The next six days passed by slower than a glacier melting in Alaska. On Saturday, Melaney drove me to Picnic Creek Park with the radio turned up and the windows rolled down. The hot summer sun plus the constant cool breeze equaled a perfect day for swimming.

Melaney parked her car in the vast field filled with hundreds of other vehicles. We grabbed our beach bags out of the back seat. Melaney went to meet Shawn in front of the pool entrance, and I headed for the Splash, enjoying the appetizing aromas of kettle corn, cotton candy, and funnel cake drifting from the food stands.

Dean was leaning against a tree trunk with a mischievous grin on his face and a beach towel wrapped around his neck. In his muscle shirt, swim trunks, and sandals, he looked like a surfer. All that was missing was the board.

"Are you ready to catch a few waves?" Dean spread out his arms and pretended to balance on a surf board. The silver in his blue eyes sparkled.

I laughed at his antics. He must have grown four inches since the last time I saw him. He towered over me now. The top of my head only reached his chin.

His golden-blonde curls were gone, cut into short spikes. He was as tan as ever, but I didn't recall all the muscles. He would easily beat me in a mercy match.

"You are such a Beach Bum," I teased.

"Totally, but you're not as white as a Ghost. You must have spent some time in the sun this summer."

I nodded. "Yep. I got a tan and a bikini."

"Where's the bikini?" Dean asked.

"Under my sundress." I pulled down one shoulder of the sundress and showed him the black strap.

"W-O-W!" he enunciated each letter. "I never thought you would actually wear one."

"The 'Rents aren't here. I can wear whatever I want." I tried to appear brave and bold, but I was shaking in my sandals.

I didn't know if I would be able to stroll around almost naked in front of hundreds of people at the pool. I got embarrassed sun tanning in Melaney's backyard. But I couldn't chicken out now. This might be my last chance to get Tyler's attention before school started. I needed to talk to him before the end of the day.

"So what exactly is Operation Bathsheba?" I asked Dean.

"It's very simple. When the time is right, Tyler will see you and be mesmerized just like David when he saw Bathsheba."

"So I'm doomed." I groaned. "I'll never have a date with Tyler."

"Tyler just needs to see you in a different place than school or youth group to get his attention. It will be like he's seeing you for the first time. Trust me. My plan is guaranteed to work," he said with total confidence.

"Or I'll get my money back?" I suggested.

"Sure." Dean shrugged. "Why not?"

"Let's go find Melaney and Shawn. They're meeting us at the bridge."

We walked with the crowds of people on the gravel path and found the two of them standing at the side of the bridge watching the swans swim in the creek.

"Hi, Shawn. It's good to see you again." Dean offered his hand, and Shawn shook it.

Dean turned to Melaney. "Laney, you look beautiful. Can I get a hug?" He opened his arms, and she walked into his embrace. He spoke into her ear, "Are you keeping my big sister out of trouble?"

"Always. I have to admit it's been much easier with you gone."

Dean pulled away and put his right hand over his heart. "Ouch. That hurts."

"The truth usually does," she murmured.

Melaney and I paid at the counter and went into the ladies' dressing room. I slipped out of my sundress and put it in my beach bag. I examined my reflection in the mirror, not a hair out of place. Melaney had styled my long mane into a sophisticated French braid, so I wouldn't resemble a wet mop when I emerged from the pool.

I felt bare and exposed wearing only the black bikini and sandals. I grabbed a tube of cinnamon red lip gloss from my bag and applied some to my lips. Was I mesmerizing? I didn't know. I tossed the tube back into the bag and took a deep breath for courage. It was now or never.

"I brought another suit for you if you want to change into something more modest," Melaney offered. Her swim suit was a pink, prim and proper, one piece.

Melaney was petite, but she had curves in all the right places. I was long and lean, except for the two protruding mounds on my chest. Ever since I developed the twin peaks, guys had been taking second glances at me. I ignored all of them. The only male head I wanted to turn was Tyler's.

"No. I have to do this." I put on my sunglasses to hide behind.

"You don't have to do everything Dean dares you to do."

