Swim Away (Mermaid)

Chapter Eight

"You were at the beach with Noah?!"

I told Ariel everything that happened, and she was staring at me wide-eyed. It felt weird to have a friend to talk to. It was actually kind of nice. But I didn't really like Ariel's reactions, they made me feel a little uncomfortable with her, 'that is so cute!' and 'you'll be together,' and 'you guys are so meant to be!'

Um, no.

"Shhh!" I said worried someone would hear. "Keep it down, I don't want anyone else to know."

"Sorry! but if anyone knew they'd be jealous! He's the hottest guy at this school!" Ariel shouted.

"What did I just say?!" I said, annoyed.

"Sorry, sorry," Ariel whispered. She whispered that, but yelled everything else.

I looked at my surroundings and no one was looking at us, as usual. But then I got a glimpse of the brown haired, blue eyed guy who spent the day with me. My eyes froze where Noah was sitting, which was by Selena and her friends. From what I could tell, he didn't seem interested and kept looking anywhere but at her.

I turned away before he could tell I was looking at him.

"You so like him," Ariel whispered. "Don't even try to deny it." I rolled my eyes not replying. "Ha! I'm right!"

The bell rang, and I stood up. Ariel followed since we had the same class together.

Noah walked by us, then his eyes landed on mine before he went to his next class.

"Aw, the way he looks at you," Ariel smiled.

"Shut up," I said as we walked into class.

***

I was watching Ariel as she was working on her homework. She had her eyes glued to her assignment as she wrote something down. I wish I could be that into my work.

Ariel was smiling at me, and I knew what she was thinking, "so about Noah."

"Ugh, I told you everything!" Well, obviously not everything. I left out the part about the messenger bottle. She didn't need to know.

"You guys are just so cute!" I rolled my eyes. "I am not sorry." She said, raising her hands up then bringing them back down.

Ariel got up and went out to the balcony. I followed closely behind.

"I love your view! I wish I could have a view like this." She said as she enjoyed the wind blowing at her face.

We stayed on the balcony, watching the ocean and talking. Mostly Ariel was talking, and she connected most of it to Noah. It was annoying, but I pretended it wasn't getting on my nerves.

I caught sight of someone walking on the beach. Narrowing my eyes, I recognized who it was. Crap.

"Lara, that's Noah!" Ariel shouted.

"No, it's not," I said, turning away.

But then I turned back, knowing inside that it really was him. He turned towards our direction, and I could feel him staring at us. At me. He waved both his hands to come. Ariel jumped up and grabbed me.

"You have to go!" Ariel squealed.

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine, you go!" Ariel pushed me by the stairs.

I was forced down the stairs and out the door. I couldn't believe I was actually going. Well, being forced to go. I rolled my eyes as I walked all the way to Noah. He smiled at me, his light blue top unbuttoned and flowing in the wind. Noah whispered in my ear, "follow me."

We went further away from my house but not too far. I shook my head, trying not to care.

He walked into the water slowly. I pressed my lips together and removed my shirt, but left my jean shorts on. I got into the water also. It made me miss how everyday I'd swim and relax at the beach by myself.

As soon as I got used to the water Noah came by me. He pulled me close then said, "4 days."

I jumped for a second, then looked into his eyes, trying to understand what the heck he was talking about.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said. He let go, and I walked away. But before I could make it back to shore, he splashed water at me.

"Hey!" I yelled and splashed him back. "What are we, five?"

He splashed me again, and we continued like that until we were dying of laughter. Then Noah picked me up. He smiled, spinning me around in the water. I looked at him, smiling as well, but still unsure of what was really happening.

Suddenly, Noah stopped and put me down. His arm was behind me, and I turned to see Selena by the shore. She put her hands on her hips staring at us.

"Just ignore her," he said, looking back at me. But I couldn't ignore her. All she'd ever done was ruin my life. I wouldn't be surprised if she had something planned to make sure Noah and I would never see each other again. Inside I began to wait and I couldn't stop it.

I stared into Noah's ocean blue eyes, and I could just tell Selena wasn't leaving anytime soon. I slowly began to sink into the water and Noah frowned. I could feel him moving away. When I came back up for air. I sneaked a glance toward Selena's direction to see Noah and her talking. I pressed my lips together and went a little deeper into the water.

I enjoyed the water for a bit and when Selena was gone I walked to the shore. I grabbed my shirt and began to walk away.

"Lara," Noah said, but I continued to walk. "Lara let me talk."

Why did I even care? We weren't even together. I stopped but didn't turn.

"Fine, I'll listen," I said. This still felt like we were together, ugh.

***

Noah said that he told Selena to leave me alone. Clearly, he didn't know her well enough. I was shocked he even knew that she was after me. Apparently, Selena agreed to that, but what he said probably made things worse.

When I came back home, Ariel was gone, and my dad still wasn't home.

I went into my room and took a shower. Once I was done, I picked up the paper I taped to my mirror. My finger left a blue spot on it. I spilled my cup of water on the paper and it said 'four.'

So it was in days. Was that what Noah meant?

But it seemed like he didn't even know what he was saying. I sighed, putting the paper back on the mirror.

4 days left until who knows what.