"Take your sweater the hell off, Leah! No one's here," Emily screams out in frustration.
"Dude! Those group of guys there are from our school." I nod my head towards a group of students sitting just near the tree line to the right side of the area.
Emily whirls around to look at them. "They're too busy talking about their biceps. Leah, come on!" I can see the irritation coming through Emily's face now. She's already in her bright red bikini.
"Tell your brother to stop staring first." Hunter is already in his shorts and in the water. The water where he's at only reaches up to his hips so I have a full view of his chiselled abs and glistening chest.
"Ignore him, he's going to say a dickhead comment either way." She takes the hem of my sweater. I know better than to pull away from Emily as she pulls the green sweater off me. "Much better." She throws it away neglectfully.
I ignore Hunter's lecherous gaze. He seems to notice that I'm not giving him any of my attention and eventually turns away.
The silver-blue lake water is as flat as any mirror. You wouldn't even see the small ripples if you didn't look hard enough. It just lays there like time itself has been frozen. Everything just feels so surreal. The sun is not nearly as hot as I thought it would be. "Let's go," Emily urges as she starts to trudge through the water. I start to move too, finally stepping into the water.
As soon as my feet graze the water, goosebumps start to form all over my body. Explains why no one likes to swim here in the morning. The water is ice-cold. It's almost like stepping right into a freezer. What was I thinking when I mentioned this place? There's probably less chance I would get hypothermia if I was sitting in maths class right now. Sure, I'll suffer from a little boredom, but definitely not hypothermia.
Emily isn't yelping around like I thought she would be. In fact, she's enjoying this way more than I am, and mind you, I was the one who suggested coming here. Hunter, on the other hand, is quite a distance away from us where the water is too deep for anyone's feet to reach. His dark hair is glossy and wet from the water. I can't clearly see his eyes from where I am but I'm sure it matches the colour of the moss on the rocks bordering the lake.
"Leah! You wanna jump from there?" Emily points toward a cliff. After seeing that some people are actually jumping off the thing I nod. Anything to get out of the freezing water.
As soon as I am out of the water I grab the sweater I was wearing before and put it back on, not even caring that I haven't dried off with a towel yet. I exhale a long breath when I finally regain half of my warmth back. "Em, I think I'm just going to sit in the sun for a while." Every time I exhale fog would come out of my mouth.
"Are you serious? Come on!" Emily has her arms wrapped around her to cover herself up from the occasional breeze. "Okay, whatever."
I keep walking toward the sunny part of the field. Emily follows, but when I lay down on the plush grass, she keeps going in the direction of the cliff, leaving me to sunbathe by myself. I just watch as she tries to climb up the hill to get up to the cliff.
Hunter is still treading along in the water, but he's much closer to the shoreline now. I close my eyes to force myself to push him out of my mind for the day and try to enjoy the heat of the sun.
I open my eyes a while later only to see what Emily is doing. She's still at the edge of the cliff and staring down at the water. She's doing that thing where she counts to herself again. When she does something that makes her nervous, she would always have to count to herself beforehand or she would just freeze up. Her brother is urging her to jump, but every time she looks like she's about to jump off the edge, she hesitates and steps back into the safety zone.
Some people are running right past her and diving right off the cliff. Hunter throws his hands up, defeatedly and continues to swim around, the muscles on his back rippling majestically when he moves.
I prop myself up on my elbow when I see a blonde boy approaching Emily. Emily turns and shakes his hand, smiling nervously. The boy points towards the water and says something I can't hear from where I am. Emily only laughs and nod. He holds his hand out, but Emily shakes her head no at first. He says something again and this time Emily reaches her hand out and takes his offering one.
I don't even try to hide the cheesy grin on my face when they jump off together, holding hands and all. They resurface at the same time with Emily holding to the poor guy like he's a life jacket. He only laughs when he sees Emily's terrified face.
"What's with those two?" Hunter says from beside me. When the hell did he get out of the water? He's sitting down with one of his legs tucked in and the other stretched out in front of him while I am spread out on the grass with my two elbows hoisting me up. He constantly pulls on the grass and fidgets with it. His skin is soft and creamy. Tiny brown freckles scatter along his face and shoulders. They're faint but still noticeable if you're as close to him as I am.
His dark hair glistens with water. Some of the water drops onto his face and trickles down his forehead. "Uh, he just came up to Emily."
"Hmm. That's a first." I bite my lip to stop myself from snickering. No matter how cruel his jokes are, I have to admit that they are pretty funny.
"Don't be mean."
"Aww, doll-face, you like it." I scrunch my nose and hastily look away to see what Emily's up to. She's wandering around the water, trying to keep herself afloat while talking to the blond boy.
From the corner of my eyes, I can see that he's looking at me with a smirk. "Cause apparently people like dickheads now." I sneer. "How are you going to make sure our parents don't find out?"
"I lied. Both our parents know we skipped." He chuckles a deep throaty chuckle. It makes my stomach churn.
"Are you serious?" He doesn't even look sheepish when he looks at me. He holds my gaze, daring me to say something again. "I am going to get in so much shit because of you!"
He shrugs his shoulders. "I just don't see the point. Skipping for a day isn't really a big deal. Besides, I doubt your parents are going to turn you in anyway. They spoil you too much."