"I know that. I'll put my sundress back on if I'm too uncomfortable. Okay? Let's go before all the good spots are taken."

We walked out of the building and into the sunshine. Dean and Shawn were waiting for us. Dean grinned while Shawn stared at me with his mouth wide open. His shocked expression suggested I looked either very good or very bad. I tried to appear cool and confident. Melaney would've told me if I looked awful. Right?

"Shawn, you can close your mouth now before a gnat flies in." Melaney instructed as she pushed his chin up with her thumb.

"Let's sit over there." I pointed toward four unoccupied lounge chairs near the shade of the tree house and strolled to them. We each threw a towel on a chair and sat down. Hundreds of people filled the immense, crystal clear pool on this splendid, sunny summer day.

Dean scanned the crowd. "I see Mimi in a chair by the diving board. I should go over and say hi."

"Is Tyler with her?" I asked, twisting my neck to try and find them.

"Yes. He's putting sunscreen lotion on her back."

I did not want to witness that, so I stopped my search.

Dean took off his shirt, revealing the turquoise sea turtle pendant on a silver chain I had given him for his fifteenth birthday. "Hey, Laney, could you put some on mine? I can't reach." He held out the travel-sized brown bottle.

Shawn glared at him. Shawn milked cows every morning and night on his family's dairy farm. He was shorter than Dean, but much wider. He was built like a cartoon bull with very broad shoulders, a thick neck, and a skinny waist. Right now, he looked ready to charge at Dean.

"Sure," Melaney said.

Dean sat on the edge of the lounge chair. Melaney squeezed sunscreen out of the bottle onto her hand, and then she rubbed it over Dean's back and shoulders.

"Have you been lifting weights?" she asked. "Your back muscles are really tight."

Shawn gagged. "Gnat," he coughed out. He scowled at the ground with his nostrils flared. If he started to stomp his foot, Dean had better run.

"No. I've been doing yard work and landscaping this summer," Dean explained.

"You didn't tell me you had a job," I griped.

"You didn't ask."

"I did! I asked you, 'What's new?'"

"It's no big deal. I just mow grass and stuff like that."

"Do you like the work?" Melaney inquired.

"I like the pay."

Melaney finished with the lotion and handed the bottle back to Dean.

"Thanks Melaney. Do you need any sunscreen?" he asked.

"No. Jasmine and I put some on earlier."

"Melaney, let's go for a swim," Shawn proposed, obviously eager to get her away from Dean.

Melaney nodded in agreement. She and Shawn walked toward the diving board.

"Stop flirting with Melaney!" I commanded Dean from my lounge chair throne. "You're annoying Shawn."

"Sorry. I'll try to behave myself." He slid back into his chair. "Do you think they'll ever get together as a couple?"

Melaney treated Shawn like a brother, not a boyfriend. Because Shawn had the same dark brown hair and eyes as Melaney, people often thought that he was her brother.

I sighed. "I doubt it. Melaney only thinks of him as a friend."

"That's too bad. Shawn's a good guy."

Shawn and Melaney were now talking with Tyler and Mimi.

"Should we go over and talk to them, too?" I asked, even though speaking to Tyler in front of Mimi would be utterly reckless.

"Not yet. Tyler is supposed to admire you from afar."

I sighed with a mixture of relief and impatience. So far, Operation Bathsheba was a bust!

Shawn and Melaney returned after a few dives in the pool.

"Let's go down the water slide," Melaney suggested. "The pool is too crowded."

The four of us walked to the line for the water slide and began the slow procession to the top. Tyler and Mimi and Todd and June were also in line near the front.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Mimi says, 'Hi!'" Shawn told Dean, imitating Mimi's husky drawl.

"So she recognized me," Dean said with a smug grin. "She probably wants another kiss. Kissing Mimi was one of my favorite dares."

I huffed. "She was supposed to get mad and slap you."

Dean's grin widened. "Instead she put her arms around me and thoroughly kissed me back."

"How many girls did I dare you to kiss?" I asked.

"Too many. I lost count after Mrs. Miller. Melaney, how's your mom doing?"

Melaney scowled at Dean. "She's fine."

