⋆·˚ ༘ * 🔭 ━━━━━ CHAPTER ONE
☆ ◛             ❛ it's a dead body pool. ❜
©-LOSTGARDENS, 2023
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❛ you're not supposed to be around me anyways, remember? ❜

☆ . . . It was a warm summer night. The half-moon was visible, shining down on the street in Jezebel and Eli's neighborhood. Both teens sat in their rooms; Eli was playing video games when he knew that he should be sleeping, and Jezebel was putting on a black bathing suit.

She had a plan. It was the last night of the summer before she started high school, and she was going to be damned if she were to spend it in her room sleeping. She only wanted one more summer adventure before her school adventures began.

Once her one-piece bathing suit was fully on, she walked over to her closet. Opening the doors, she was met with a ton of clothes, half of which she didn't wear. She didn't pay any mind to them, and she went right for the thing she wanted—her flannel (formally known as Eli's flannel). Her hand wrapped around the fabric as she pulled it off the hanger.

The navy blue, black, and tan colors in the form of a plaid pattern caught her eye. She slipped on the flannel. Next, she grabbed a pair of navy blue shorts and pulled those on as well. And finally, she grabbed a plain pair of white shoes and socks and slipped them on.

Once she was fully dressed, she grabbed her phone and towel off of her neatly made bed and then set off on her adventure.

Climbing out her window was a dumb choice, seeing as though it was on the second level of her house. But it was her only option since her parents were sitting in the living room downstairs, watching true crime, like they always did. So out her window and down the side of the house she went until her shoe-covered feet hit the hard ground.

"And she sticks the landing," she muttered to no one but herself.

Little did she know that across the street, Eli had caught a glimpse of the Lopez girl's escape and had decided he was going to tag along with her. Where she was going, he had no clue, but that didn't matter to Eli when it came to Jezebel.

He quickly shut off his Xbox, slipped on a hoodie and shoes—adding to the shorts he was already wearing—and, like Jezebel, went out his window. He made sure to be quiet so that his dad wouldn't hear him. Then, once he was outside, he quickly ran to catch up with the girl he so desperately adored.

"Jezebel!" he said, causing her to whip her head around.

Her eyes were full of shock as her heart skipped a beat from being almost scared to death. As a sort of werewolf, she had terrible hearing skills. But that shock soon turned into annoyance when she saw who was calling her name. She shushed him, looking around the street to make sure no one was around.

"Eli, what are you doing?" She inquired, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Uhm, I was—uhm, where are you going?" He muttered, finding it hard to focus when she was glaring at him, and it didn't help that his eyes noticed the particularly familiar flannel she was wearing. But he was not going to bring that up yet.

"And why exactly should I tell you?" She inquired, her arms crossed across her chest.

He didn't know what to say to her; he didn't have a good reason as to why she should tell him; all he knew was that he wanted her to. Shrugging his shoulders, Eli sent her a small smile in response.

Jezebel sighed, turning around to walk away from him. The smile fell off his face, and he began walking after her. "Where are you going?" he repeated.

"Away from you," she deadpanned, not caring to look at him. She continued walking, gradually getting faster with each step, and he continued to follow her like a lost little puppy. It seemed like he was always following her like a lost little puppy. No pun intended (pun definitely intended).

The rest of the walk was silent. Jezebel had eventually given up on losing Eli's trail, and she slowed down her steps a bit. And before either of them knew it, they were approaching an all too familiar place: Beacon Hills' local pool.

"Oh, so your 'big last night of summer adventure' is going swimming?" Eli asked, his brows furrowed in confusion. He thought that she would've come up with something more daring, and Jezebel was curious as to how he knew that she wanted one last summer adventure.

Was she really that predictable? What a shame.

"No, my big last night of summer adventure, as you put it, is breaking into the pool; then, yeah, I'm going to swim," she replied, moving closer to the locked gate.

"Cool."

"You might want to leave; you know, if I get caught and you're here, then we're going to be in big trouble with your dad," she told him, setting her towel on top of the fence surrounding the pool and tucking her phone in the waistband of her shorts. "You're not supposed to be around me anyway, remember?"

