You would think Boarding School was boring.

A midnight swim.

I woke up and groaned. It was the day before we left for school, which meant I had to start packing. I sat up and propped myself against my pillows and thought about last night.

Zak and I sat out on the balcony all night and talked. He told me he never missed parties for anything, and I told him some things I never tell anyone. The whole thing still freaked me out, I had no idea how he felt. I just know whenever I think of him my stomach turns into butterflies. A boy has never done this to me; usually boys are waiting in line to be with me, now I’m counting down the minutes to when I can see him again.

I got up and showered and put on shorts, a cami, and pulled my hair into a pony-tail. I rolled two suitcases into my room and opened the first one. I folded all my uniforms into that one and threw some sweaters and shirts in, for the weekends and after classes. I put in all my undergarments and closed that suitcase. The next one I threw in extra jeans, leggings, and shoes. I then started to put all my hair products and make-up in and sighed. I went and found a duffel bag and threw in small things.

Since it was about 2 I decided to head downstairs. My parents were sitting at the island in the kitchen drinking iced-tea.

“Good afternoon dear. Finished all your packing?”

“Yeah, I just finished it.”

“Well that’s good.”

“Yeah,” I was never one for talking a lot to my parents. I went out back and sat in a lounge chair. It just seemed like I got here, and now I had to leave once again. My parents always did this to me.

“Hey sis,” I looked back to see Cory coming outside with a towel over his shoulder. He put it down and plopped on the chair next to me. “Excited?”

“Not at all,” I looked at him.

“Why not, Pemberly is so much fun. The classes’ kind of suck, but the memories are unforgettable. Plus you know people, it’s not like you’re going in there with no one, like me.”

“I know, it’s just that something weird happened last night and I’m not sure how to fix it.”

“You sure it needs fixing?” He smiled and dove into the pool. What was he talking about? How could he possibly know what I was talking about? I shrugged and went inside to make sure I had everything.

That night I could not sleep, I kept tossing and turning. My mind was so jumbled it was ridiculous. I sighed and got up and walked out to my balcony, I leaned against the rail and looked over the grounds. I looked down at the pool and smiled; I quietly changed and made my way downstairs. I slid out to the backyard unnoticed and slipped into the pool.

The water was still warm from the sun’s rays and I floated on my back. “What are you doing out here?” I was startled and landed on my feet and looked up. Zak was grinning down at me, he too had swim trunks. He slid into the water and swam over to me.

“Couldn’t sleep, the pool looked peaceful. I decided to disturb the peace a bit.”

He laughed and looked down at me. “Still nervous?” He swam closer to me and our bodies were very close. My heart started to rocket and beat uncontrollably fast. My stomach was doing so many back flips I started to lose my train of though.

I sighed and nodded, “unfortunately. Plus my brother said something weird to me earlier.”

“About what?” I mentally smacked myself; I was going to have to tell him that last night confused me. He was now starring into my eyes as we both threaded water. His eyes felt like they were starring straight into my soul, I gulped back the anxious feeling I had and opened my mouth to talk.

“Well-“

“Ava, get in here before dad wakes up.” I turned around to see Cory from his balcony. I could tell he was smiling though. I groaned and turned to see Zak already getting out. He held out both hands and I raised them and he lifted me out of the pool. Our bodies were really close together, my breath was caught in my throat, and my heart was pounding against my rib cage.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” He breathed, and just like that, he returned to his house. My breath finally showed itself, and disappointment took over my body.