Perfect

Aylin, Blake, & Michael

Aylin closed her phone with a smile. She had been looking for an excuse to get out of the house again. After Lily had kicked her out so that she could go talk to Ali, Aylin had wandered around, bored, until she finally headed back home. She couldn't go see Blake or Michael because they were both out working at Mr. Ulrich's farm, so she had no where else to go.

She didn't really have a lot of real friends that she could hang out with. Sure, she had friends, but they were mostly just friends with her because she was dating Blake. Before that, she had just been the freaky Muslim girl.

Luckily, no one was home when she had returned home. Her father was out at work and her mother was out visiting a sick friend in the hospital. No one was home to see her sneak in in her day clothes without her hijab, better known as a headscarf. Her parents could sometimes tolerate her wearing what she classified as "normal clothes", but they refused to let her leave the house without her hijab. So, whenever Aylin left the house, she had to wear her hijab.

But, unknown to her parents, as soon as she was out of sight, Aylin would discard her hijab, hiding it away in her purse or backpack, making her feel more like a normal girl. As soon as she stopped wearing it to school, people had started teasing her less. They still had teased her, just not as much as before. But then when she started dating Blake, they stopped teasing her completely. No one wanted to mess with Blake's girl.

That thought made her smile. She was Blake's girl.

Bringing her thoughts back to the present, Aylin hurriedly put on her swimsuit, a cute polka dot bikini that she had bought without her parents' notice, and covered it with a pair of jeans and a cute t-shirt. She threw some extra clothes into her bag, just in case, along with some extra necessities. At the last second, she threw her hijab in too, just in case her parents were home when she returned.

She quickly slipped outside and grabbed her bike from the shed. As much as she would have liked to ride with Michael and Blake, she couldn't take the risk of someone seeing them pick her up. She had to keep her parents oblivious to the fact that she hung out with boys and she especially had to keep them oblivious to the fact that one of those boys was her boyfriend.

As Aylin neared the pond that she and her friends liked to frequent, she saw the old red pickup and smiled. She stopped beside it, quickly hopping off and leaning her bike up against it. She walked around to the other side of the truck and smiled at the view.

The tall, green trees reflected in the green surface of the pond they were surrounding. The sun shined down and hit the water, making it almost sparkle. Aylin could feel the soft, green grass beneath her feet as she slipped her feet out of her sandals. This place was so perfect and peaceful. It was secluded from the rest of the world, making it the perfect getaway place for her.

"Hey! Aylin!" a familiar voice called out. She turned and smiled, lifting a hand in greeting as she saw Michael over by a tree, holding on to a thick rope.

"Watch this!" he said, taking a couple of steps back before running forward and leaping off of the bank. Aylin watched, a gleeful laugh slipping from her lips, as Michael swung out over the water. He suddenly let go of the rope and dropped down into the water, sending out a huge splash.

"AHHHH AHAHAHAH AHHH!" Blake's voice suddenly filled the air, his body suddenly launching out of the tree. He swung out over the water, still belting out his Tarzan call, before dropping down into the water with another huge splash. There was a huge smile on his face when he surfaced.

"Hey, baby!" he called out to her, making her smile. "Come on in! The water's great!"

"Coming!" she called back with a laugh, quickly pulling off her t-shirt. Cat calls suddenly filled the air and she blushed.

How did I get so lucky to find a guy like him? Aylin wondered as she slid her jeans off.

How did I get so lucky to get such a hot chick like her? Blake grinned as his eyes hungrily slid over Aylin's body.

How did he get so lucky to get such a beautiful girl like her? Michael sighed as he longingly gazed at Aylin.

Aylin stepped closer to the water and cautiously stuck her toes in.

"Oh! That's cold!" she squealed, jumping back away from the water's edge.

"Oh, come on, baby!" Blake laughed, swimming over to where she was on the bank. "It's not that bad once you get in!"

Aylin slowly inched toward the water again.

"Are you sure?" she asked, sticking her toes in again.

"Why don't you tell me?" Blake exclaimed, grabbing her foot and pulling into the water. She fell, a loud scream ripping from her throat, and hit the water with a huge splash. She surfaced seconds later, sputtering and enraged, and sent an angry glare at Blake.

"That wasn't very nice!" Michael exclaimed, swimming over and attempting to give Aylin a protective hug, which wasn't easy to do in the water.

"Oh, you guys are such wussies!" Blake laughed, swimming back over to the bank and lifting himself out of the water. He continued to laugh as he walked back over to the tree with the rope. He was apparently the only one who had a sense of humour here! Blake had hoped, no, expected that Michael would side with him, and was shocked and slightly upset that he didn't. Instead, Michael had sided with Aylin.

Maybe he really is a wuss, Blake smirked to himself as he started to climb the tree. It was more fun to jump from a higher branch than from the ground.

