The play did really well.  Flowers were all over the house.  I divided them up into all different vases.  They brightened all the rooms.  

Adam's concert was incredible.  He was so happy performing live; he became a different person.  The audience had gone crazy, and we had slipped away quietly.  I didn't get a chance to see Rose...but it was alright that way.  Maybe she didn't need to know about Adam yet.  

When I came back to school that Monday, I got several 'Good jobs' and a 'Congratulations.'  Mack had come to all of the performances, along with Vera.  I had grown rather fond of talking to her after the shows, even though some people gave us looks.  It certainly didn't bother her though.  

But after Halloween was over, the holiday season began.  Christmas decorations and advertisements appeared in stores even though it was weeks until Thanksgiving.  But the holidays could have been interchangable weather-wise as it had began to snow and it was bitterly cold.  

I was incredibly thankful for a snow day on a Monday.  And Bridget was wise enough not to wake me up, but to let me sleep in.  However she left a note on the kitchen counter explaining everything.  

Rose had been attempting to hunt me down ever since the Owl City concert.  She wanted to know where I had been, because she had started at the back of the crowd and made it to the front by the end of the concert, and hadn't seen me.  I wasn't certain if I wanted her to know about Adam because I had seen her conversing with Lexie several times.  I had started to worry if she was against me.  

I played on Bridget's old laptop in the morning of the snow day.  When I found the recording that Adam and I made of us singing Enchanted together, I smiled bright and listened to it twice.  My voice had changed in only a matter of months but I didn't care.  It reopened joyful memories of his cabin, and the lake...

And reopened healing wounds.  

The only things I wanted for Christmas was a puppy...and a guaranteed ride up to Blue Lake to see my father's grave.  

Even in the weeks after the play I still got complements.  People asked me why I was not in choir.  I said I would consider trying out the next year as I had already been enrolled in a music history class.  And then finally Rose tracked me down during lunch one day.  

 "Did you get beaten up or something?  Is that why I haven't seen you in days?  You're the only high-schooler you doesn't do anything on the weekends besides stay at home, you know that, right?"  Rose sounded like she had eaten a liberal amount of sugar that day.  "So, tell me what you thought of the concert."  

I did.  I said that it was really entertaining, and that he knew how to put on a good show.  "And I've been quite busy lately.  I'm catching up with an old friend, and I want to relax now that the play is done.

Suddenly the topic of Owl City was far from her mind.  "Hey, have you seen Mack lately?"

"Just this morning.  Why?"

"Oh, I was just curious.  You seem to really like him."  Even though the way she spoke sounded a bit unnatural, I nodded.  "He's incredibly sweet."  

Rose suddenly stopped walking.  "I really think that you shouldn't stay with him.  He just seems like more trouble than he's worth."  I took a step back from her hoping my action would speak louder than words.  She knew nothing about him.  

And while I was trying to find another place to sit, Mack appeared at my side.  "I usually sit over here."  There were only a few other people at that table, and there were several seats between us and them.  "So far I haven't gotten any homework.  Would you want to come over to my house after school for awhile?  We wouldn't be alone.  My dad would probably be there with us."  I told him I would have to ask, but I'd be interesting in going.  Adam was most likely going to be working, so I wouldn't be missing him if he stopped by.  

Bridget said yes.

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His house was smaller than my second cousin's.  He shared a room with one of his brothers, but was not allowed to show me.  Mack said it was too dirty anyway.  We spent most of our time in his basement.  "You know...I still don't know a lot about you.  What do you like to do?"

"I like drawing...um, I used to be quite athletic.  Well, more flexible.  About three years ago I was in gymnastics.  Embarrassing, I know."  

"No...that's actually pretty cool.  Can you still do some of your routines?"

"Well...I never really did any routines.  I can walk on my hands and do stuff like that though."  And he demonstrated several things to me.  He said that he wasn't as flexible as he used to be, and definitely wasn't as muscular.  But I begged to differ.  He was much stronger (visibly) than any guy I had seen at our school.  "I quit, but the owner of the gym we used still allowed me to go work there.  But this year I haven't really gotten any chances to."  He said all of that upside down as he was walking on his hands.  I laid down on the floor so I could be level with his hands.  

