Saving the Reject | Michael Clifford | Editing

t w e n t y f i v e ;

Charli

I'm not completely sure how that problem was resolved.

With only a slight apology, Joshua had run off after Caitlyn. None of us had really noticed, though. We had all been staring at Ashton, watching painfully as he dropped Evie's frail hand. A second later, without eye contact of any kind, he had stormed off into his room, the door slamming behind him. Michael followed behind him.

Seeing my best friend's concerned, confused, and terrified face, I had scooted over until I was in Ashton's place, taking her hand in mind, comfortably caressing it. I hadn't known what the hell happened, but I knew for a fact that it had nothing to do with Evie.

And then everything was okay again. Joshua came back in with Caitlyn, who quickly apologized, and sat back down in her spot as if she had only gone to get a glass of water. A few minutes later, Michael came back out with Ashton in tow. Unlike Caitlyn, Ashton said nothing. He glanced first at Caitlyn, then at Evie, until his gaze landed on me. I gave him a look that I know for a fact I have never given before.

You hurt her, you deal with me, Irwin.

But still, I moved back to the middle after sending one last warning glance in Ashton's direction. Michael sat beside me, as he had before, smiling at me.

We continued with the game, to my surprise.

"No, no, no! I'm not ready for this!" Michael called out, twenty minutes later. A balloon was in my hand, ready to launch at the black-and-white haired boy who stood about ten feet from me on the grass. The two of us stood parallel to their pool, and everyone else stood by the backdoor, cameras held accordingly.

I laughed evilly - jokingly - and threw my allotted one water balloon at Michael. He closed his eyes a second before the balloon exploded on his chest.

"Holy shit, that's cold!" he exclaimed as everyone laughed.

Quickly, as he was turned around, I reached into the bucket at my feet, grabbing another two water balloons, and throwing them at him. The first hit him on the back, and the second, as he turned around, burst right in his face.

"Oh you did not just do that." My eyes widened as he began to run towards me, but seeing it a second too late, I was able to start running, but he caught up to me quickly. Michael picked me up by the waist, attempting to throw me in the pool, but at the last second, I snatched his wrist, dragging him into the cold water along with me.

As I broke the surface of the cold water, I latched myself onto the boy beside me on instinct - like a cat. And almost on instinct, Michael's arm wrapped around my waist, supporting me, as my legs were wrapped around his waist. As we came to the surface, I looked up at Michael as he looked down at me. I suddenly forgot about the six others not far from us.

All that mattered was us.

He did it again, just like he had done on Valentine's Day. His gaze flickered downward for a split second, down to my lips before they met my eyes once again. I didn't understand.

There was a large splash beside us, followed by another, and another, and another. I laughed, detaching myself from Michael, looking around at the people around me. Caitlyn, Joshua, Calum, Luke, Michael and I all stood in the shallow end of the pool, fully clothed.

It was one of the best days I could remember.

* * * * * *

Three hours later, I was drying my hair with a towel, a tee shirt and a pair of sweats - both of which belonged to Michael - covering my body. His clothes held his scent - something I can't really place, but something I've grown to like.

As I walked out into the hall from Michael's room - which he had allowed me to change in - I met Evie. Ashton had brought her into the pool soon after everyone had jumped in, and she found herself in a similar situation to me, in a pair of Ashton's pajama pants and a grey shirt that read 'Lone Star'. I smiled at her, and as she returned it, her phone began ringing, but not the usual tone, one indicating a FaceTime.

"It's Scarlett!" she said, excited. We haven't heard from Scarlett since Thursday. "Should I tell her to call later?" Evie asked, thinking about the others, out in the garage with their instruments.

"Let's just talk to her for a little. I'm sure the others are fine."

So we walked over to sit on the couch, answering the FaceTime.

"Scar!" Evie and I said simultaneously, which freaked the two of us out, but caused Scarlett to laugh, ten thousand miles away.

"Oh my gosh, I know we only missed one day, but dang, I miss you guys so much!" Scar sighed. "As much as I want to talk to you guys forever, I just called to tell you guys something - well, have you meet some- "

"Is that's Scarlett?" came the voice of Luke, coming around the corner. "Scar, hey," he said, sitting on the couch beside me, getting into frame.

"H-hi, Luke." There was an awkward silence that filled the air after that.

It was finally interrupted by, "You had something to tell us, Scar?" asked Evie.

"Oh, um - yeah," Scar replied, tripping over er own words. The phone obviously shifted in her hands, as she went to hold it at a new angle, allowing the shot to hold her, as well as another - a boy. "Guys, this is Jacob," she said slowly, not really looking at the phone anymore. "My boyfriend."

The rest of the short conversation was a bit cloudy to me. I couldn't imagine what it was like for Luke. Just now, after te phone was back in Evie's pocket, Luke looked withered down.

"I don't understand," I stated quietly, looking at Luke. I knew Evie was doing the same. "I thought everything was going well between you two."

"It was," Luke started, running a hand over his face. "I told her everything. I told her how much she meant to me, and she said them back, but not long ago, she said she didn't want to hold me back, so we agreed to be friends. Turns out, I was the one holding her back."