Penfield's Greatest Swimmer

🌊~47

"SURPRISEEE!"

The sudden lights, sounds, and everything nearly made me jump out of my skin.

Everyone on the swim team was here, including a couple of my friends from the hall. The blue streamers hanging from wall to wall with balloon fishes dangling underneath them, had me sinking into confusion.

"Guys..." I stepped further into the room. "What's going on?"

"This..."

Immediately he spoke, my head turned.

"...is my 'ocean-themed apology party' for you." Wearing a simple black shirt, Ethan stood with the widest grin I'd ever seen on his face."It's the least I could do to earn your forgiveness. I know how much you love the ocean, so I decided to do something special with it for you." He paused. "We grew up like brothers, sharing so much in common... and that's why I'm ashamed that we fought tonight. I lost touch of who I was for a whole twenty minutes and threw away my longest friendship. The truth is, the bond I share with you means a lot to me and I value all the little memories we made as kids. That's why I stand before you tonight, to say I am sorry."

I could hear the honesty in his voice.

"I'm sorry I went berserk on you like that. It was a stupid, immature move, and I hope you'll find it in your kind heart to forgive me. To anyone else that I hurt or attempted to hurt, I'm also sorry." Ethan's head turned back to the audience, and that was when I spotted Seth at the back, arms folded and leaning against the wall.

"Emotions aren't easy to control. But I'll try my very best to keep them in check. Thank you all for giving me a listening ear, tonight. I appreciate it."

With a humble bow, a mass of applause followed and I joined in. A public apology was the last thing I expected from him as a surprise. If I'd known that this was what he had planned, I wouldn't have bothered Akunna or Deon to come with me.

My childhood friend faced me, and because I was still surprised by the fact that he'd thrown a party to apologise to me, I captured him in a tight hug. This was the friend grew up with, not the rage-filled monster who trashed out my locker.

"I'll take this hug as an 'I am forgiven' hug," he pulled back, still grinning like a Cheshire cat, and I laughed.

"Yeah, you are."

"Ok, then let's get this party staaarted!" He shouted, pulling an avalanche of cheers from the guests.

Kuami Eugene's Open Gate set the dance floor open for people to move to the beat. An assortment of finger foods were on display, along with a variety of drinks and a three-tier cake.

"You managed to get a cake?"

"Yeah, and it's your favourite too, chocolate hazelnut."

My eyebrows flew up in astonishment. "How in the world did you get all this done in such a short amount of time? It takes a lot of planning and phone calls to set up something like this."

"Well, there was going to be the regular Friday night party here," Ethan started. "But I decided to change it because I don't think I would've enjoyed the party if I knew you were still mad at me."

Nodding, I said, "Thanks for making the effort to fix our friendship, Ethan."

"Don't mention, man." He patted my shoulder. "As I said, our friendship means a lot to me. Now, let's go get you a drink."

Amid dancing bodies, Ethan steered me over to the stocked bar. Nana Kwame stood behind the counter, pouring some liquids into a shaker. At his side stood Princess, wearing an all leather jumpsuit with full-on make-up and a pair of cat-eye-shaped sunglasses, perched up in the curly wig on her head.