don't go near the water!

don't go near the water chapter 8

The rest of the week went by quickly. And so did the week after that. I didn't think about Toby much. I didn't think about Melody either. I did see her a few times when she was going to her classes. We would hug and part ways, and that was it for our interaction. Finals were coming up and I knew the only way to pass them was to not think about anything that happened in the previous weeks. That meant not talking to Toby or Melody, no matter how much I wanted to. Finals went by slowly, but well. On the last day of school, Melody, Julie, Sal, Josh and I went to lunch. And then Julie told me to invite Toby. I texted him and he said he'd be there soon. Since we had gone to the eye doctor, Melody has contacts instead of glasses now. 

We started to plan out the next week. Jet skiing, boating, watching movies, bon fires... I got really excited for this week, and I could tell Melody was too, because she didn't stop smiling the entire time we talked about this. Toby showed up around 5 minutes later, and when Josh saw him, he put his arm around me. I liked that he was protective of me, but I don't think Toby could steal me away from Josh. He was cute, sure, but he was more like a teacher than a boyfriend. Josh is sweet, cute, and wonderful. He has never said a bad thing to me in our entire relationship, and he has never tried to fight with me. Toby looked terrible. His hair was a mess, his shirt was buttoned wrong, and his shoes were on the wrong feet. "Toby, what's wrong? You look like you just woke up." said Sal. "I did just wake up, actually." then he sat down next to me, turned to me and whispered "In 5 minutes, you and Melody will go to the bathroom. But wait outside, and I'll meet you there a few seconds later." I nodded in response. 

We got our drinks and ordered our food. Since that took 5 minutes, I proceeded with Toby's plan. "Melody, come with me to the bathroom" "Umm... ok" she looked confused but got up anyway. She put the napkin that was in her lap onto the table. "We'll be right back everyone." I kissed Josh on the cheek and then we went and waited for Toby. 

TOBY POV

I got a text from Elsa to meet her at a restaurant. She had just gotten out of school, and she was with her friends and her boyfriend, and also Melody. I really didn't want to go. I had just gotten some bad news from the King and Queen, and now I was freaked out. I paced around my empty apartment- I lived alone there because I didn't want to go back to my dad- and tried to figure out what to say to Elsa and Melody. But when I realized how much time had passed, I put on clothes and shoes and ran out the door. 

The restaurant wasn't too far away from my apartment. It only took about 10 minutes to get there, due to traffic. When I saw their table, I walked over there and sat down by Elsa. As soon as Josh saw me, he put his arm around Elsa. I get that he wanted to send the message that Elsa was his. I would too, if I was with her. She was really pretty, and I wouldn't want other guys hitting on her either. Everyone at the table looked at me strangely. I didn't understand why until Sal told me I looked horrible. I looked at my shirt, which was inside out and buttoned wrong. My shoes were on the wrong feet. But I had some news to deliver, some bad news, and since I had spent so much time thinking about it, I didn't have time to work on my appearance. 

After I told Elsa to wait for me with Melody outside of the bathroom, I waited a few minutes so I wouldn't make it obvious that I would be going to talk to them. I felt awkward sitting there without them. I could tell Josh didn't like me, but I couldn't understand why. Sal was cool, and we got along well. But he and I would never be able to be just normal guy friends because of who I was. Julie kept trying to flirt with me, but I didn't flirt back. She was pretty and all, but not my type. After a few minutes I went back to meet Melody and Elsa, and as soon as I stood up and smiled at them, Josh glared at me. 

ELSA POV

What was taking Toby so long? We couldn't wait here forever, my friends would think something was wrong. I took out my phone and started to text him, but put it away when I saw him in his disheveled state come our way. "What took you so long?" I demanded. Then Toby made a motion with his hands telling me to lower my voice. "Well, I took a while so it wouldn't seem obvious. If I had come back here within even a minute, it would have seemed too obvious." he said in a whisper. "So why did you need to talk to us?" we both looked at Melody, who was the one who asked this question. She almost never talks to anyone, except me. She's said maybe 3 words to Toby that I've heard. "Well, the King and Queen talked to me last night. We have a bigger threat coming than we thought." "What do you mean, 'bigger threat'?" I asked, putting air quotes around the words 'bigger threat'. "Well, the reason I came to talk to you about all of this in the first place was because we had a threat coming. We didn't know who or what it was, we just knew it was dangerous. And one of the ways to destroy it is to give it bait. They assumed you two would be good bait, until they saw just how big the threat was. Now we have to fight." "What is this threat exactly?" "No one has actually seen it. But it destroyed a lot of things yesterday, and ate a lot of merpeople." Melody and I looked at each other and then I looked back at Toby before speaking. "Well, what do they want us to do?" "Well, if your whole family is rejoined, you all will have the power together to fight it." "Do they know when they will need us?" "No. But they did say soon, so during your lake week, we'll train. Ok?" "Ok" Melody and I said simultaneously. 

Melody and I went back to the table together and faked some conversation. Toby returned a couple seconds later. We all finished our food, paid, and walked outside. "So, we're meeting at my house tomorrow right?" Julie asked. "Right" I confirmed. The rest of them said something of that sort to confirm. "So, a whole week together" Josh said in my ear, while wrapping his arm around my waist, and pulling me in close. "Oh, no, what will we ever do?" I asked sarcastically, and then kissing him. I was really excited to be able to spend a whole week with Josh outside of school. Even if the week did had training involved, I'd still be able to see him every day. In a swimsuit. When he and I got to my car, he grabbed my hands, and kissed me goodbye. Melody waited at the passenger door. She was sleeping over that night so we wouldn't have to get her things tomorrow and disturb her pregnant mom. He and I stopped kissing and I waved goodbye and got in my car. He waved goodbye through the window. I smiled at this, but I could see Melody making a face out of the corner of my eye. 

We were driving for a few minutes, but then Melody started asking questions. "It's weird. You're with Josh, and I can tell you two are absolutely in love with each other. But when I saw Toby today, he was watching you guys. He seemed sad. It's like he likes you or something." "No, Toby does not like me. Josh is the only guy that has ever liked me or thought I was pretty." "Then you really did not see the guy at the ice cream store the other day. He was checking you out, in more ways than one." "Well did you notice Sal looking at you today?" I asked her, making sure I wasn't the only one who noticed. "No" "Well he was." The rest of the drive was silent after that. The rest of the day we avoided what we talked about in the car and got ready for the Lake.

We had to get up really early the next morning, but since we were both ready, I let Melody sleep in for a little while. I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, but then I heard her stir and then she started crying. I didn't know if she was still asleep or if she was awake, so I just went and rubbed her back, like my mom used to do to me when I would cry. I didn't talk to her about it when she woke up, I figured that if she wanted to talk to me about it, she would. When we went out to my car, I heard her say "Elsa?" I turned to her. "Yes?" "I had a dream last night that we were back at school and people were laughing at me, and you were laughing at me too. I started crying in my sleep. I don't know why I had that dream, but you would never laugh at me, would you?" Her eyes started to fill with tears, and I hugged her. "Melody, I would never laugh at you, and if anyone ever did laugh at you, they would recieve my fist to their face. Ok?" this made her laugh a little and she pulled away from the hug. "Ok" "Now, let's go to the lake!"