Aquaphobia

Chapter 5

[SCOTT VOORHEES]

"It's going to be fine, man, you're gonna be okay!" Walker laughs as he places an arm around my shoulder. At this moment he should know I'm too scared to be alive.

"No it's not!" I shout. Apparently me shouting is enough to startle everyone, as if they didn't expect me to express myself so loudly. "That shouldn't have even happened! Why did he just come out of nowhere? Why did he just start yelling at me? Why did he try to hurt me?!"

"Scott, you've gotta know something about that boy. Matthew Cayuk is an extreme nutjob! He's crazy! Mentally rogue! Unsafe! Critical Condition! I think you understand what I'm trying to say. After all, he didn't even know your name and he tried to kill you!" Walker responds sympathetically.

"HE DID WHAT?!" I shout even louder.

Ian quickly facepalms himself. It's almost as if Walker said something he shouldn't have said and Ian is used to him doing it.

"No he didn't try to 'kill' you," Ian says with a sigh and finger quotes around the word 'kill.' "Matthew is simply a bully. He has no respect for anyone, and if you get in his way, he'll hurt you to make himself feel better. He's nothing but a coward. Didn't you see what he did when Walker and I took him down? He cowered in fear!"

Ian's words cheer me up a bit, but my fear levels inside are still much too high to be contained. I've been to a billion different schools before, and I've met some pretty messed up bullies before, too. However, not one of them ever tried to murder me before even learning my name.

"So if I stay out of Matthew's way, all my problems will disappear?" I ask.

"Pretty much. If you're scared of Matthew, don't let him bother you. Stick with us in the halls if it makes you feel safer," Walker offers with a pretend hand out to me, as if for me to grab it and be pulled in. It's very cheesy and it makes me laugh.

"So you're like my personal body guard that's coming to retrieve me from danger zones?" I ask with another giggle.

"More or less your life preserver when you're lost at sea," Ian adds with a wink.

Eww. Water jokes. I would've laughed at ANYTHING else in the world except water jokes. I never have liked water jokes, and a part of me just doesn't see me liking them any time in the future.

Walker however thinks this is apparently the funniest thing he's ever heard, because he laughs like a total nut. Ugh. Water people. I, however, stare silently at the two of them laughing up a storm. It takes them a while to notice that what Ian said didn't resonate as humorous in my mind, and when they do they instantly stop laughing, save for a snicker here and there.

We get closer and closer to my house and as soon as we reach it, I plan to take off and run right into it before they can ask any questions. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen because they ask the question before we even turn the corner.

"Hey Scott!" Walker shouts out of nowhere. I don't see why he shouts, because I'm literally standing right next to him. "Are you free today?"

Suddenly I freeze in my tracks and look at him. My face grows red and I begin sweating at an alarmingly-fast rate. This always happens whenever I'm about to tell a lie.

"N-no. I-I've got stuff to d-d-do," I stutter out slowly.

Apparently my red-faced-sweat-falling demeanor is enough to show that I'm fibbing. Both Walker and Ian smirk at my statement and they simply stare at me with mischievous smiles. It's almost like they're seeing right into me and staring into my soul. As if every move I make they're able to sense and draw conclusions off of. Is it really this obvious? Maybe it's just that with every passing second, more sweat adds to my face and my face itself gets redder than the hair on my head.