SOTF Archive/SOTF Classic

(Leslie Smith: Pregame start)

Leslie always loved going to the pool. Unlike the beach, there wasn't any fish pee, and it had diving boards and water slides and stuff, and she found using them much more fun than regular ol' swimming. Not to mention all the cute girls in bikinis she had to keep from distracting her too much, though the beach admittedly had those too. Speaking of bikinis, she was currently in a cute pink string one, and she decided to adorn her belly button ring with the mermaid dangle today, for obvious reasons.

The weather was starting to get really nice, so she and her family decided to head to one of the local pools and enjoy it. They'd hired someone to look after their pets while they were away. Her parents were currently soaking up some sun in the poolside chairs, while she was enjoying the diving board. She hoped to run into someone she knew, but hadn't yet. Not like she expected to, Chattanooga was a huge city, and Leslie doubted she knew even 1% of the people in it. But that was fine, the slide and the diving board were fun enough that she could still enjoy them by herself.

"Whoooo!" She yelled as she did yet another cannonball.

[Camilla Bell continued from Miss Bell's Home for Spiders]

Camilla did her best to keep a 'straight' face, as she sat down by the edge of the pool, her feet dangling loosely in the water. At least, her mother's definition of a straight face, which seemed to be smiling. It was almost like she had no knowledge of emotions between bright joy and mopey sorrow. She could almost hear her nagging, quizzing her on whatever-happened-at-school or is-it-the-boys.

"Let's go to the pool," Mom said. "It's a fun activity to prepare for summer since it's getting to warm out," she said. Well, Mom sure looked like she was having fun. Good for her. No seriously, good for her. It would just be so much better if she didn't expect her daughter to be having just as much as her no matter what.

In any case, you know how Camilla would prepare for summer? She would lie down in the covered terrace housing her cherished houseplants, gently stroking the tender and green new shoots with a single finger as light streamed in. Because in between getting ALL the volunteer hours and whatever part-time job she'd land herself in for the summer, that was probably how she would spend her free time. Not going to some pool and watching her mom do lengths or whatever.

Still, it was still her mom we're talking about. If acting happy would make her happier, so be it.

She heard a yell, and a sprinkling of water on her left side. It was enough of a mild annoyance to make her heave a small sigh.

Once she emerged from beneath the water, she finally spotted someone she knew. Well not really "knew", but it was a cute girl she'd seen around at school. Once she got out of the pool, Leslie decided to introduce herself and strike up a convo. She approached the girl and said,

"Hey, don't you go to the same school as me? I think I've seen you around."

Camilla jolted awake at the sound of someone talking to her. She looked around, before her eyes settled on some girl. Why yes, they did go to the same school. What was her name again? Leslie, the party chick? She didn't think they had talked before. Well, there's no time like the present.

"GHHS, right?" she confirmed, juuuust to be sure. "Then yeah. You're... Leslie, right?"

She could feel the need to retract her word the moment it jumped from her mouth. She didn't mention her by name. It felt weird for Camilla to reveal she knew her name when she wasn't sure if Leslie (she thinks) knew hers, and- gah, never mind. She already said it. Just let her reply.

"Know my name already? I didn't realize I was famous!" She joked! In truth, she wasn't all that surprised to see she already knew her name, after all, there was a myriad of mundane ways she could have learned it. Leslie knew the names of plenty of kids at school that she doubted knew hers in return.

She sat down next to her, and continued.

"But yeah, GHHS is my school, and Leslie is indeed my name. I don't believe I've had the pleasure of learning yours yet, though..."

((Violet Quinn continued from Future Loves Me))

Violet wondered why she had decided to come to the pool. Normally she would have preferred to stay indoors but her parents had been so persuasive about her being able to social with other people. That she felt that she had no choice and she didn't want to let them down. Now she was watching her parents chatting with their neighbours, the Redfields, and she was glad to be alone for the time-being.

She hadn't even got in the water yet. But there was still a lot of time. She noticed two girls talking to each other that she was pretty sure that she had seen before and she did not step closer to them. She wasn't even sure if she should butt in on their conversation. However, she was curious to listen in on them. So she sat down near them by the side of the pool but not too close to eavesdrop. She knew that it was a bad thing to do, but she had always been a listener more than a talker anyway.

She kicked her feet gently in the water, making sure not to splash anyone that was going pass her and she glanced towards people having fun in the pool. She quietly listened to the two girls talking out of pure curiosity.

Camilla shriveled up a bit inside when Leslie joked about being famous, not because it was a bad joke or anything. It was just that it validated some part of her that screamed 'ASK FOR HER NAME FIRST YOU MORON'.

Still, Leslie chose to sit next to her anyway. Maybe it wasn't so bad, then. She asked for her name in return.

"Camilla. You?"

...Wow, that was idiotic. Still, she felt that she couldn't say anything to correct it, instead sitting there with her moth half open ready to say something, but not doing so for some time.

