“Luce!” Ava waved over to the water excitedly just as Luce was swimming closer. She flashed her a toothy grin. Ava stuck out her tongue. Ava was always her favourite.

“Hey, Ava! Another braid?” She ignored the stares and kept her voice as sweet and upbeat as possible.

“Yeah, another one! What? I like them!”

Ozzy and Malachi watched silently as Luce made herself comfortable on the beach. She couldn’t quite make out Ozzy’s expression, yet after a second, it switched back to a relaxed gaze just as she continued to braid. Meanwhile, Malachi couldn’t stop staring at her.

“I heard my name somewhere so I came over. I didn’t know you were all awake and here!”

“Oh, we thought you wanted to stay there. You’ve been laying there every morning,” Ozzy spoke up, tucking in a stray strand back into the braid. “And I thought you were asleep.”

Well, it’s the first time you all left me out…” Luce exaggerated with a pout, using all her power to distract them from the fact that she heard every word and that she was mildly, no, extremely annoyed.

“Sorry about that, Luce.” A glance was thrown at Malachi, then came a light laugh from Ozzy’s lips, as if she thought of a funny joke.

Silence followed. In the distance, a fight or something of the sort was going on with loud yelling. Oh, humans. Luce leaned her head to the left, facing Malachi with, hopefully, a face that says ‘I admire you’ instead of ‘Why aren’t you acknowledging my presence’. Should she even try to press her luck?