Free Underwater

Chapter 8 A National Disaster

                                                  Dedicated to spell correct!
    It had been a month since the dance and nationals were coming up fast and Haru could not be more excited about swimming again. He actually smiled, well it was more of a smirk but that was still a pretty big deal. Amaya and Haru were the talk of the school and fan girls across campus burned in anger, but still gave the unofficial couple the ship name, Amaru. (If you think of a better one, let me know!) Gou wanted to make posters but Haru threatened to burn the school if she did.
    Amaya climbed out of the pool after practice and was drying herself off when a the song Ponponpon began to play throughout the pool. Amaya ran over to her light blue backpack and pulled out her cellphone.
    "Hello?" She asked. She giggled as Nagisa pushed Makoto into the pool.
    "Hi sweetie." A man's voice spoke.
     Haru looked over at Amaya who had suddenly gone pale as she slammed her phone closed.
    "Amaya, everything okay?" Asked Makoto. He came up behind her and looked at her phone screen that was now black.
    Amaya shook her head. "I'm so screwed." She said more to herself than Makoto.
    "Amaya?" Haru spoke up. He towed off his hair and approached the group that was now beginning to migrate towards the upset girl.
    Amaya looked at her friends who were now starring at her with very concerned looks. "That was my dad." Amaya starred down at her phone again, as if maybe it would make this entire situation go away. She hadn't seen her dad in years, she had no idea where he was, he had never called to see if she was okay after the accident. Questions raced through Amaya's mind. How'd he get my number? How does he know I'm in japan? Has he talked to mom? Why is he contacting me now?
    Amaya looked at Gou, her eyes were lifeless. "Gou, I need to go home." Amaya didn't wait for an answer, she grabbed her bag and ran towards the locker room.
~~~
   Amaya swung open the door to her house. "Mom!"
    Kylee turned away from the kitchen sink, startled at her daughters outburst. "Amaya? What's wrong?"
    Amaya gripped the back of a table chair tightly as she tried to find the words. "Da...dad called me." Amaya stammered.
    Kylee's brown eyes widened in terror. She slowly sat the cup she had been washing down. "What? What did he say?"
    "I didn't give him a chance to say anything, I hung up." Amaya explained.
    "That man! He broke our agreement." Kylee spat.
    "What agreement?" Amaya asked. She looked in o her mother's brown eyes.
    "Nothing." Kylee quickly turned towards the dishes again.
    "No. Mom what agreement?" Amaya raised her voice. Her mother never avoided subjects, this wasn't like her at all, Amaya began to worry as she ran millions of possibilities in her mind.
    Kylee sighed, closed her eyes, and turned toward Amaya with her hand on her hip. "That as long as you weren't swimming, he would have nothing to do with you, and I wouldn't hurt him." Kylee's face was twisted.  "You're swimming again aren't you?"
    The reporter! Amaya panicked as she remembered she had been on television. However, then the realization of what her mother had actually said hit her. A disgusted scowl replaced the shock on Amaya's face as she starred at her mom. Amaya shook her head and backed towards the door. "What did you do?"
     "When you were in that comma your father would talk about how you'd be up and swimming in no time! I did what I had to, to keep you away from swimming!"
   Amaya had the door handle now and was beginning to turn it.
    "Amaya!" Kylee shouted, but it was to late. Amaya had the door open and was running blindly down the empty street.
~~~
Amaya didn't stop running until she was completely out of breath, as she stood up and looked at her surroundings, she quickly realized she had no idea where she was. She was on a beach and the waves were pink as the sun dipped into the water, the sky was gold and the only sounds of human life came from some kids splashing in the water. Amaya sat down on the warm sand and let it run through her hands. How did life get this messed up? She wondered. She had no idea what to do, her mom was a nut case, and her father, despite trying to protect her, hadn't been around. Luckily she still had her school bag, and in it was her wallet. Amaya sighed. She didn't like the idea of not working things out with her dad, but she was tired. Tired of having to lie, tired of being lied to, and tired of living in a bubble. Amaya new something had to changed. She grabbed her phone and sent a single text message, to two different addresses. Instantly her phone began to ring, it was her mother. Amaya closed her eyes and held the power button until the screen went black and her phone made a shutting down noise like a toy running out of battery. Amaya brought her knees to her chest and cried, tears rolled down her cheeks and her mind went numb she sat like that for what seemed like forever until a voice called her out of the depths of despair.
"Amaya?" A small voice called out.
Amaya did her best to swallow her sobs and wipe her tears before looking at a blonde haired, large eyed, boy. "Hi Nagisa." She choked. "What are you doing here?"
Nagisa crouched down in front of Amaya and starred at her. Without a word Nagisa pulled out his phone, not looking away from Amaya for a second. "Hey Makoto, we're having an intervention at Haru's." With that Nagisa closed his phone and grabbed Amaya's wrist.
"Really, Nagisa I'm fine." Amaya begged. Nagisa turned around and planted his feet.
"No your not! Look I've been in your shoes, sometimes parents don't understand, but if you hide your pain from everyone, no one can help you, so for crying out loud open up to us a little bit!"
Amaya began to tear up as she looked at Nagisa's concerned face. She clasped into his shoulder and cried out everything she had just found out. Just like a little brother Nagisa just stood there and listened.
~~~
Amaya finished her sob story and the room filled with silence. Amaya sat next to Haru who had his hand on her leg trying to comfort her.
"That is messed up." Spat Rene. He sat on the floor, one leg tucked in with the other stretched out. He ran his fingers through his hair in disbelief. "I always new your mom was a nut case."
    "I... I did too." Amaya blew her nose and wiped away a tear.
    "I don't think it's safe for you do go home right now." Ms. A set town her cup of tea and starred into Amaya's eyes. "You understand I have to call the police. She may had never hurt you or even would had, but threatening your dad like that..." Ms. A trailed off
    Amaya nodded, she understood her mom would go to jail, but she felt no sadness in it. "I... I don't want to not go to nationals." Amaya chocked out.
    Ms. A stood up. "Out of the question, you are in no position to..."
    Amaya looked up, her eyes begging Ms. A. "Please! If I don't go she wins, she's ran my life too long, after, I'll call my dad and figure things out but until then I'm not destroying all of our hard work!"
    "Alright." Ms. A backed down. "But you still need a place to stay."
     Gou stood up. "Sleep over at Haru's!"

I know this chapter sucks but I just broke up with my boyfriend and it was a struggle to get motivated to write this. Promise the next one will be fun and longer.