Warnings: None

Word Count: 1152

June 8th, 2003

"Ty!" you huffed. "Wait up!"

You pedaled harder to catch up with Tyler, who was already halfway up the hill.

"Keep pedaling, Y/N!" he called over his shoulder.

"I'm trying!"

By the time that you reached the top of the hill, you were breathing hard and Tyler was tapping his foot impatiently.

"You finally made it!"

You stared him down as he hopped back onto his bike. Without warning, he took off down the hill, sticking his legs out to the sides gleefully. You pushed off the pavement and followed him down the hill, careful not to hit any fallen twigs that would throw you off your bike.

"Are we close?" you called.

"Only a few more minutes."

It had been awhile since you and Tyler had been out to the lake. School had just ended for the summer, meaning that the weather was finally getting nice enough for the two of you to spend your days swimming around in the lake.

The lake eventually came into view, prompting you to pedal a bit faster to get there quicker. Tyler was only a few feet in front of you, doing the same.

The two of you arrived at the lake and leaned your bikes up against the bit of fence the seperated the lake from some stranger's yard. Tyler took his backpack off and set it near his bike before taking his shirt off and tossing it onto the ground.

"Coming?" Tyler asked, gesturing over his shoulder.

"I think I might sit for awhile," you answered.

"Suit yourself."

Tyler jogged over to the little rock that jutted out over the lake. After a moment of adjustment, he did a swan dive off of the rock and into the water. It splashed a bit, but you were a safe enough distance away to avoid getting wet. Once he had resurfaced, you walked over and took a seat on the rock, letting your bare feet dangle just above the water.

"How is it?" you asked as Tyler paddled around.

"Refreshing, a bit cold though."

"Are you going to stay in long?"

He shook his head, "More than ten minutes in here and my lips will start turning blue."

"Well, the sun feels nice if you want to come join me on the rock."

"That's a tempting offer," he smiled.

You watched as Tyler swam over to the shore and climbed up onto the bank. While he dried himself off, you kicked idly at the water beneath your feet. Tyler was right, the water was cold. He came over and took a seat next to you. His hair was dripping onto his shirt, creating little dark spots across his shoulders.

"Crazy to think it's already summer, isn't it?"

"Yeah," you said. "And in a few months we'll be freshman."

"That's weird to think about. Soon we'll be going off to college!"

"We've still got a while until then."

"I bet it will go by faster than we expect it to."

"Yeah. Are you going to try out for the basketball team?"

Tyler shrugged, "I don't see why not. It would give me something to do in my free time."

"What about me?"

"Well, yeah, that too."

"You're still going to be friends with me in high school, right?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know. It's high school. New people and cute girls and sports teams, maybe I just won't be cool enough for you anymore."

"I don't get why you're always so worried about me not wanting to be friends with you. I'm never going to leave you, Y/N."

"Who knows, maybe one day you just won't want to hang out with me anymore."

Tyler reached over and wrapped an arm around you so that he could pull you into a side hug. "First of all, Y/N, we've been friends for eight years. I don't have any other friends that have been around that long. We even made it through middle school together. Second of all, you're the coolest person I know. We like to do a lot of the same things, which isn't really the case with most of my other friends. And finally, you understand me better than anyone else. That's rare with me."

You kicked at the water, causing ripples to travel along its surface, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

He took his arm off of you and leaned back on his elbows, "For the first time in my life."

You looked out across the water to the line of trees on the other side of the lake. Despite Tyler's reassurance, nervous thoughts were still bouncing around in your brain.

"Do you think high school is going to be better?" you asked.

"I hope so. Middle school kind of sucked."

"Tell me about it. At least we had each other."

"Another reason why nothing is going to change in high school."

You leaned over and bumped into his shoulder with your own. It was obvious that he meant what he was saying, but you still found yourself unable to believe him.

"You don't believe me, do you?" he said suddenly.

"What makes you think that?"

"Y/N, I know you. You're being quiet and avoiding eye contact, that's what you always do when you're worried."

You shrugged. He was right.

"Even if you don't believe me, I just want you to know that I mean everything that I said. You're more important to me than anything. More important than school. More important than music. You're even more important than my family at times, just don't tell my mom I said that."

"I would never," you smiled.

"Like it or not, you aren't going to easily get rid of me."

"I know, and I'm sorry that I doubt you, Ty."

"It's ok. I just don't want you to worry, especially not at my expense.

"Thanks."

The two of you sat quietly for a bit. You continued to kick idly at the water while Tyler looked up at the sky.

"Should we go back to my house since it's too cold to swim?"

"Sure," you answered, although you weren't looking forward to having to bike all the way back.

Tyler got up, but you remained on the rock for a moment.

"You coming?"

You turned over your shoulder to see Tyler standing with his hands on his handlebar. One of his eyebrows was raised inquisitively at you.

"Yeah, sorry."

You got up and walked over to where Tyler was. He had already started pedaling down the path by the time that you had gotten on your bike.

"Wait up!" you called.

The two of you biked back to your neighborhood in silence. You were trying to ignore all of the worries about the upcoming school year. After all, school had just ended which meant you had a whole summer to spend with Tyler, just the two of you.