August '00'

Devin sat on the edge of the pool, his feet soaking in the cool water, leaning back on his arms, watching the entrance through dark shades. Trey told him Trechial was coming to Paul's pool party, which was the only reason he'd agreed to go to this farse.

Girls in two pieces and shirtless guys hoarded the land. Aaliyah spilled through the speakers of the stereo, and the smell of barbeque infused the air. Classic summertime scents with none of the same people. The sun burned Devin's shoulders, ensuring he'd have a painful sunburn just because he would have spent the day trying to get a glimpse of Trechial. A group of screeching girls gained his attention; Trey chased them around the pool, catching one of them and tossing her into the large body of crystal blue water. He flexed his muscles.

"Hey, Devin."

Devin repressed his annoyance and ignored Candice, turning his attention back to the patio entrance. She took a seat next to him.

"You been working out over the summer, I see." She got straight to the point. Devin cut his eyes to Candice. Her black hair fell over her shoulder, her red bikini top too tiny, even for her minimal boobs.

Candice looped an arm around his. He slipped out of her predatory grasp. "I called you all summer."

"I wasn't home."

"I know. Your weirdo uncle wouldn't tell me where you were."

"Is that right?" Devin said his tone flat. He continued to watch the gate, ignoring Candice and her advances. He only wanted to see one girl.

***

Trechial's stomach knotted up. They stood off to the side of the entrance. She was nervous, and the jean halter top two-piece she allowed Maylee to pick out for her was a bit. . . revealing. Not in the sense that she was spilling out of it or anything. It was just that she had never exposed so much of her skin to the public. Though she chose to wear jean cutoffs over the bottom, the top still made her feel a bit self-conscious.

"Come on, Jared is waiting for you. Don't you want him to pine for you?" Maylee said.

"No," Trechial quickly said, searching the area for him.

"You look amazing, girl! Now, let's go. I got cute shirtless guys to ogle." Maylee tugged on Trechial's arm, pulling her through the gate.

Trechial's jaw hit the floor at the immaculate backyard enclosed by an iron fence. Two spirited brunettes breezed past her in tiny bikinis, and, as her mother would say, their buns were on full display for the world to see.

"I don't think I can do this," Trechial noted how the other girls wore their bikinis with ease and confidence, which washed all of hers away.

"Trechial," Maylee said, her eyebrows furrowed into a frown, "fine." Maylee sighed. "We can leave if that's what you really want to do."

Trechial's face lit up. "Really?"

"Of course not. Now, let's go." Maylee looped her arm around Trechial and brought her shades over her nose, continuing back to the car. She oozed the type of confidence that Trechial could only dream of. Maylee looked amazing in a pinstripe one-piece and white beach pants, two long braids falling down her shoulders.

Blue water sparkled next to them as they walked next to the pool. The air was hazy with smoke from the grill, beckoning Trechial's appetite.

Despite the large crowd, Trechial couldn't help but feel like someone was watching her specifically. It could have been her insecurities about the bathing suit, she thought, so she brushed it off and kept walking. Finally, she relaxed, listening to Maylee talk about which guy's number she was going to get first.

Suddenly Maylee stopped walking and talking. Trechial glanced at her. "What?"
Looking past her face and toward the pool, Maylee raised a brow.

"What?" Trechial demanded.

"Two o'clock."

Trechial peeked at her pink watch. "It's three thirty."

Maylee smacked her teeth and looked at her. "No, at your two o'clock. He's staring at you. And I mean hard!"

"Who is?" Trechial asked, looking in the same direction as Maylee.

Her breath caught in her throat like the air was sucked right out of her.

It was him. Devin. His shades pulled over his eyes, backward cap covered his head, reclined back on his hands, staring at her. His legs soaking in the pool. His face set in a still expression Candice sat on one side of him and a ginger-haired girl on the other side, yapping away, yet he was eyeballing Trechial. Well, maybe he wasn't. Maybe he was looking past her. Devin raised his shades over his hat, and his eyes landed on Trechial. Unwavering.

Heat flushed through her body. Her fury for him was no match for her need to stare back at him, as much as she desired not to. Drawn to his alluring flame––the one she'd known since childhood––melted her like wax. His muscles were more defined with a smidge of a tan. But that didn't matter because she vowed never to speak to him again, and she meant every word of it.
Four months had passed in the blink of an eye without her so much as capturing a glimpse of him. He hadn't called, written, or come by to let her know that he was alright. Her nerves were fried from worrying about him but after a month and confirmation from her mom that he was indeed okay, she let go of worry and replaced it with seething anger. Finally, her anger simmered down by the second month because, well, she had no choice. She'd returned to working at Cellos for the summer. She'd helped create activities for children with handicaps for the summer camp program and worked at the front desk. She'd also taken vocal lessons in the evenings at a local studio to keep her busy and away from home and Charlie. It aided in keeping her mind off the boy across the street who broke her heart into a thousand pieces. Once she'd found out Devin was fine, her mind dragged up everything he'd said to her and about her last school year. The spiteful words and disrespectfulness lunged itself deep within her heart and brain and created a resentful cave there.

Trechial squared her shoulders and pried her attention off Devin. "Glad he's okay, I guess, but he has nothing to do with me."

"I have a confession to make," Maylee said, making a puppy dog face.

"What?"

"Yesterday, he stopped by and apologized to me." She flinched, peaking at Trechial through one eye.

"What? You could have told—never mind."

"But if you want me to be mad at him, I will. You're my girl."

Trechial rolled her eyes, then met Maylee with a grin. "Really?"

