Pencils and Pool Water (Complete)

Chapter Two

Okay, so you know how I said I was grateful for having such great friends and stuff?

Yeah.... Not for long.

*

"Well," Gwen said with a sigh. "At least you won't have to see anyone for like, two months." 

I groan. "Don't remind me!" It's been a week since what Molly's calling 'Coming Out of the Pool.'

Haha Molls. You're hilarious. 

"Sorry, but you are going to be in high school and people are probably still going to be talking about it," Molly comments dryly. She picked up a stuffed animal and frowned at it, and then tossed it across the room. I feigned distraught.

"Pugsy!" 

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "You named a Webkinz pug... Pugsy?"

I nod solemnly. "It is the name of all pugs." 

"So, are you ever going to face Calvin?" Gwen inquires, and I put my face in my pillow, groaning. It's like I can feel the heat of his hazel gaze, his strong hands shoving me underwater. I reflexively choke at the vivid memory, and I can taste the chlorine in my mouth.

"No!" Molly practically shouts. Gwen and I jump a little at the sharp hardness in her voice. "He never has to be within three football fields of that jerk ever again."

It gets quiet, the three of us not really knowing what else to talk about.

Let me explain a thing or two about Gwen. Gwen's a very sweet, perfect girl who's all about everyone but herself. 

I know- take a moment to be disgusted, because you only get a moment. I've known Gwen since I was Wizard Boy, Spelling Simon, and... Well, now that I think of it, I think that's it. 

Anyways, she's one of the best people I know. But her parents are disappointed in her for some reason. Like, all the time. It's really sad. Gwen's sensitive, and she can't handle constructive criticism very well.

So, given Gwen's sensitivity, Molly's statement nearly brought her to tears. 

"I'm sorry, Gwen," Molly takes Gwen's hand and gives her a sad look. "Forgive me." Gwen nods and they go in for a hug, and then it's like nothing happened. 

They're now squealing and jumping up and down on my bed. 

"Uh... What's going on?" I ask, hugging a pillowpet to my chest.

Gwen and Molly are sworn into secrecy about me owning a multi-colored unicorn pillowpet, and since no one is ever going to find this... 

Great. Now that I've said it, someone's going to find it. 

It's probably going to be Calvin.... 

Anyways...

 Gwen's brown curls bounce as she squeals again, and Molly does a flop down on the bed. 

"I can't believe you have the hawts for mah broseph!" My first thought upon hearing Molly say this was Oh dear Lord but I just laughed at her. She was trying to lighten the mood, and there was no reason for me to darken it. 

There was another small silence, but then Molly's phone let out a jingle. She scooped up her phone, and made a face. 

"I have to be home by five so I can help with stopwatches at Cal's practice. Everyone knows he's going to make it to Varsity again." Molly's face takes a guilty turn. "I still can't believe he did that to you. He's not like that. At all." A brokenness enters her voice, and I feel a pang deep in my gut as think of Calvin shirtless, laughing. Having fun with his friends at the pool and there I was. 

Messing it up. 

It's almost a profession of mine, really. I had to blow dry Gwen's hair for prom (she's dating a Junior, well, now a senior), and I somehow managed to melt some material or something in her dress and she had a second degree burn just under her hairline. 

Yeah. 

"I think I need to be alone for a bit," I say quietly, feeling like an awful friend. 

"Bye, Simon! Text you later!" Molly calls as she hops on her bike and Gwen sits on the handlebars (I've told them not to do that like a million times by then) and they leave. I take a deep breath, and go to my bed, and pull out my notebook. It's just a college ruled 70 sheet notebook that I like to write in. It's private, but not a journal. 

I've had about six notebooks like it since I met Calvin. 

Don't judge me, you machine. Camera. You. Whatever. 

I flopped onto my bed and held it to my chest. I didn't really want to think about school starting- having to see Calvin in about three of my core classes and two of my AP classes. So, pretty much all of my classes. 

My chest squeezed as my brain ran through memories of little things he does. A sweep of his fingers brushes his bronze hair from his eyes. The way his eyes melt from glittering blue to glossy green to a darling brown. 

One time, last summer, I remember being left in the kitchen with Calvin while Molly and Gwen went upstairs to change into swimsuits. I tensed up, in nothing but my swimtrunks. I had a little bit of a tan from the summer, but my pale skin didn't seem to allow me to do anything else but turn a little pink and stay that way for, like, the whole month of June. 

But it was past Calvin's 14th birthday party (which I wasn't invited to, by the way) and I've tanned. And, I don't want to brag, but I looked pretty good. The tan seemed to make my eyes shine a little brighter, and my hair look a little darker (even though the sun is supposed to lighten my hair, it does nothing for the dark blackness which is atop my head). Even Gwen said I looked pretty stunning, and I believed that I was.

Pushing aside the fact that I'm all bones and angles.

Calvin was drinking out of a pink straw, looking concentrated on whatever he was reading on his laptop. He looked really cute, and I couldn't help but just stare. I felt like I could feel every cell that made me up, like an almost buzz in my head, goosebumps on my skin (it was 92 degrees out), and I felt almost sick. 

He looked up at me, raising an eyebrow a little. "Simon, are you okay?" 

I almost puked, and something along the lines of He's talking to me oh my god he's talking to me holy moly was running through my head.

Remember what I said earlier? About saying something stupid fast or I say nothing at all? 

This is another one of those moments. 

"Nothing much!" I stuttered out, trying to sound as casual and as smooth as possible. It was only when Calvin's eyes peeked at me like I was crazy that I realized what I said. 

Face palm moment! For some reason, that was my response. It was almost like my brain translated "Are you okay?" to "What are you doing?" 

In my defense, I think I expected him to confront me about openly staring at him. 

He gives me a worried look, and closes his laptop. I feel the humiliation and frayed nerves washing over me like gigantic tidal waves. He thinks I'm stupid oh gosh he's never going to talk to me again he's-

"Dude, I think you should stay out of the heat today," he gives me a small, adorable smile, shaking his head.

I nod dumbly as he leaves and my friends return. Needless to say, it was the cause of wondering Oh why did that happen moments at four in the morning. 

And, um, yeah. My friends are awful...ly great! Haha yeah!

Good save!

It seems like a long time, but I have to skip to... Hmm... About a week before school starts now.