Misinterpreting Fate (Book 2)

5. The Lake

Chapter 5: The Lake

Sam

The next couple weeks went by extremely slow. I didn't want to do anything besides staying in my room all day, every day. My parents kept trying to get me to see my friends or something to get my mind off everything, but I couldn't be bothered. I knew they couldn't make me happy again.

It sucks that even though Owen hurt me and betrayed me, I still loved him.

I felt the edge of my bed dip down and I froze, not knowing who was in my room. As far as I knew, both my parents were at work.

"Sam?"

I lifted my head up, pushing back my blanket as I did so. There, sitting on my bed, was Courtney. "How did you get in here?"

She smiled. "Ryan helped me climb through the window downstairs. You haven't been answering your phone and have been completely ignoring us. We've been worried about you."

It didn't surprise me that she came through the window. She was the type of person who would have broken down the door if need be. I wish she hadn't come though, because now I had to figure out how to get her to go away.

"My dads took my phone," I said with a sigh, sitting up. "I'm grounded." 

Both those statements were lies. My phone was actually in a draw of my desk, turned off. It's been there for two weeks now because I didn't want to talk to anyone. I especially didn't want to be tempted to text Owen, even if it was to demand an explanation. Just having his number in my phone was too much to think about.

I was technically grounded, but that only lasted a week. They realized that I was moping in my room too much to even care that all my 'technology and friend privileges' - as they put it - were taken away, so they lifted the ground, but told me to go out with my friends to get my mind off Owen. I didn't want to do that, so I haven't. 

"Grounded? What the hell did you do to get yourself grounded?"

I shrugged. "I messed up." That one was true. If there was anything I realized these last two weeks, it was that I ruined my life. Obviously, I did something to make Owen do that. There's no other explanation. He did what he did because of me, because I hurt him first somehow. I messed us up and now my life was ruined.

"With what?" Courtney asked, sounding concerned.

"My life."

She shook her head and stood up. She was never one for feelings. "You sound miserable. Come on, let's break you out of here. You need some fresh air."

"I don't want to," I whined. I then laid back down, pulling the blanket over my head again.

Courtney managed to wait a few seconds before ripping the blanket off me. "Come on, Sam! We have one more week of summer vacation. Are you really going to spend it sulking in your bed?"

"Yes!"

"No!"

She grabbed hold of my ankles and started pulling. "Your dads aren't going to find out. Come on!"

I tried my best to keep myself in place, but as soon as I realized that Courtney was stronger than I was, I gave up. "Fine! Fine, I'll go with you. Stop pulling on me."

She, thankfully, dropped my feet back onto the mattress. "Good. Now come on, get dressed. Ryan's waiting for us downstairs."

I sighed as I stood up. "What are we doing?"

Courtney didn't hesitate to answer. "We're heading to the lake, so wear a bathing suit! Shawn and Jaime are going to meet us there."

Without answering, I pulled my bathing suit and a tshirt out of my draw before heading for the bathroom to change. Looks like I was going swimming today.

Five minutes later, I was walking down the stairs, Courtney on my heals. She was wearing a huge smile on her face like getting me out of bed was this major accomplishment or something. I mean, sure, I've barely even gone downstairs in the last few days, let alone leaving my house, but it wasn't something to smile like that about.

"So he is still alive!" Ryan cheered when we got to the bottom of the stairs and in sight of the living room. He was leaning against the wall by the window, which must have been the window they climbed through.

"Shut up," I muttered, unamused. "Let's just go."

Ryan turned towards the window, and I watched for a few seconds as he attempted to crawl back out it. Finally, I spoke up.

"You know there's a door we can go through, right?"

He pushed himself the rest of the way out, landing on the ground outside with a soft thud. It was a good thing it wasn't a very far drop.

"Too late for that now," Ryan said, still laying on the ground.

Courtney and I shared a look before I closed the window. We'd be using the door, no question about that. Why did I have such weird friends?

It took us half an hour to ride our bikes out to the lake. It was a place we've always spent most of our summers for as long as we've been allowed to ride our bikes this far. It wasn't a very big lake, probably more of a pond, if I'm to be honest, but it was ours. We've never seen anyone else there, even after years.

Today was no different. Shawn and Jaime were there already, of course, but that was it. They both smiled and waved from in the water when we showed up and dumped our bikes near the rocky shoreline next to theirs.

Ryan wasted no time ditching his shirt and climbing up the giant rock that was half in the water. He stood at the top of the rock facing the lake, his arms spread out wide. We all watched as he jumped off the rock, tucking himself into a ball midair, then hitting the water with a huge splash.

Jaime screeched and started splashing Ryan back. Shawn joined in, splashing her with even more force than she was doing to both of them.

I sat down on the dirt, watching Courtney run into the water to join the others. Usually I'd be right there with them, but I really didn't want to be here today.

It wasn't long before Jaime came back on shore and sat down next to me. I'm pretty sure she used to have feelings for me at some point, but she got over them after I told her I was gay last year. She was honestly the only one I've told - she even knew about Owen. It's not that I didn't trust my friends. The topic's just never come up with them. Jaime was always the one person I could share my emotions with. She understood me.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"Owen's gone."

She gave me a confused look. "What do you mean, gone?"

I sighed before giving her the short version: "He told my Poppa that I was creeping him out with an obsessive crush, then quit his job. Haven't talked to him in two weeks."

"Oh, Sam... Sam, I'm so sorry to hear that."

My eyes started tearing up again. Jaime must have noticed because she wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. I didn't even care that she was still soaking wet.

"We're here for you," she whispered. "All of us. I'm sure I can get them to go kill him with me, if you want us to."

That made me chuckle. "Maybe." The image of my friends attacking Owen would definitely be a sight to see, even if I didn't want to see him hurt - even after the pain he's caused me.

"Whatever you want, Sam. I'm here."