Chapter 4 Three: Taleen

Coughs escape my mouth as I bring myself to the surface of the water. I fell in an area that is six feet deep, so that explains why I can't stand. "Oh shit!" I exclaim with a gasp as I see my phone at the bottom of the pool. I quickly dive down to bring it then I swim back to the edge. My face is throbbing with pain and I find difficulty in focusing on anything except the dead phone in my hand.

"I'm so sorry!" Josh apologizes as he pulls me up, but I couldn't care less about an apology; it won't bring my phone back. Couldn't they be more careful?

"Are you okay? Oh! Your nose is bleeding. The ball smacked you hard." Lisa bombards me with her worry while Amanda quickly puts a towel around me. Am I shivering? The water was a little bit cold, but I'm not sure of its effect on my body. A stinging sensation attacks my nose and I touch it only to be met with the red liquid on the tips of my fingers.

"I'm okay, but my phone isn't!" I hiss as I try to turn it on, but of course, my tries are useless. My life is literally on this phone and nothing is backed up except my notes. I've probably lost all of the pictures along with my contacts; I can't remember if I have any of them backed up or not. I want to scream and a part of me even wants to cry, but I don't want to appear childish in front of a bunch of people I've just met today.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to throw the ball in your direction. We were just messing around and Chris foolishly tackled me, making me throw the ball in the wrong direction, and well... this happened." Josh looks sincere as he rambles, but I'm honestly so mad right now to even offer him a small smile or tell him it's okay because this isn't okay at all.

"Yeah, but sorry won't really fix my phone," I snap at him and I instantly feel terrible for doing this, but he's the reason behind this mess. Now I need to buy a new phone which means that I'll have to take money from what I've been saving for the car. Why did I even come today? I press my lips tightly together in an attempt to suppress my irritation and I reach for my nose again only to find it still bleeding.

"I'll get you a new one, I promise." He is being so sweet, but my actions and my facial expressions are enough to prove that I'm a total bitch. He really needs to move away because I don't want to say anything I might regret later.

"No, thanks. Look, I just want to leave," I mumble, trying my best to control my anger. I don't want to be rude to anyone, especially that they're all nice and accidents are bound to happen.

"Not like that! Your clothes are all wet and water is literally dripping off you!" Ella argues. "Listen, I think I've extra clothes in my car. Let me bring them to you." She offers. Not waiting for my response, I see her rushing out of the backyard.

I walk to the bamboo chairs and I sit on one of them while Owen brings me tissues for my nosebleed. It's not severe, I can feel it and my face doesn't hurt that much. I press the tissues slightly to my nose and a wince comes out of my mouth. Okay, maybe the smack is stronger than I thought. I'll probably have a bruised face tomorrow. Maybe I can cover the bruise up with make-up.

"Here." A voice catches my attention and I look up to find Josh extending his hand with a phone. Okay, that's quick. "I know it's older than yours, but it works perfectly fine. I'll definitely buy you a new one. Just use this until then." Josh is so freaking nice. He isn't even giving me a chance to be mad at him.

"Thank you... I'll just use it until I buy myself a new one. You don't need to buy me anything. Accidents happen." I smile at him as I take the iPhone 8plus from him. "I'm really sorry for snapping at you like that, but I love my phone so much." I blush as I apologize to him. I'm not too fond of the way I talked to him while he was being nothing but nice to me. He didn't deserve that.

I take the clothes from Ella and Josh guides me to one of the rooms to change. "Take your time. This is my room; you'll find an attached restroom. Take a shower if you want," he tells me before opening the door. I can't help but notice how attractive Josh is. He is so tall, and his chocolate brown hair is smooth; the kind of hair I wouldn't mind running my fingers through. The blue hue of his eyes is just mesmerizing, I could get lost in them for hours and I honestly won't mind. His body is so muscular; I bet he trains a lot. His skin is slightly tanned, adding more sexiness to him. As if he needs to be sexier.

"Thanks," I murmur as I walk inside. Josh closes the door behind him, leaving me all alone in his room. I look around the place and I silently admire it. As my eyes travel around the place, it hits me that each part of this room is a piece of him. Each part depicts one of his characteristics. My curiosity finally wins, and I find myself snooping around. I know this is wrong, but I can't contain the curiosity inside of me. My eyes move along the black shelves on the grey wall and I smile a little to myself as I find a huge collection of comic books; the volumes resting on the shelves scream out his deep love for this genre! The vast Marvel collection he owns is enough for me to guess his favourite. It looks like we have a Thor lover because there are four volumes dedicated to him on one of the shelves. I'm not really into comics, but his love for them is kind of pushing me towards this genre of books. I'm not even a fan of reading, I barely read books.

I walk to his dressing table and I find his colognes and perfumes. I must say, he has great taste. He has Burberry, One Million, and Gucci. This guy is most probably rich. I smell each of them and One Million finds its way easily to my heart. I feel sorry for his girlfriend- if he has one. It seems like he's accustomed to a lavish kind of life and buying him gifts on any occasion would be such a hassle because then she'd have to keep up with that fine and expensive taste of his.

After showering and throwing my hair into a messy bun, I return downstairs. My face doesn't look that bad. There's definitely redness around my nose, but I know it won't take long to heal.

"My clothes look great on you!" Ella admires her clothes on me. Her comment causes the others to look at me and my cheeks heat up a little. Attention makes me nervous and shy and right now, I'm the center of attention.

After three more hours spent dancing, having fun, and basically goofing around, Lisa and I return to our dorm. My eyes are fighting to stay awake as I throw myself on the bed; my eyelids feel so heavy. I can't even find the energy in me to take off my clothes. I pull my blanket over my aching body and I close my eyes. My head is starting to pound with a strong headache and I squeeze my eyes shut.

"Lisa... you look more alive than me," I whisper, opening one eye to glance at my friend who seems to have some energy left in her. She has her laptop on her lap, but I'm not sure if she's just watching Netflix or working on a school paper; it's Lisa, probably the former.

"What does my injured friend want?" she teases me and I fight the urge to throw a pillow at her, only because I want the comfort of my ostrich-feathered-pillow.

"Advil, Tylenol, any painkiller," I reply as I rub my temples. Why am I that exhausted? I think the lack of sleep last night is the reason behind this.

I watch Lisa as she reaches for the plastic bottle beside her on the nightstand and I sit up properly to take the pill. She hands me two pills and a glass of water. I quickly gulp them, hoping that they'd start working soon, then I put my head back on my pillow.

"What do you think of my group of friends?" Lisa wonders. My eyes are closed, so I'm not sure if she's looking in my direction or not.

"They're cool. I think they're fun," I truthfully answer her.

"Any favourites?"

"I like Ella a lot. She's adorable," I say, a yawn escaping my lips.

"Goodnight, sleepyhead. We can talk tomorrow," she tells me. I mumble a quiet 'goodnight' and I try to free my mind of any thought.

Here's the thing about me. No matter how tired I am, I spend at least a half of an hour thinking about everything and anything before going to sleep. I think about my family, my personality, what I hate about myself and what I love. I make up different scenarios in my head and imagine myself in various situations; beautiful ones and even horrendous ones. My dislike for surprises pushes me to think of every situation life may throw me in.

I assume that my tiredness is bigger than I thought, because for the first time in more than a month, I sleep in less than fifteen minutes. If exhaustion is the key to a quick sleep, then I plan on draining my body of energy each day.