As soon we arrived at home me and siblings jumped out of the car and ran inside the house only to find packed suitcases in the middle of the lounge area. Seeing this Rose spoke up "Are we moving out again, dad?"
Hearing Rose, dad chuckled and said "No, my little peanut. We are going to your mother side's uncle. He invited us over to celebrate the birth of your little cousin."
"The one who lives in New city S?" Marie asked as she tilted her head to the side and then added "will the other cousins be there, as well?"
"Yes everyone will be gathered there including your grandmother and grandfather. Now hurry up and change your clothes if you all want to go with us." Mom said as she brought another small suitcase downstairs.
Just as mom said this we all ran up to our rooms and quickly changed our clothes. The way to our uncle's house got covers in no time as we all made stops on different locations for refreshments and we played card game. We reached at night time and me and my siblings were already quite sleepy. The other children had already fallen asleep. I said hello and played my respect to every adult present in the house and went to sleep with my siblings.
The next morning I woke up to the sound of greate hustle and bustle in the house. My little cousins were jumping around already playing tag with each other. My older cousins were getting ready to look presentable, trying to mimic the adults. The house was full of all ages of children and yet there was no one of my age so naturally I would tag along with Marie and play with Lily and Ash who were the same age as Marie but older than me.
I brushed my teeth and got ready before the breakfast was prepared. The entire family ate the breakfast together at the big dinning table and after breakfast all of the adults began to prepare for the event of celebrating our little cousin's birth. As the adults were busy in their own stuff, children were playing their games, overall everyone was enjoying their day.
I, Marie, Lily and Ash laid down on bed getting bored with playing house when our elder male cousin, Lily's brother, Jasper came to us and asked "Hey, I'm going to the lake at the side of the city for a swim. If you all are that bored you can tag along."
Hearing big brother Jasper, our eyes lit up with excitement and we quickly and quietly gathered our swim suits. "Yess, today I will show everyone that I can swim too. It will be so much fun to see their surprised faces." I thought in my mind as I picked up my swim suit and sneaked out of the house along with the others.
At the lake, there were more children already playing and swimming. Even big brother Jasper's friends were there. He went to them, talked with them for a while, whereas we stood at the bank and looked at all the water and the children. Big brother Jasper then returned to us and said "Okay, I'll be leaving you girls here and go swim with my friends. You all can swim too but don't go in the middle. The water is deeper their and since none of you can't swim properly so...anyway, take care of yourselves and enjoy." Saying this big brother Jasper left us at our own devices.
"Okay, so who can swim and who cannot. I'm asking because I cannot swim." Lily asked as she looked at us. Hearing Lily, I knew it was my chance to speak and show off my swimming technique to them. I have already watched Mr. Silly from 'who can do it' show swim a hundred times so I definitely know how to swim.
"I know how to swim. I'm a professional at it." I said as I placed my fist above my chest in a proud manner. Hearing me Ash said in full surprise "Wow! When did you learn." Just as Ash said this, Lily looked at Marie and furrowed her brows as if asking Marie whether I was saying the truth. Marie rolled her eyes and said "Don't believe her, she doesn't know how to swim. All she did was watch Mr. Silly from 'who can do it' show."
Hearing Marie I got angry and said "Yes I know! You are the one who doesn't know!" Saying this I went into the water and started to paddle my arms and legs just like Mr. Silly taught on the show. I could hear Marie's voice from behind "Hope, just don't go in the deep water!" but I paid no mind to it. "You can yell all you want Marie but your jaw will drop when I swim better than you." I thought and continued to paddle my arms and legs in a continuous rhythm. As I tried to swim, some of the water went inside my nostrils and my mouth so I started coughing and stood up instead of laying on my belly. I hurriedly looked back to see if anyone saw but Marie, Lily and Ash were facing the same situation and finding each other in the same shoes we began to laugh.
We played tag in shallow water for a long time. It was Lily's turn to tag and when she got near me I moved to the side trying to avoid getting tagged but ended up slipping on moist sand beneath my feet and went into the deeper water. The water began to pull at my legs and I began to sink. As panick overcame my entire body, my arms subconsciously flailed in water frantically and I was about to cry for help when suddenly an arm swooped me up. It was big brother Jasper's arm. He had pulled me from my clothes and dragged me out on the dry ground "Didn't I tell you all to stay in the shallow water? What were you all doing near the deeper water? I can't take my eyes off of you all even cor a second." Jasper said being angry.
"Sorry, we didn't realise." Lily said as she stuck out her tounge at her brother Jasper.
"Why you!...forget it. We're going home. It's already this late everyone would be getting worried." Jasper said as he controlled his anger and we left the lake.
When we returned home everyone was looking for us. Well I can't blame them since four children disappeared from the house without anyone knowing. I went straight to mom giggling and hopping occasionally "guess what, mom? I swam today, like a lot! You know I can swim a little bit now. But you know I almost drowned since I accidentally went in the deeper water but big brother Jasper saved me." I told my mom as I usually do about my entire day.
But mom's face didn't seem happy but instead it had a worried look "Hope, what did you just say? You went to swimming without any adult and almost drowned? Had I not told you to tell mom everything before you do anything?"
"You did, but Marie said that we were sneaking out and in sneaking out, you don't tell the adults." I replied as I sat down on the sofa all satisfied with my little adventure. After I told mom, just a few minutes later my elder uncle called Big brother Jasper, Lily, Ash and Marie in his room. As I was a bit curious I lingered outside the room and as five minutes passed they all came out. Lily and Ash were crying a bit, brother Jasper had a hand print on his face and Marie looked sombre too. I could tell by their faces that they were scolded but for what?
"H-hey! What happend in there? Why was uncle angry?" I asked innocently as I tugged at Marie's sleeve. Hearing me, brother Jasper went straight to his room.
Marie yanked away her arm in anger "you happened! You can't stay shut can you?"
"But what did I do?" I asked as i looked at Marie surprised
"You're so dumb, Hope. We shouldn't have taken you with us. Who told you to tell everything to your mom?" Lily said as she looked at me in anger.
"But I always tell mom and no one told me not to tell her" I replied as I tried to prove my innocence.
"That's right, you never know. Not everything is supposed to be told. Grow up already. " Ash said as she left too. I looked at Marie with pleading tearful eyes but she ignored me too and left.
"How is this my fault?" I mumbled to myself as I stood there all alone.