"She was my favorite Sunday school teacher. I had such a crush on her," Dean admitted with a wistful expression on his face. "She was so kind and so pretty, and she made the best chocolate chip cookies in the whole world. I would love to see her again. Melaney, you should invite me over for dinner."

"My mother would prefer to see you in church."

"Maybe I will go to church on Sunday," Dean announced. "I haven't officially been expelled."

"Not yet," I muttered.

A cricket hopped across the path between Melaney and Shawn.

"I wonder if Mr. and Mrs. Kline would welcome me back with open arms," Dean mused.

"Remember the time you put the cricket in the communion wafers?" Shawn asked.

"The Great Cricket Caper: That was epic!" Dean held out his arm, shaping his hand like an E in sign language.

Shawn chuckled. "When the pastor took off the lid and the cricket jumped out, you could hear Mrs. Kline's scream from three blocks away."

"I thought she was going to have a heart attack," Melaney rebuked in her Sunday school teacher voice.

"Hey. I saved the entire congregation from those wafers!" Dean stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes. "They were disgusting. They tasted like slivers of plastic foam."

"No one will ever forget you chasing the cricket down the aisle, shouting, 'Don't step on the cricket. Don't hurt the cricket.'" I mimicked his panicked pleas.

"Then Mr. Kline stepped on it," Shawn added.

Dean frowned. "He didn't have to squash my lucky cricket."

"You're lucky he didn't squash you," I concluded.

"He wanted to and so did Mr. Miller," Dean admitted.

"When you kissed Mrs. Miller?" I asked.

"No, when I kissed Laney," Dean confessed with a wicked smile.

"Wait a minute," I protested as my eyes aimed imaginary laser beams at Dean's head. "I never dared you to kiss Laney. In fact, I specifically told you my best friend was off limits."

Shawn began to tap his foot. Dean would not stop aggravating Shawn. I wouldn't blame Shawn if he squashed Dean like a bug.

"She never told me you kissed her." I looked at Melaney, and she blushed. "So when did this kiss occur?"

"Shortly after the cricket incident," Dean replied.

That explained why Melaney didn't speak to me for a week afterward. I had thought she was mad about the cricket. "Melaney, you should have told me. I would've found a way to punish Dean for his crime."

"What sort of punishment would you have inflicted on me?" Dean crossed his arms over his chest.

I put my hands on my hips. "I don't know. Something that would've had you begging for mercy."

Dean wrapped his arm around my shoulder and whispered in my ear, "I would've liked to see you try."

I twisted out of his grasp and stumbled into Shawn.

"Hey! You two stop fooling around!" Shawn scolded. "We're almost at the top."

I peered over the safety rail. We were four stories up, almost level with the sky lift. I could see the entire amusement park below. "I can see the amphitheater from here. I can't wait until the concert!"

"Skillet is one of my favorite Christian rock bands," Melaney said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I love 'Falling.'"

"Did you just say that you love falling?" Dean asked.

"Yes. 'Falling' is a song by Skillet," I explained.

We reached the top of the water slide. It was my turn to sit down.

Dean tugged on my arm. "Hey, Ghost. Wait!"

I twisted to face him, and my feet slipped out from underneath me. As I fell backwards, Dean mouthed the words, "I'm so sorry."

The back of my skull hit the edge of the slide. Streaks of vibrant lights blinded me as the rushing water propelled me down the slide head first. I flew off the end into the air and then catapulted into the pool.

I sank to the concrete bottom.

I wanted to swim to the surface, but my arms and legs were too weak. I closed my eyes to stop the kaleidoscope of swirling purples, pinks, and blues, which then burst into the purest, brightest white.

I wasn't afraid to die. I knew Daddy would be waiting for me in heaven.

A/N: Video above is Skillet, "Falling Inside the Black." 

I'm falling in the black,

Slipping through the cracks,

Falling to the depths, 

Can I ever go back?

Dreaming of the way it used to be.

What dreams do you have for your future? Let me know in the comments.

I want to be a published author or a Wattpad star! 

Forever Remember to Live, Laugh, and LOVE! - 3L