Splashes (open)

[Jordan Applegate]

Jordan's head was half-submerged in the pool water; his eyes were firmly shut against the chill, even if he could still hear the echoed chatter of the rest of the class as they swam, splashed and yelled at each other. Sadly, although he tried not to, he could also hear his sister blubbing beside him; being her usual weird-ass self.

When she fell silent, Jordan turned to see what she was doing, inhaling a large amount of pool water chlorine as he did so. "You're going to turn into a bloody cuttlefish if you keep up that light show." He grumbled before half-submerging his head again. The cold water on the nape of his neck was helping him stay awake.

Iris bobbed back above the water from where she had been slowly changing colors within its depth. "I'd rather be a cuttlefish than a crab, Pillow-Boy." She muttered before dropping under the water once again and slowly switching colors; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and back to red again. A single bubble of air escaped her lips and she kicked herself to the surface, spitting water and spluttering.

Jordan held onto the edge of the pool with one hand, smirking at his sister. "That's what you get for being stupid, Glowstick." He jibed, raising an arm to defend himself from the splashes of water which soon followed. He splashed back. Thus, a full-out war began

After a good couple of minutes of frantic splashing and the yelling on insults that only they could understand, Jordan abruptly halted and froze like a deer in headlights. His sister frowned and glanced behind her and gave a gleeful chortle before slinking back under the water; leaving her brother to face the wrath of the fellow student whom he had splashed.

[Paul Wilkerson]

Paul stood at the edge of the pool. He looked down at the crystal clear water. If Paul didn’t get in the water, he was going to nope the hell out of there. He wasn’t afraid of water. He didn’t know how to swim and that made the water intimidating. Paul some how got out of taking swim lessons last summer. Paul most certainly will not take swim lessons with little kids. That would be totally embarrassing. So Paul was going to attempt to teach himself.

With a deep sigh Paul went over to the ladder. The pool wasn’t busy like it would be in the summer days. Paul could keep his secret. But, there were enough people around to help Paul in case he ended up drowning.

Paul entered the cool water. He was able to stand. So far so good. Paul stayed close to the side of the pool. He kept one hand on the side the whole time. A couple of students were having a ball by splashing each other. Paul thought he was out of the way of the splashing, but he still ended up getting splashed.

He pressed his lips together. He wasn’t angry at the person who splashed him. He just wasn’t pleased with the guy. Paul looked at the guy, “Thanks.”

[Jordan Applegate]

Jordan carefully watched the guy he had splashed. You can never tell how some people would react to certain things; some people would screech, some would laugh and splash back and some would go ape-shit crazy and start trying to drown you. Should the latter occur, Jordan was more than prepared to make a desperate, but surprisingly quick, dash to safety.

He glanced down for his sister, spotting her some way off; her glowing self freaking some other students out by pretending to be some sort of drowned ghost. What a weirdo. Jordan's attention flicked back to the splash-victim as he spoke.

"Thanks."

Ah, a sarcastic response. Not as wanted as a splash-backer but definitely more preferable to a drowner.

Jordan wasn't quite sure how to respond to that kind of response but, instead of responding, he decided to ask on something that had caught his attention. "Why are you clinging to the edge of the pool?" Jordan asked with a hint of suspicion to his voice.

[Paul Wilkerson]

Through glaring eyes Paul watched the guy who splashed him. The guy looked away for a moment. Wonderful, this guy was someone who was going to dart off like nothing happened without saying anything. But the guy stayed and posed a question.

Paul’s glaringness and unpleasantness disappeared in a blink of an eye. “I’m not clinging!” Paul snapped. Paul didn’t mean to snap at the guy. “I mean, I’m just hanging out. Just chilling.” He tried to play it cool. He rested his forearms on the edge of the pool like he was totally cool and not clinging for dear life. Hopefully, this guy wasn’t on to Paul’s secret. If he was then Paul would to have to get rid of him. Or at least in Paul’s head would.

[Jordan Applegate]

Jordan slowly raised an eyebrow at the apparent attitude. He would've just ignored it as the student's personality until he corrected himself. Jordan might be slow and lazy - but he wasn't stupid. He was surprisingly the most mature one of the quadruplets and he recognized this sort of snapping. Ryan used to do the same thing when he was stressing out.

Jordan remained swimming in the same spot before slowly making it over to the edge of the pool; turning around to rest his arms on the cold edge. "Mind if I chill with you?" He asked in a quiet drawl. Secretly, he was trying to figure out what was the matter. It seemed to be a big deal but he planned to drop it if the fellow student refused to open up.

[Paul Wilkerson]

“Sure.” Paul was happy that he had some company. A thought seeped into Paul’s head. This guy was having a ball playing. Why the sudden change to be hang out with a edge clinger?

Suspicious.

It could just be his little brotherness kicking in. He was usually suspicious of his sister’s motives. This guy was onto Paul. Or the guy needed a break from playing. Most likely it was the second.

“What’s your name?”

[Jordan Applegate]

A cheerful grin fluttered across Jordan's face, much like how a cat would grin in the sun, as the guy gave the 'okay' on him hanging around for a bit. Being rejected would've just been awkward, seeing as that would mean the other student wouldn't want Jordan around but Jordan wouldn't just leave.

"My name's Jordan Applegate." Jordan said in a relaxed tone. He nodded towards his colourful sister. "The weirdo slowly turning into an octopus is my sister Iris. Though I doubt she'll stay my sister for much longer if she doesn't remember that she needs to breathe." He added, raising an eyebrow at the distant glowing figure.

He turned his gaze to the other guy, his damp hair flopping over his eyes before Jordan brushed it out of the way. "What's yours?"

[Paul Wilkerson]

Applegate? Paul already knew that name. He looked back to the girl Jordan pointed out. Ah! The light bulb lit up over Paul’s head. This was the guy Iris left unconscious on the floor somewhere that other day. “You’re the unconscious brother. The octopus is in my science class.” Paul quickly added the octopus part to explain why he knew Jordan was unconscious.

He folded his legs between himself and the wall of the pool. “I’m Paul Wilkerson.” A thought came to Paul, “are you older or is Octopus?”