Daylight

Jace's POV

I probably shouldn’t have said that. I’m getting a little too personal. Crap.

 She’s gonna hate me.

 Point proven. She is starting to swim away from me.

 I panic. Each second that I stall, she swims farther away from me. What am I doing? Go!

 “Brooklin, wait!” I call out. I immediately begin to follow her, swimming as fast as I can. Right now is definitely a time where I am thankful that my parents forced me into competitive swimming. “Wait!”

 She’s not stopping. Pretty soon, she makes it to the small shore that sits beside the river. Once she emerges from the water, she still doesn’t look back. She just keeps walking. There is nothing I can do but chase after her and carefully grab her by the arm. “Just let me prove it to you,” I say.

 Surprisingly, she actually stops at my words. It’s now that I realize how cold she is. Her body is shivering, and goosebumps have begun to form on her arms. I look down at my own body and find that I show no signs of coldness myself.

 Is she scared? I hope not.

 “How?” she asks. “How can you prove it to me?”

 “I don’t exactly know, but I will. I promise.”

 “But what will your friends think? I’m not exactly accepted at Miller.” Her tone is downcast, and it saddens me. She’s a lot more than what she thinks. She’s a lot more than what everyone else thinks.

 I take my hand off of her, and then I decide to sit down on the sand underneath my feet. Maybe if I stay here, she’ll think twice about walking away again. “Does it really matter what they think? You’ve never been one to care anyways, right? You are very ‘different.’”

 She’s just staring at me. When she does that, I wonder so badly what is going on inside her head. What is she thinking about me? What are her eyes telling me behind the smeared makeup across her lids and dripping down her cheek. Of course, I should be like her and not really care, but I do care. I don’t want to let her down like I’m sure so many have before.

 Then, to my relief she walks a little closer and then takes a seat right next to me. She’s not particularly close, but she’s not oddly far either. Her and I both stare into the distance, neither of us really wanting to say something quite yet.

 But then she speaks up, “Why are you really doing this, Jace?”

 I laugh to try to lighten up the mood. “Because I want to. Listen, not a lot of people....understand you-”

 “Oh, and you do?” she interrupts.

 “To be honest, no. I don’t. But I’d like to. You know, I have never really known anyone with purple hair, or piercings, or who has a habit of jumping off bridges.” She laughs, to my relief. I  think I’m doing better at this whole thing. For now at least.  “So what else don’t I know about you that would surprise me?”

She continues to sit and stare for a moment, almost seeming lost. Maybe she's just thinking hard. “Well, I’ve got a tattoo. But that’s probably not that surprising.”

 “I thought I saw something creeping up on your hip...” I smile and say. “What is it of?”

 “It’s the chinese symbols for ‘freedom.’”

 “Why ‘freedom’?” I ask. Although, I think I might have my own idea of what her answer will be.

 She takes a minute to reply. Her brow is creased and she is still looking into the distance. I wonder what she is thinking right now, whether it’s the tattoo or not.

 “Well,” she starts. “I guess freedom is something I’ve always wanted. And there are times in life when I feel like I get a little bit of it, but then it fades. But inside of me, there is still this stirring hope that maybe it’ll come back.”

 I don’t press as to why she wants to be so free. I already feel like she is revealing more of herself to me than she would like to. I can tell by the way she speaks very carefully, almost with caution.

 We sit for a little while, just watching the water flow. It’s funny because now I am actually analyzing the meaning of freedom myself. This river is so free. Flying through the air is so free. But am I free? I guess so.

 But maybe I’m not as free as I think I am.