[Friday]"I"m telling you, I"m fine," Ethan said to Bella who was persistently trying to get Ethan to leak information despite knowing it already.
"Sigh, I know you"re not… Owen told me about it."
"What right does he have telling everyone about it?" Ethan said sinking lower into the pool.
"Don"t blame him. I was the one that forced him to tell me."
"Hmm? whatever… as I said I"m fine. You should enjoy yourself whilst we are here, go splash about or something."
Ethan tried to get Bella off his tail. She restlessly tried to make her brother talk about his problems even if he claimed to be fine. She followed him around the whole time and threatened him by claiming she wouldn"t enjoy herself if he was upset. Anyone would want a sibling like this but to Ethan, it was starting to become more of a pain.
"Look…" He said. "I"m perfectly fine the way things are. I decided to do this and this is what happens."
"Hmm, whatever," Bella said. "I just wish you would open up to me a bit more…"
"Huh?" Ethan said confused. "I always open up to you. I"ve been looking after you more than you think. It"s the big brother"s job to look out for his younger sister, not the other way around. So don"t worry about me. I"m perfectly fine and go enjoy yourself."
The argument repeated itself for some time. No one could cheer Ethan up and improve his mood suddenly.
"What if I go talk to Kaylee?" Bella suggested.
"That is the worst thing you can do!" Ethan screamed holding his sister back from swimming off.
"Listen… Bella…" Ethan said with a desolate smile. "It"s ok. You don"t need to look out for me… this will all blow over eventually so I think it"s best to just leave it for now and enjoy ourselves. I don"t want the others to be upset."
Bella gave up talking to Ethan after that. She couldn"t understand why he would want it to be like this. For her, despite being only a few years younger, didn"t understand these feelings, it was new to her. She looked at her brothers forced smile and squeezed him before going back to swim.
"Ok…" She said as she left. "You can always talk to me… Don"t forget that."
"heh-heh?" Ethan stiffly laughed to himself, unable to figure out why his sister became so close.
# # #
"Why is it you guys can"t make eye contact?"
At the other end of the pool that everyone had tried to avoid, Claire, Simon and Kaylee sat around the edge. The three of them sat in a triangle formation with no one talking or even looking at each other.
"This is just awkward for all of us?" Claire said trying to get them to talk. "Can we forget about all the past and move on? Or will I have to drown you to do so?"
Simon and Kaylee both refused to look at each other. The thoughts going through their minds were indescribable. They felt as if they were purely running on fear. They didn"t want to be in the situation they were in but couldn"t escape.
"At least say something to each other!" Claire screamed hoping to improve the situation.
"S-sorry… it"s just awkward." Simon said finally being the first to say something.
"Y-yeah… it"s awkward." Kaylee replied to which Claire was getting visibly annoyed and pouted at the situation.
"STOP BEING CHILDISH!" she screamed as if letting out years of anger. "WHY CAN"T YOU JUST ACT FINE! ACT LIKE FRIENDS! NO ONE IS FORCING YOU TO REPLAY THOSE MEMORIES IN YOUR HEAD SO JUST STOP AND GET OVER IT!"
Claire splashed the water around her, splashing both of them, whilst also receiving her second warning from the lifeguard.
"You"re right," Kaylee said. "We should just move on and get over it. We are being childish… it"s difficult… Maybe I shouldn"t have come here..."
"GAH!" Claire screamed visibly steaming with frustration causing the water around her to heat up. "THAT"S NOT WHAT I MEANT! I JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN. CAN"T YOU JUST HAVE FUN WITH EACH OTHER AND TEMPORARILY MOVE Pa.s.sED IT ALL! CAN"T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG!"
Although everyone in the facility heard Claire screaming, no one complained. Mainly because the lifeguard was about to give her the last warning.
"I-I"ll try…" Simon said rather depressingly.
"Good," Claire said. "Even if you were being a bit sarcastic I"ll still force you to have a good time because you are both my friend and should be happy. Let"s just move on with our lives. Forget about what happened back then and focus on the now!"
# # #
"Do you think any of them have made progress?" Ruby asked Owen as he gently kicked back and forth in the same short distance.
"Don"t know. I think it was a bad idea for what Ethan did but can"t speak for Simon. Either way, it"s made my life h.e.l.l."
"Y-yeah…" Ruby said attempting to say more. "Y-you are nice."
"Thanks?" Owen said as he wasn"t sure what to make of it. "I guess it"s better than being a d.i.c.k."
"N-no… that"s not what I meant," Ruby said fl.u.s.tered causing herself to hide underwater. "Y-you look after your friends," she said half gurgling water.
"Thanks," Owen responded. "It"s just common sense."
The two of them floated about the pool together, they had nowhere else to go. They didn"t want to get involved in any of the drama that was occurring with Ethan and Simon, and they didn"t want to disturb Sean and Lily.
Since they were forced to hang out, Ruby was stuck on what to do. She had one goal in mind when arriving and was yet to accomplish it.
"S-so…" She said stopping Owen from swimming. "W-what do you think?"
Ruby stood up showing off to Owen. In typical fashion for our dumb protagonist, it was difficult for him to figure out what was being referred to.
"About what?" He said without hesitating.
"Me! How do I look!?" she screamed before retreating down into the water after realising what she just said.
"O-oh…" Owen said turning away. "I-it looks good…"
"T-thanks…"
The two of them both submerged their heads with only their eyes poking above the water to hide their blushing faces from everyone else.
Even if today was an eventful day for most. It was the end of summer. Summer ended in only two chapters, and they would soon be finding out the results that determined if they would be staying in Sixth form or not. Today was a day to destress even if it ended up causing more problems than it solved. The awkward situations that they were put in today, and the rest of the time they spent together at this pool, would probably keep them up at night thinking about it. It was that awkward.
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