"They really don't. I'm not the one who owns a motorbike and gets to stay out until late in the morning."
"It's really not about being allowed to. It's more about whether you want to." He grins and I look away again to stop myself from losing focus. "My parents hate me." He pauses. Even though he's smiling, I can still sense that tinge of sadness when he speaks. What sane person says that about themselves? "I am used to it. I am so fucked up." I untuck my elbows and lay back down on the grass, but I keep my eyes trained on him this time.
"Do you want to change?"
"I don't know."
"But do you ever think about changing?"
"Every day."
+
"Mum, I'm sorry, okay? It's just this once, I promise." My mother is standing in front of the couch that I am sitting on with her hands on her hips. Her outraged face is red and all tight and furrowed. "Nothing important happened today."
Her hands are fisted now. "Leah! Your graduation is only a few months away, and you're out there messing around with Hunter and Emily. It's like you're not taking this seriously," she hisses through her teeth.
Elliot and Liam sit on top of the stairs watching my mother scold me like I am back in kindergarten and I just jumped in a puddle with my only pair of school shoes on a Monday. I don't even bother talking back to my mother because I might risk my privilege of staying over at my friends' house.
"I will speak to your dad about this. He's going to be the one to decide what we should do with you."
"What!" I bark. "You're telling dad?" Mum just looks at me like I've grown a second head.
"What? You expect me to just stay hush-hush about you skipping school? I'm telling your father. Period." She grabs the TV remote and presses the power button. "Go shower and scrub yourself good. God knows what toxin is inside that lake."
I defeatedly get onto my feet and make my way up the stairs, counting each step I take. When I get to the top of the stairs I don't even look at Elliot or Liam because I don't want to see the expression on their faces. May it be pity or mocking, I don't want to see it. I am really not in the mood to banter with anyone. Instead, I'm going to soak myself in searing hot water until the tip of my fingers starts to crinkle up and I can pretend that I'm an old woman who doesn't need to worry about anything in life anymore.
Maybe Mum's right. Graduation is approaching. I should actually take this seriously for once, and then after graduation, I can rest and do whatever I want until I finally have the courage to actually go to college, which will probably take me a very long time.
"Leah!" Loud knocks on the bathroom door abruptly snap me from my train of thoughts. I recognise the voice as my mother's. "What are you doing in there?" She knocks again but with her fist this time. I stand and force myself to get out of the bathtub, careful not to slip on the puddles I created when I accidentally overfilled the bathtub.
"I'm coming." I hear her footsteps getting further and further away so I take my time drying off and step in front of the mirror after wrapping the towel securely around my body. I only stare at my reflection, wishing my skin was clear and my nose was a little smaller. My eyebrows could use some trimming too. I've always despised my short lashes. I wish they were more curly.
I end up staying in the bathroom for longer than I intended. I bet my family is already around the dinner table stuffing down some really good food that my mum made. My dad cooks like a chef but he rarely steps into the kitchen anymore now that he's a dentist and all.
The carpet is soft underneath my feet as I descend the stairs. I look down at my phone, seeing that it's already 7 o'clock. I tuck my hair behind my ears and continue my way to the dining room. I hear chatters and cutlery clashing against plates. The smell of mustard pork and garlic butter vegetable lingers in the air. It's Mum's favourite. I'm so starved I can taste it on my tongue.
I take a seat beside Elliot who's chewing loudly on a piece of roast potato. He exhales the steam from his mouth and occasionally just keeps his mouth wide open to let the heat from the food out. I narrow my eyes at him when he glances at me, challenging him to say a thing about me skipping school. Liam doesn't even look like he knows I'm here. He's too busy savouring the food. He always looks like he has never consumed a single meal in his life whenever he eats.
My mum is staring at me with wide eyes. I ignore her, simply picking up a huge piece of roast potato and dropping it onto my plate. My dad also has his gaze locked on me. Actually, now that I'm paying more attention, everybody is looking straight at me.
"How was work, Dad?" My heart is pumping loudly in my chest. How could it not? He's looking at me with furrowed eyebrows and tight lips.
Mum grabs his shoulder with one hand and rubs his back softly. My dad finally begins speaking after a while. "You skipped school today." I grit my jaw. I hate lying. I've always hated lying. Especially to my parents. "Okay, well, where did you go?"
"Grey Cove."
Liam and Elliot look at each other enthusiastically. God, they honestly couldn't be more annoying.
"You swam?" I nod my head yes.
My dad leans back in his chair. "You're lying to me."
"I'm not. I swam with Emily and Hunter."
"So who's idea was it?" Elliot butts in. I glare, deciding to ignore him.
"Well, who's idea was it?" Mum questions.
"Mine." I remorsefully admit. My dad tilts his head to the side in an unconvinced manner. There's no point in lying because I am already in too deep but I also don't want to have to persuade him to believe that it was actually my idea.
"You know, I think it's kind of weird that you guys are making such a big deal out of this. You guys used to skip way more than me when you were in high school," I say. Elliot and Liam only look at me with surprised faces. Guess they didn't think that would come out of their goody-two-shoes little sister's mouth.
Mum and dad look at each other. There you go, people. That's how you get yourself grounded.
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