"Checkmate!" Gemma said, grinning. "That's twice now! You used to kick my arse at this game."
I shrugged. Gemma was really friendly, and in the past two and a half hours, I had gotten to know more about those five idiots than however many weeks I remembered being with them.
"Well, I did lose my memory, so I wouldn't know," I said. "Do y'all have any crackers?"
"Y'all?" Gemma started laughing. "I love it!"
I blushed. "Shut up."
"Sorry," she said, rubbing the underside of her nose. She stopped smiling. "Yeah, we have crackers. Do you want cheese on them? I know you love that."
I nodded, and she stood up to go get the snacks while I reset the chess board.
I heard the front door open, and I turned my head to see a soaking wet Niall, who proceeded to shake his head, sending water flying in all directions.
"Lina! You should come outside with me! We're having water wars!" he said as Gemma walked out of the kitchen.
"Niall!" she screeched. "You dog! Quit getting the everything all wet!"
He grinned and held his arms out. "I'm sorry Gemma. Hug it out?"
She rolled her head then walked toward him. "Okay, fine." She held out her arms, then stopped. "WAIT! NO!"
She ran away, and Niall and I started laughing. "That was great!" I shouted between fits of laughter. When I finally stopped laughing, I asked Niall, "So what's water wars?"

---

"Okay, so just pull this back and–"
"Niall, I know how a slingshot works," I said, aiming at my moving target.
He held his hands up. "Okay! Just making sure!"
I pulled the slingshot back as far as I could, then released it once my target had stopped moving. It hit him on the top of his curly-haired head. I ducked around the corner of the house, hiding from his line of sight. Once I heard the squish of mud coming my way, I turned and ran away, dragging Niall with me.
Squishy mud was squeezing up between my toes, and the rain had soaked my clothes, chilling me to the bone, but I didn't care. I was having fun, and that's all that mattered.

One Direction POV - Harry

I felt a water balloon burst on my head, and I turned in the direction that it seemed to have come from. I ran that way and turned the corner, only catching a glimpse of a familiar body before it disappeared.
I heard the mud squish under my shoes as I followed the footprints in the chocolate-milk-like mud, following Angel. As I rounded the corner, I only saw a flash of color before another water balloon burst on my face.
"BINGO!" Angel's voice shouted, her laughter peeling through the air. I opened my eyes to see her grinning at me from in front of Niall, holding a slingshot.
I eyed the puddle of mud that my mum's yard had become before looking back up at Angel and walking slowly toward her. She started running at me as fast as she could, which took me by surprise. With a few feet still between us and her showing no signs of slowing down, I crouched down, hoping to trip her by grabbing her legs, but she catapulted over me, tucking her knees up to her chin and doing a flip over my head and landing on her feet on the other side.
I turned around and stared back at her in disbelief as she stuck her tongue out at me. It was then that I was bombarded by water balloons from all directions.
"AMBUSH!" Angel shouted, followed by battle cries from my fellow bandmates.
"I'm gonna get you!" I shouted at Angel, running in her direction. She squealed and dropped her water balloons, taking off in the opposite direction. I picked up the three balloons she had dropped as I ran, nearly falling headfirst into the mud. I threw one blindly at her, missing by miles. The next one was a better shot, hitting her hip.
Suddenly, she turned on me and ran directly towards me. Thinking she was going to try to flip over my head again, I jumped up. She easily slid under me, getting extremely muddy in the process.
When I turned around, she was standing still, her arms and legs spread apart so she looked like a starfish. "Hit me!" she shouted over the sound of the pouring rain.
I walked slowly up to her. She didn't move an inch. I raised my arms over her head and dropped it, keeping my hand over the top of it to be sure that it popped.
"OH NO YOU DIDN'T!" Liam shouted from across the yard. He came running at me full tilt – which was fast, mind you – and tackled me in the mud. Louis came running after him and added himself to the growing pile, falling off and onto his back in the mud.
"Get off me, you tub of lard!" I shouted at him.
Angel crouched down next to my head. "Didn't you hear? You're not supposed to hit girls," she said. "It's kind of a rule."
"Since when did that rule take place?!" I asked.
"Since the growing pile on top of you has decided so," she said as Zayn added himself to the pile.
I looked up at the pile. "I hate you all."
They just grinned and high-fived Angel.
"It was all Lina's idea!" Niall shouted before knocking the pile over and holding out a hand for me. I took it and stood up.
There was a flash, and I looked up, expecting there to be thunder coming next. But no, it was a guy with a camera.
"What are you doing out here in this weather?!" Angel shouted at the man.
"My job," he shouted back, taking another picture.
My eyes widened as I realized that he was paparazzi. I started toward Angel to take her inside, but she turned around. She pushed us all toward the camera guy and lined us up, positioning herself in the middle of all five of us, between Niall and me. She was also standing in an extremely muddy puddle. She scooped some up and smeared it on every one of our shirts, sans camera guy, then stood between Niall and me again.
"Now that we're all dolled up you can take pictures!" she said, grinning. "The sooner you're done with your job, the sooner you can get home and be warm!"
A few flashes later, he was done. Angel scooped up another handful of mud and walked toward the guy. I didn't hear what she said, but she smeared mud all over the guy's shirt before walking away, pulling us all inside with her.
"What'd you say to him?" I asked.
"I told him that next time he wants to intrude on your family time, he would get way worse of a punishment than mud all over him," she said, opening the door. "And then I said 'checkmate' and walked away."
"Eva, dear, is that–" my mum stopped talking and gasped. "Oh my."
Angel looked down as if noticing her muddy state for the first time. She laughed. "Oh my indeed," she agreed. "So... stand on the porch and take a rain shower?"

Notes

Okay, this was supposed to be short, but it ended up being longer I guess, so you're welcome.

I just had to write a fun chapter. I reread all the chapters I've written so far, and none of them are fun. They're just all... blah. So WALLA! This happened!

AND NOW FOR THE APOLOGIES.
Sorry I haven't updated in almost three months; I kind of put this story on hold – along with all my other stories except for In a Heartbeat. I'm going to try to update this one more often now, though. No promises, but I'm going to try.