What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more...

What Is Love ~ Tommer Mizrahi Remix 

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My name is Kelly Lee and I'm in the last place I should ever be. Hanging under the diving board in the deep end of the pool, kissing a boy I just met for the first time seven seconds ago. Well it's actually more like mouth-to-mouth resuscitation really? But what the hell, it's still my first kiss ever, so I will take it to heart.

Okay yeah, I just heard how that sounded in my head too. So maybe I should back this story up a little bit and start from the beginning?
 
It's the first official day of summer, and I am at the cool people's party from Hell. Which really begs the obvious question, why am I even here at the cool peoples pool party from Hell? Simple, because I got invited to Hale Winters III end of the year popular people's party. The party that I've been dreading since I was invited to it by his holiness Hale himself. 

Hale Winters III being the outgoing school president-quarterback-prom-king-for-life and all around awesome A-hole. Who's super-rich parents are conveniently out of town the day after his high school graduation. Probably because they thought leaving this idiot alone with a huge house and all kinds of expensive alcohol was a great idea? I can only assume his parents must have thought that Hale needed a head start on his awesome frat boy college life. 

So of course he's been given carte blanche to have a "few friends over to celebrate his absolute awesomeness's graduation". Well, more like a couple of hundred of his closest "few friends". In other words, its the Kool People's Pool Party From Hell. Where everyone who is anyone has to show up, to see and be seen. All the pretty popular people are here, you know just being pretty and popular and shit.

So even without knowing these people, you already know this party. The techno-trance music will be too loud, the beer will flow too fast, and the smoke will blow too big. All the high school idiots will drink too much and make bigger fools of themselves than they already do at school. All looking to drunkenly hook up and start their first summer fling thing with one of their Kool kind.

The hot girls are showing off their hard-earned new winter workout bods for the first time in a cute new swimsuits. All the bad boys in their bright board shorts are proudly puffing up their manly muscles. A few new tattoos that the tough guy rebel boys got, that not everyone and their sister has seen yet on their social media.

The truth is I should never have be invited to this party in the first place. I am not popular peeps by any means. According to my uber-cool older sister Grace, I am freaky-deaky-smarty-nerdy-dorky peeps. And that is Grace being nice on a good day.

But through an incredibly a cruel twist of fate and just a little hate, I ended up somehow getting sucked into the vortex of this shitshow. Because unfortunately for me, and everyone else at my high school, I was elected student body President for next year on a fluke.

To be honest, I only ran for office in order to pad my college application. Truth is I was never supposed to win. Every year at my high school only the most popular, yet somehow utterly unqualified, football man-child is always elected student body president. But after being a lowly class representative in the trenches for three years, I just wanted to take a shot at being vice president or secretary or something with an actual title. So I signed up to run, knowing that I would lose, but vowing to make the best showing possible. Or as my sister Grace put it, "just take a shot at being stupid, you never know what can happen." 

But as fate would have it, the idiot jockstrap that was running against me was Dale "Gorgon" Gordon. Who was obviously going to win by a landslide, because after all he was on football. But then at the last minute, just three days before the election, he gets busted with a bunch of weed in his locker. After which he was summarily suspended from school and disqualified from the election. 

So yay me, I won!

Decidedly not, seeing that I am basically student body president by default, and no one even needed to vote. Hells bells, I didn't even get a chance to vote for myself. In the end, Hale himself dutifully informed me that I actually won the presidency by default. 

His congratulation to me was summed up in five easy awesome sentences. "I can't believe you actually won Lee's. FYI the presidenting thing totally sucks. So good luck, hope you don't fuck it up. Oh, you should totally come to my graduation party. I'll give you the Student Council keys ...if I can still find them?"

Trust me when I tell you that Hale was not the most hands-on President San Fall High ever had. Truthfully, I rarely if ever saw him in a student council meeting if ever. But if we were graced with his presidenting presence it at all? It was only because there was a possibility he could get "played, laid and paid". Which oddly enough was his personal life motto, as well as his presidential campaign slogan. 

So I only ever saw Hale around Homecoming, Winter Formal and Prom ...or anything that involved a bonfire. Hale really did love bonfires for some reason, which he called them "Bone Fires". And trust me when I tell you, Hale could not get enough of them. The "Bone Fires" were the legendary hallmark of his presidency at San Fall Hills High.

So I think it is safe to say that Hale and I are not friends by any means. More like outgoing president/incoming president stuff. I mean it's high school, so it's not like ceremonial keys to the kingdom are being handed over to me when I show up to get sworn in or anything. I just need to get the student counsel room keys from this idiot, so I can leave and get to work.

But even so I do try to dress for success. High platform heels to add a little height to my demure frame, just so I could look more people in the eye. A super not-sexy bright neon yellow tankinini, I borrowed from my sister. That will never see the light of day and no one will ever see, but yet gives the illusion of something to seen. Worn under a nice long loose sheer summer dress. Not super sexy by any means, but almost casual cool. My hair and make-up look...well presidentially meh?

So I am at the party from hell just long enough to have a sip of a virgin margarita. One that I intentionally made for myself at Hale's massive kitchen sink/wet bar. I smile and say "high" to some pretty popular people, who clearly have no idea who I am or care enough to find out. Then I walk outside into the backyard from hell to face one of my fears. Because just as soon as I walk out the open glass doors I am faced, with an enormous pool full of people skinny swimming. Even more amazingly some of them still even have their swimsuits on. 

I am almost shocked at all the skinny swimmers, save for the fact my sister Grace warned me ahead of time that Hale's parties could get a little out of control. But com'on people, social media is a forever sentence! Because when topless bare boobs out number not bare boobs? Yeah, that's where I draw the line.

