2015

For someone who practically lives under water, I sure didn't expect this.

"I can't believe you of all people get seasick. You're a freakin' swimmer!" My friend Kellan says. "You're so lucky you're pretty. This wouldn't fly if you weren't."

"Shut up man." I say, keeping my head down. I'm afraid if I stand up straight I'll start feeling woozy again, and I don't want to puke, not all over my dress shoes. 

"You know Halley's inside waiting for me?" He continues. "Yet here I am with you, the superstar swimmer who just happens to get seasick. What are you, six?"

"Seven, stupid." I glance up, ready to glare at him. Despite all his complaining, he's got his phone out and it's pointed at me, filming. "You need to delete that. Preferably right now."

"And you need to grow up. But will we do those things?" He chuckles sarcastically. "Find out next episode of Nate's Life!"

I shake my head and show him my middle finger. He laughs but puts his phone away, finally helping me out by giving me a bottle of water. Grateful, I press the cool bottle to my cheek, feeling relieved and slightly embarrassed. Kel was kidding, but he was right: this is unbelievable.

I feel bad for him though. His girlfriend's inside, trying to enjoy her prom but he's out here with me instead. Our other friend, Candela, told me I would be squashing the "cherry on top of her high school ice cream" if I didn't stop acting like I wanted to be anywhere but here. I'm only at prom because of her stupid high school ice cream anyway.

"I'm sorry about this." I say sincerely. "You should go in."

"I can't leave you out here alone." He dismisses. "Not while you're like this."

"I'm good, dude. Go to Halley."

Kel hesitates before he answers. "You sure? I don't wanna leave you out here by yourself."

"It's fine, I'm fine." I stand up straight to make a point, but the boat lurches forward violently and I'm immediately bent over the rail again.

"Honestly, Nate, I don't mind."

"Go have fun." I demand.

I see his feet indecisively wander on the deck. "I can go get Candela –"

"The last thing I need is for Candela to nag away my seasickness." I interrupt.

He chuckles. "Okay. I'll come check on you in a bit?"

"I'll be in by then." I straighten up again and this time the boat agrees with me. "Go have fun. Halley looks real good tonight."

Kellan looks guilty, but then he smiles. "She does look great, doesn't she?"

He leans over, fist bumping me. I keep up my façade long enough to see him through, but once he's inside, I sit on the deck and stretch my legs out. My water is warm now, so I drink it all and throw the bottle in a trash can. Then I sigh.

High school ends on Monday. Then it's summer vacation, then I'm going to California to join the Berkeley swim team and all my dreams are going to come true or whatever. However, all I want now are my best friends.

Chloe called me right before I had to leave to pick up Candela for prom, but I still wish she was here with me right now. She's interning in New York for the summer, living her Carrie Bradshaw fantasy. And Reese hasn't spoken to me since he graduated last year. I don't know why but he never picks up my calls anymore, or answers my texts.

Eventually, my stomach stops churning and I try to do good on my promise to Kel and head towards the door. It opens suddenly and I narrowly avoid getting smacked in the forehead by it. My friend Candela pops out from behind the door and stares at me with a big old pout on her face.

"Where have you been?" She yells.

"No need to yell, Candela. I'm right in front of you." I sigh.

"Oh-kay, but you didn't answer my question." She says, with an even louder voice. "Where have you been all night, you've missed all of Prom."

I turn around and look at the horizon. We're miles away from the dock.

"Seems to me that there's still a lot of prom left to go." I say.

Candela glares at me but she doesn't reply. Instead, she grabs onto my arm and pulls me inside.

I forgot how loud it is inside. People are dancing to the hip-hop music blasting from the speakers and others are sitting down, talking, and having a good time. I take a deep breath, shake my shoulders free of my moodiness and smile. I can't be a downer tonight, even if I don't wanna be here. It's prom.

"Go get me a drink, Nathaniel." Candela says over the music.

"Is that why you came to get me? To get you a drink?"

"That's exactly why." She says, dragging me whichever way.

On the first day of high school, I borrowed a pen from Candela and that was enough to seal the deal on our friendship. She's great, but she's also a lot sometimes and I wonder why she even hangs out with me when we're so different. I'm starting to think she gets a kick outta bossing me around all the time.

