By The Water | Stephew

Chapter Six: Baby Steps

A/N: Hey thanks for checking in I'm
stILL A PIECE OF GARBAGE!!
(I love this vine lol). Anyway, here's another chapter after almost four months of not updating. Hope you won't hate me. Enjoy! ❤
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Previously On By The Water:
Stephanie finally sees her friends after a very long time, and Matthew is along for the ride too. Stephanie has a plan to help Matthew, but will she manage to help him before his two weeks agreement with Mr. Peterson is over?
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The next day, Matthew woke up to an empty boys room. "Where are they?" He wondered quietly. He got out of his bed and went to the bathroom, that was connected to the room. He was surprised to see that Stephanie came into the bathroom from the girl's room the same time. "Oh hey! Good morning." Stephanie greeted and walked towards the row of sinks so she can brush teeth.

"Good morning...um...where is everyone?" He asked as he started brushing his teeth as well. "Well we might have a week off of school, but they don't," Stephanie said with a smile and he nodded. "So, I was thinking a lot about your little problem, and I think we should go to the swimming pool. We can start from small and go slow until we'll get there" Stephanie suggested with a kind smile. Matthew hesitated before nodding. The swimming pool is nothing like the sea, but ever since what happened, he couldn't get into any type of water source before getting a panic attack and almost drowning.

They ate something for breakfast, said their goodbyes to sky and Nicholas, and then walked over to the local swimming pool. The place wasn't very crowded, considering the fact it was still school hours. The small pool fitted for kids and the medium pool that was fitted for everyone were already full of screaming kids with their parents and several teens who just skipped school for the laughs.

Stephanie then signed and lead him to the professional swimming pool, where all the people that are just doing laps in the pool goes. Lucky for them, the only people that were in this pool we're a couple of old people, swimming around at a snail pace.  They stopped right by the shallowest part of the pool, and Stephanie got in. Matthew stood next to the ledge nervously. "Ok Matthew, now I want you to get into the pool. Don't think much and just step in." She told him, with her voice soothing and calming, as if she's talking to a small child in distress, which is exactly how he felt right now.

With shaky legs, he sat down on the ledge with his ankles and feet inside the water. The water felt cold, making his shaking body shake even more. All he could do was to stare at the bright blue water with a glare that was a mix of many feeling, but no one could quite point out at them. Suddenly he felt a small hand on his knees, patting it in a comforting manner.

He looked up and Stephanie, who seemed like she tried to force a smile to break her pitiful expression. Her look was the one who made him quickly and with no prior thinking to jump into the water. His heart raced, even though the water were only reaching his waistline. "See, you made the first step! Now, look at me." She said and her hand went to his cheek so she can then his head to her direction.

"On the count of three, well go underwater. I want you to put this swimming glasses." She said and gave him a pair from her bag. He put them on and looked at her again. "I want you to look at me and Focus on my eyes. When you'll feel like you can't handle it, you can go up, Ok?" She asked and he nodded back. A sigh came out of her mouth.
"One..." Her hand went to hold his hand tightly.
"two..." They looked into each other's eyes.
"three!" She said and they both went underwater.

The bright color of the water surrounded them, and just like Stephanie promised, their eyes never left each other. The water was quiet, so quiet that when Stephanie laughed at how ridiculous he looked with those swimming glasses, he could hear it as if she was laughing straight into his ear. Bubbles of air came out of her mouth as she laughed. A sight like this was so beautiful he even cracked a grin of his own.