Maylee gave a hard nod.

"Of course—I don't want you to be mad at him for my sake. Especially if he apologized to you...though I'm sure it's me he owes an apology to."

"I agree."

After a while, Jared showed up. He hung around Trechial and Maylee for a bit then went off by his teammates and mingled with them next to the pool. Trechial and Maylee joined in on the volleyball game going on farther back in the yard. After Maylee got hit in the head with the volleyball and attempted to kill one of their classmates, they called it quits and headed back to the pool area.

Trechial tried her hardest not to look in Devin's direction, though she knew without a shadow of a doubt he was brow-beating her.

"Yeah, he's still staring at you." Maylee's lips curved and she peeked over her shoulder at Devin.

"Quit looking at him before he thinks we're talking about him," Trechial said.

"But we are."

"You are."

"You wanted to look, but your pride wouldn't let you, so I looked for you. Ain't no shame in my game." Maylee shrugged.

Trechial sighed, and they continued where kids were diving off a high diving board.

"I dare you to go on the diving board," Maylee said out of the blue.

"Um, no, thanks. I can't swim."

"Yes, you can."

"Yeah, in, like, three feet."

"The pool is only three feet." Maylee cocked her brow.

"Then why do those numbers right there say twelve feet." Trechial pointed at the number 12 inside the pool.

"I dare you to go."

Trechial stared at Maylee for a moment trying to figure out her angle. "Just because you dared me does not mean I'm going to do it."

"If you do, I'll tell you what weird eyes said about you last night."

"I don't care what he said about me."

"Okay." Maylee turned around.

Trechial released a heavy sigh; Maylee never played fair. "Fine. I'm going up and coming back down."

Maylee spun around with bright eyes. "Okay." She all but dragged Trechial over to the diving board then shewed her.

Trechial glared up the four steps leading to the white plank. Her pulse quickened when she took the first step, then the second. She squeezed the railing and continued up, glancing over her shoulder and grinding her teeth together. Within a matter of seconds, Maylee was talking to Nick, a basketball jock known for his hustler ways at the base of the stairs. Trechial grumbled and started to descend the stairs.

"What are you doing? Do you want to know what he said or not?"

This whole farce was a setup; Maylee just wanted to get rid of her so she could go flirt with Nick. Trechial made it to the top of the diving board. She climbed on quickly, straddling the board. The chlorine grew more pungent in smell. She turned to look at Maylee, who was a few feet away, her smile brighter than the sun as she chatted with Nick. Trechial inhaled through her nostrils and released a shaky breath. She scooted up on the diving board until she was at the tip. For a moment, she felt brave, like she was doing this for her, not Maylee. But the thought of falling into the pool drowned out the noises around her, and she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she inspected the crowd, ignoring the side of the yard Devin was on. She basked in the warmth of the sun, closing her eyes, a smile spread across her lips. This was the bravest thing she had ever done, and it felt great.

***
Devin made his way back out the door, the bathroom downstairs was crowded, so he went upstairs. The line wasn't as long, but it still took him twenty minutes. He moved through the crowd and back out the patio doors.

"What the heck is that bubble-head girl doing?" Trey said, walking up to him his face compiled into a worried expression.

"What girl?" Devin asked. He nodded in the direction of the diving board.

Turning around, Devin first saw Gary on the diving board. Second, he saw an unsuspecting Trechial basking in the sun. He spotted Jared and his friends laughing and chatting from afar.
Devin darted through the crowd of kids, shoving his way past them He was too far.

Putting his fingers in his mouth, he sent a piercing whistle toward the diving board, but Jared didn't turn around, and Trechial didn't raise her head. One of the guys standing with Jared nudged his arm, and Jared looked at Devin, running toward them. Devin threw a hard nod in Trechial's direction. They both looked at Trechial, right as Gary shoved her off the board with his foot. Trechial screamed, hitting the water with a loud splash. In an instant, Jared dove into the water after her. Gary smirked then cannonballed into the pool.

Devin didn't wait for Jared to come back up. Instead, he followed Gary as he swam to the other side of the pool. His anger roared within. He promised his counselor at Retreat 109 he would refrain from fighting unless it was absolutely necessary. He didn't know if this counted as absolutely necessary or not, but he didn't care. He waited for Gary to come out of the pool, that same sneer on his face. In that moment, he emerged and threw himself over the concrete edge of the pool.

"Hey," Devin said at Gary's back. Gary turned around, and Devin threw a punch. He stumbled back, but Devin didn't let up. Gary blocked his face, but he slipped on a tube and fell back, his head slamming on the cement. Gary's eyes rolled in the back of his head, and a grave silence fell briefly over the party.

"Shit, I think you killed him," someone said.

"Nah, he aight, he just got knocked the hell out," somebody else chimed in.

Devin breathed heavily, rotating his wrist.

"The adults are coming!" another kid shouted.

The crowd scattered in different directions, along with Devin.

Jared helped Trechial out of the pool. Her chest burned as she coughed out water along the edge of the pool. He patted her on the back as she heaved and caught her breath. Maylee came running over and knelt by her side, eyes watery.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Trechial nodded.

"I'm going to kill that white boy!" she growled, scouting the area with angry eyes.
Trechial coughed again.

"Are you okay?" Jared asked. Sincerity laced his voice.

Besides her shaken nerves, she took a second to give thanks that she was alive.
"Yeah, thanks for saving me." She smiled sheepishly at Jared.

He stood and offered her a hand. Then he wrapped his arms around her. "Anytime."