When he finally was rightside up again, I asked him, "Why did you quit?"  He laid down next to me, but in the opposite direction, though his head was level with mine.  "I got a lot of heat for it.  From people at school, and some people at the gym didn't think I was good enough to be on any of the teams.  Plus it costs money and that is something that we don't have a lot of."  We were nose-to-nose.  "You know...I really like you.  You're a lot like your friend Adam.  And that's a good thing."  

"Really?  I always thought that we were very different."

Mack shook his head.  "You're both determined, intelligent, talented and kind.  But you do have your differences.  He's quite timid, and you sometimes can't help but yell at someone."  

"I meant to say that I was sorry.  After everything I said to you.  I was awful."  He kissed my forehead gently.  I couldn't believe how sweet he was being with me.  This was not how I imagined a high school boyfriend (or whatever he was to me) would be like.  "I can be like that too.  Don't worry."  

"You're a surprising person, Mack," I said.  

He smiled.  "So are you."  

But before he could kiss me someone laughed and something quite heavy landed on Mack's stomach.  He winced but tried to hide his pain.  The boy, who I assumed was his brother, said, "I didn't know you had a girlfriend.  Weren't you in the play?"

Mack told him to screw off, but of course he did not use the word 'screw'.  I felt completely out of place.  He suddenly grabbed my hand and tried to lead me upstairs.  "God, I hate him." he growled.  But then his father stopped us at the entryway to his basement.  "Mack, perhaps you should take your date somewhere else."  

And so we got our coats, and Mack got his bike.  He told me to sit on the handlebars and he would take me where our date would continue, as we still had an hour and a half before I had to be home.  We arrived at a gym, which I could only assume was the one that he had done gymnastics in when he was younger.  "There aren't any classes today so we should be alone."  

We probably weren't supposed to be in there, but there wasn't anyone there to tell us otherwise.  Mack turned on the lights, and made me take off my shoes to walk any further.  

I was amazed by what he could do on the spring floor.  He smirked at me.  "Your turn."  I laughed.  "I can barely do a cartwheel."  

He brought her over to one of the corners of the room and stacked several mats so they were at least four feet tall. After climbing up, he helped me to get on top of it.  And we were standing right above a foam pit.  The five-year-old inside me was incredibly happy.  But to be honest, my normal self enjoyed things like this too. 

Mack shrugged off his sweatshirt and while he was watching two rings dangling from the ceiling over the pit he said, "Stay here."  And with that, he jumped out, caught one of the rings and swung over to the bars on the other side.  He teetered for a moment before maintaining his balance and smiled mischievously.  He let the ring swing over to me and luckily I caught it.  "This is the funniest way to do it.  You swing over the pit and drop."  And so I did.  It was wonderful.  

Hitting the blue foam in the pit reminded me of falling into Blue Lake.  It was peaceful for a moment, but then the memory of being tugged underneath by the current flooded my mind.  And as one of the pieces of foam blocked my line of vision I was suddenly reminded of everything.  It had been so cold, and my clothes felt so heavy...and I knew I was going to die.  

And then Adam realized that I hadn't come up for air for over a minute.  

He dove to save me.  

He did.  

I don't know why, but at the time I realized that Adam wasn't there to save me.  I felt like I was being suffocated, and screamed incredibly loud.  Suddenly Mack pushed all of the foam aside and light filled my eyes.  He lifted me from my foamy grave and helped me sit up.  "Hey...hey...it's alright." he held me, but I knew that he had to be confused.  I did my best to explain.  "When I lived with my dad...I almost drowned in the lake by our house.  Adam saved me even though I was certain I was going to be killed.  I don't know what happened..."  

"You're alright.  You're not near a lake...you can't drown."

"You're safe, Hadley.  Everything's fine."

No, it's not.