Breaking Through The Surface ✔

Chapter eighteen

My shoes squeak against the linoleum floors as I run through the halls. I had to see my English teacher about a project after class which made me late for my swimming lesson with Cohen.

Swinging around the corner, I'm running too fast to slow down when my body collides with someone and we both tumble to the floor.

"Ow."

I gasp. "I'm so sorry."

The girl gathers up the few papers she dropped and shakes her head, "I wasn't paying attention."

The page at the top of the pile is a schedule. "Are you new?"

"I start tomorrow. I'm Peyton."

"Lorelai," I tentatively shake her hand.

My eyes widen as I remember the reason why I was rushing in the first place. "I have to get going. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow sometime."

Peyton smiles, "Yeah maybe."

The first thing I hear when I stumble through the doors to the pool is, "You're late."

I look up and my heart nearly stops beating at the sight of his bare chest. I don't know if it's because Eve put the thought of having a crush on Cohen in my head or if it's just natural teen hormones but all of a sudden I'm starting to notice more things about Cohen than I did before. Like the way his hair is just a little too long and the way his eyes get lighter when he smiles.

And how had I not noticed the scar on his torso? A thin white line travels from the top of his ribs on his right side all the way down under the waistband of his shorts. Its light pink in color, which makes me believe that it was an old injury, at least by a few months anyway. It must have been extremely painful.

I make a mental note to ask about it later. "I'm sorry, I would have been here sooner but I literally ran over this girl in the hall and got distracted."

He laughs, "Leave it to you to run someone over."

"Hey! It's not my fault I'm clumsy!"

"It's cute," he grins.

We both freeze and his grin vanishes as quickly as it came.

"I mean..." he clears his throat. "Some people think clumsiness is endearing."

"There's a swim test in two weeks. It's mandatory so the teacher is going to make you participate," he quickly continues as if nothing happened.

"What?" There is no way I'll be ready for that test.

"You'll have to swim two laps being timed. At the end of the term you'll have to do it again to try to beat your score."

"Cohen, I'm not even close to being ready. How am I supposed to do two laps when I haven't even learned to do the doggy paddle?"

He drops his hand onto my shoulder and I can feel the tingles all the way down to my fingertips. "We still have two weeks and we can start having lessons every second day."

I nod, accepting the fact that I'll have to work harder. I need to be able to swim or else I'll be humiliated in front of the whole class. Not to mention that I'd disappoint Cohen.

Cohen grabs a small foam board from the bench and climbs into the pool. I follow after him until we're standing in the shallow end.

"Lie on top of the board with your arms in the water. I'm going to teach you how to move your arms properly."

I grip the edges, slowly leaning down until my chest is pressed up against the board. My face is so close to the surface that I can see my reflection. My eyes are huge with fear and my jaw clenches so tight my cheek twitches.