Jeremiah

The school's swimming pool had to be the best part of the school, if you just wanted to sit and think, without anyone barging in and disrupting your peace with gifts, or wanting a picture with you. If you just wanted to exist without anyone looking at you, like you're all they could see, yes, that was the kind of peace I could kill for at that moment. Thank God for Kingsley's recommendation.

It felt so good sitting on the diving board right above the pool and looking at the water, as the blue lights in it made it so sparkling and blue. You could see tiny waves in it whenever the wind came. I took a deep breath and looked at my phone's screen for the hundredth time. Six thirty PM, and ten missed calls from Manuel. I knew it was my first day and all, and I was supposed to be on my best behavior, but I had barely survived my first few hours of crazy, and wasn't ready to meet another few hours at home just yet. I needed some space, I needed to think, I needed some time to just stare into oblivion, and pretend like I didn't have so much going on in my life, the perfect life everyone thought I did. I opened my phone, and then my messages.

I could see Kora hadn't replied my text from that morning yet. I mean, not that I was beginning to complain, but I just couldn't understand why she always did that. Why she always kept me hanging, and why it bothered me so much, but I still couldn't tell her anything about it, because I was scared that if I did, I was only going to sound like a lady, and probably push her away. Why was I so drawn to her, when it was almost beginning to look like she couldn't give a damn about me? I scoffed.

You're beginning to look too desperate Jeremiah.

You know, things used to be a lot smoother for us before all the drama in her life started. Before she and her ex broke up, and I thought I could at least make everything better. Don't know why I thought that way, but that was how I felt, and it didn't look like she was thinking about me that way, about us. I didn't think she thought of me the way I did for her. Was I doing too much? Did I need to just calm down for a second and breathe? My attention got cut short when I heard a loud footstep echoing round the large room as someone ran in, the wind swaying her hair to and fro from behind her. I squinted my eyes for a second.

I watched how she hurried to the pool as fast as she could, still in her uniform. How on earth was anyone here? I thought Kingsley said no one ever came to the pool? She was backing me so I couldn't really see much but with the way she had her elbow struck a few inches beside her face, I could almost guess she was wiping tears away from her eyes. Was she crying? I could feel my grip loosening on my phone as I watched her carefully. For some reason I wanted to. There was something about her, something that interested me. I just didn't know what. She was beginning to take off her sneakers now as fast as she could. Was she really that much in a hurry for a swim? Her tie came off next. I scoffed. What else was she going to do? Strip naked?

"You've got to be kidding me." I whispered to myself, as I watched her unbutton her shirt quickly. It dropped to the ground, exposing the hook of her red bra, and then did the same to her skirt.

Woah.

I looked away quickly. I honestly didn't want to see anymore. How abandoned was that pool really, that anyone would want to swim butt naked, and talking about butts, wow, hers was perfect and rhymed with her thick thighs. What on earth was wrong with me? I kept my eyes off the picture in front of me, clenching hard on my phone, convincing myself not to look back.

Splash!

I heard that sound from the water. She had dived in already, and it caused me to turn back to the pool slowly, a tiny scoff escaping from my lips as I watched her swim gracefully. All that show just to get into the water? She didn't even bother to take her weave off. I leaned closer, so I could have a better look, a tiny smile forming it's way on my lips without me even knowing it. She swam interestingly well, and there it came, It was beginning to happen, as I looked into the pool, I just couldn't help but think that something was not right.  The water was still for a while, and she wasn't sticking her head out of it as she used to.

I frowned. Squinting my eyes, waiting for her, waiting for a sign that she was okay, waiting for her head to pop out of the water. Six seconds, I began to count in my head. The water was still. Too still for someone who was still supposed to be swimming. I was on the forth second when I had realized, she wasn't swimming, she was drowning. I stopped counting, I just couldn't wait anymore. My instincts were suddenly really active, and were somehow trying to pull me up from where I sat.

Screw it!

I dropped my phone on the board, and got up quickly. I rushed down the stairs as fast as I could, until I was down and close to the pool, and just like a fool, without thinking or even pulling off my shoes, I dived in. I had to save her.

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Kora

"Hey." I could hear a tiny voice echo in my subconscious while I struggled to open my eyes. "Hey, wake up." Now the voice was followed by gentle slaps on my left cheek. I had never felt so cold. The voice kept repeating the same words for about three times, if I counted correctly.

Open you eyes Kora!

I heard a voice in my head tell me, and the moment it did, I found my eyes opening wide, coughing out a lot of water from my lungs. I took in deep breaths, trying so hard to breathe. What had happened to me? It was as if I had drowned. The last thing I remembered in the pool was having a muscle pull, like I did the last time I tried to swim, but this time I couldn't get out of the water. I remember trying to get my head out of the water to breathe, but I couldn't. That was all before I blacked out.

"Hey, are you okay?"

It was the same voice. The same voice in my subconscious speaking to me again, but this time it wasn't in echoes, and it was a really familiar voice. In the middle of soft and hoarse with an accent, an American accent. I could have sworn I had heard that voice before. I slowly raised my head to the figure sitting above me, squinting my eyes so I could see him through all that bright light my eyes were still trying to get adjusted to. I shut my eyes for a short second, and then opened it again so I could see who my savior was. I had to see him. The person that had saved me, although I rather he had not.

