yassen's favorite drink. She cautiously moved into the house after she closed the door. Once she saw that Lyn and the others weren't there, she relaxed a little more. She followed Yassen to the hot tub with their food and liquids. They placed them on an outdoor table that was next to it. Pan was already lounging in the tub. Yassen rolled his eyes and went to go wait for the other group. "My other swim suit is in the top drawer." Pan said, waving Leona in the direction of her room.

Leona nodded and went to go get changed. It turns out, Pan's other swim suit was bright pink and a bikini. Leona stared at it in angst. 'My, god...And Pan wore this before?' Leo thought to herself. 'Ah, well, beggars can't be choosers.' She slipped it on and found that it was just ever so slightly small on her. She signed and went down the stairs. Just as she did, she heard "Hello, we're here!" and knocking. Yassen was opening the door as Leo was at the bottom of the stairs. She waved at their new friends before she wrapped her armed around her middle and hurried to the tub.

"The tub's ready. The bathroom is the first door on the right, past the kitchen. The tub is just down this hall." Yassen smiled at them, waving them in like it was normal to have people over.

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