Breathe Under Water - Shadows of the Night 1

Chapter 23

I smiled. "No, not really."

I looked at the girl standing beside me. Her locks looked a little wild with all the wind messing them up. I didn't know her that well, hadn't really gotten around to talking to her during our training in the Circle academy. But Maria had just said out loud what I felt at that very moment, and somehow I couldn't help liking her for that.

We went back to the others again, finding the guys talking about staying till late night. Somehow it had gotten into their heads that it would be cool to make a bonfire. We went out in groups of two to search for firewood, or something we could use as such, while Cassandra and Terry made it their mission to buy some alcohol and other extremely healthy and vital provisions we couldn't possibly do without.

I happened to pair with Andy, a witch of the fire line, and the guy I secretly had a crush on. Dark blond hair that was highlighted with lighter strands nearly reached his shoulders. What I liked most about him, though, were his dark brown eyes. Once he smiled, I'd forget about anything else.

We walked about five minutes around the shore aimlessly.

"Forget it. There's not a single damned piece of wood that's even remotely dry around here," I said.

"Hey, Johnson! Look at this!"

I scrambled up, pissed that he was calling me by my last name, but nonetheless curious what he wanted me to see. It was quite dark already and I couldn't see him anywhere. I got up to my feet and looked around. Where the hell was the guy? I scanned the area. Nothing but bushes and pieces of green alga dotting the dark sand of the shore randomly.

"Boo!"

I jumped. Andy appeared out of nowhere, and started to throw said green alga at me.

"Childish moron!" I yelled. "Son of a witch! You gave me a heart attack! Very funny. Can. You. Stop. That?" I rolled my eyes. He ignored me and continued throwing the plants at me, laughing all the while.

"All right! You asked for it," I yelled.

I went after him, aiming to punch him. He evaded me and hit back lightly. Naturally he didn't miss. Andy never missed. And it pissed me off, majorly.

So I did it. I played dirty.

I used the roundhouse-kick, a move we had practiced endlessly in one of our combat courses, a move Andy hadn't reckoned with. It made him stagger to the side.

I cheered mentally, smug that I managed to land a kick on one of the academy's best fighters.

Big mistake. It gave him more enough time to recover and attack. He grabbed me and brought me down with a major outer reaping throw. I managed to pull him down with me and we both landed on the cold sand, he on top of me.

"Ugh! I hadn't planned on that," I muttered and coughed, ringing for air.

He stared at me and started laughing. "Man, we had our final tests just a day ago, and look what we're doin' here!"

The waves' movement reverberated with our frantic laughter. He didn't get up though, which sobered me enough to get self-conscious.

"Hey, guys! The others are back with the booze! Have you found anything that looks combustible?" someone yelled, appearing out of the darkness.

He got off me and pulled me up.

"Hey! What have you two been up to?" Maria said, looking from me to Andy and back again.