After I get her a drink, she tells me what I've missed. Apparently someone had a dress that looked very similar to hers but crisis was averted! Candela's dress is fluffier and has a different cut or something like that. I let her tell me about how much she hates the fruit punch until Kel and Halley find us and drag us over to the dance floor to do the Macarena with them.

"Are you okay, Nate?" Candela asks me.

"I'm great. You're going the wrong way." I say, waving my hips in time.

She scoffs, but she's turning anti-clockwise instead of clockwise. I turn her around so she's moving with the crowd, but she's adamant she's doing it right. That is until Halley rolls her eyes dramatically and Candela asks her if she's got something to say.

I slip in to stand between them, continuing the dance and hopefully diffusing the situation. Kel pulls a face and I make one back. Candela and Halley have never really gotten along, but neither of us knows why.

Then Kel makes another face. And then a heart out of his fingers over his high top that only I can see.

I roll my eyes and ignore him. He's got this convoluted idea that Candela likes me more than a friend, but it's so obviously farfetched that I don't entertain it most days.

A slow song starts playing after and a soccer player asks Candela to dance with him. I leave them to it and slip away, finding an empty table to sit at by the dance floor. My stomach is doing backflips and my seasickness is slowly coming back but I don't wanna go outside again.

I close my eyes and lean back, listening to the music. Around the start of the next song, I feel a tap on my arm and I open my eyes again, sure it's Candela. However, it's not her: it's a black girl with dark eyes and long curly black hair. I've never seen her before, so we just stare at each other until one of us decides to say something.

"Hey, you're sitting on my chair." She says.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I say and start to stand up. She stops me.

"It's no big deal." She sits in the empty seat beside me. "Are you okay though?"

"Uh, yeah." I say.

She brushes some of her hair behind her ear and starts smiling at me. "You sure? You seem a little green."

I wonder how she can tell I'm green under all these flashing lights. "I'm fine." I tell her. "Just seasick."

"Aren't you the swimmer guy?" Her smile widens. I nod. "And you get seasick?"

I shrug. "It's like pathetic fallacy or something."

"You mean irony?"

It's not that funny, but I'm smiling. Her grin's infectious and I'm not great of an actor, so I can't hide my own smile

"Look, you even said I'm just the Swim Guy. Not the language guy."

"You're not just the Swim Guy."

I don't reply to that, mostly because I'm not sure if it's true.

"I'm Hannah Lee." She says, extending her hand to me.

"Formal." I say and shake it. "Nate Harris."

"The swim guy."

"Exactly."

Hannah starts playing with the frills on her dress. Her hand disappears briefly and she reveals a pack of tablets, wrapped up in aluminium and plastic.

"I get seasick too." She explains. "And my mom got me these tablets to help with motion sickness. Do you want one?"

"I'm good, thank you." I say, but my curiosity gets the better of me. "Where did you get that from?"

She grins and goes back into her dress. This time she brings out some gum.

"My dress has pockets." She explains, and then offers me one. I figure I might as well take one.

"That's nifty." I say lamely.

"Your vocabulary is something, Nate." She says.

"Thanks."

She just shakes her head like she's fed up of me already. I'd believe that if it wasn't for the huge smile on her face.

"Are you a senior?" I ask her. Hannah nods. "I've never seen you before."

Her face falls and I know I've said something wrong. "We're in the same Biology class, Nate."

"We are?"

"Mr Mack, third period?"

I'm about to start apologising profusely for being so unobservant, but then she starts smiling. And then I remember that I have Biology fifth period. Plus, Mr Mack's the P.E teacher and is also currently getting his whole life on the dance floor, despite the slow song playing.

"You had me." I tell her.

"I know." She grins at me. "My family moved here from San Francisco last summer, so I was new in September. We have the same lunch period though, I've seen you around."

"We do?" She nods. "What made your family move down from San Francisco?"

"Stuff." She says quickly, then clears her throat. "I like your bowtie by the way. It's pretty, uh, nifty."

It's bright red, with sequins, all that tacky stuff. My mom bought it and left it on the table this morning before I got back from training, with a little handwritten note to say it was mine. Kellan laughed at it, and Candela was annoyed because we were supposed to match. I guess my mom didn't get that memo.

"Thanks." I say, tweaking it. "My mom chose it."

"She has great taste." She says. "My mom wanted to wear my Hanbok, but I thought it'd be too much because it's just prom."

"Hanbok?"

