A Ripple Between **CURRENTLY EDITING**

8- Am I Interrupting?

PJ and I stood there, his mom looking at us, and didn't say a word. It was incredibly awkward. Finally, she said:

"Am I interrupting something?" An amused smile crept onto her face.

PJ and I looked at each other and shook our heads vigorously. "Just messing around, mom," PJ replied.

"Well, then can you bring your friend up here? I haven't had the pleasure of being introduced."

We climbed out of the pool and PJ said, "Mom, this is Ava. Ava, this is my mom."

She stuck out her hand and I shook it, not wanting to look up at her too much. She had pretty, blond hair and brown eyes. Her face showed no signs of wrinkles. She was really pretty. I looked down again when she let my hand go. "I'm Joanne. I'm happy to meet you, Ava. I've heard a lot about you." She smiled. "PJ mentions you quite often."

I looked over at PJ. His face was now sufficiently flushed and he looked away. "Mom."

"What?"

"Just... never mind. We need to finish the lesson and then we'll be inside."

"Ok. Have fun," Mrs. Foster said before walking back inside. I looked at PJ again and raised my eyebrows. He was still blushing.

"What was that about?" I teased.

"Yeah, uh, she likes to embarrass me a lot."

"Ok," I said, starting to walk back over to the pool.

"But," PJ started, causing me to turn around. He looked completely uncomfortable. This was not the PJ that I was used to, the one who was confident about everything. "I, uh, I do talk about you to her a lot. She's right."

I was a little shocked. Why was he admitting this? "Why would you do that?" I asked, trying to sound uninvolved. But instead I sounded really desperate. "You know what? Never mind..."

"Because." PJ said. His voice was somewhat back to normal. "There's something... different... about you, Ava. And that's in a good way. A really good way. I can't stop talking about you because..." he trailed off. And as much as I wanted to hear what was going around in his mind, I didn't push it. What he'd said was enough. Enough to tell me that he might have feelings for me.

I smiled widely at him and turned around. "You wanna go back in?"

PJ snapped out of it and walked over to me and we got back into the pool. PJ told me that today he'd be teaching me how to swim without holding onto the side of the pool. And it was actually kind of nerve-wracking. I had never gone any farther than the shallow end even when treading water. I wasn't sure I would be able to do it.

We went out to the middle of the pool.

"Ok," PJ said. "We'll have to go over kicking one more time before you try to start swimming."

I started over to the side of the pool before he stopped me. "No, we'll do it out here."

"But..." I didn't understand how he could go over it with me if I didn't have anything to hold onto.

"Here." He held out his hands. Oh.

I gingerly laid my hands out on his, trying to ignore the fact that my heart suddenly started to beat a lot faster. "Alright. Just start kicking like I taught you." I did, embarrassed that he was holding me up. Although he'd already picked me up once that day, I still knew that I was kind of heavy. After he corrected my form and I kicked for a bit longer, he said, "I'm going to let go, now. Ok? Move your arms like I taught you." I nodded, although I was a little tired. He slid his hands from mine and moved out of the way. I began moving my arms, and still kicking, I realized I was moving. I continued until I knew I was getting close to the deep end.