Goody, Like Two Shoes

A loud shriek pierced the silence, and I glanced up from my seat on the wicker chair, by the window, to see Mr. Way, stood on the end of one of the vacant beds, wobbling a little.

A large-ish, black, grey and white creature scurried along the wooden floor, and I paid no attention to it; I should've realised sooner that Millie had brought her pet rat, Tabitha, with her.

Millie lay on the floor, dropping pieces of rat food and cheese in a little maze for the rat, and she spoke to Mr. Way without looking up, "You're afraid of rats?"

Mr. Way stuttered, his once pale features turning a bright shade of red, "Kind of..."

I laughed quietly, pushing my glasses up my nose, and got up with the help of my crutches that I had been using for the past four days, "Tabitha won't hurt you, silly, she's harmless."

I stooped to pick up Tabitha and stroked behind her small, perked up ears, watching her whiskers twitch.

"Well, she may not harm me; but June will murder her if she finds out that this so-called Tabitha is living in your bag, Millie."

"Who's June?"

"Mrs. Jacobs. Man, she freaked out when there was a squirrel in our cabin." the teacher's dark eyebrows wiggled as he chuckled, stepping off the bed now that Tabitha was safely tucked in my hands, "Jeez, I thought she was going to have heart failure."

"I thought that you were going to have heart failure, by the look of things, Mr. Way." Millie gigged.

"Mr. Way, ack, I hate being called that." he shuddered, "Makes me sound old, you see; call me Gerard, damnit."

Millie's face turned red - she was way too infatuated with him - and I had no idea what was going through her head at that moment... promiscuous...

He sidestepped over to me, extending his forefinger out hesitantly and running it down the furry length of Tabitha's back, giggling childishly when the rodent's beady black eyes landed on him.

I sat down when my leg started to hurt a little, putting Tabitha back on the floor, and I glanced down at my watch; 3:08 pm.

"I'm bored." I sighed, flicking through the pages of a National Geographic that I had brought with me.

"Bored?" Gerard raised an eyebrow, "Well, what would you like to do? I mean, you can't do much, really." His eyes fell to the small splint that was on my left leg, giving my knee support.

I shrugged, thinking, and chewed on my thumbnail.
"I'd love to go back to Deer Point." I sighed.

Both Millie's and Gerard's mouths fell open, and they looked at me as if I was mad.

"You can't be serious; not after what happened last week." Gerard shook his head, catching Tabitha between his large hands and looking at her closely.

"Of course I'm serious!" I burst out, "Animals are my passion - bears in particular - and I'm not going to let one stupid incident get in my way."

"Well, since I'm a teacher - not a qualified one, just yet -, but I say that hell no, you're not going back up there." Gerard shook his head again, hopping from one foot to the other, "There's no way that I'm letting you go; not like this, no."

I sighed, clucking my tongue, "Then what will you let me do?"

I waited for an answer.

"We can go swimming!" Gerard answered excitedly, waltzing over to my side to look out the window, "There are a few kids out in the lake now; and swimming will help your leg, you know; strengthens the muscles."

I glanced at Millie, and she nodded. "Sure. Why not."

"I'll see you at the pier in five!" Gerard dropped Tabitha onto Millie's lap before barging out of the cabin, slamming the door behind him.

"He's odd"' I raised an eyebrow, "And you only want to go swimming to see him in his swimming trunks."

I felt self-conscious as Millie and I walked - or, in my case, hobbled - to the small pier. Even though I was wearing a one piece, lilac swimming suit, I felt like it was too much of a skin displayer; I had no idea how other girls my age could wear bikinis - how could they not feel uncomfortable?

Millie, on the other hand, seemed ecstatic; clad in a baggy green t-shirt, a pair of khaki shorts and purple flip-flops.

"There he is," Millie whispered, pointing at the blob of black that was floating just a few metres from the pier, in the crystal clear water, "And what in god's name is he wearing?"

When themad art teacher popped up onto the pier, a few steps in front of us, he appeared to be wearing a full-body diving suit.

"Are you going snorkelling?" Millie asked, laughing shyly.

Gerard smiled proudly, glancing down at the suit, "Nu-uh, I have issues."

I really hadn't noticed

Without warning, Millie and Gerard both grabbed a crutch each, put them down, and then steadied me between them, lowering me into the cool water, and they both floated beside me.

"Race you to the other side!" Gerard squawked, arms flailing and legs kicking, and Millie and I followed him, taking our time, amused by his antics.

Time passed quickly, and, when the sun began to set, I didn't want to get out; but the smell of smoke and cooking food from the barbeque was tempting me.

"Stay here," Gerard smiled, climbing up onto the wooden decking, "I'll get us some towels."

"He's so sweet," Millie sighed dreamily as soon as the dark-haired teacher was out of earshot.

"You're crazy," I nudged her playfully, "You know you'll never have a chance with him; it's illegal for a teacher and student to do stuff."

"Yeah, well I can still dream." Millie pushed me back, giggling over the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Hmmm," came a voice, "And I'm sure Gerard will love to hear that."

Millie and I stared wide-eyed at each other.

Oh, and I failed to mention that a certain somebody had resumed the role of - excuse me - asshole after being a hero for a night.

We both looked up to see a familiar pair of scruffy black Converse, the white tips poking over the edge of the pier.
Further up the same body, a smirk was plastered across a certain arrogant person's face, 'Well, well, it seems that geeks really do have hormones; poor lovesick soul.'

That comment was followed by a round of sniggers from Frank's friends, and they stepped back as Millie and I clambered up to face them.

I was getting fed-up of him. Really, I was.

"What's your problem?!" I spat, reaching down for my crutches, "What have I ever done to you?"

The crutches were snatched from my hands, and Frank twirled them around as if he we some fancy majorette, ignoring my question while walking around to my other side, his back towards the water.
"You and your kind just, basically, piss me off."

That was it.
He'd always riled me up, but I'd always kept my feelings locked up inside, but now he'd overdone it.

Before I knew it, I was running - not caring about the pain in my leg - towards him, and I pounced on him, causing the both of us to fall into the lake.

Millie screamed, and the other boys were all murmuring loudly while watching Frank and I push each other, the both of us practically screaming profanities at each other.

I had finally cracked.

All the while, Frank's right hand had been wrapped around my forearm and he seemed to be struggling, but with one last yell of "fuck you!" and a kick to somewhere that obviously hurt a lot, he let go, and I pulled myself onto the pier.

Millie instantly pulled me into a hug, "Are you okay?"

"God, that felt good." I declared, "'You know, I think I actually kicked him in... - well you know where."

Behind us, the boys seemed to be making a fuss over something, and one was calling Frank's name.

Millie and I glanced at each other before joining them at the edge, and Mikey frantically spoke to me, "He can't swim!"

Frank was struggling to stay above the water, and none of his so-called friends seemed to want to get themselves wet to help him.

"Is that my problem?" I snapped, glaring at Mikey.

By the time we'd looked back to the water, Frank had gone under.

"Shit, are you fucking idiots?!" I yelled, losing my temper before jumping into the lake.

I may have hated the boy quite a bit, but I couldn't just leave him if he needed help.

He was going down quickly, he baggy black jeans weighing him down, arms flailing and eyes closing.

I reached him and wrapped my arms around his waist before kicking my legs frantically to get back to the surface.

Frank was coughing, hia arms wrapped around my shoulders as we broke through the surface, the water rippling around us.

Once his coughing had subsided after a few seconds, he murmured an "oh shit".

I looked up and came face-to-face with a furious looking Gerard.

"Crap."