It is clearly time for me to call dingo on this stupidity and head back inside the house where it's safe. Try to figure out how to get the student council keys from El Presidente Hale. Then get the hell out of dodge, before I contract a contact high from all the topless potheads. I really can't afford to lose even a point on my 4.1 GPA, because then I will just be another average 4.0 applying to Berkley. Can you say wait listed much?

But just as I am turning around to go back inside where its safe, two muscular jocks swinging a beer keg between them are blocking me. And wouldn't you know it, one of them just happens to be The Gorgon, the jockstrap who just lost the election to me.

"Kegmiesters coming through!" The Gorgon grunts.

I move out of the way, only to bump into someone, who bumps me right back. So I slightly stumbled back into the kegmiesters, where Gorgon nudges my ninety-eight pound ass out of the way and I fly. Well maybe soar would be more accurate? Right into the last place in the world I should ever be ...the deep end of the pool.

I barely get out the word "Nooooo!" before I plunge right into the pool. The water grabs me and pulls me close into its cold embrace, and I sink like stone. My high platforms shoes are pulling me down and my beach bag full of supplies is dragging me down to the bottom of the deep pool like an anchor.

I am screaming bubbles all the way down to the bottom of the pool. Because ...I ...can't ...swim!

I am underwater looking around panicking and fighting not to breathe in the water. I claw for the air above my head, but the shimmering sun above is mocking me. My panicked heart is pounding in my chest so hard I think it will bruise my ribs.

I scream for help, but only sonic bubbles erupt from my mouth. Where they float harmlessly towards the surface, where they will be drown out by the blasting techno-trance.

As what little air is left in my lungs is evaporating through my blinking blurry eyes, as my vision recedes to a blood-red darkness. Just as I am starting to feel the first stirrings of my soul floating away, hopefully to a better place?

Suddenly a strong arm wraps around my chest from behind, and I am pulled upwards hard and fast from my watery grave. Propelled through the water and upwards towards the air, where I break the surface and gasp for air. I heave a deep breath and immediately start coughing out water. The arm behind me squeezes my lower ribs so hard I think I actually felt one of them crack. Tightly forcing out all the air and water I sucked into my lungs. 

I finally take in a huge ragged breath of sweet clean air, just as arm starts dragging me backwards through the water. I try to look around but everything is too bright and blurry, probably because my contacts are gone. I cannot even see the owner of the arm that is swimming me to safety. Only vaguely blurry people standing around the pool watching me being pulled backwards to safety.

Strange arm is holding me tightly across my heaving chest with one arm hanging on to the diving board. I am finally spun around so that I am facing the owner of the arm. I see grey eyes the color of a winter storm in mine. In fear of my life, I instinctively grab a hold of his neck and shoulders. My legs involuntarily wrap around his waist and my ankles locked in a death grip. Which seems to cause a brief flash of pain in his almost amused mused expression.

I look around panicky, but I can barely see further than the edge of the pool. Which seems so unbelievably far away from me at the moment. So I just keep holding onto him for life under the shade of the diving board he is gripped on to.

"Don't be scared, just breathe." He instructs tightly. "Try to relax a little ...before you crack my ribs."

"So'sorry...th'thank you?" I stutter back at him.

"No worries, I totally got you." Mr. Grey eyes guy grunts.

Normally, I absolutely loathe guys who use the unnecessary "totally" to describe anything. But right now in this moment of raw fear I think I really need to hear someone "totally got" me.

"Jake." He just smiles casually cool. "You?"

"Kel..." My voice gives before I can finish the 'Ly' at the end of my name. Something that happens to me when I get scared or nervous, I tend to lose my voice. Yeah, mental much?

"Are you okay, Kel?" His grey eyes pierce right into me looking for some sign of intelligent life.

I can only nod and keep breathing deep ragged breaths. With all the adrenaline rushing through my system I am starting to shake and my teeth are starting to chatter. I think I am about to completely lose my shit and start crying. 

"Okay, Kel..." He smiles "...in the next ten seconds you have to make a binary choice."

"So you can do one of two things. You can freak the fuck out and go ballistic on Gorgon for knocking you in the water. Or start laughing your ass off and the kiss me." He intones under his breath. "Either way you're a total scene right now? So it's up to you how this scene ends."

My eyes dart around and the blurry people around the pool are watching us.

"But either way I totally got your back..." he smiles, "...and time is up."

He tilts his head and smiles and his grey winter eyes turn oddly mischievous. I can help myself, it's so surreal I start laughing. Which is when he kisses me lightly on the lips. Which I think was maybe more shocking to me than almost dying ...well almost?

The kiss is not hard nor passionate, like some sort of From Here to Eternity beach break kiss. There is no kismet moment full of longing tongues with a mind of their own, imbued with passionate passion or anything. To be honest, it really was more like mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. So I just pretty much hold my breath and push my mouth back into his lips.

"Nice." Jake smirks through my hard-pressed lips. "You taste kind of like lemon-lime Gatorade. That my favorite."

"Margarita?" I mumble.

Someone outside the pool yells out, "behold Jake the Snake...man of action!" Then there is some laughter around the pool and the party starts back up again. Like a broken magic spell where everyone forgets about the moment I almost died in the pool and just go back to living their lives. And the moment, whatever it was for anyone else besides me is over.

Okay, so just in case you haven't figured it out yet? That was my first kiss with Jake Kildare, or anyone else for that matter. And I will remember that kiss for the rest of my life. A terrified almost drown girl hanging on her savior for dear life, trying to keep what little was left of her crushed ego.

Not the best kiss, not the worst kiss...but the First Kiss. But maybe my last kiss ...if I don't get out of the deep end of the pool alive.

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Chapter Count : 2600