Middle School (Book #1 of the school series)

Chapter 46: I want to hold your hand

~May  12th, 2019~

"The water feels nice!" Cory said, Derek jumped in, splashing him with water. "Hey!" They both laughed, "AJ, James, come in, the water's fine!" Derek called, Andrew was taking his shirt off and James was talking his jeans off, he had his swimsuit underneath them, his swimsuit was green swimming trunks and Andrew's were yellow, Cory had Bowie themed swimming trunks and Derek had dark green ones. 

"My name is not RICK!" Andrew hollered, jumping into the pool and James followed. 

"Where's Denise and Sarah at?" James asked, grabbing the beach ball to play with, little did he know, Denise and Sarah were walking into Cory's backyard.

Denise was wearing a two-piece swimsuit, that had purple, pink, and blue in it, Derek felt his heart stop when he saw her in it, she looked like a model, Sarah was wearing a two-piece as well, but she had pineapples on hers.

"Hey, Boys." Sarah greeted with a smile, She put her stuff down and jumped into the pool, making a big splash and Denise followed, only to get picked up by Derek. "HEY!" Denise screamed and laughed at the same time, at her boyfriend. "Saved your life!" Derek said, the two were laughing and he finally put her down.  "You two are so cute together," Andrew said, who was getting a piggyback ride from James, who threw him into the pool. "Thank you, She is one of a kind." Derek blabbed, looking at Denise. "I don't deserve you," Denise replied, who took Derek by his hand and pulled him away. 

"Thanks for inviting me, Cory," Sarah said, Cory and her were sitting on the pool steps, talking and watching everyone. "No problem, I mean, we are friends."

"I know, it's just, a lot of things have  happened to us in the past year, My dad dying, your mother getting cancer, leaving 7th grade going into 8th grade, a lot of things have happened and are going to happen to us." Cory shrugged his shoulders, his eyes told a different story.

"James, what are you doing to Andrew?" Cory asked James, who was shoving Andrew underwater. "Shoving Andrew underwater." Andrew came back up, gasping for air. "Why do you have to pick on me, it's not my fault, I'm short!"

"Leave the poor kid, alone!" Denise said, who was getting picked up by Derek again. "Hey, put me down, Derek!" She started to laugh. "Don't you know, short kids do matter," Derek said, who was holding Denise bridely style. "I'm going to let you go now." He put her down. "Okay, so, I can do this." She pushed him into the pool. "You're going to get it, Denise!" Derek said, chasing her around in the pool.

"But, no, Why did you kiss me back in January? " Sarah asked, she asked a question that Cory didn't have an answer to.

"I don't know," Cory replied, that's all he said. "I really don't know, Sarah, I really don't."  Sarah looked at the older male, was he holding something back. "Cory, Listen, you can talk to me."

"There's nothing to talk about." He got up and walked into the pool.

Sarah watched him walk away, thinking about what Cory wanted to say to her; What did he want to say? Why did he kiss me?  Why did he not tell me why he did it? Did I say something wrong?  

"Sarah!" She turned to look at Andrew and James. "You okay?" 

"Yeah," Sarah replied, feeling her hair that was soaked wet from the pool. "I'm fine, I just want to go home."  James looked at her, big-eyed. "Why?" Sarah got up and got out of the pool. "Cause, I don't want to be here." She grabbed her jacket, putting it on her, zipping it up. "Why?" Andy asked, "Did we do something?" 

"No, It's nothing you or you did, it's nothing that Derek or Denise did either." She put on her shorts. "Now, I'm going home." She turned and was almost out of the backyard gate.