"It's a type of Korean traditional dress." Hannah explains. The next question is pretty clear on my face. "My dad's Korean."

"Oh! Cool, I bet you would've looked great in the, er, Hanbok?"

"Yeah." She shrugs. "I kinda wish I'd wore it tonight, but oh well."

Hannah shows me one last smile before facing the dance floor. I look too, spotting my friends swaying to the beat of the slow song. They all separate as the song comes to an end, and I see Candela hug the guy she was dancing with before walking away.

Candy by Cameo starts and Hannah lights up when she hears the first few beats. "Oh my God, Nate, do you know how to do this dance? Or are you one of those guys that pretends they're too cool for dancing?"

"I am too cool to not dance." I joke. She rolls her eyes and I get up, offering a helping hand. "Come on, let's tear it up out there."

Hannah grins and lets me help her up. It turns out she barely knows the steps, so I have to teach her which way to go, how to do the little kick, everything. She's a great student, and by the second verse, she's in time all by herself.

"Oh my God, I'm doing it!" She hollers.

"You're doing it!" I tack on. Someone next to us laughs, but I don't see who.

By the end of the song, she goes off script and starts doing whatever she wants. I join her, doing the cabbage patch and every single embarrassing dance from the nineties that I know. She busts out the robot and I'm almost one hundred percent sure that someone is filming us right now.

"Okay." Hannah says as the song winds down. Both our chests are rising and falling heavily, almost in sync. "So you were getting it out here."

"You too." I say, breathlessly. "Good dancing, partner."

"See, I wish I could say the same for you, but..." She tries to be serious for a moment but then bursts into laughter. I start laughing too.

"Nathaniel!"

Hannah and I look away from each other and at Candela, who is pushing through some dancers to get to us. She smiles at me but then her eyes find Hannah and her smile falls.

"What's up Candela?" I ask. She looks at me and her face softens. "You done dancing with, uh, Brody?"

"Brad." She says and folds her arms. "And yeah, a while ago. I've been looking for you this whole time, and you're here?"

"Yeah." I say, still out of breath. "This is Hannah, y'all met each other?"

Hannah waves a hello. Candela just about spares a smile back before she turns and faces me, kind of blocking her out. I tense. She's upset.

"Everyone wants to take photos." She says. "We need you."

"Right now?" I ask.

"Yeah? It's not like you're doing anything else."

Woah. I wonder who ate her high school ice cream.

"Uh, okay." I say, raising my eyebrows. "Just give me a second-"

"They're all waiting." She says sharply.

"And they can wait a second longer." I reply with just as much sharpness.

Candela rolls her eyes and folds her arms but she doesn't say anything else. I wonder why she's being so rude before turning to Hannah. She's talking to a girl I vaguely recognise, but pauses their conversation to look at me.

"So, I gotta go." I tell her apologetically. She smiles. "I'm sorry, I was having fun."

"It's fine. It means I don't have to make good on that bet." I grin at her. "I should probably get back to my friends too. Your girlfriend's cute by the way."

"She's not my girlfriend." I feel Candela's gaze boring a hole in the side of my face. Hannah doesn't look convinced. "It was nice meeting you."

"Same. I always assumed you were gonna be a jerk, but you're not."

"That's real nice, Hannah." I reply. She grins. "See you at school?"

Hannah nods. "See you."

I wave and turn back to Candela, who immediately takes hold of my arm and starts whining about how long I took. So I just let her drag me through the crowd, to where my friends are waiting in line for the photographs. They're not even at the front yet.

"Finally Nate!" Kellan says. "What were you doing?"

"He was talking to some girl." Candela answers for me.

"What? And you cockblocked him?" Kel looks absolutely disgusted.

"They weren't flirting."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do." She snaps. "Anyway, come on! It's our turn."

As we start to pile into the booth, I turn to look behind me. Hannah's not in the same place we were before but I spot her easily, dancing with a bunch of girls. She sees me and sticks her tongue out. I raise my arm and start to wave but then Candela yanks me into the booth and I'm assaulted by an onslaught of ridiculous props and camera flashes.

A/N:

Well, I hope y'all enjoyed the first chapter! I think I might make Monday/Tuesday my update day for this (as in, if I don't update on Monday, pray for me to do it on Tuesday LOL), but we will see when I post next week to confirm. 

I imagine Hannah to look like the beautiful Sydney Park <3