Hey beauties, this chapter is dedicated to @sanjana_lmao.  Her comments made me smile so much!!I wasn't actually going to post another one until I got some more votes and comments so thank her!! I will post this next chapter within half an hour as this chapter ends on a cliffhanger that I feel too bad leaving for 12 days so you can thank Sanjana double time!!! After these chapters, things start to get VERY interesting so stay tuned!! As I posted 3 chapters in less than a week, I probably won't publish the next one for a while but as I always say, your votes and comments inspire me so who knows what will happen if I feel the love enough.

"You alright Collins?" Aiden whispers in my ear, I smile at the fact that he noticed I was a little uneasy but nonetheless assure him I'm fine.

"Hello everyone," Cole smiles, although he says everyone his eyes are fixated on me and it seemed like everyone notices, well everyone but Tiffany who was too busy trying to get Aidens attention with her outfit that consisted of a tight midriff and butt shorts. I had to admit, I was a little jealous of her body confidence, being able to walk around in next to nothing confidently must be great. I also couldn't help but notice the pride swelling in my chest with Aiden's obvious attempts at ignoring a pleading Tiffany.

"Today we will be snorkeling on one of the reefs here, keep an eye out for various corals, tropical fish, and seahorses. If you're lucky you may even spot a sea turtle." Cole states, almost like he had said the exact words a hundred times over, "follow me."

We all follow him to a boat big enough to seat 15 people with a shelter covering the main sitting areas. I had to admit, it was a beautiful looking boat.

Cole climbs on and moves straight to the wheel leaving the rest of us to climb on ourselves. Justin is the first one to climb on and he offers me his hand so he can help me. I definitely could have gotten on the boat myself but I accepted his gesture anyway, smiling at him as he helped on Charlie and then reluctantly, Tiffany.

I glimpse over at Aiden only to see he looks a little angry. My first instinct is to approach him and make sure he's okay but before I get the chance, Justin sits on the other side of me. Charlie raises her eyebrows at me questionably but falls into conversation with Toby and Blake.

"Excited?" Justin smiles, his eyes sparkling. I had always loved Justin's eyes, they had always given away exactly what he was thinking. There was never any mystery with Justin because his eyes revealed everything. His eyes had always been beautiful but I couldn't help but miss the dark brown ones that I had grown so fond of. I liked the mystery in Aiden's eyes, he only revealed what he wanted to, and for some reason that had always intrigued me.

"Yeah," I smile half heartily, glancing at Aiden from the corner of my eyes only to see him already looking at me.

"Sorry Justin, I'll be right back," I smile at him, walking over to Aiden and squishing myself between him and Toby. Toby doesn't seem to mind as he continues his conversation with Charlie and Blake.

"Are you sure you're over him?" Aiden asks instantly, thankfully no one hears as everyone was listening to Cole's instructions.

"Justin?" I question confused.

"No, Bob The Builder," Aiden replies, giving me a deadpanned look.

I laugh at his words but reply anyway; "yeah, I have been for a while."

Aiden goes to say something but Cole interrupts us; "alright Emily, since you're ignoring my instructions on how to use the gear, how about I demonstrate on you."

I freeze, what the hell?! Unlike a scolding voice a teacher would use on their student, Coles voice almost seems pleased, but in a sadistic way.

Slowly I walk over to him. Everyone notices my hesitance but no one makes a move to help me. Everyone looks just as shocked as I was.

"You'll need to be in your swimmers for this, please undress." He smiles.

I freeze once again. What the fuck?!

"Sorry bro, unfortunately, it was me who was distracting her, so I have to insist I take her place," Aiden interjects and my breath returns. Aiden, my knight in shining armor.

"Don't bother mate, she's up here now," Cole replies, the same sadistic smile covering his face.

"No, I insist, wouldn't want to break any codes of conduct or show any inequality now would we?" This time Aiden makes it extremely obvious that he knows exactly what Cole is doing, and his words were indeed a threat. Cole clenches his jaw but submits, he mumbles a quick fine and allows Aiden to take my place. I look at Aiden as we pass and he winks at me, making me smile.

