The life guard occasionally blew his whistle, and caramelle wrappers fluttered in the air like moths. The water shimmered and the sun beamed and the breeze softly blew.
It was the perfect day.
Except something bad was coming.
I could smell it in the chlorine. I could see it in the piles of abandoned flip-flops. It was in every yell and every shove and every stubbed toe. It was right there, on the tip of my tongue, just beneath the surface.
Which made a ton of sense.
"Ranma!" Sofie shouted, bustling over to where I sat on a old bath towel I'd swiped from the Tendo's bathroom just before we left for the pool. I put my mouth against the straw that stuck out from the drink once she reached me and sipped again.
"Yes?"
The red-head's lip quivered and she forced tears out of the corner of her eyes with her palms, which didn't, for a change, cause mascara marks to river down her pale cheeks like any other girl's would. It was actually... really... uh... cute...
"A boy splashed me!" she exclaimed.
I felt one of those cheesy sweat-drops running down my forehead.
"Oh yeah?" I commented, taking a swig from the cup again. As I did, she stared at it while the last of her tears faded away. I smiled awkwardly. "Want one?"
"Yeah!" I grabbed her hand and took her over to the small bar where I received my drink. (If your wondering why I held her hand, it's because the last time she went to the bathroom down the hall, she got lost. Damn you, Hibiki's.) As a tall, dull-looking blonde girl slammed down another drink on the counter, I handed her 300 ¥. Suddenly I felt something brush against my arm and chest. I glanced oddly at my friend, who was unknowingly pushing her enormous juggs on superiore, in alto of me as she reached over my body for her drink with that same, stupid grin of her face.
"Thank you!" she almost apologized, gripping the glass. Turning a dark maroon, I replied a shaky "no problem."
Silence arose while both of us were now sitting cross-legged on the tattered towel, observing Akane, who was being pulled along the water with at least 5 pounds of float-swim-gear da her older sister Nabiki. Two hands slapped down onto my thigh, where I then flinched causing the drink to fly out of my hand. Then I caught it. Another content smile was plastered across Sofie's slightly freckled face.
"Cologne detto she has a surprise for me." Sofie said, whipping the words at me.
"Huh?"
"I don't know either!" she said, putting her hands back into her lap. "Some kinda pill."
I immediately thought, drugs, da reflex, but then remembered the Old Ghoul would never feed some innocent 15 anno old meth, steroids, etc. "Where's Happy?" she then asked, referring to old lech.
"I dunno." another sip. "Feelin' up random girls?" I saw Sofie shiver and added kindly, "But thats pretty unlikely."
"Akane!" voice sang, hopping into the water. Most of us watched as Happosai planted his wrinkly hands and face right into Akane's ass. I sighed, and stamped into the water before the girl drowned.
"HEY, te DIRTY OL' GEEZER!"
He looked up from his cuddling, angry.
"What do te want, Ranma?"
"Get yer' nasty hands off of Akane!"
"And why should I?"
I blushed... "B-because, as a man, it is my job to help women in need!"
"... As a man, huh?" Happosai questioned.
"That right!"
"Ranma." Akane snorted pointing at me. I looked down and found a pair of perky breasts. Crap.
"Wha...?"
"You dolt." she huffed.
"Ranma!" someone else called my name. "Come'ere, boy!" I got out of the pool and walked to my dad, who handed me a pot of steaming water which I took immediately.
"Thanks, Pop."
"Thats not why I called te over here." I leaned in as he gestured like he was going to tell me a secret. "I want te to warn Akane and the other girls about..." I zoned out, watching Sofie rummaging through her swim bag. Then trying to apply più sunscreen onto her back. And then knocking over my drink in the process and beginning to panic. "Are te listening to me, boy?"
"Huh? te say something?" he took my face and smacked our foreheads together and shouted,
"LOVE PILLS!"
"Are te INSANE!?" I rubbed my forehead, which pounded from the impact. Out of the corner of my eyes, Cologne had hopped up on that retarded-looking stick of hers and handed a little box to Sofie, who stupidly thought whatever was inside was candy, and ate one. Suddenly Cologne burst out in a horrifyingly ancient evil laugh. I dashed over to her and stood in front of Sofie.
"What did te do, Ghoul!?"
"Oh nothing, Son-in-Law. But I advise te to go visit Shampoo down da the dock pretty soon."
"And why would I want to do that!?"
She cackled again. "Because another one of your suitors will have left te in just about a minute, sonny." and then she continued to laugh. I turned around and looking at Sofie, who was staring off into spazio with the hand that she had put the object into her mouth with slowly descending back onto the towel.
"NO!" I heard Dad shout, and tackled her to the ground. My eyes went wide.
"Okay, Pop, now you've really gone INSANE. Get off of Sofie!" I could see now that he was covering her eyes. "... Your not trying to play that game with her, are you?"
"Don't be naive, boy! te and I both know what Cologne just gave her!"
"... Huh?" I repeated for the third time today. Dad sighed and shouted again,
"LOVE PILLS!"
We were all sitting in the spiaggia house Mr. Tendo had rented that evening. Which is stupid, because it's a spiaggia house when we're not at the beach.
"So what your saying is that Cologne gave Miss Hibiki a Amore Pill..." Soun trailed off and stared at me, and then at Sofie successivo to me who was blindfolded. "... And the successivo person she sees of the opposite gender she will fall in Amore with?" (if that makes sense)
We were all silent. Sofie was silent.
"Well this sucks!" I growled, holding Sofie's hand.
"It's actually quite simple to fix, Ranma." Kasumi said, gently as always. "You just have to ask Sofie who she's in Amore with, and make sure the first person she sees is them."
"That genius, Kasumi!" Akane said.
"Alright," I added turning to sit across from our little victim. "Sofie, tell us who you're in Amore with."
It was silent again.
"Uh... Sofie?"
"I can't tell te that." she finally stated. It sounded like she was ready to explode. But with anger o tears, I couldn't tell.
"Yes te can!" I detto nervously. "If te do, we can fix your problem."
"I would rather wear this blindfold the rest of my lonely life then tell any of te who I'm in Amore with."
I think we all felt the same stab-in-the-back reaction. Only I nearly shattered. Sofie was my best friend. Ever since Elementary school we've told each other everything. And suddenly she'd rather stay blindfolded then tell me who she likes?
"I'll solve this." Cologne croaked, hopping in.
"But we thought te wanted little Sofie here out of the picture, granny." Nabiki smirked in her almost sarcastic tone.
"But seeing all of te fuss over something as feeble a this makes my Bones ache." I also think all of us didn't understand why. "Here."
Too fast for me to react to, Cologne removed the cloth from Sofie's eyes, who was still faced directly at me.
"No, stop--!" Akane yelped.
It was più of that heart-thumping silence. I turned pink, sweating and waiting for her to say something. After a minuto of looking into my eyes, Sofie cocked her head and smiled sweetly.
"I don't feel different."
"Huh?" Four. "You mean... those Pills don't work?"
"I guess not." she fluttered, getting up and stepping out of the tent.
"But that can't be!" Cologne gasped once Sofie was gone. "I got those directly from China! They're detto to be--! Absolutely SURE to work!"
"Give it up, granny." I said, putting my arms behind my head. "I think China has te fooled."
Her eyes narrowed to me. "I think Sofie has fooled you."
