"Whose plan was it to go to the pool again?" Cora yells as she tries to scrub her skin with her towel.
"I would like to know the answer too," Grace glares at her.
Cora continues, "It's not like I don't like tan. I love them. But it's supposed to be only for summers. Going to school on a November Monday is not a trend."
I almost agree with her except for the trending part. I don't strive to come on the front page of Teen Vogue. But still, going to school on Monday with this tan will be a bit eye-catching. And I don't like the thought.
"How come none of us remembered that?" Payton says.
I wonder too. Lost in the excitement, we all forgot the consequences of swimming in the pool without sunscreen.
As a result, we all turned red from chlorine and the sun.
"Come on girls, we all agreed on it," Asher tries to cheer us as he looks annoyingly at his own tans.
"Not everyone," I mutter. Ashton shoots me a toothy grin.
"But we had fun," Ashton reasons, and all the boys agree with him. "And the best part, you got over your fears." His look directed towards me. "It's worth the tan."
That, I couldn't object.
That's right folks, despite my fears and everything, I can finally swim!
I couldn't believe it myself either. Ashton had a hard time convincing me to believe the truth. I almost cried in his arms when he told me I was swimming without his help for the last five minutes.
Though he said it's not enough, I need to work on my strokes and breathing, but it doesn't matter. Cause I made it.
I know it's not something to get this excited about, but the feeling of achieving something that you're trying to accomplish for years, the joy and the rush your whole body and mind feel, one can't understand it unless they have experienced it themselves.
"Yes, we have to thank you for that," Miles tells him and I smile.
Ashton waves a hand. "Mention not." And he smiles at me.
I look at Grace from the corner of my eyes. She's sending a weird smug look in my way. Then her eyes move to my left. What's with her today? I mean, it's not me who has a secret crush.
Speaking of crushes, I look at my left and see Nyako standing there. He doesn't take his eyes off his phone as he continues to text someone.
I smirk and stroll in the kitchen where she is currently. "When were you planning to tell me about it?"
Grace looks up from the bowl. She's making chocolate fudge for all of us. "Huh?"
I roll my eyes and look around for a second eye. There's no one other than us in the kitchen.
Then I grab her by the elbow and ask, "Why did I have to learn it from Ashton that you're crushing on Nyako?"
Grace jerks away and narrows her eyes at me. "I'm crushing on-WHOM?"
I sigh. "Look, Grace, I know you don't like to talk about your-"
But Grace cuts me. "Whom did you say I'm crushing on?"
I blink. "Um, Nyako?" Her face becomes lethal.
"And who told you that?" She asks. I explain to her what Owen had told the boys weeks ago and how they all were trying to set her and Nyako up.
When I finish telling her everything, Grace looks like she is going to murder someone any minute now. "So you're saying," Grace says tugging a lavender lock behind her ears. "All this time, when I 'accidentally' sat with him in all my classes, or at lunch every day, because you guys were trying to play Cupid?" She says recalling the last few weeks.
"No, not me. It's the boys who were doing it," I tell her quickly. "I just knew about it because Ashton told me."
I hear Grace cursing under her breath.
"Grace?" I call her hesitantly.
She shakes her head in disbelief and looks at me. "But I don't even like Nyako!"
"What?" I hit the stool behind me on my knee and I fell on top of it.
"Not like that," Grace sighs. "Yes, Nyako is a great guy, but I don't feel about him that way. I have no romantic feelings for him," she emphasizes the last part.
"B-but-" I try to say something.
"But you were right, I am crushing on someone for a while," Grace hangs her head low. "But it's not Nyako."
"Then who?"
"Promise you won't get mad?" Her eyes plead.
I take her hands in mine and smile. "Promise."
"It's Owen."
It was barely a whisper and I had to move closer to hear the name. My eyes become wider.
"I'm sorry I kept it from you and Miles for so long but I think I've been crushing on him ever since I moved here in middle school."
I try to remember the day when Grace joined our school. I was then friends with Cora, Ashley, and Natasha. It was at the beginning of seventh grade. Our home teacher was late that day. But then he brought a girl with short pixie hair with him.
She looked so confident that I almost envied her. She smiled at the class and introduced herself. The teacher then told her to sit where she wanted. I remember her walking to the back of the class and sitting with-Owen.
Owen greets her with a smile.
And then looking back to the last few weeks, I remember how much Grace hated when the boys joined us at the table. I remember her staring at Nyako longingly. But when I look back now, her looks were never directed to Nyako. It was the boy who always happened to be around him.
Even while ago, she wasn't peeking at Nyako. She was peeking at the boy to his left, Owen.
Coming back to reality, I look at Grace. She's gazing down at her hands.
It was always Owen. How did I not see that?
"Really?" I ask her. Grace nods.
"Girl, you're royally screwed."
Grace laughs. "That I can't disagree," she says. "I mean how come they thought I'm crushing on Nyako?"
I shrug. "Looks like we've to do something about that."
Grace nods. Then she looks at me. "You aren't thinking of telling me to confess to Owen, do you?"
I don't give her an immediate response.
She pales. "I'll never do that!"
"But-"
"I would rather just stumble on home to my hundred cats alone."
I laugh. Typical Grace quoting Taylor Swift.
"So what're you planning to do?"
"I don't know. But I'll think of something." Grace shrugs. "But what'll you do?"
"Do what?"
She sighs and looks at me in the eye. "What are you going to do about Derek? You can't possibly be thinking of forgiving him again after what he did yesterday, are you?"
I search for an answer in my head. Am I?
I ask myself the question again when I arrive at school on Monday. I arrived at school today with Miles.
On the way, I see Derek's car missing in his usual parking spot, which means the color still hasn't come off.
I feel a little bad for him but remember how he has treated me in the past few months.
'He deserved it,' I tell myself.
Miles excuses himself to check the newspaper sales today and tells me not to wait for him. I nod at him and make my way to my locker.
That's when I found Derek leaning against my locker, clearly waiting for me. I also see Emery by his side.
All of a sudden my heart starts pacing faster. Memories from Friday start to come back. And I feel a sudden wave of anger in my chest that I didn't know was there in the first place.
For a second, I thought about turning around and pretending not to see him but then decided against it.
If honestly speaking, I never saw my future with him. But I thought we would be fine as long as it lasts.
Nevertheless, Derek continuously used to say we'll make it together. I almost believed his words. But somehow senior year happened. Now he rarely has time for me.
This needs to be sorted out.
And so I walk forward to face the reality. It is high time for us to sort this out.
ð¸
Uh-oh.