Sink or Swim

2

Chapter Song: Hot Girl Bummer- Blackbear

"Okay everyone, welcome to Senior Parking Lot Paint!" Riley yelled while she stood on top of the bed of Mason's truck.

Thankfully she had a naturally loud voice, so it was easy for her to be louder than usual for her announcements. We clapped and cheered as she began her introductions. I heard a few woo's from the back of the crowd. It was probably Noelle and the rest of the annoying cheerleaders.

"Everyone grab your desired paint and bring it to your parking spot. A special thanks to everyone who helped donate the paint we greatly appreciate you! Now remember, sadly your parking spots have to be appropriate for school," she rolled her eyes and gestured to paint I had helped her set up in front of the truck. "Nevertheless this is the first to many exciting things to come this year. Go, Seniors!"

We all cheered some more and made our way to grab our paint. I helped Riley distribute extra paintbrushes and trays. I still wasn't sure what I was going to do with my spot, but I grabbed random colors after the majority of people left. Besides if I didn't grab one I needed I'd just steal from Riley. We reserved our spots right next to each other.

Actually all our friends did. Tyler's spot was on the left of mine, Riley was on the right. Directly in front of me was Cal. I had to try to not let that get to me. Liam was in front of Tyler, and Mason was in front of Riley.

We always parked next to each other last year, so naturally, we had to this year. Originally we were going to do a whole picture across all of our spots this year, but we decided against it. Only the seniors get to paint their parking spots. We wanted to each have our own. Plus none of us could agree on anything to paint.

I still didn't get why Liam always wanted to drive separately or why Cal never drove with us. We all lived on the same road and went to the same place but I didn't argue. Sometimes when Riley and I didn't have anything going on after school we would drive together.

I sat down at the edge of my parking spot contemplating what to paint. Riley had cranked up the music before she grabbed her paint and joined me. Cal wasn't anywhere in sight. Tyler had already started to paint next to me. I hadn't really spoken to him much lately.

I wasn't really mad at him anymore. I tried to spend the summer getting over the initial betrayal. It was hard, really hard. I did need to talk to him about everything lay it all on the table. I just didn't know-how. When we were around each other I kept it neutral and was calm, kind of like if Cal were around. So far it was working.

"You know what you're going to paint yet?" Liam asked me as he and Mason rolled up carrying so many trays of paint. It was a miracle they could carry that much.

"No. You?" I responded before going back to staring at my spot. I figured that maybe if I stared long enough at it, the idea would come.

"Maybe a lacrosse field or something," he shrugged.

"And you say I'm basic," I rolled my eyes at him. "What about you Mase?"

He looked up from dipping his paintbrush in the teal paint. "I think I'm going to paint a beach," he grinned.

I just shook my head in response. That kid loved the beach. His family would always go to Hawaii every summer for vacation. Sometimes they went to Miami but usually decided to fly across the country. I still didn't understand why.

"Hey sorry guys what'd I miss," I heard a breathless Cal call out as he jogged towards us.

Oh boy.

I already felt a rock in the pit of my stomach just hearing his voice. Maybe being cool with him was going to be harder than I thought. Maybe it was a mistake.