Aaron was walking up the stairs to find a seat with the team, when he spotted them several rows away, talking animatedly; he bypassed their predetermined seats (several team members called after him in surprise) and headed over to the two girls sitting by themselves.

“Hey,” he said as soon as he approached them; they stopped talking abruptly and looked up at him, similar expressions of shock on their faces. Being used to this sort of reaction, he trudged on brightly. “Is Juliet with you guys?”

Ella stared up at him, blinking rapidly; Ava was the one who found her vocal cords in tact. “Er…yes. She’s, ah, at the bathroom.”

“The line is really long,” Ella chimed in helpfully.

Aaron looked confused for a moment. “Ah, yeah.”

“We expect her back before Christmas,” Ava continued, in a voice that suggested she was speaking about the weather.

“I should hope so,” Aaron commented, trying hard not to laugh. “Do you mind if I wait?”

“Wait?” Ella repeated blankly.

Aaron attempted to explain his idea of waiting. “Yeah. Sit?”

Ava nodded vigorously. “Of course! Of course. How…um…inhospitable of us.”

As Aaron was settling into Juliet’s vacated seat, Ella turned to Ava. “You do realize we’re not in our home, yeah?”

“Whatever are you talking about?”

“Inhospitable? Are you high?”

Ava didn’t seem to care, for she leaned over Ella and started to talk to Aaron about Greece whilst Ella sat there uncomfortably, hoping Juliet would return soon.

*

When Juliet returned sometime later, Aaron was half asleep but trying to look awake while Ava regaled him of her childhood, and Ella was yawning loudly as she checked her watch to see how close it was to the start of the first event.

“I was only gone about forty minutes,” Juliet said as she approached, giving Aaron a quick smile as he stood up to greet her. “Hey.”

Aaron smiled at her. “Hi.”

“I’m so glad you’re back,” Ella breathed, shifting in her seat. “Ava was going on and on.”

Aaron cast Juliet a look that confirmed this, but to Ava he said, “It was very interesting.”

Ava smiled benignly. “Thank you.”

“I was wondering if you wanted to get something to eat?” He asked Juliet, glancing at his watch. “I have a few hours until I have to get ready to swim.”

Juliet’s eyes widened, and when she spoke it was in a choked voice. “Um, yeah. Sure.” He smiled and nodded and led the way out of the row; she followed, but looked back at her friends giving them a horrified look before she started down the stairs after him.

“Ask him if he can introduce me to van den Hoogenband!” Ava called after them, waving.

Ella poked her in the shoulder. “You could go meet him yourself, he just came out of the back area, there.”

“AH!” Ava looked down at the pool. “We have to go down there!”

“No way.”

“Yes way. Live a little. Come on.”

“Ava. No.”

“It’s van den Hoogenband! And maybe Thorpie will be down there cheering him on!”

This seemed to get Ella out of her seat, for she had gathered up her purse and was already halfway down the stairs before Ava realized she hadn’t even had to persuade her very much.

*

“You lied. Again,” Ella complained as she and Ava marched along the poolside area (or at least the places they could get to, due to security).

“What?” Ava asked in aggravation, continuing on her trek to get as near to a celebrity (currently, one Pieter van den Hoogenband) as possible.

“Lie; to not speak the truth. You said Thorpie might be down here.”

“Might being the operative word.”

Ella groaned in exasperation. “This is a ridiculous venture.”

“Not as ridiculous as some of the things you’ve had Jules and I do over the years.”

Ella grabbed her friends elbow and spun her around to a stop. “Like what? Volunteering at an Old Folk’s home? Helping out at bake sales and car washes? I don’t think the word ridiculous covers those, Ava.”

“No,” Ava agreed lightly, “But that time that Ewan McGregor was filming near the college, remember you had us camped out for three days in a TENT across the street from the set? This is just like that, so humor me.”

Ella fell silent, and Ava, satisfied, took off at a brisk walk. It was so brisk that she wasn’t aware of the fact that she was about hit a brick wall, until, in fact, she crashed into said brick wall.

*

“You’re staying here for the summer?” Aaron was astonished, and a bit jealous. “That’s awesome.”

Juliet smiled. “Yeah, it’s been really cool. Except Ava and Ella fight like a pack of….fighting things.”

Aaron tipped his head back and laughed. “They do seem to snap at each other frequently.”

She sighed, nodding. “It’s because they’re so similar, I think.”

“Could be,” Aaron replied simply. “So you live in California?”

“Yup. Have all my life.”

“I live in Irvine…well, I did. I’m at school in Texas right now.”

She scrunched up her nose. “Texas? You can’t possibly like Texas more than Irvine.”

“Maybe not,” Aaron conceded, grinning. “I do miss the surfing.”

“I’d die. I wouldn’t be able to live without surfing.”

“You surf a lot?” Aaron seemed rather interested by this.

“When I get the chance. Which isn’t as often as I’d like, but since I have to work and go to school…it leaves a small window of time to catch some waves.”

“Once I get back home, we should go surfing. In the early morning, that’s the best time.”

“Totally,” Juliet said enthusiastically, smiling at him. “That would be a blast.”

*

“I think I have damaged my cartilage,” Ava sniffed, gingerly rubbing a finger over her nose.

“It looks like it’s all there,” a male’s voice said as one jumped into her line of vision, peering closely at her throbbing nose.

“Who are you?” Ava requested, sounding a bit hysterical.

He opened his mouth to introduce himself, but Ella scampered up to her elbow and took over. “You ran into him,” she explained in a rush. “It was quite a sight, actually. You bounced right off him and fell back onto the floor. I think you were unconscious for a short time, even.”

“Lovely,” Ava replied dryly. “I hope I didn’t damage you,” she added, to the unknown male.

“I think I’ll live,” he laughed, grinning. “I’m Michael.”

“Phelps,” Ella hissed, pointing at him behind his back.

Ava’s eyes widened slightly, but she remained calmer than she felt. “What were you doing in the middle of the rows of seating? You’re supposed be swimming.”

“Not that race,” Michael replied, sticking his hands in his pockets; Ava noticed how different he looked out of the water. A little gangly, amazingly tall, broad shouldered. Quite cute. “The paramedic said you’d be fine.”

“You have to rest for a while, though,” Ella said, looking apprehensive. “You could be concussed.”

Ava sighed and dropped her head back against some pillows, still holding onto her nose, which was throbbing. “You have a really hard chest, Michael. It ruined my nose.”

“Actually,” Ella piped up, “I think that happened when the paramedic and Michael lifted you onto a stretcher…you sort of…dropped down onto it, face first.”

“Your nose isn’t broken or anything,” Michael assured her quickly.

“It feels like it is,” she muttered, her voice muffled.

“It can’t be if you’re moving it about like that,” Ella replied sensibly.

“Do you want me to get you anything?” Michael offered sweetly, gesturing toward the door behind them (which probably led out of the stadium).

“I could really murder a diet coke,” Ava stated, suddenly feeling as if she could drink an entire ocean and still not be saturated.

“One diet coke coming up,” Michael said, smiling at them and then walking quickly out the door.

“He walks fast,” Ava commented, watching as Ella shut the door behind him.

“He has quite short legs, but a long torso.”

“You’ve been reading Sports Illustrated while I’ve been out, haven’t you.”

Ella looked sheepish. “Maybe.” She then busied herself with fluffing Ava’s pillows until Ava told her very sternly to stop, she was jostling her nose. “Well,” Ella said, settling into a chair near the bed. “At least you can stop your silly Celebrity Hunt now, before you kill yourself.”