How to Poke a Fish (A Romance Novel)

Chapter 5

Alex’s POV

I leaned in closer, not rushing anything and then she jerked and lost her balance. I tried to reach out and grab her, but I was too late. She toppled off the dock and into the lake. She came up sputtering and soaking wet. I grabbed her arms and helped her get out. She was shaking and shivering. I wrapped my arms around her to help her get warm and was getting soaked now too. Through chattering teeth she said

“I to..toa..lly took the wrong a…proa..ch. You can’t poke fish by jumping in the water. You have to bait them with algae and poke them with a stick when they come ccllo..se.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You mean to tell me you have never poked a fish?”

“No…”

“Well when I was with Becca once at her dad’s cabin we poked fish.

“Wow, you girls are very….”

“Hey! You said you wouldn’t judge.”

“I’m not”

“Well it’s fun. I will show you sometime, I would show you now but I think I scared all the fish away.”

“Z, about what you said, why haven’t you ever told anybody?”

“I tried. But Emma, my old best friend, told her dad who is the sheriff that I was lying and that I was just a slut. Nobody believed me. I went to a camp in the summer and that’s where I met Becca and Kayla. They both lived here and so I decided to come here since it’s far away from home and I could be by people who had no idea who I was.”

“I’m sorry.”

She moved out of my arms and looked me in the eye.

“Don’t be sorry. I learned to deal with it. I got tested and thank god nothing turned up. I’m just trying to go back to normal. That song that I wrote is for that reason, to go back to normal. Emma made my life a living hell after what happened. My sister made my life hell before it happened. She looks just like me. We could be identical twins, except for the fact that our eyes are different shades. But no one but our parents can tell the difference and even they don’t believe it. She would blame it on me since I was the messed up one. She could get caught and point and say that’s my sister. They always believed her.” She had her hands balled up in fists and I’m proud that she wasn’t crying but looked ready to kill.

“What if that guy ever comes back.”

“I don’t know” she looked down. “we should have a code word. If my sister ever comes here and pretends to be me things could get nasty. So if I ever act weird or something seems off, ask me how to poke a fish.”

“Ok, I like this. A super cool code word. Makes me feel young again.” We both laughed but I knew she was being serious.

The wind picked up and we both shivered.

“Let’s go back inside shall we?” I said.

She looked up at the moon and then pulled herself to her feet.

“I don’t have any other pjs.”

“I have an extra pair of sweatpants you can wear. They will be big on you though.”

“That will work. Thanks.”

We walked up to the house and went back in. She grabbed a set of clean clothes and I handed her a pair of sweatpants. When she came back out of the bathroom, she sat down next to the futon with me.

“Are you going to be ok Z?”

“I’ve survived for 2 years. The rest of my life should be a piece of cake.” She tried to sound sarcastic but she just sounded exhausted. And she was still shaking. I reached over and grabbed my sweatshirt off the floor and handed it to her.

“Do you want to sleep here with me? I don’t think Kayla will appreciate being waken up at 4 AM.” I laid down and patted the spot next to me.

“I’d like that.” She laid down and I tucked the covers all around us. She snuggled in next to me.

“Alex?”

“Yeah”

“Thank you for listening and not judging. You are really some..thing..else.” She drifted off to sleep and I whispered quietly in here ear

“You are really something amazing and beautiful Azarniya.” And fell into a deep sleep myself.

~*~

“Alex! Wake up!”

I jerked awake to Azarniya staring down on me. Huh? I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and squinted in the bright sunlight that was streaming through the windows. Z was wearing my sweatshirt, wait, oh now I remember. Our little walk down to the lake.

“Good Morning Sunshine” I winked at her and she smiled. She crawled off the futon and went to her room to wake up Kayla. Caleb soon came out of his room and quickly went to the kitchen looking for food. Together Caleb and I started making breakfast as the girls waited impatiently.

“Hey Z why are you wearing Alex’s clothes?”

Louis came out of his room and stared at Z in wonder. She smiled broadly and pronounced

“I decided to poke some fish.”

“You what?” Louis was so confused and I burst out laughing as did Becca.

“Z, did you happen to fall in as you were trying to poke these fish?” Becca asked.

“No I was showing Alex how to do it, but he pushed me off!” She mockingly glared at me “So that is why I am wearing his clothes since I had no other Pjs.”

“Hey I did not push you off!” I exclaimed.

“Now, now girls you’re both pretty.” Caleb looked at us with a spatula in one hand and a plate of food in the other. “Who’s hungry?”

We all dug in and filled our empty stomachs. Then we all went out on the boat and jet ski and spent the whole day having fun out on the lake.

We packed up and left later and went out to eat for supper at Pizza Ranch. It was the best weekend I had ever had and I think Louis was really starting to like this whole “college” idea.