Smile

Chapter 20: You Could Work On Your Technique

Today was finally Friday. The weather made me glad that I lived where I did—we were in February, and yet everyone wore t-shirts and shorts. The sun was out and burning, and there were hardly any clouds in the sky.

My friends and I were welcoming the weekend with open arms, as it had been a pretty eventful week for all of us—Logan had had his break-down and his fight with his father, Amanda had been gone two days this week for a dance competition (they won and were going to Nationals, which was apparently very exciting), Kelsey had applied to the music school she always talked about and was under a lot of stress, and Thomas, Noah, Tony and Gabe had had a short basketball tournament at another school on Tuesday (they'd finished fourth place amid about twenty schools). I'd spent most of my time either being there for Logan, stressing out with Kelsey, cheering for the boys, or celebrating with Amanda. Frankly, the only one of us whom hadn't been busy and/or stressed about anything in the last week was Will.

To celebrate the end of this crazy week, I invited all of my friends to my house for a small pool party (I invited Will, too, because he deserved it for hanging out with us crazy people all the time). We all agreed to meet up at my place around 4:30PM, since none of them had their swimsuits with them (understandable).

-/~\-

"Let's do a diving contest!" Tony shouted. The sun was starting to set, and we were all still in the pool, except for Amanda, who'd basically decided to take up residence in one of the long chairs set by the pool.

Kelsey and I groaned, instantly refusing. I loved swimming, but diving wasn't my thing.

"Oh, come on, guys!" Gabe encouraged us. "It'll be fun! Even Amanda will participate. Isn't that right, Mandy?" He'd settled for the nickname a few weeks ago, and Amanda hated it with a burning passion.

Amanda scoffed. "No way."

"You know," Will called out to Amanda from the opposing end of the pool. "That thing you're wearing is called a swimsuit for a reason."

Amanda took off her bright green sunglasses and narrowed her eyes at Will. "Do you think you're funny?"

Will shrugged and effortlessly got out of the pool without using the ladder. "I think I'm making a point."

Amanda cautiously watched him come closer. "What do you think you're doing?"

Will picked her up wordlessly as she fought against him, attempting to wiggle her way out of his hold. Tony, Gabe, and Logan started chanting "In the pool! In the pool! In the pool! In the pool!"

"William Cook, you put me down right now!" Amanda shouted, hitting Will's chest repeatedly with her fist. Will laughed, not phased one bit. He reached the edge of the pool, extended his arms right above the water with a squealing Amanda still in them, and dropped her into the pool. The guys cheered.

"Nicely done, Mandy," Gabe said once she'd resurfaced. "But you could work on your technique. I'm giving you a score of 3/10."

Will made sure to catch our attention by letting out a scream that sounded between a fussing baby and Tarzan, then dived flawlessly into the pool.

"Alright, that is so unfair," Tony protested. "Not everyone here was on the swim team for half of their high school years."

Will shrugged, smirking, and turned to Gabe. "What's my score?"

"9/10," his friend decided. "Your toes weren't pointed."

Will rolled his eyes but didn't argue. Instead, he turned to me. "Your turn, Mallark."

I didn't particularily enjoy diving, but I didn't want to get the same fate as Amanda, so I willingly got out of the pool. I was about to dive when my father slammed the back door open.