Breathing Water

PROLOGUE

I take another puff of the inhaler and then stuff it in my bag for school. I then take a drink of water and add that to my school bag before draping it over my shoulder and grabbing my keys. I shout "Bye Mom. See you later," upstairs as I head out the door. With the click of the door behind me I take the deepest breath I can.
I get in my car and turn the key. The radio is blasting because I always for get to turn the volume down before getting out. I was about to turn it down when I heard Kelly Clarkson's voice say, "makes you stronger." I then decide to leave the volume where it is for my favorite song and start backing out of my driveway to make the journey to Glimmer's house.
Glimmer is my best friend. We bond over the many commonalities in our lives such as the fact that we both suffer from severe asthma, and neither of our parents were very good at names. My mom named me Oyster because her strongest craving while pregnant with me was oysters. Glimmer's dad chose that name because "She is the glimmer in his life." I never met my father because he ran as soon as Mom told him she was pregnant with me. Glimmer's mom gave birth to her and then disappeared before ever getting to hold Glimmer, leaving a not that said she was not ready for the responsibility of being a parent.
Our personalities are where we start to differ. I'm pisces and she is aquarius. I have long, curly, blond hair and she has shoulder-length, wavy, black hair. I love solitude  and she likes parties.
After a 5 minute drive I pull up in front of the single story, 2 bedroom house that belongs to Glimmer and her dad. She is out the door and pulling her jacket and backpack on at the same time as soon as I have come to a full stop outside her front door. I can see that is finishing the last bite of her breakfast as she moves across the yard in a straight line headed for my car. I reach into my bag and pull out a piece of spearmint gum and hold it out to her as she opens the door and climbs into the vehicle. She closes the door and takes the piece of gum, stuffing it into her mouth with one hand and pulling the seat belt across her body with the other. As soon as the gum is out of my hand I focus on driving and make the car move forward.
"So, how are you this morning," she asks due to our daily routine of acknowledging the others breathing ability of the day.
"I'm about a 4 or 5 today. How about you," I respond. Its probably a 6 in reality, but I like to force myself to believe that its better than it actually is.
"I don't know probably a 5," she says slightly distracted. I can tell she has something on her mind because she is twirling the "pearl" bracelet that I got her for her birthday. (She calls it her oyster bracelet.) I don't like to push her when she feels like she should say something but maybe she shouldn't really. She opens her mouth slightly a few times in the 5 minute drive from her house to school. Just as we pull into the parking lot she says "There is a party at Cliff House tonight and I got an invitation. The invitation said that I could bring someone and I want to bring you.?" I can see out of the corner of my eye that she is looking at me expectantly. I contemplate it, making faces for effect. I usually don't like parties, but Glimmer seems to really want me there. "Please!!! I will do anything to not be alone at this party," she exclaims.
"Fine, but if people start trying to force things on me I'm out of there," I said with an extremely firm face. She smiled so big I could see her molars and fell on me in a hugging manor. Luckily I had already pulled into a parking spot and was putting the car in park when she did that.