don't go near the water!

don't go near the water chapter 3

After everything that happened on Saturday, Sunday seemed to go by in a blur. We were supposed to go to church- like we did every Sunday- but we didn't go because of my ankle. Cody was happy about that, but I wasn't. I wanted to get out of the house to go somewhere other than the doctor's office. I just did my homework instead. People kept calling and texting me, so I turned my phone off. My ankle hurting was enough of a distraction, I didn't need to be answering people as well. I got all of my homework done by 2. And that was the last I remembered of the day. 

On Monday, Julie and Sal were waiting by my locker. They both had looks of worry on their faces, and they were whispering to each other. When they saw me get close, they rushed over to help me. They both grabbed me by an arm. "Oh my God, what the hell happened to you?" asked Julie. "I sprained my ankle. Didn't Sal tell you?" "Yes, he told me, but he didn't tell me how. How did this happen?" "I fell in the shower. I don't know how or why but I did." "Are you ok?" "Yeah, just a sprained ankle and my butt hurts." I laughed at myself for that part, but neither of them joined in. "Why aren't you guys laughing?" "Because, we've been texting and calling you and you never answered." answered Sal. "I didn't answer because I was doing my homework and I didn't want to be distracted." then the bell rang. "Oh hey, Els, I have to talk to you about something during lunch. See you then!" and with that, Julie was racing off to class. Sal and I have the same schedule for everything so he helped me get to my first class. 

I couldn't focus all morning. I was in too much pain, and I was trying to figure out what Julie wanted to talk to me about. I wish the mornings were shorter. 

After my third class, I went to get a drink of water. I was extremely thirsty, and I had a feeling that it had to do with the fact that I was lugging extra weight on my foot. Once I got to the fountain, I couldn't stop drinking the water. It tasted too good. I could hear people yelling at me to leave, but I couldn't. It's like if I left, my mouth would instantly dry up again. I kept drinking the water until the bell for the next class rang. I made a mental note to get a water bottle with lunch. 

When I went to my fourth class, there was someone in my seat. I didn't recognize this person, and I was really good with faces. Not to brag, but if you put my entire class in a line, I would be able to name them in less than 5 minutes. And there are 300 of us. 

"Excuse me, I think you're in my seat." I said this as politely as I could. I don't like when people think they can sit anywhere. This person- well this boy- didn't look up. He was drawing a picture. It was a very good picture, but he was still in my seat. "Excuse me, did you not hear me? You're in my seat. Mr. Lamb doesn't like when people switch seats." "Sorry Elsa. I'm here because I need to talk to you about some things." What the heck? how did this boy know my name? "What kind of things?" "Things about who you are, who your dad is." my eyes filled with tears at the mention of my dad. He left my mom as soon as she told him she was pregnant with me. He apparently came back one night to see me, but I didn't see him. And then he talked to my mom for a while about things she still won't tell me about. And that night was how Cody happened. I lowered my voice to a whisper before answering him. "How do you know who my dad is?" "Because, everyone knows who he is. Well, everyone in my world." "What world? Mars? You know nothing about me! And just because you say you do, doesn't mean you're right. So get out of my seat!" i said that part a little louder than I intended to. But he was still in my seat, he claimed to know who I was... and who my father was... 

The boy looked up from his drawing. He had gray-green eyes, perfect hair, perfect skin, and perfect teeth. His eyes were full of concern, and then sympathy. "Please Elsa... Just listen to me." his voice was lowered to a whisper. Mr Lamb. came into class. He looked from the boy, to me, and then back to the boy. "Elsa, who is this?" the boy stood up and went to talk to Mr. Lamb. They were whispering and nodding their heads. This went on for about 2 minutes, and then the boy came and sat on my left. Sal sits on the right side of me. We sit in the back of the room, mainly because there's less of a chance of getting called on if we sit back there. The class went by utterly slow and I was trying to focus but I kept looking at the boy out of the corner of my eye. I still didn't know his name, or how he knows who my father is or how he knows who I am. I was working on the homework when the bell rang. I packed up my stuff as quickly as possible and Sal grabbed my arm and we speedily hobbled out of the room. 

