(Book One) Do you ever feel as if your life has yet to begin? I've been alive for almost seventeen years now and absolutely nothing has ever happened to me. Not until I met a girl who kick-started my life. She introduced me to love, sex, scandal, ex...
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"I said get out of my face." He snarls.
I'm concerned now. I hope someone steps in. Someone does. Bronze Boy saves the day. He steps between them, towering over them both, and nudges Derek back.
"Chill, Dec. You're not gonna beat up this kid and ruin the party for everyone, are you? Over what?" He says in distaste. "Some girl?"
Derek is about to protest but Bronze Boy glares at him. He swallows whatever he was about to say.
Dechlan continues to stare down Derek. "She pushed me in, man." He repeats again.
"And you pulled her in with you." Bronze Boy pats him on the back. "Now come on let's get you a shirt. Your gonna make all the girls swoon and more girls will end up in the pool."
"...and some of the guys." Someone shouts.
It elicits a few catcalls and whistles. Dechlan smiles and allows himself to be led inside. I walk up to Derek, he gives me a half-hearted smile.
"I'm taking off." He says somberly, "Let Ari know?"
I nod my head and he makes his unnoticed escape through the backyard gate. I'm a little sad to see him go. I couldn't ignore the similarities between us. He was nice but cursed with invisibility like me. Easily pushed aside and forgotten. It was clear to me, he wanted more than anything for the girl he loved to see him, but she didn't. Not the way he wanted her to see him.
I walk back into the house to find Ari. Courtney is talking with her in the kitchen but walks away before I reach them. Ari is wearing a blue button-up. She has the sleeves rolled up. It hangs low to the back of her legs and it's tucked into a pair of boxer shorts. Her wet hair is back up in her favorite updo and all her make-up has been removed. She doesn't look at me when I approach but continues to stare down intently.
"Derek left," I say with a hiccup.
Ari looks up, with a sad expression on her face. "Aww. Did he say how he was leaving?"
"No." Hiccup.
Ari looks down at what I see now is her clunker phone. "Oh...I hope he took an Uber and didn't walk."
I point to her phone. "What's wrong with it?" Hiccup. Hiccup.
"Hmm?" She asks distractedly. She doesn't look at me but answers anyway. "It was in my pocket when Dechlan pulled me into the pool. He just happened to leave his inside the house." She slams her hand down onto the phone. "That jerk! It's ruined!"
"Can't you fix it." Hiccup. I say, "Put it in rice."
"No." She sighs. "I didn't take the battery out soon enough. The negative ions attract to the positive pole and the positive ions attract to the negative pole and thus create a closed circuit." She rambles. "The water conducts electricity sending all the power down the path of least resistance and creates electrical impedance."
