Letting Him In

Chapter-1

Elijah

With his lungs screaming for air, Elijah broke through the surface of the freezing water and sucked in a deep breath. Wiping the water from his eyes, he swam over to the edge of the pool and prepared himself for another set of laps.

Sunlight was spilling over the water, while a slight wind caused the leaves of trees in the distance to flutter slightly. He shivered a little as the wind blew across his body, making it seem even colder.

"First day of senior year and you're skipping homeroom to try and drown yourself in the school's pool? Not one of your best ideas, is it?" drawled a voice from the entrance of the pool. Brushing his dripping hair from his face, Elijah turned around to roll his eyes at the figure leaning against the double doors.

Of course he knew where to find me, even after I made sure that he had no way of knowing; well, no way other than 14 years of friendship and guess work, he thought upon hearing the familiar voice.

"That's funny coming from someone who skips lessons on a daily basis," he chuckled.

"Can't do that anymore," scoffed Kaeden. "Coach threatened to kick anyone who skipped more than two lessons a week off the team." Straightening up, he walked over to where Elijah had hoisted himself up by the poolside. "Really, though, why are you trying to freeze yourself at eight in the morning?"

Elijah hesitated for a moment, and deciding to ignore the question, he asked, "Did I miss anything fun? Homeroom's always chaotic on the first day."

He remembered how some of their friends had planned to leave a smoke bomb in the teacher's drawer the previous year, but had eventually settled for hiding a mini speaker in a loose tile in the ceiling. They had spent the entire lesson listening to music whilst the teacher tried to find its source.

"Not much; just Jake and Mike putting something that smelled suspiciously like a dead rat in the air vents. Mrs. Meyers had to take us out because of how bad it stunk. Anyway, answer the question; you're not that good at changing the subject," Kaeden huffed.

Sighing, Elijah brushed back his wet hair once more. He hadn't wanted anyone to know he was planning on taking up swimming again, but he didn't really have an excuse for being here when he was supposed to be in class. Seeing no way out of it, he confessed, "Try outs for the swim team are being held right after lunch break today. Just wanted to get in some practice laps before that."

Kaeden's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "But you haven't swum in, like, years. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Actually, I have. Not much, but enough to know I'm not rusty. And this is our last year of school. I want to be able to do the stuff I like to do; or at least I used to before I couldn't."

Seeing the concern ripple through his best friend's eyes, he thought, here comes the 'be careful' lecture. That's what always happened; whenever Elijah decided to do something different, everyone started shooting him cautious looks and giving him warnings of 'be careful', or sometimes even outright stopped him from doing it. Even if it was the most ordinary of things to be doing.

So, before Kaeden could say anything, he quickly added, "Like you said, it's been years. I'm not twelve anymore. And if I almost drown or something, you can always save the shreds of my reputation by making up some cool story. Make sure it involves me being exhausted because of saving the world by killing dragons or something, though," he tried to ease the tension surrounding them.

Relaxing his momentarily stiff posture, Kaeden let out a dry chuckle at his friend's dumb antics.

Crisis avoided, thought Elijah, mentally patting himself on the back.