"Screw my dad; he can't control everything I do," Eli replied. He sounded almost unsure of his words, but he looked like he wanted to believe his own statement.

Jezebel looked at him with narrowed eyes, then rolled her eyes and turned from him. "Whatever," she mumbled. She began messing with the lock on the gate, "messing with" being her jiggling the lock, trying to muster enough werewolf strength to break it.

She wasn't too good at controlling her abilities, but she was glad that she wasn't the worst at it—that would be Eli. Neither of them had ever fully transformed, but Jezebel could bring out her claws and fangs, while Eli was scared of his. She could run fast, and he couldn't. And she sometimes had good strength, and, once again, he didn't.

"Do you need help with that?" he asked.

Jezebel stopped what she was doing and faced him. She looked at him like he had asked the stupidest question ever, which he had. "No, I've got it," she replied flatly. Focusing on her task at hand, Jezebel pulled harder on the lock, and that's when it broke. Finally, she thought to herself.

Sending Eli a knowing smirk, she tossed the lock in his direction. His brows raised in surprise, and when he struggled to catch it, she let out a small laugh. The lock dropped to the ground as Jezebel pushed open the gate.

He watched as she grabbed her towel and walked in, then quickly followed behind her. It was dark, considering the time of night, but Jezebel didn't mind. Eli, on the other hand...

"Why is it so dark?" he complained. "I can't see anything."

"You'll be okay," Jezebel replied, rolling her eyes. There were a few poolside chairs behind her, so she set her phone and towel down just before moving to strip off her flannel and shorts. She could feel Eli's eyes on her, but she ignored him.

Once she was free of the clothing and was standing in just her bathing suit, she heard Eli clear his throat, and finally, she looked his way. "Is it just me, or is there something familiar about this pool?" he asked, looking around.

Jezebel raised her brows and said, "Oh, so now it's not too dark for you to see?"

"Uh..." he began, his eyes looking at her with confusion. "I just—something is familiar about this pool," he repeated.

"We live like five minutes from here; you've probably been here before, like as a kid or something." Her eyes stayed on the boy as she made her way towards the edge of the pool.

"No, I don't think so," he muttered, watching her as she sat down on the ground. "Is it familiar to you?" he questioned, moving closer to the edge of the pool so he could see her better.

Jezebel slid off the concrete and into the cold water, which didn't bother her. "Uh, now that you've asked, yes, it does," she began, nodding as she looked around.

"Really?" he beamed, his eyes slightly lighting up.

"Yeah," she nodded. "But that's because..." she paused, watching as he waited for her answer. "I've been here before," she chuckled, watching disappointment overtake his expression. She heard him huff as he rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry—but, no, I really don't know why this place is familiar to you."

He shifted his weight. "Whatever."

After a few beats of silence that Jezebel didn't particularly mind but was still awkwardly feeling, she decided to break the tension... in her own way. "Are you going to swim with me, or are you just going to stand there like a dork all night?" she questioned him, raising her brows.

"I don't have a swimsuit," he explained, looking down at his clothes.

"Then why did you tag along?" she asked, obviously knowing the answer.

He awkwardly shrugged. "I didn't know where you were going."

"Then why did you follow me?" she asked, raising her brows. She already knew the answer, but she wanted him to say it. "I mean, our parents, more specifically, your dad, told us to stay away from each other because, you know, I'm a bad influence," she reminded him. "So tell me, delinquent dork, why did you follow me if you didn't know where I was going?"

"Because I want to hang out with you," he muttered, uncrossing his arms and running his hands along his shorts.

Letting out a sigh, Jezebel turned away from him. "Whatever, Eli."

After another moment of silence, she heard Eli sigh and then a bunch of movement. And as she turned to face him once more, she was scarred by the sight of him in only his boxers. "Oh, God!" she dramatically screeched, squeezing her eyes closed as she raised a hand to cover them. "What are you doing?" she asked, emphasizing every word.

