Chickadee ( A Ghost Bird series Fanfic) DISCONTINUED

Meet my mother

I scurry back into my house to change into my swimsuit and check on my mom before Alex comes over. For some reason, I really did not want to keep him waiting for long.

I go into my mom's room and find that she is awake and watching TV. "Hey mom," I say, glad to see she is up.

"Hi honey! How was your run?"

"It was great! Guess what, mom! I made a new friend."

"Honey, that's fantastic!"

"His name is Alex. He lives in the house next door and he goes to Ravenel High!"

"Is he cute?"

"Mom!" I screech with embarassment. She starts to laugh her amazing laugh and I can't help but join in with my awkward , snort filled one.  Once we finished laughing, I answered her question, trying to keep a straight face. "But, yes mom, he is very cute."

"Oh, well then I must meet him. When can you arrange for me to meet this young man," she says, which sends me into another fit of laughter.

"He's coming over in a few minutes to go swimming with me," I choke out between giggles.

"Go get ready then! What are you waiting for?"

"I love you too, mom," I say as I leave the room, rolling my eyes.

I decide to wear my favorite one piece, because I was feeling a little modest. It's black with little white polkadots and red cherries on it, and it has a red miniskirt attached to it. Then I quickly go into the bathroom and put my contacts in so I can see while I'm swimming. I reapply my concealer to my eye, using the waterproof kind this time, and I put waterproof mascara on to make my eyes pop. I finally brush my long, unruly, brown hair and put it in a side braid. Looking myself over in the full length mirror, I think I look pretty good, or at least as good as I could look.

I grab a towel for myself and one for Alex in case he needs one and head outside to find my mom already talking to him. For a woman that only has a little while to live, she sure moves fast.

As I open the sliding glass door, they both look over at me. "Hey honey! You were right, Mr. Woodcomb is a very nice young man," my mom says. Woodcomb? That must be Alex's last name. "And he is cute!" she mouths, winking and sending me a thumbs up.

"Thanks Mrs. Matthews."

"I told you to call me Lily."

"Okay, thank you Lily. Hey Spence, you ready?" he says, inching closer to me as I set the towels down on a beach chair.

"Yeah?" I say, confused as to why he was moving closer to me.

"Good," he says as he comes up right next to me. Suddenly, he scoops me up and dashes over to the pool to jump in.

"Put me down" I squeal, and hear my mom laughing. "You'll hurt yourself."

"Nope! You weigh, like, five pounds." I scoff. I'm probably not that heavy, after all I'm in pretty good shape and I'm only  five foot two, but, five pounds? Nope.

He reaches the side of the pool and flings me in, and then cannonballs in after me. The cold water  envelopes me, shocking me, but I quickly get used to it. I love swimming. At my old school back in Washington, I was on the swim team. I spent almost half my time in school in the water. In need of oxygen, my head breaks the surface. Both my mom and Alex are laughing, so I splash Alex.

"Oh, I see how you want to play it," he says, splashing me back. I dodge it by diving under the water and decide to let myself sink to the bottom. I stay under the water for as long as I can and then come back to surface. Alex isn't laughing anymore.

"Are you okay?" he says, frowning.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" I say, confused as to why he is upset.

"You were under the water for a long time. I was about to come get you."

"I guess I can just hold my breath for a long time," I say, shrugging. "Hey, want to race?"

"Sure, but I must warn you, I'm pretty good."

"I think I can take you," I say, grinning. I was the best swimmer at my old school and second in state, after some girl who beat me by one eighth of a second.

"What do I get when I win?"

"Um, I don't know. Whatever you want?" I say, not knowing what I could offer him. Wait, did he say WHEN he wins? He's in for a rude awakening.

"Okay, if I win, you have to sit next to me at lunch for the next month." That's what he wants? Alright, fine by me.

"And if I win, I get to cook you lunch," I say, hoping to hang out with him for as long as possible. Desperate, I know, but I'm not very good at the whole friends thing and I'm taking every chance I get.

"Deal," he says, grinning.

"Hey mom, will you be our judge?"

"Sure Spencer!" We get in to position. "Okay, on your mark, get set, go!" I shoot across the pool, reaching the other side well before Alex.

"No fair. No one told me Spencer was part fish," Alex complains.

"I guess you'll just have to suffer my cooking."

"Fine by me. It was really a win-win situation for me."

We race and splash around for the next few hours. At one point my mom goes inside, but I'm not really paying attention, so it doesn't really register on my brain.