"What a fucking creep," Charlie whispers to me as I sit beside her. I agree with her but laugh when I see Aiden making it as difficult as possible for Cole. I definitely owed Aiden after this.

***

The snorkeling trip today was absolutely beautiful!! It was hard at the beginning though because it seemed like James, Justin, and maybe even Aiden were all vying for my attention. As much as I wanted Aiden's attention, I'm pretty sure he was only doing it because of some alpha male status thing. Both Justin and James wanted my attention, and Aiden wanted to prove that we were the closest to boost his ego. I ended up spending most of the time with Charlie, and I was glad. It gave me a chance to just enjoy the ocean life. I stayed in the ocean for as long as possible so I wouldn't have to deal with Cole as well and I was sure he had noticed.

We had just gotten back to the dock. I hadn't even put my clothes back on yet but I was sure I had gotten a tan, either that or sunburn was suddenly a golden color. Charlie, however, had gotten burnt. I had always been lucky with my skin, I never burnt and always tanned but obviously, this was not a gene Charlie and I both had inherited. 10 minutes in the sun and I would tan, 10 minutes in the sun for Charlie and she'd look as red as my face always seemed to be around Aiden.

"Avoiding me Collins?" I feel a presence behind me. He was so close that I could feel the body heat radiating off his bare chest.

Aiden.

Charlie smiles at me before she walks away and towards a grinning Toby, leaving Aiden and me alone.

"Maybe," I smile back, half-jokingly.

Aiden smirks at me; "and why would that be?"

In a sudden burst of confidence, I look Aiden straight in the eye; "because I'm sick of being the prize in some twisted game."

Aiden looks at me confused before he smirks even wider; "you noticed that?"

I give him a pointed look and he puts his hands up in surrender, his smirk not faltering in the slightest; "I can't help the fact you're so beautiful."

I blush at his words even though I knew they were just pointless flirting; "seriously Aiden?'

"Fine, I promise not to prove I'm the best again," Aiden grins, although I'm pretty sure we both know his words were lies. I laugh at him anyway, shaking my head as we walk back to the site to get ready for the bonfire tonight.

Charlie and I both put on some clothes for the bonfire, it was still very hot so I change my swimmers to let my other ones dry in case anyone decides to go swimming. The bikini I wear is a plain, blue one that ties together at my sides and shows off my tan.

As I was wearing blue swimmers, I decided to put on a dark casual dress. It was tight enough to give me shape but loose enough that you couldn't see every curve of my body like some of the party dresses Charlie made me try on.

Charlie followed my lead and also put on a cute summer dress over her dry green swimmers. We both went barefoot.

"You girls ready?" Carter grins at us. As of now, the boys were all kicking a soccer ball to each other while they waited. They had also gotten changed into some dry swimming trunks. Aiden wore a loose tank top and I almost drooled, his trunks were almost identical to the black ones he wore today but these ones had a white line going down either side of him.

Aiden grins at me as he kicks the ball to Toby and I smile back, he walks over to me and casually throws his arm over my shoulder. Even though he did this quite often, I still feared he could hear the way my heart reacted to his simple move. I try to seem unaffected.

"I hate how there's no alcohol," Toby pouts from the other side of me. I laugh at him, I didn't really blame him.

"What time are we leaving Friday?" I ask curiously, it was already Wednesday which means we only had 2 nights left of paradise.

"I think straight after breakfast," Carter smiles politely. I inwardly pout, I liked it here.

As soon as we get to the bonfire, Amy and the others approach us, but so does Justin. I smile at him politely.

"How are you going, Emmy?" Justin grins. I smile at him and go to reply but unfortunately Aiden beats me to it.

"The same as she was half an hour ago?" He states emotionlessly, he pulls me closer to him and I roll my eyes, the alpha male fest begins again.

A beautiful girl approaches us, she seemed like she would fit in well with Amy with her bright green hair and multiple facial piercings. I watch her as she stops in front of Aiden and me, his arm still wrapped around my shoulder.