"What? I'm going to swim," he muttered, his cheeks turning a tint of pink. "Dri-fit boxers are basically trunks in a way," he added, throwing his shorts and hoodie onto one of the chairs behind him.

"Yeah, just please, a little warning next time—I'm gonna have to bleach my eyes when I get home!" She peeled her hand away from her face when she heard him enter the water with an almost comical splash.

"Oh, stop being dramatic." He rolled his eyes, receiving a glare in response.

After that, silence fell over them like a thick blanket. Jezebel was swimming about in the water as she felt Eli's eyes occasionally glance her way.

"Oh!" Eli gasped, looking around.

"What?" Jezebel questioned, furrowing her brows in confusion.

"I know why this place is familiar," he informed her. When she didn't offer any response in return, he looked over at her, seeing her looking at him with a look that was telling him to continue. He sighed, pondering if he wanted to tell her or not. She might think it's stupid. Taking a deep breath, he let the stupid worries leave his mind. "It's a dead body pool," he mumbled.

Her face turned into one full of confusion. "A what pool?"

"A dead body pool," he repeated. Still, her expression remained confused. "Remember your mom telling us about that time she and Lydia found a dead body at a pool? This is the pool," he elaborated, whispering the last part as if someone besides Jezebel was listening.

"Oh." She glanced around, her face turning into disgust. "Well, at least this pool is a little more interesting now," she added.

☆★・・・✹・・・★☆

They had spent an hour at the pool. Most of the time, it was silent, which Jezebel hated. Despite her not really enjoying Eli's company, she did miss having a friend, so—even though she'd never admit it to his too-kind face—Jezebel actually found it nice having him tag along. Just this once.

But the fact that she wasn't supposed to be hanging out with Eli (not that she ever truly was) nagged at her mind. She was tired of getting into trouble, especially when it wasn't even her fault to begin with.

She and Eli were walking the same path they had when they were heading to the pool, except now they were going home. The street lights shone brightly on the sidewalk as they walked side by side. She was wrapped in her flannel once more, and Eli, gratefully, had his clothes back on.

Neither is saying a word, which is odd for them but also nice. When they left the pool, Eli insisted on walking Jezebel home, even though they live across the street from each other, so he would've done it anyway. Jezebel hadn't protested, finding that it was pointless for once.

Finally, they made it to where they had to go their separate ways. The footfall came to a stop, and Jezebel turned to Eli. "Goodnight, delinquent dork," she muttered, nodding her head slightly.

"Goodnight, little freak," he replied, sticking his hands into his hoodie pockets.

Without another word, Jezebel turned away from him and began making her way to the side of her house, mentally preparing herself to climb back up to her room.

"Nice flannel, by the way," Eli called out, only loud enough for her to hear.

She stopped in her tracks but didn't turn around. She fought the smile that tried to creep onto her face. Not even turning to him or saying anything in response, she continued towards her house.

After a moment, Eli retreated to his own house. Luckily for him, his room is on the ground level, so no climbing is necessary. He made his way back into his room, a cheesy smile on his face as he closed his window quietly.

But that smile was not long-lasting, because as soon as he turned around and his bedroom light flickered on, his face dropped as he met the eyes of his angry father.

Jezebel was met with the same situation as she climbed back into her room, trying to be as quiet as possible. She turned towards her door after closing her window; her bedroom light flickered on, and she met the eyes of her mother.

"Oh, shit," Jezebel and Eli muttered from opposite sides of the street.

They were screwed, and they knew it.

Let the adventures begin.

☆ . . . Ella's Thoughts. now tell me why this took me literal MONTHS to finish, and it's not even that long of a chapter- that's actually insane 💀

n e ways, i really hope you enjoyed chapter one! i've missed jezebel and eli sm, so i definitely will be trying to write more for this book!!

kisses !

⋆·˚ ༘ * 🔭 LITTLE FREAK
©-LOSTGARDENS, 2023

Word Count.  2576.   Written.  7.22.23.   Published.  7.22.23.