Vikk's P.O.V.
Lachlan was my best friend, there was no point in trying to deny that. We had been close since 1st grade and we stayed that way all the way up until 10th grade, but in 8th grade something happened that brought us even closer.
"Come on Vikk!" Lachlan cried, diving into the river. We were both strong swimmers and loved going to the rivers in summer just to play around and escape the summer heat.
I shook my head and dived in after him, chasing after him while using the current to my advantage. We dove around for hours, chasing each other and playing a childish game of tag in the cool water, just to avoid getting out and back into the burning sun.
I didn't notice that the tide was going up, the river was connected to the sea so followed the tides, until it was too late. I was already up to my shoulders when I stepped into the hole that was so deep that I disappeared underneath the water and it was even worse when my foot became caught between two rocks, trapping me underneath the surface.
I screamed out, watching as the bubbles rose to the surface and popped, my last breath of air disappearing in my panic. I struggled and fought to get back to the surface, desperate to breathe air because in time I tried I only got a lungful of water, making me choke and splutter.
My eyes flickered closed and my arms drifted to above my head, my energy gone. What I didn't know was that Lachlan was diving around above, searching to find where I had gone under and just as I drifted into unconsciousness Lachlan reached down and yanked me to the surface.
He saved my life and if he hadn't been there, I would have died.
My almost-drowning brought us closer, at least until 10th grade when something changed our relationship forever.
Lachlan got a girlfriend.
He had always told me that he was gay, he had told me several times that he didn't want a girlfriend because he just wasn't attracted to them but something must have changed, because now he had a girlfriend. And I hated her guts, for several reasons.
One, she took my best friend away. Lachlan stopped hanging out with me, he ignored me in class and didn't hang out with me after school anymore because he was always with her. Two, she told me that she knew of my crush on Lachlan. The crush had grown slowly and I didn't think it was obvious, but she knew, somehow. And three, she spread all of these ugly rumours about me which made my only remaining friends, Rob and Preston and Mitch and Jerome, leave me behind in the dust.
I fell into a depression so deep that I barely wanted to leave my bed in the morning, my grades slipped until I was failing all of my classes because I never handed anything in or did any work. The bullying got worse too because Lachlan was no longer there to protect me, he was the one who stood up for me.
I hated her guts. She was one of the popular girls, the ones who dressed in short shorts and crop tops, who talked in a high pitch that made my ears hurt, who started drama because they felt like it and destroyed relationships on a whim.
She was a bitch who stole Lachlan away, tore him down and I could visibly see it. I saw the bags under his eyes, his slumped posture and his fake laugh, the way he stared blankly at the wall when she was around. His feelings for her were fake, I knew it.
I knew she would break Lachlan's heart and he would come running back to me, but when he did I wouldn't be there for him. He should have thought about that before he left me behind.
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It took 6 months before Lachlan realised what was going on. I had been off school for 3 weeks, not even able to get myself out of bed for school in the morning because there was no point. Neither of my parents were home, they were both overseas, and I had no siblings so I spent 3 weeks alone in the dark, barely surviving.