"Are you 2 dating because my best friend thinks you're super hot," the girl asks confidently. We all look behind her to see another beautiful girl with bright purple hair and multiple facial piercings, she waves at Aiden and I feel myself subconsciously move closer to him, lucky Aiden doesn't notice but I have a feeling that Justin does.

"No," Justin responds to the girl at the exact same time Aiden says yes and I reply with my genius 'um.'

The girl looks weirdly at us and I understand why; someone told her no, someone yes, and someone 'um' before she quickly walks away, understandably confused with her response.

My heart pounds in my chest and I can't say that the fact Aiden told the beautiful girl we were dating didn't get a reaction from me that I was ashamed to admit.

"Oi Aiden, come play chicken," Blake calls as he and the others walk to the ocean. Aiden pulls me along with him and Justin follows.

"Okay so Amy and Liam, Charlie and me, Em and Aiden, Toby and Carter, Alex and Cooper," Blake grins, obviously excited to have Charlie on his shoulders. My heart pounds when I'm paired up with Aiden and once again I try to hide my reaction.

Quick A/N - hey loves, I'm not sure if this is an Australian thing but Chicken (aka shoulder wars) is when 2 people couple up, one sitting on the shoulder and one carrying. All you do is push and shove to try to get people to fall off their partners shoulders and the winner is the last pair standing...DM me if you have anymore questions, also can you let me know if this is actually a thing where you're from or if it's only an Aussie thing? I'm actually curious lol.

"Oi Justin man, if you wanna play then get Mason," Aiden smirks. I refrain from rolling my eyes, the excitement that I was partnered up with Aiden getting the better of me.

Justin clenches his jaw and looks at Aiden; "I'll just watch."

Aiden just smirks and takes his shirt off, and practically dumps it on a fuming Justin. The action doesn't surprise me from Aiden but makes me feel a little guilty for Justin. Everyone else takes their clothes off I take mine off as well and smile guiltily at Justin who rolls his eyes but takes my clothes from me to hold. I smile at him and he smiles back, shaking his head.

I notice practically all the girls staring at these guys chests and all the guys looking at Charlie and Amy considering we were the only ones who had stripped off almost as soon as the bonfire began.

We submerge ourselves into the water and it was pleasantly warm.

"Ready?" Aiden grins at me as everyone begins to get on their partner's shoulders. I look at him skeptically but nod. He goes under the water and I hop onto his shoulders, holding on to his neck tightly. I found myself wondering who would be on the shoulders of Alex and Cooper considering they were both pretty muscly, Cooper may have been a tiny bit shorter. Obviously, Toby would get on the shoulders of Carter considering Carter was even taller than Aiden.

Eventually, Cooper gets on the shoulders of Alex but it's obvious they're struggling to stand up. Charlie and I share a mischievous look just before Blake yells to start. Immediately, Charlie and I push Cooper off Alex and laugh as he falls off not so gracefully. Amy and Toby fight to get each other off the other person's shoulders and I immediately push Amy off Liam while she wasn't paying attention to me and instead trying to get Toby off Carter.

She falls off Liam instantly, obviously not expecting my sneak attack. Liam was very muscly so I was sure that he could have kept her on his shoulders longer if he was prepared for my attack. The boys laugh as Amy and Charlie fall off the boys. While I had gotten Amy, Toby had gotten Charlie.

I laugh, he took out my partner. Toby and I laugh along with everyone else as we fight to win. We keep getting each other but Carter and Aiden continue to catch us before we fall. From the corner of my eye, I see Aiden lift his knee to knee Carter in the balls. He bursts out laughing as Carter goes to block it, and in the meantime drops Toby so he goes tumbling into the ocean.

I laugh loudly with everyone else as Toby emerges, a mischievous grin on his face; "you cheaters, I'll get you losers back."

I fall back off Aiden purposely, being way too affected by the proximity, and emerge beside him.

"I want to change teams, this isn't fair," Cooper pouts jokingly. We all laugh, I agreed with him but I didn't want to admit it because the fairest thing would probably be me going with Alex and Cooper with Aiden.

