In the Deep *Book Two* Water Trilogy

Four

For days Audrey and I drove to school together and everything she did was guarded and strange. She wasn't being herself and anytime I questioned she would either get moody, deny it, or do both. Something was up but I just couldn't find out what. I asked Heidi about it; but, Audrey hadn't been willing to talk to her either, so I brought it up to the person who knew the least and could maybe offer up the best advice. 

"Does Heidi ever ignore you for no reason?" I asked Jake as I dribbled a basketball down the court, I was quite good at it according to everyone, before shooting it into a basket. I didn't really understand the love humans had for their strange sports but I imagined it was the same that I had for mine back in Atlantica. 

"Sometimes,: he admitted with a shrug. "But girls are weird like that, all moody, like their the only ones with feelings. Like last week Heidi came up to me in the hallway," I passed Jake the ball so he could shoot. "And I didn't notice when she started talking because I had my headphones in." 

The net made a swish as the ball went in without touching the rim. 

"And?" 

"And then she wouldn't talk to me the whole day." He threw his hands in the air like he had no clue why. "Why? Is Audrey ignoring you?" 

"Yeah," I ran my hand through my hair. "She's never done it before and she's not giving any hint to what the problem is, what I did wrong, or if it's even me that she's mad at. I'm starting to get really worried." 

"Heidi's been talking to me about it," Jake said. "She's worried too. I just thought Audrey was having her senior-itis and it was sending her brain into some crazy shit but I guess it's not just that." 

"It started the first day of school." 

"Is someone messing with her?" 

"No. I don't think so. I mean, she hasn't said anything and she used to tell me all the time if something happened just so she could blow off some steam," I sighed. The coach blew his whistle as the girls half of the gym class came back in from outside. I watched as Audrey entered the room, looking as beautiful as always even though her cheeks were red from the heat and her hair was coming out of her braid, and Heidi walking next to her. I noticed that Heidi was the only one speaking while my girlfriends eyes scanned the gymnasium like she was searching for something or someone. 

They approached us as the other students piled into the locker rooms, eager to escape the white brick walls that held them eight hours of the day. 

"Hey, Jake," Heidi greeted him with a smile which he returned before she turned to me. "And don't forget about Finn." 

I laughed even though I could clearly tell Heidi was giving a hint to Audrey. She glared at Heidi before she grabbed my hand and started pulling me away. 

"Is everything all right?" I asked for the millionth time since school started. 

"Finn," she looked me dead in the eye. "You really have to stop asking that. Everything is fine. What I wanted to tell you is that James and Connor are going to take you home today. I have to... stay after and retake a test." 

"A test?" I hadn't remembered her saying anything about missing a test. Not that she really told me much of anything anyway. 

"Yeah, for economics." She hurried on. "And after that I think I'm staying after to help sort some pictures for Year Book that they have out." 

"Oh."

"I hope that's all right," she continued. "I just really need to get this done." 

"Yeah, it's fine-" 

"Great!" Audrey cut me off with almost fake sounding enthusiasm. "They'll be in the parking lot in James' car." 

I kissed her lightly before she hurried away; the gym door shut with a loud click behind her. I was sure I was scowling at the door. Shaking my head I walked to the now empty locker room, changed, and walked to my real locker that held my homework. There weren't many people in the hall that were actually students and I felt out of place. 

I turned my combination until it clicked. As my locker door swung open a small piece of paper fell out. I frowned at it before picking it up. One side had a heart drawn on the back with, clearly, very little effort to make it look nice and a short note on the other. The writing was curly and neat. It read: 

She's going to leave you. 

                              xoxo

My eyebrow furrowed. She's leaving me? Who, Audrey? I knew this wasn't Audrey's hand writing so it wasn't her who had written it. But then who had? We didn't tell everyone our relationship problems. Or, at least, I didn't think we did. 

"What's that?" Sarah questioned, making me jump. She laughed. "Sorry, didn't mean to sneak up on you." 

I cleared my throat as I balled up the note. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." 

Sarah gave me a look but didn't continue to question. 

"Do you have a ride?" I almost nodded my head yes until I realized my ride had just turned sixteen and probably didn't drive that well. I just shrugged. It wasn't really a ride, it was a test of faith and chance. "I'll give you one." 

I walked with Sarah to the parking lot where I found Connor and James waiting. I approached their car and leaned down as they unrolled the window. 

"Getting in, Finn?" Connor asked. 

"I've got a ride," I said, tapping the tips of my fingers against the roof. "I know you guys don't normally head straight home and I would hate to get in the way of where ever you hang out." 

"Alright," James put the key in the ignition. He glanced between Sarah and I before yhey drove away. I walked back to Sarah who was climbing in her car. It was small and silver with black leather seats. 

 "Do you have to be home right away?" She asked as she backed out of her spot. 

"Nope." 

"Do you mind if we go somewhere?" Sarah glanced at me quickly before sputtering out, "I mean, only if you want to. It's just that I have homework and I normally go to this coffee shop called Breezy and do it there; I just wanted to know if you wanted to go with me-" 

I laughed. "We can go if you want. I'll buy." 

Sarah smiled and drove into town. Ocean Side, according to Audrey, wasn't really that big or populated even though it was stationed on the beach. As much as I missed Atlantica, and as hard as it was for me to fit into the human world, I found that I enjoyed the small seaside town. I had finally made my own friend.