H2O | ✔

Chapter Twelve : Out of Sync

Sam

47 weeks before Mesi woke up...

"Dimples!"

Where did I know that voice from?

I turned to see a girl with wild red hair skipping over to me.

It was the end of the day and most of the students had gone home, but Xander and I decided to stay and work on a project in the library.

"I know your name now, Sam." That's how I recognized her. How could I forget? I guess my mind had been a little out of it.

I quirked my head. "So do I get to know your name now?"

The girl pondered my question teasingly. "Hmm, I don't know. You made me figure out your name all on my own."

I snorted. "Like it was that hard."

"So is this one of those times you're being a dick?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," I sighed. "But honestly, you could basically ask anyone and they'd know me. Why'd it take so long?"

The girl took a seat next to me, on the opposite side of where Xander was sitting. He wasn't there at the moment—he was looking for a book source for his paper.

She rested her head on her hand, looking tired. "It didn't take me long to figure out your name, but it took me a while to track you down."

I laughed. I had no idea I was such an unreachable person.

"I'm sorry, again. Now, will you tell me your name?" I widened my eyes in question.

The girl smirked, knowing she had the upper hand. But then she let out a sigh and said,"Fine. I'm Cate. Cate Smith."

"Huh. Short for Catherine?" Most Cates, Caitlins, Kates and Kaitlins I knew were short for Catherine or Katherine.

"Nope!" she chirped.

I took a good look at Cate. She was cute, with her crazy curly ginger hair and freckles across the bridge of her nose. And her big blue eyes were beautiful. She was perfect.

"Hey, Xander!" I yelled to the boy that was now making his way back to the table. "Meet Cate!"

Xander glanced up from his textbook for a second and mumbled a small,"Hey."

I rolled my eyes and stood up. Walking over to Xander, I grabbed the book from his hands and hid it behind my back.

"Dude," Xander groaned,"I just found the right page!"

I dismissed this with a wave. Who cared if he found the right page? There were more important things to attend to.

I dragged Xander down into my chair, so that he was sitting next to Cate.

"I was sitting over—"

"I've got to go! See you at soccer practice!"

I was almost to the door when I turned and added,"And give Cate a ride home! Thanks!"

I was sprinting out the door so Xander wouldn't catch me and force me back. I knew it was kind of a weird thing to do, but I thought Cate and Xander would be good for each other. They both liked their respective school subjects (Xander, math and Cate, English) and they were both nice people. What more was needed for them to become friends? Or more?

Honestly, though, I just wanted to find Xander a girl. This is going to sound really bad, but I was hanging out with Mesi a lot more then and I wanted to make sure that he had someone to be with when I wasn't around. I never ditched him for Mesi, but I knew Xander. If I didn't force him to make friends, he never would—he'd spend his days moping in his bedroom, studying quantum physics or something.