Speak Up

Chapter 18

"What are you doing here, prick?" Liam asks me. "No one invited you here."

Liam is so closed to me that I can smell the alcohol on his breath. I don't say anything to him about why I am here. I don't even know why I am here. I should have disobeyed Trey and stayed at home. That's where I should be. Not trying to fit into a crowd I don't belong in, or to try and chase after a girl I will never have, or to make Liam even more angry.

But he can't bully me here, can he? Not in front of everyone from our school who looks up to him.

I want to open my mouth to speak, but it's frozen shut. Panic quickly takes over me, stopping me from doing what I know I should do. To speak up and tell Liam to back off and leave me alone. The words are right on the tip of my tongue, my mind just wouldn't let me say it.

Liam drags me along by the collar. We past Trey, who tries to stop Liam from doing anything to me, but he continues pushing his way through the crowded house. No one seemed to care what he was about to me. They just carried on doing what they were doing.

Liam drags me through the back door of his house. I see his swimming pool that no one was in because it's still cool to be in the water. He walks over to it, and I knew I was in deep shit.

I struggle to pull away from Liam, but that only makes him hold his grip tighter. "Liam, don't. I can't swim."

My words are lost in the air because he doesn't give a damn about me. He stood on the edge of the pool and pushes me over the edge. I go to reach for his arm to grab hold of him so I wouldn't fall, but I miss. As soon as I land at the bottom of the pool, I panic, unsure what I was supposed to do. I knew swimming to the surface was the smartest idea, but while my body was in full panic mode, it wasn't something I thought of straight away.

I swim to the surface, but couldn't stay afloat. Liam just stands there laughing instead of jumping in to save me. I cried out for help, but no one comes to my rescue.

I go under. I suddenly lose vision in my right eye and I knew a contact lens had fallen out in the water.

Someone jumps into the pool, but I don't see who it is. They grab me and push me up to the surface, and push me up against the wall.

"Can you push yourself up, Zach?" Trey's voice says from behind me.

I nod. Trey gives me a boost and I lift myself up, struggling to lift up my legs as my feet kept slipping on the pool wall to help me climb out. Liam is still there and walks over to step onto my fingers. I yelp, letting go of the edge of the pool, bringing Trey and me back under.

Trey lifts me up, holding onto me tightly and tells me to hold onto the edge of the pool.

"You idiot," Trey says to Liam. "Help him up."

Liam chuckles. "Now why would I do that?"

"Can't you see that he is drowning?!"

"Is he? I just thought he was trying to get attention."

Trey let one arm go of me and stuck his middle finger up at Liam. He then continue holding onto me while he used his other arm to paddle towards the stairs of the pool since getting out on the edge wasn't going to work, not if Liam or anyone was going to help us out.

I feel relief when my feet could touch the shallow end of the pool and Trey no longer had to hold onto me. He held onto my hand and guide me out of the pool.

"Are you alright, Zach?" Trey asks me.

I nod, coughing up water that filled my lungs. "I lost a contact lens in my right eye. I can only see with one eye."