| Fresh

So here I am. At the pool. Holding a Nerf gun. Not knowing what the heck I'm supposed to do with my life.

I mean, Paperjam of all Monsters, the big-time ruthless jock actually invited me to his pool party. And I'm, like, the biggest anime-obsessed instant noodles-eating loser ever. I would definitely stick out like a sore thumb at a place like a party which is for the "cool" kind of people.

Sigh. Never mind that now. My life is as pretty much as upside down as a freaking pudding.

I was wearing the blue swimming trunks I'd brought earlier, shifting nervously from one foot to the other. I was also wearing a loose vest over the trunks.

What? Sue me for not wanting people to see the        ̶h̶u̶n̶d̶r̶e̶d̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶b̶l̶e̶m̶i̶s̶h̶e̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶        my bones, like, seriously.

The other members of PJ's gang were talking and laughing with each other, waiting for their leader to arrive.

Ulk. That sounds wrong. Like PJ's a kingpin. Which, I guess, is technically what he is, since he pretty much rules over the whole school.

Oh, man. I still feel like a misfit here.

'Hey, Freshie!' PJ's adorable little goofball of a brother arrived beside me, a wide smile on his face. He'd taken to calling me that nickname even though we literally just met.

Not that I minded. This guy's the sort of person you'd want to bear-hug the life out of, he's that cute.

'Hi, Cil,' I responded, letting a smile of my own show. 'Coming to join the party?'

'Yup!' he chirped, as happy as a lark. 'PJ didn't let me come at first, because I'm not big enough. Hmph. Then I told him that if he wouldn't let me join in on the fun, I'd...' he grinned impishly and leaned close to the place where my ear would be on my skull, 'show everyone his baby pictures.'

I started to laugh. 'His parents would have done that anyway.' This kid, honestly...

Cil giggled. 'Hey, here he comes! I have an idea. How 'bout the two of us ambush him in the pool?' he suggested, eyes sparkling.

'Okay, Cil,' I chuckled, ruffling the bright mop of pink hair he had. 'You go and have fun.' He nodded and rushed off to join the others at the side of the pool.

It wasn't actually a bad idea. It would be a chance to get one back at that irritating jock.

PJ came over to me. 'Why are you wearing your glasses?'

Oh. Ahem. Right. I forgot about that little detail. And that question of his was extremely rude. I mean, come on, a nerd like me needs his glasses!

Even if you normally don't wear glasses in a pool...

'I'd be blind without them,' I said pointedly, holding the Nerf gun at my side. PJ had slung his over his shoulder and was holding it with one hand.

'Contacts aren't a bad idea,' he retorted, another absolutely annoying smirk beginning to grow on his face.

'Eugh, no. I hate contacts,' I said dismissively. And I did. They're a real pain to clean.

'Whatever, nerd. Just don't cry when I knock them off of your face,' he said arrogantly, walking towards the pool.

I rolled my eyes. 'We'll see about that, jock.'

And indeed, later, PJ had to eat his own words. My glasses stayed resolutely on my face (and no, I hadn't used duct tape or glue or whatever).

The jock dove into the pool with a loud, cheery "Cannonball!", followed by the rest of his gang and me.

(And he sticks the landing! Uh... diving???)

And I, of course, did not waste any time on dilly-dallying, and went straight for the offensive.

I broke the surface of the pool, blinking water out of my eyes as I aimed my Nerf gun and sighted at the jock. And, bam!  The strong jet of water hit him square in the ribs, knocking him off-balance and sending him underwater.

'Ah- ha!' I fist-pumped the air in victory as the dark-boned skeleton surfaced, spluttering, 'Hey, that's-'

Only to be welcomely interrupted by another Nerf gun spray of water, this time from BP's direction.

Okay, that one honestly surprised me. I hadn't even seen him get into the pool. I mean, aren't cats supposed to, you know, be afraid of water?

All this talk of whether cats have acute hydrophobia or not aside, Burgerpants hit PJ directly in the face, sending him into a soaked, indignant and coughing mess. The rest of his group looked on and laughed, shooting each other with more jet sprays.

'Oh, now you're in for it, nerd!' PJ had a devilish smirk on his face as he grabbed his gun and shot mine right out of my hand!

Oh. My. Dear. StarClan. I. Am. So. Dead.

PJ immediately started swimming after me, giving me no time to get my Nerf gun which was bobbing on the surface of the water. I squeaked as I turned tail and swam for my life.

'Retreat! Retreat!' I yelled to Cil, swimming like a gosh darn torpedo. The water was getting in my eyes, and droplets of it were covering my glasses, which obviously didn't help one bit.

'There's always a backup plan, soldier!' Cil yelled back, grinning with a glint in his eye eerily similar to that of his brother. He had overtaken PJ and gotten my gun!

Oh, thank the Lord.

He squirted PJ with water full in the face and then tossed my gun to me, saluting with an impish smile.

'Thanks, Cil,' I saluted back, feeling adrenaline rush through my body along with a sense of silly giddiness. Man, this party was fun. Not to mention the upbeat music that PJ had cranked up the volume of earlier. There were loudspeakers everywhere, but obviously placed at a good distance away from the pool and water that was death to electronic machines.

'Oh no you don't!' Undyne shouted, laughing as she shot water at me, which I quickly avoided by diving underwater.

'Hah! Missed me, Fish-face!' I hollered, bobbing back up. I aimed my next shot at her, but missed. Guess she's got the advantage, being the only fish in the group.

I loosed off a few more shots, managing to hit the bull's-eye with Burgerpants, Skater Girl, and of course, PJ. I also managed to speedily evade quite a few well-aimed attacks, which made me feel pretty proud of myself (ahem).

At last, tired out, all of us trudged inside for some well-deserved lunch.

Man, I should really go to more pool parties like this one. Talk about having a whale of a time.