Only Time Will Tell

1- New assignment

"C'mon Nyra, it's time for us to go to school." I hear Liam yelling from downstairs. Grudgingly I grab my things and make my way downstairs. I had just spent 30 minutes in front of my mirror trying to make myself look more awake than I was. My eyes looked unfocused and I had bags underneath them as a result of tossing and turning all night long.

"Good morning sleeping beauty, wow don't you look absolutely cheerful today?" Liam asked in an annoyingly happy voice. I shot him a pointed look and began eating my breakfast.

Liam was my twin brother and we shared some physical similarities. Both him and I had dark brown hair and a light sprinkle of freckles. One thing that set us apart was our eyes. He had striking blue eyes whereas I had a duller blue-greenish color. He was also at least a head taller than me and had a more athletic body, which made sense as he was the captain of the soccer team. I, on the other hand, liked to keep to myself and my books. I used to play volleyball but I quit 2 years ago.

"Did mom come home last night?" I asked finally breaking the silence. He just shrugged and shook his head. We went back to eating breakfast in silence. I couldn't help but wonder, where did mom go? She was never home and we had no idea where she was working. Dad was out on a business trip to China and wasn't going to back home for another week. We had moved here about 1 and a half year ago because we realised our family needed a change. California just held too many memories for me and staying there had started to become hell for me. Especially after what happened.

"Let's go Liam, we're going to be late if we don't leave soon." He nodded in agreement and we both set off for school. He would always give me a ride in the morning but since practice always ran late for him, I would get a ride back home with Lia - my best friend. Lia had been the only one who thought I should become her friend when I first came here. She picked me up during class and now she was my only friend and I couldn't be grateful enough for her. For a person whose twin brother is very popular and has a really big group of friends, I was a really anti-social, reserved person. It was a miracle I managed to become friends with Lia in the first place. 

As we approached school I started looking around for her fiery red hair. She was almost impossible to miss when I finally saw her standing by the entrance talking to some guys.

Hmm that's new. First day of school and she's already getting it. Normally they wait for a week or so.

I started walking towards her when she finally caught my eye and screamed so loud I swear, students on the fifth floor could hear her clearly. She started running towards me like they do in the dramatic movies and crushed me in a bear hug.

"Umm, Lia please let me go. I can't breathe." I gasped. After she realised that she was crushing me, she immediately let me go and I started coughing.

"Oh shit, you alright Nyra?" She asked, her face marked with concern. I smiled back at her.

"Yeah I'm fine now. Let's go before we're marked as late." I say and grab her hand. We make our way towards the lockers chatting and catching up on how our summer went.

I checked my schedule and groaned. First class was french and I absolutely detested french. The teacher was constantly yelling at the students for not saying something correctly and we were never allowed to leave to go to the bathroom (which i swear is illegal). We bid goodbye as her class was in the other corridor and set off to go to our classes.

~~~~~~

Finally, lunchtime rolled in and I set off to the canteen, my stomach rumbling. I looked around for Lia and spotted her sitting in our usual spot already eating her food. She seemed to be staring at something with a dazed smile. I followed her line of vision and saw that she had been staring at Liam. Damn. How did I not notice before?. Liam was usually seated with the popular clique and their table was in the middle of the canteen. Time to confront her, mwahahah

"Ooooh Lia, who're you staring at huh?" I approached her with a smirk. She starts to blush and looks down at her food. Woah, Lia never blushes when we talk about guys "No-one" she responds shyly.

"By the way, I totally ship you guys. You're perfect for him" and with that, she finally looks up and I send her a wink. Our canteen actually gives us really good food every time. Today, for example, it was lasagne and both me and Lia were enjoying the food.

"Oh, by the way, did you hear, we're getting a new transfer student. His name is supposedly Evan Smiths and rumor has it that he's super hot but part of a gang." She starts talking excitedly. New pieces of gossip usually interest her more than me but this news of a transfer student sounds interesting. Evan Smiths. Why does that sound so familiar? Shaking my head of its thoughts I went back to focusing on the conversation between me and Lia but the lingering feeling stayed with me.

After lunch, we separated once again to go to our respective classes. My last class for the day was Phys Ed and I was not looking forward to it. I wasn't unfit, but I wasn't fit either which was shown during class. I grabbed my things and changed in the bathroom as usual. Unlike the other girls, I wasn't as comfortable in my body to be naked around them. This also gave me the perfect chance to listen to their gossip.

"OMG Alexis did you hear about the new hot guy?!"

"Oh My God Julie I heard he's so hot, guys go gay just for him!!" Alexis responded and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Is hotness the only thing they care about? I could still hear them squealing and sighing as they talked about how he looked. I even heard someone saying that he could be the younger brother of Liam Hemsworth. Tired of their talk, I left the bathroom walked towards the hall.

"Good afternoon everyone, welcome to our first class of Physical Education. For this semester instead of doing normal P.E like we did last year, we will all be learning how to do the proper strokes for swimming."

No.

"Not only that but we have decided that at the end of this term you will demonstrate your skills in a timed test where you must swim 250metres or 5 laps of each swim stroke in the least time as you can."

I can't. I was starting to sweat and my head began to spin violently. The memories suddenly started to come back to me. Oxygen masks. Plane plummeting. Piercing water. C'mon Nyra breathe. In. Out.

"I want you to write down your process in what we call your process journal and here you will write how many laps you accomplished, how much time it took every class. This counts up to 60% of your final grade, so please do take this seriously."

Not the water. Anything but the water. I grab my head and curl myself into a ball. I start rocking back and forth trying to stop the memories from coming. Jack in a deflated life vest. White skin. The smell of rotting bodies. Frost. The darkness was closing in on me and I couldn't remember how to breathe anymore.

"Nyra? NYRA? Someone call the school nurse. NOW! Nyra listen, you're going to be ok." I faintly hear the teacher ask me as my vision goes blank and all I see is black.