Love Lake

Chapter 5

Adam's P.O.V.

Chapter 5

Our teams are tied. It's our last game. Time's almost up.

"Jake! Pass!" I scream over the crowd. He does. The team blocks the other as I race down the court to the hoop. I have an amazing, clear shot for a three pointer. I get in stance. Knees bent, arms up. I focus my eyes. The ball is about to leave my hands and...WHAM!!!

I hit the floor. Hard. I think I might have a concussion.

The fucked up thing is, nobody is around me.

I lay on the floor dazed. Next thing I realize, half the crowd is cheering, the other half booing. I hear my dad booing over everyone else. The other team scored. Time buzzes. We lost. By a three pointer. By my missed shot.

"Dammit," I say under my breath. I don't bother to congratulate my team. It's my fault we lost.

"ADAM!!" My dad and the coach are running after me. I pick up my pace but I'm still walking. I turn out of the gym and lose myself in my thoughts. I turn every corner, go around every building on the whole campus. I want to get lost. I'm walking by the art room and the door opens and hits me square in the face.

"Oh shit! I'm so sorry," gushes a girl.

"Fuck," I mutter as I continue to walk away.

"HEY! Wait up!!!" She starts to follow me. Sadly, she catches up.

"I'm sorry I hit you with a door."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Your Adam, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, I'm Amber's friend. I want to apologize for her. She doesn't know what she's doing."

"Just shut up about Amber! Why does everyone care so much?!?!"

The girl flinches.

"Look, I'm sorry okay? I just...I've had a hard game," I say.

"Come with me," she beckons as she starts to walk away. I am kinda hesitant to follow but she seems nice. I don't even know her...

I follow.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"To a lake. I go there when I'm stressed or when I need to think or when I'm mad at Am-" she pauses. "When I'm mad at people."

As we're walking I ask her her name.

"I'm Ella."

"Nice to run into you-or a door."

After a bit of walking we get to the lake and Ella leads me to a rocky shore. I try to be farther than her but she gives me a strange look. I shrug and go back to where she is. We sit on two flat rocks next to each other.

"This is really nice," I whisper. I don't want to break the peacefulness.

"I know. That's why I love it here," she says quietly, as if she could ruin it.

After a while I blurted, "Would you mind if I came here more often?"

"Not at all!" she's beaming. She looks like she could teach me a lot about this lake. I return the smile. First time for a long while.

Suddenly something flies out of the water. The first thing I do is get in front of Ella. Then I register what the thing is and stumble into Ella. She catches me. The thing that came from the lake... it was...a...mermaid.

The first thing I noticed other than the tail were her eyes. They were purple.

Ella pulls out some weird dagger thing.

"What the..." I manage.

"Stay back," Ella says in the most serious tone ever. I oblige.

The mermaid thing hisses when she sees the knife. "So you have it," it says in the most beautiful voice I have ever heard.

"Adam plug your ears!" Ella warns. I do as she says.

The mermaid lunges and knocks the knife out of the way. It grabs Ella and I and pulls into the lake. Then disappears.

The water is surprisingly warm. I can't see Ella.

"Shit," I mutter. Then I realize the obvious. She can't swim. I should have read her face as she looked at me earlier.

Then I hear splashing. Then I see hands. I dive towards them. Swimming as fast as I can I reach her. I grab Ella and pull her head above water.

She gasps. "I can't swim!" She is scared. I can feel it in her body and see it in her face.

"It's okay. You're okay now. I'm here," I say. I don't know if it will help. My feet reach the bottom of the lake, hers definitely don't. I hold her up and stroke her hair.

I look down at her and instantly have a gut feeling. Her big, beautiful, hazel eyes show fear and anxiety, but also thankfulness, love, and adoration. I lean down and she closes her eyes. I can tell Ella isn't objecting. I kiss her. Quick but passionate.

We break apart and I stare into her purple eyes. I help her swim to shore but then I have to leave the girl of my dreams. I just hope I see Ella again. I have only known her for about an hour, but I love her. I barely knew who she was before today, but after we fell into the lake together I love her. Hey wait a minute! What if-BANG!!! I hit the floor.