His not too light skin shimmered in the light. You could see the blue reflection of the pool on his face as the water swayed from side to side, giving me a chance to notice how brown and beautiful his eyes were. Just as brown as his hair. He had some freckles around his nose. Not too much though, and had the most perfect chiseled jawline ever, even looked more perfect as he clenched his jaw in a huge frown. He looked upset. More like scared, especially with the way his eyes stared into mine. He had to be the most beautiful man I had ever seen. One of them at least. He looked like a fairy tale prince or the really hot male lead in a romance movie.

I slowly turned to his hand on my bare skin. They felt so cold. My eyes widened the moment I realized that while I was busy drooling and mesmerizing on the beauty in front of me, I was only a few piece of clothings close to being naked. Half naked as my Mum would describe it, and my boobs...damn this push up bra. I sat up quickly, and made an attempt to reach for my clothes before I had given this stranger close to me any more chances to picture me naked in his head. He must have had a blast the whole time I was unconscious. I couldn't find my uniform anywhere. I turned to my other side. Why couldn't I find my uniform anywhere? Oh there it was, a few paces in front of me. I heard a huge scoff just as I turned back to him, and saw him throw himself on the ground in relief. I watched him wipe his face gently with his hands. I gave him a second, standing up quickly so I could hurry to my clothes and get dressed.

"You know, if you're going to kill yourself next time, you should consider other options than drowning."

I picked up my skirt first, and then tried to wear it as fast as I could before he got up and turned to me again.

"Do you mind?" I asked him so he could turn around and give me a chance to get dressed at least. Not like he hadn't seen it all already. I could tell he was thinking about those same words even as he rolled his eyes, and then turned away. I hurriedly wore my skirt, and then reached for my shirt.

"For someone whose life I just saved, a simple thank you wouldn't kill you. A little gratitude won't suck your life away."

What if that was what I wanted? To get my life sniffed out of me? I wasn't even sure I wanted to live anymore.

"I was fine." I told him as I tried to get buttoned up. "I didn't need you to save me. I was doing fine on my own."

He scoffed, and then turned to face me.

"Yeah, I could see that. You really looked so fine, struggling to breathe in there. So perfect to me."

I was going through a lot at that point, and a stranger's sarcasm was the last thing I needed.

"Look." I took a step towards him. "I don't know you, and I'm honestly not in the mood to give gratitudes right now. I didn't ask you to jump into that water to save me. You did all that on your own. What if I didn't want to be saved?"

"So you wanted to die? You wanted to kill yourself?"
Just who did he think he was, throwing questions at me like that? I never talked about dying, did I?

"No matter what you're going through, what gave you the right to want to end it all yourself?" Now he sounded so angry. "Suicide? Really? What makes you think you've had it worse than everyone else, to want to end yourself so badly?"

What on earth was he even talking about? Suicide? When did I ever-

I took a deep breath.

"Look." I told him. "I really wasn't trying to kill-"

"Now you're going to deny it?"

"I'm not denying anything . I really wasn't trying to kill myself."

He scoffed.

"You must think I'm stupid or something." He whispered to himself, loud enough for me to hear him. "You." He looked into my eyes. His frown getting worse. "I hate being bothered by people, and I hate getting involved in anyone's personal life. Anyone at all. Next time you feel you're a bother to someone, and choose to take your life, do it quietly, and make sure no one is there to save you. Especially me. People like you, people that have no idea how important life is, getting a chance to live and breathe for free, while some people can't? People like you make me want to gag myself."

I scoffed. Just what did he think he was blabbering about?

"And most importantly, girls that have no sense of gratitude and comportment. If you can't cherish your life, how do you expect someone else to?"

No sense of gratitude and comportment? Who on earth did this one think he was? I was trying so hard to keep my cool now, but he was really pushing me. I wasn't in the mood-I wasn't cut out for any of this. Who did he think he was talking to? I placed my hands above my hips. Just so I could look at him carefully.

"I hope we never have to meet each other again after this. I honestly can't stand people like you."

Wow, that escalated so fast.

Was it really that much of a big deal? I couldn't help but ask myself. I mean I had just realized how wrong it was for me to not have said "thank you." He did save my life after all. I shouldn't have talked to him the way I did either, especially since he was only trying to help me, but I was just so upset. I just needed some time to get over all the crazies that I've been going through. I watched him place his both hands into the pockets of his trousers, and then he walked away from me without saying another word, his really amazing scent filling the air. A scent I just had to remember from that day on.

I clenched my fists. Should I just turn around and go after him? Apologize and thank him for saving my life. Did I have to? My heart was skipping, just as I felt tears well up in my eyes again. More tears, as Luke and Racheal's voices came back into my head. Mum's last words to me too. I could feel my legs weaken, and the moment I heard the door close, the moment I was sure I was all alone, and there was no one else there, I felt numb all of a sudden. I felt myself drop halfway to the ground, till I was squatting. I wanted to cry so bad. To let it all out. All of my frustration, up until that night. I just wanted to feel better. I wanted them all to go away that moment. I folded my arms on my knees, and then placed my head gently on top of it, and the moment I drew a deep breath, it came like a tornado. So fast, so unexpected. My emotions were all over the place. I cried my eyes out without even caring about anything else. I was so hurt.

And it went on and on and on for the rest of the night.