Aylin watched her boyfriend walk away and sighed. She slowly turned back to look at Michael, who was still awkwardly hugging her. She gently pushed him away and smiled.

"Thanks," she said, smiling bashfully. "Thanks for defending me. That was really sweet of you."

"Of course," Michael smiled. "I would do anything for you... I mean, like, umm, cause you're my friend... and my best friend's girlfriend and all."

Michael inwardly scolded himself for being so careless with his words. He had meant what he said, of course, but he hadn't meant to actually say it out loud. Luckily, he had been able to cover his tracks by throwing out that "friend" crap. But Michael didn't want to be just her friend. He wanted to be so much more.

Michael quickly pushed those thoughts away. Aylin was Blake's girl. There was nothing that he could do about that now...

If only I had talked to her when I had had a chance, he sighed, reflecting back to a time before Blake started dating Aylin. Michael had seen Aylin around the school on various occasions and had thought that she was cute, but he had always been to shy to go talk to her. And by the time he finally did muster up the courage to talk to her, he was already too late.

Michael grimaced as he remembered the day that he had planned to ask Aylin out. It was after football practice and Aylin was sitting up on the bleachers where she often sat, watching them practice. Michael had been about to walk over to talk to her when he was called back by their coach.

"Michael, can I speak with you for a moment?" Coach Woodlee called out, stopping his advancement towards the bleachers.

"Umm, yeah, sure," he replied, turning back to face his coach. The man was tall and thin, his long, light brown hair held back from his face by a black beanie. He wore dark jeans and a light grey t-shirt that slightly showed the toned, muscled chest hidden underneath.

He was not the stereotypical-looking coach. He was almost the exact opposite. But he was still one of the best coaches that Michael had ever had, and Michael had played a variety of different sports with a variety of different coaches over the course of his life.

Though he would have preferred to be inside working on a math problem rather than outside practicing sports, he had signed up for the extra-curricular activities to appease his parents. Both had been star athletes in high school and they expected the same from him and his sister... well, half sister.

Michael's father had died when Michael was just over a year old. He had been hit by a drunk driver when walking home from work one night, something of which he often did. Michael had refused to touch alcohol since learning the truth about his father's death, which had been in his first year of high school when he had to research his family's origins for a project. His mother couldn't bring herself to lie about his true origins, and so she finally told him the truth, feeling that he was old enough to know the truth.

The truth had shook him for a while, but he finally accepted the fact that the man that he thought was his father was not actually his father. His mother had remarried not even a year after Michael's actual father's death to the man that Michael had known as his father for practically all of his life. Not long after their wedding, his sister, Ali, was born... his half sister.

But though she was just his half sister, Michael still loved her as if she were his full sister. They had grown up together. Ali was actually the one who had encouraged Michael to sign up for football.

"Michael, I am very impressed with the progress that you've been making," Coach Woodlee smiled. "It's be so good that I'm considering maybe having you run a play as quarterback."

"Really?!" Michael exclaimed, barely able to contain his excitement. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," Coach Woodlee smiled. "I think that you're ready. And I'm sure that Blake would understand if I use you for a game instead of him." He motioned to something behind Michael and when Michael turned around he saw Blake... talking to Aylin!

"Michael?" Coach Woodlee's voice called his attention away from his best friend and the girl of his dreams. "How does that sound?"

"That, uh, sounds great, Coach," Michael smiled, his attention not fully on the man. He wanted to run over to where Blake and Aylin were and stop them from talking. Michael knew if Blake wanted Aylin, then he would never have a chance with her. Unfortunately for him, by the time he was finally able to get away from his Coach, they were both gone.

"Michael, come look at this!" Aylin's voice suddenly called his back out of his thoughts. Michael looked over to where she was treading water a little ways away. He quickly swam over to her, curious as to what she had found.

"What am I looking at?" he asked once he reached her.

"Look," she said, pointing down at something under the water. Michael could see some sort of shiny, round object glittering under the water.

What is that? Michael wondered.

"It looks like it might be gold!" Aylin exclaimed excitedly. "Do you think that you could get it?"

"I can try," Michael replied. Taking a deep breath, he dove down under the water. Aylin waited patiently above the water for him to return. Behind her, she could hear Blake dropping down into the water. She was still a little bit mad at him. She hadn't wanted to get her hair wet because then she would have to wait for it to dry before she could go home. If her hair was wet, her parents would know that she was out without her hijab on, and then she would be grounded and most likely not allowed to go to the victory party on Saturday. And she could not let that happen.

"Got it!" Michael sputtered as he surfaced.

"Let's see it!" Aylin said, getting excited again. Michael slowly opened his hand and they both stared down at the golden disk in it.

"It's a medal!" she exclaimed, looking at the water-worn, red, white, and blue ribbon attached to it.

"It's not just any medal," Michael replied softly, looking down at the figures etched into its surface. They were swimmers. "It's Ali's medal."