Unspoken Colours

Chapter 6

Alex stood on the edge of the water and for a moment I thought he was going to jump in fully clothed, but he threw his blazer off, unbuttoned his shirt and took his school trousers off, leaving him in just boxers which he then catapulted into the lake or pond in. The splash nearly soaked me, but I jumped quickly back and thankfully avoided every water droplet.

If I ever, ever got my school clothes dirty I honestly think Mum would had a cardiac arrest. The blazer we had was navy blue with large white stripes and the shirts they brought for me were expensive and as white as they come, so if any of it got dirty the stains would never come out and like hell I knew this, as Mum repeatedly told me time and time again. I sure listened, but not because it mattered to me if they got ruined, but because I didn't want over one hundred pounds of my savings to be taken out, only to be spent on clothes I didn't even like.

"This is so nice," Alex breathed. He swam around for a bit and I watched, sat on the cleanest rock I could find.

I noticed as he swam around that he had muscles, something I lacked. When he came out of the water and sat too on the rock his hair had gone darker and flat, and dripped down heavily.

"Go into my trouser pocket will you? My bobbles in there,"

"Just push it up," I said.

Before I knew it, my fingers were running through his thick, wet hair and pushing it back out of his face. He sat, his eyes transfixed on me as I made sure each piece was pushed back neatly.

"You... Alex you-you're getting me wet," I mumbled.

"What?"

"I mean, I mean your arm err, the water it's dripping onto my shirt,"

"Oh," he said taking a seat back. "Phew."

We sat together on the rock, but after long I couldn't take the heat any longer or resist the cool and refreshing water.

I took my blazer off, folded it neatly and put it on my bag so it didn't get dirty from the ground, then did the same with everything else. Before I could even contemplate stepping in, Alex grabbed my arm and threw me effortlessly over his shoulder and ran into the pond carrying me.

"Oi," I yelled, watching as the water got deeper and deeper beneath him.

Without warning, He dropped me down into the water. The water hit me like a thousand sharp knives and I sprung straight back up from the sheer coldness of it, but after a few seconds it was the best feeling ever. I shut my eyes and ducked under, cooling my sweat-drained face. It was a while that I lay there, floating on the waters face like a starfish with my eyes shut from how bright the sun was. Swimming was the best relief on hot days; it was like being on holiday and getting into the ocean and feeling all the uncomfortable sweat wash away by the smooth icy sea water.

"This is so relaxing," I said loudly.

"Yeah," his voice whispered.

I jumped up, freaking out by the fact he was actually right next to me. When did he get there? I don't even remember him swimming anywhere near me and nor did I hear the water.

"Shit, you scared me then,"

"Look at that," Alex said. He pointed to the water between me and him and I looked down only to be splashed hard directly in the face.

"Hey!"

He swam away quickly, laughing, but I caught up with him and jumped on his back. We wrestled, attempting to drown each other, but thanks to my lack of muscle and his presence of it, he jumped up and attached himself to my back like some sort of shell and pulled me down.

"Geoff," I choked into the water. Alex let go and just laughed, then swam up to the edge of the lake and put his arms up on the sides.

"I'm well tired," Alex yawned. "We should skip PE again though,"

"I know," I said, once I caught my breath back and joined him at the side of the pool. "It was like the best decision I've made in a long time."

"Talk to me, Michael," he said suddenly, but with a soft tone.

"I am talking to you, idiot,"

"I mean really talk to me. Tell me things."

"Like what?"

"Like how you got that black eye from falling down the stairs was actually a lie,"

"We aren't girls you know, girls do all that sharing thoughts and feelings, we're guys," I said, coldly. "We don't do that, we're guys,"

"What do guys do then?"

"Guy's... I don't know. Guys don't do that,"

"Why is that?"

"Jeez, I don't know," I said, cutting the conversation off. The pool was so strangely nice I didn't want to leave, but I lifted up my thankfully waterproof watch and was shocked by the time- 9:50pm.

"I need to be going soon,"

"Do you?" Alex said, gloomily.

I sat up. "Yeah."

We climbed out the pool and I walked over to where I had neatly placed my school clothes and reached out happily to put them back on. Then I realised.

"Shit, we don't have a towel," I panicked. "And my boxers are soaking wet. Mum is going to kill me and... and so is Dad."

I shut my eyes slightly and took a deep breath. "Okay, what can I do? What can I do, what can I do..."

"Have my clothes," Alex said, interrupting my brewing panic attack. "Dry yourself with mine and just go commando."

He handed me his clothes and I dried myself, then ran behind a tree and got dressed. When I came back out Alex was dressed too, except he had on only his blazer, as I was trying to get my hair dry with his shirt.

It took us forever to find our way out of the forest to the park. When we eventually did, we parted ways and Alex went home and I walked the long way back up to school, then from school back home, the whole time wondering about that weird pool and Alex.

When I properly thought about it I realised I barely knew him. He was just a random guy that came to my school a few weeks ago now and suddenly we were friends, just like that, we clicked. He was different from my usual friends, I didn't know how, but he was. They were all similar to me; sporty and just generally the same, but Alex wasn't. He had something about him that, if I had not been so oblivious then, I would have realised.

But that was silly because if I was classing my obliviousness as not noticing that particular something, then I would have been oblivious my whole life.