Before anyone can rearrange anything, 2 beautiful girls join us in the water. They were both very pretty but also very confident.

"Can we play?" The white-blonde one asks grinning.

"Definitely," Cooper smiles in what seems like a sweet way but I can see the perviness behind his words, I hold back my laugh.

"Easy then, Cooper and Alex can go with the new girls and the rest can stay the same," Toby grins, obviously wanting to stay with Carter so he can get revenge on Aiden and me, I grin at him and he grins back.

Game on BFFL.

The new girls agree and I can already see Amy sizing them up, obviously not liking 2 newbies joining us. The boys all go under so we can get on their shoulders and I quickly do so, not being as suspicious as I was before. I was actually having a lot of fun.

Half an hour later, our game of chicken had become a camp game of chicken. So many people had joined in with us and I was actually having a lot of fun, Aiden and I had not yet lost so I was feeling very confident. Justin had also eventually joined with Mason after James and his friends did, even Tiffanny and her minions had joined. Luckily Amy had made it her personal mission to get Tiffany off her partner first so I never had to.

Tiffany had hinted many times that she wanted to be with Aiden but Aiden kept ignoring her and it made me way happier than I care to admit. Justin had partnered up with some girl from his school and so had Mason.

Blake had also somehow become the game coordinator which was very entertaining to watch, but I think he just liked having Charlie on his shoulders. "Everyone switch partners, even if I don't want to, Carter and Toby can stay because Carter is a giant and Toby likes pushing girls too much to carry one" Blake grins at Toby jokingly. Toby grins back and sticks his thumb up at him as his form of agreement. Obviously, one too many people had requested a swap of partners.

James and Justin both approach me quickly when everyone switches partners and about half of the girls approach a smirking Aiden.

"Come on Emmy, let's beat them," Justin says quickly when he sees James also approaching me. I nod, preferring to be with Justin than one of the other guys I didn't even know the names of that had been eyeing me.

Somehow, Tiffany had scared all the other girls off leaving Aiden to partner with her. I had to Ignore the jealously that stirred in my stomach.

"Everyone get ready," Blake grins, eyeing his new partner who was a very attractive brunette from one of the other schools, she was no doubt the Tiffany of her school. Charlie had been forced to go with Liam by Amy so a girl she didn't know didn't and in return, Amy partnered with Alex.

I quickly sit on Justin's shoulders and hold tight as he stands. I felt a lot shorter with Justin than I did with Aiden even though Justin was only an inch or so shorter. I hated how metaphorical my thoughts suddenly became.

As soon as Blake calls 'go' everyone begins, this time, Tiffany pushed Amy off Alex before Amy pushed her off and I prayed that someone else would push her off before I had to. When I saw she was still standing strong I almost sacrificed myself so I wouldn't have to verse her.

"You wanna surrender?" Justin asked me so only I could hear when he saw Tiffanny smirking in my direction.

I think for a moment but eventually tell him no, Aiden was grinning at me with that boyish grin, obviously wanting to fight Justin so I give in.

As soon as Tiffany and Aiden get close enough, Tiffany starts scratching and pushing me, obviously happy to have a chance to fight me.

I copy her actions, minus the scratching, I wasn't a bitch. No one falls, obviously, Aiden was holding up Tiffany because I most likely would have won by now if she had a less masculine partner. I see Charlie on Liam and Toby still on Carter talk to each other and point to me. I grin at them, they were coming to save me. I just had to hold off until Carter and Liam could get here.

I hold her off, I could tell Justin wasn't having as much fun with Aiden as he had with everyone else, he wanted to win and the feeling was the same with Aiden. I never understood this whole alpha male thing that had emerged between Aiden and Justin, I think James had stepped out when he saw the situation. This would definitely be an interesting fight.

Toby and Charlie finally get here and Charlie holds up 3 fingers before putting a finger down silently. Neither Tiffany nor Aiden had noticed them behind them yet, they were both too focused on killing their opponents. When Charlie puts down her last finger both Charlie and Toby pull Tiffany with so much force that she falls off instantly. Aiden stands still, looking