Aquaphobia

Chapter 11

[IAN FISCHER]

Walker and I have been taking Scott boating every day since last Friday. As a newfound friend of Scott's, I must say I'm exceedingly proud of him for his bravery. We've taken him around water, we've taken him above water, now we just have to take him in water.

Walker and I are sitting in Study Hall right now, passing notes about Scott. When we finish using up all the space on the paper, he crumples it up and throws it at the trash can across the room. He misses and it ricochets off of the window, only to smack the boy sitting next to it on the head. That boy is none other than Matthew Cayuk. He turns to face Walker, shoots him the bird, and then turns back to whatever bullcrap he's pretending to work on.

Study Hall is basically a waste of a block for me, because I do all my studying and working at home. I needed an extra class to fill my blank space, so I just threw in Study Hall. I mostly eat food and play on my phone while the "teacher" pretends to care about what we're doing.

Walker and I have a friend in Study Hall that we talk to, and she's often times considered to be the phantom third man in our friendship. Well, considered by our peers that is.

Her name is Alice Angler, and she's nearly six feet tall. I think she's actually the same height as me, but she makes Walker look like a dwarf.

After the third note passed between Walker and me, his aim is a bit too far to the right, and it lands smack dab in the center of Alice's desk. It takes her not even a second to know it's from Walker, and she un-crumples it to read some classy gossip.

Upon finishing the note and letting out a tiny snicker, she pulls out her own piece of paper and writes down her own note to send back to us. When she finishes writing it, she crumples it up and sends it back flying our way.

Like the true NBA all-star his childhood self always dreamt of being, Walker catches it with one hand and proceeds to open it. I find it funny he's so good at catching, because his throwing coordination is less than stellar. To be a hundred percent honest, he sucks. His casting, as you could imagine, is even worse than his throwing.

I glance over at Walker's new note. I've had some speculation that Alice has a thing for Walker, and I think he has one back. As Walker's best friend, it's my strict obligation to be the link in between. It's not like they haven't known each other since fourth grade! I remember when Alice first moved to Insula, Walker used to tease her because of her red hair. He always called her 'firehead,' and for some reason that used to make her cry. I guess his immature days of bullying redheads are long gone because he hasn't said a single word to Scott Voorhees about his hair.

Alice lives in our neighborhood, so she always hangs out with us whenever we go swimming or down to the beach. She often brings her SPF 75 sunblock, because when she doesn't her skin burns like a pizza in the oven. One time, it got as red as her hair. You better believe Walker took pictures for blackmail.

I constantly find myself analyzing their level of friendship and comparing it to that of him and Matthew Cayuk. While Walker and Alice have a friendly-teasing relationship, Cayuk and he have a deadly hatred for each other. Then again, Cayuk does hate everybody in the school. Except for Alice, of course. For some reason, he just gets red in the face whenever they cross paths, and he simply walks right by. Anybody else, he tries to swing at. Most specifically Walker, who he hates more than Jesus hates the devil.

Back to the subject of Alice's note, I watch Walker flatten the paper on his desk and read it. I try to read it as quickly as possible without him noticing my snooping:

Walker, I saw you hanging out with Scott Voorhees the other day. I didn't know you guys were friends! Why didn't you tell me? I've been wanting to meet him ever since he moved here a few weeks ago! He looks like such a happy, sweet guy! I don't want you to think I was stalking you, or even more so trying to throw rocks at you from a distance via slingshot, but I saw you fight alongside him the other day. You two were fishing at Lake Iaz with Ian Fischer, and I witnessed some real crap go down. I saw Matthew Cayuk charge at you, and I saw you tackle him into the water! It looked like you were defending Scott! After all, I don't blame you, because he is a rather frail and sickly boy. He probably just doesn't spend much time in the sun or anything. After all, he's a redhead and we redheads burn faster than a turkey on Thanksgiving. Anyway, I couldn't believe my eyes when I heard Voorhees shout at Cayuk and run towards him. I also couldn't believe he picked up that huge log! Like, what??! That's CRAZY! A boy of his size picked THAT up and what's more is that he slammed Cayuk with it! He ran so fast, it almost looked like he ran through water! That boy is fearless! Utterly fearless, Walker! I really want to meet him now! Will you introduce me to him, please? I'll do anything if you do so! He seems like such a great guy! Well, that and he's really cute!-Alice