"Elsa! Wait!" the boy called after me. I didn't want to wait. I wanted to keep going. I wanted to get away from this boy. But, my heart got the better of me so I turned around to face him. A bunch of people were staring at us, well mainly the boy, and wondering what the heck was going on. I hobbled closer to him so I wouldn't have to yell. "What? What do you want?" he looked hurt at my response, but I didn't care. "First, you left your notebook in the classroom," he said, holding it out to me. I took it from him and handed it to Sal. I looked around before the boy started to say what else he needed to say. There weren't as many people staring now, but the girls would turn their heads when they walked by him. I don't blame them, to be honest, he was a good looking guy. And then he started talking again. "Second, I really need to talk to you. Can I talk to you during lunch?" "Actually, my friend said she needed to tell me something. But we can talk after school." that made his face light up and he had a huge grin on his face. "Great!" and then I realized I still didn't know his name and he was already walking away. "Wait! Who are you? And where should we meet?" I called after him. "My name is Toby. Let's meet in the back of the school." he yelled back. And then he was gone, so Sal and I hobbled to the cafeteria and I tried to put the boy out of my mind. It wasn't a success. 

I sat down at the table with my friends, and Julie was already talking away to Sal, who was stuffing his face with his lunch. I rolled my eyes at this, mainly because this is what happens on most days. "Hey guys" I said as I sat down and sighed. "What's wrong Els?" "There was this weird boy in last hour. He claimed he knew things about me, but I don't know what. He also knew my name." I left out the part about him knowing who my dad is, mainly because I don't want to cry, but also because their families are in perfect shape. "Well, let's not talk about that now. Do you want me to tell you what I was going to tell you earlier?" I had almost forgot about that, but I was still excited to hear her news. "My mom and dad are going to Florida the first week of summer break, so they said the three of us could go up to the lake house while they're gone! As long as we don't have any wild parties of course." "That sounds awesome!" I grinned. But that quickly turned into a frown, remembering my mom's rule about me not going in the water. "But wait, how am I going to convince my mom to let me go?" "How about you just say you're spending the week with me. Just make sure you don't need anything otherwise that will blow the cover." I suddenly got really excited. "So, are you two losers in?" "We're in!" Sal and I said simultaneously. "Great! This is going to be so-" she didn't finish her sentence. She noticed him at the same time everyone else did and that's why everyone else got quiet. "Elsa, is that the boy you were talking about?" she whispered in my ear. I nodded. Everyone was staring at the boy. He didn't know where to sit, poor thing. My heart acted before my head did and I got up, limped over to him, and told him he could sit with us. 

As soon as he sat down, you could almost feel all the air leave the room. They were wondering what he was doing sitting with us. He was handsome and tall, he could almost get anywhere with his looks. He could have sat with the popular kids, but instead he sat with us. I mean, I told him he could, but he still could have said no. "Hello, I'm Toby!" he said to Sal and Julie. He held out his hand and they both shook it. Julie looked at me with a look of confusion. I just shrugged my shoulders and continued eating. The conversation picked back up within a matter of minutes. Girls kept walking by our table, checking him out, trying to get his attention. He didn't notice any of them. He kept his focus on us. There was minimal conversation at our table for a while. And then Julie did something that makes me regret having her as a friend. She flipped her hair back behind her shoulders before saying "Toby, the three of us are going to a lake house as soon as school gets out in a couple weeks. Would you like to join us?" I wanted to reach accross the table and slap her. She didn't even know the boy, and now she was inviting him to her lake house? I really was hoping he would say no, but then- "Sure, I would love to come! Just let me know all of the details and I'll be sure to be there!" he said with a giant grin that showed off his perfect teeth. She gave him the same grin back. "Yay!" she said, and clapped her hands together. Now I did NOT want to go.