"Uh... Sorry." That was all she could manage, in the end.

"Camilla, huh? That's a nice name," Leslie stated, laughing off Camilla's faux pas but not directly acknowledging it. Even if it is the name of one of the worst characters in Fates... She silently mused to herself. God that game was so full of wasted potential. At least Echoes ended up amazing. Besides, Camilla was a letter off from Carmilla, perhaps the most iconic lesbian vampire ever.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted another girl she recognized. It was Violet Quinn, a cute goth chick the Leslie'd heard was gay and one of her many crushes at the school. She decided to invite her to come chat with them.

"Hey, don't you go to our school? Violet, right? You should come over and chat, I don't know about Camilla here but I certainly don't bite," she joked, calling over to Violet.

Violet hadn't thought that the girl would recognize her. Normally Violet was very quiet and mostly tried to keep to herself, but now she guessed even quiet people would get noticed as well. Now she had to make a choice. Join them? Or make an excuse and run (walk) away in embarrassment for trying to listen in on the two girls? Leslie seemed to be friendly and understanding, but Camilla was a mystery to her at the moment.

"Oh.... Yes. Violet.... Violet Quinn...." She said quietly and she could hardly hear herself over the loud people in the pool. She really needed to gain more confidence for speaking to others. "Sure, I don't mind joining. As long as Camilla doesn't mind."

She nodded towards Camilla as if she was seeking for her permission.

Camilla hadn't been paying much attention to her surroundings at first. She was content to let her time at the pool pass while she stewed in her thoughts. However, Leslie forced her to change that up a bit. Now another person she barely knew, Violet was it? She was adding to that... pressure? Gah, it's not pressure Camilla, they're not pressuring ypu into anything. Okay, maybe they're pressing you to be social, but is it really that bad?

Still, Violet had asked her if she minded sitting here, and nodded in her direction.

She nodded in return. "Why not?"

YES! Now Leslie had TWO cute girls chatting with her, one of which she'd heard was gay! Not that she was here to pick up chicks, no, she was much too shy in such matters for that, and to be honest she'd rather establish a friendship, or at least a rapport first. So instead, she made small talk.

"So how you guys like the pool?

Violet felt somewhat relieved at not being pushed away and she moved to sit nearer to the other girls, dipping her feet back into the water and moving them back and forth a little. Leslie was asking about how she liked the pool and Violet really thought about it for about ten seconds or so. Her parents really enjoyed it a lot more than her. But she did like the idea of being able to observe people having the fun times of their lives. She knew it was strange to do that, but it felt like a complete normal and a harmless thing to do.

"It's not too bad." She said simply with a shrug of her shoulders. "It's definitely a nice place to relax and have fun, I guess."

How was the pool? Let's see.

Camilla didn't want to be here, the only reason she was here was because her mom demanded it, she didn't like swimming, she hated getting wet, her swimsuit was old and scratchy, when a breeze hit it was too cold, in the shade it was too cold, but in the sun it was suddenly too much warmer, it was far too crowded today, and for the love of god she'd rather be at home right now, or maybe having tea with Aunt Caroline...

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Mom clinging to the wall of the deep end of the pool with one arm, and waving to her.

"It's fine." she replied to Leslie, before turning to Mom and waving back with a smile.

"I love the pool! The slide and diving board are so much fun! Plus some of the lifeguards are pretty cute," she said, eyeing the current lifeguard stationed at their pool section, a blonde in a red bikini, red bikinis and swim trunks with the pool name on them being the lifeguard uniform at this pool.

She noticed Camilla waving to a middle-aged woman that looked to be her mom. "Here with your parents too? Mine thankfully are staying out of my hair at the moment."

However, at that moment, she seemed to have jinxed things, as her own mom came over to check on her.

"Hey Les, just checkin' up on ya. Flirting with some other girls, I see."

"I'M NOT FLIRTING MOM, GOD," Leslie protested, mortified.

"Mmkay, if you say so. Imma get back to relaxin', y'all have fun!" Her mom said, thankfully leaving.

"Please don't mind my mother, she seems to think that because I'm gay even the most basic social interaction with another girl must be flirting," Leslie explained. "Now please excuse me while I drown myself in this pool."

Of course, she didn't actually drown herself. She was much too afraid of death to do that. Though if she did try maybe the cute lifeguard would save her and give her CPR. But then she remembered that properly done CPR often led to broken ribs. Oh well.

Violet felt herself smile slightly at the interaction with Leslie and her mom. She thought it was nice to see how close they were like that. She wished that she could joke about things like that with her own mother. But alas, Violet was not good at being the funny type and her mother was the same. They were both more serious while her father was joker type and he did know how to liven things up at their family nights together. She really was fond and loved her parents very much with all of her heart.

"Don't worry about it." Violet waved Leslie off with a smile still plastered on her face and she then glanced down at the water in front of her. "I think it's nice. Embarrassing parents are fun."