Beneath Summer Skies and Four Letter Lies

The crowd was clearing out as I coughed away the remaining water that was soaking my throat, and pushed the boy on his bare chest—he was just wearing gray shorts, and was smiling that stupid emotionless and careless smile he always show. I could remember his name. I think it's Wayde. How could I forget. Wayde. Wayde the Weird Guy.

And I still couldn't believe him.

Know why?

Oh nothing, really.

It's just that his lips were in contact with mine a few minutes ago. With mine. And in case you're wondering, that was my first lips-in-contact-with-a-guy experience. Ever.

"What happened?!" I screamed as I sat up, desperately hoping that what happened was just a pure make-believe.

Suddenly, Poppy came running towards me, and was screaming, "OH MY GOD! Are you okay?! Oh my God! My mom is going to assassinate me for this! Oh my God, Oh my God..."

And Melody was with her, screaming oh-my-Gods too.

It's funny how Melody seemed too worried about me now. But I don't blame her. I mean, it's her fault for provoking me in the first place. Well, part of it. It's mostly my stupid mistake for trying to show off and stuff. "I'm okay. What happened?!"

"You were drowning, sweetheart."

Wayde, who was still sitting in front of me and was now playing with the sand, answered my obvious question, with an unnecessary pet name scribbled with it. The girls turned to him, and he just smiled. "She's okay. Would you mind if you beautiful ladies could give us a minute?"

Poppy and Melody's shocked eyes turned to me, and then to him. And then to me again. And then at him again.

"What?! Hey, don't leave me—" I called out to Melody and Poppy, but they were still looking at Wayde like they were hypnotized by some magic spell or something. "Um, okay," they said, and giggled as they walked away.

I turned my disappointed gaze towards Wayde.

"Thanks for saving me," I said quickly, and started to stand up. I'm not going to stay here too, duh.

And I wonder why I'm not so surprised when he reached out and confidently gripped my hand. I guess I'm used to it now. "Don't leave yet, please."

My gaze turned into an evil one.

"How many times do I have to tell you?! I'm not your sweetheart or anything stupid like that! So leave me alone, okay?! Is that too hard to understand?!" I yelled at the top of my lungs without thinking.

And with that, I thought he's gonna be too surprised by my words to even do something. But instead, he was pinning me down. Again. Jerk.

His smile was even wider than ever as he said, "But I fell in love the first time I saw you, okay? Is that too hard to understand as well?"

And with that, I was frozen...and blushing. I have to admit, my face turned seriously red as the cloth people use on bullfighting...and I couldn't stop staring at him.

I was just noticing how handsome he really looked now that our faces were almost crushing the spaces between us.

His sleepy gray eyes were sincere and deep, and his lips were showing off his teeth that lightened up his features.

And I couldn't get up, because I could almost feel the weight of his body on top of me, which was really hot—I MEANT AWKWARD.

I totally meant awkward. It was really awkward for me.

I mean, you must be mental if you're in a really not-awkward state if a weird guy you don't even know pins you down without any shirt on and said he fell in love with you, and is asking for you to understand. But seriously, WHO could understand that?!

Anyways, as he said those words...

...I remembered someone.

I fell in love with Brian...

...the first time I saw him, too...

...no, no. I just THOUGHT I did. But I didn't. It's not real. That first-sight stuff
is utter crap.

...but—

Ack, Johanna, what are you thinking?! You're remembering what you're supposed to be forgetting! Stop it! Halt! Stop!

Suddenly, a boy appeared behind Wayde, who was trying his best to catch his breath because apparently, he seemed to have been running all they way here.

He almost looked like Wayde, except that his piercing was under his lips.

"Hey...! Talon's been waiting for you, man. He thinks you're not coming at all. He said you're too much of a chicken to face him, can you believe that—" Snakebite Boy panted, as his eyes suddenly examined what we were doing. "Dude, what are you doing? Who's she?"

We both stood up and looked at him. Awkwardly. Wayde cleaned out the sand sticking on his shirt as his moved his eyes at me.

"She's...uh..."

I let out a secret smile. Ha. I just realized that he still doesn't know my name.

"Well..."

To my surprise, he just beamed as he lifted his hand and pointed to me.

"She's my—"

NO. FREAKING. WAY.

"NOTHING!" I screamed, in my voice highest volume.

The boy chuckled.

"Um, okay?" he said, and smiled. "Nice to meet you...Wayde's Nothing. I'm Tim."

Ugh.

He turned to Wayde, who seemed to be too preoccupied at smiling at me.

Double ugh.

Boys. Crazy, over-confident boys. Seriously. What is up with them.

"Hey, what about your race with Talon?"

Tim's statement made me involuntarily chuckle. "You're having a race?"

"Yeah...the guy challenged me. 10 bucks whoever wins," Wayde said. "Why?"

"That's just the reason I almost died a few minutes ago," I replied.

"Oh." He seemed to think about it for a moment. For a minute I thought he was going to back out, you know, because it might happen to him too. But suddenly he just smiled and said, "Wanna go with me, then? In case of emergencies, you'll be my hero this time?"

I opened my mouth in shock. "No way! I just hope you lose."

Tim and Wayde suddenly looked at each other, and started laughing idiotically for some reason.

I looked at them with a cocked eyebrow, but Wayde just lowered his head and held my jaw with gentle fingertips. "Wanna bet, love?"

"The hell, I do." Okay, I don't know why I said that. Maybe it's because I can't just back out when someone challenges me. "You'll lose for sure."

"Okay, then. If I win..."

Wayde pointed to me as if I was some culprit of a murder case.

"...will you be my girlfriend?"

My eyes seriously grew round and wide like a newly puffed up balloon. "WHAT?! No way."

He fluttered his eyelashes. "Please?"

"Nu-uh."

"C'mon. If he loses to Talon, he'll leave you alone," Tim interrupted, beaming.

Wayde flashed a look at him, but finally nodded. "Right."

I looked down at my feet that was now underneath the sand, thinking about the pros and the cons.

He'll...leave me alone? That sounds pretty good, all right.

But what if he wins? I mean, he saved me from drowning after all, that means he's not a lousy swimmer. And I don't even know this Talon kid. What if he's not good in swimming? At all? But he must be, since he's the one who challenged Wayde to a race. And since we're making the bet, I should be the one to have the race against him. I'm not that much of a swimmer, but I think I could overcome that...

Obviously, there are way too many things to think about here.

"No way," I finally said. It's just way too risky.

"C'mon, even for just the whole summer, sweetheart. Give me a chance?"

"You're talking as if you already won."

"Are you just scared that I'll just win, and I'll just prove you wrong?"

"What?! Absolutely not!" This guy is the first person that could make me say a million what's in a minute.

"Then why can't you agree with the bet? If I win, you and me. Whole summer. If I lose, I'll leave you alone forever. Or are you scared I'll win and you're wrong?"

That's it. This guy is so asking me for it.

"FINE! It's a bet! You'll lose! I'm right!"

And that confident smile of his just made me want to take back what I said.

"Fine. It's a bet, then. Let's go!"