I tumbled and turned. My limbs flailing everywhere, my hair flowing around my face. I couldn't breathe and I choked on the taste of salty water. My leg strap tangled around my leg and my surfboard slammed into my head, making me feel dizzy. My eyes were slowly starting to close, but I raised my hand, heard a shout, and felt someone's arms around me.'
Then I blacked out.
When I woke I found myself lying on the sand with a group of people surrounding me, including a few lifeguards. I spluttered and coughed on salt water and then gently sat up. A boy knelt beside me, patting me gently on the back. Deep brown eyes, chestnut hair, thin, pink lips.
It was Ethan Karpathy. We knew each other. He went to my high school and was in all my classes. We weren't that close, but we were friends, "Are you okay Cassie? What happened?" he asked sincerely.
"I was out for a surf and a massive wave knocked me off my board. Then my board slammed into my head and I think I got knocked out," I gestured to the other bystanders, "You guys can go now it is okay thank you."
The lifeguards told me to rest and ice my head, and they gave me a note to give to my parents. They said they spoke to her on the phone after I gave them her number. Ethan stayed and helped me up, and I dusted the sand off my swimmers, "Thank you Ethan. For saving me. I would've drowned," I paused and asked him, "Why did you do it?"
"I saw you raise your hand before the lifeguards did. I swam out as fast as I could, undid your leg strap and pulled you back to shore with the help of lifeguards. They also your surfboard back. I couldn't just let you drown without doing anything. And I knew you," he answered, smiling slightly.
"I just don't know what to say. I mean, you saved my life. It was rough it wasn't exactly safe for you either. Anyway, I better get going now. My parents are probably waiting for me they're in the parking lot," I grabbed my surfboard, towel and thongs and began to walk up.
"I'll walk you up," Ethan cried, smiling as he caught up to me. His lips looked pink and smooth, the water on them shining in the sunlight. He sweeped his wet hair to the side, running a hand through it. He had a step and it was short on the sides, then on the top it was longer and a little wavy. I kind of liked that about his hair, it looked perfect. He had a narrow kind of face, and a small nose, just jutting out a little at the end. His cheeks were smooth and he had a nice jawline.
The sand squeaked between our toes and the wind whipped my hair. Ethan started telling me a story of how when he was younger he got dumped by a wave and almost drowned. He said at the end a fish came and tried to eat his stomach and then we both cracked up laughing. When we finally reached the parking lot we said bye and he placed his hand gently on my back, "Make sure you rest up okay. Don't go out for a surf until at least a week."
"Thanks so much. Really. You saved me," I replied. Then we both stood there and stared at each other for a few seconds, and Ethan paused like he was going to say something, but he didn't.
"So I guess I will see you at school tomorrow?" He asked.
"Yeah, I guess. Bye Ethan," I waved and opened the door to mum's car, and watched him run back down the sand to meet his big brother and father. I could still feel his hand like it was imprinted on my back. His hands were soft and so gentle.
My mum interrupted my thoughts, "Cassandra! What happened I got a call from the surf patrol. And was that Ethan?" She kissed me and raised her eyebrow with suspicion when she said the name 'Ethan'.
I told all about what had happened-or at least what I remember happened- and also explained how Ethan saved my life and then he offered to walk me up to make sure I was okay. She nodded and hugged me tightly, promising I would never be surfing by myself again, "I'm more worried about your head than anything else you know. You got concussed. No bleeding right?"
"No. I don't think so. Just a really bad bruise right on the crown of my head," I shrugged and mum rubbed my head gently.
When we got home I grabbed an icepack from the freezer and took it into my room. I flopped onto my bed and reached for my phone. I held the icepack against my head with my left hand and used my phone with the other. I went on Instagram and, being the "stalker" that my friends say I am, I went on Ethan's page ethankarpathyofficial. He is pretty good looking. My mum even says so. My whole grade says so. I used to have a big crush on him in year 7, then it went away. I guess I never really lost the crush completely. Deep down I still had feelings for him. I still kind of do.
I scrolled through most pictures of him and made sure not to like anything that was posted over one week ago. After the events that happened today, I felt like we had a "moment". When we were walking up. The whole time. It was like we were best friends. Maybe even more...
After I scrolled through the pictures, I made up my mind.
Today was the day that I officially fell in love with Ethan Karpathy.
The next morning I woke with the pain feeling better than yesterday. It was Monday and that meant I had school. In the car on the way to school I thought about what I said to myself last night. I am 15. I don't even know what love actually is. But the point is that I never lost my feelings for Ethan, now I can't stop thinking about him. I can say I like him a lot. His perfect hair, his dreamy eyes, his sweet smile. I guess I have always had these thoughts and feelings within me, I was just waiting for the moment for them to be released. Everyone always called us a CC (cute couple) at school even if we didn't like each other. Since Year 7, and it has continued but people hardly say it unless they see Ethan and I together. I sent my friends a group text saying "Got wiped out. Surfboard knocked me out. E K saved me. Talk tmr xx". E K is our code name for Ethan.
I was grabbing my music books out of my locker to go to my second class when a boy approached me and rested his arm on my locker door, "Hey Cass. How are you?" Ethan asked.
I felt a happy, tingly sort of feeling because there he was. He was leaning against my locker."I'm good thanks. The pain is much better than yesterday except now I just have a bad bruise. I think I got all the water out of my lungs though."
"That's good," he smiled cooly, nodding his head slightly, "Well we both have Music next want to walk together?" He tightened his grip on his books and pointed his head in the direction of class. It was just now that I noticed he was actually leaning against my locker door. His hair was combed to the side, his waves adding volume and spiking up a little. His hair always looked so soft.
"Yeah sure," I smiled back. His big brown eyes gave me a feeling of warmth.
We ended up talking about Justin Bieber for some reason. I don't know why or how but I asked him if he saw Justin Bieber's recent performance on the breakfast show Sunrise, his Bieber Island performance. I knew Ethan liked Justin, so I just asked him, "Yeah I did actually. Justin is sick he is such a cool dancer and singer," he answered.
"Yeah I love his music. And also his hotness," we both laughed and talked as we approached the the music block. The music or performing arts block was a block in our school with a dance studio, recording studio, practice room and a music classroom. The block was new and the music classroom was decorated with a theme of blue, orange and yellow. A smartboard and whiteboard were up on the wall at the front of the classroom, and beanbags and little stools and cushions we what we sat on. There was no need for tables and chairs because all the theory work we did was on our laptops.
As Ethan and I walked into class we realised we were running late. The class seemed to be split into pairs, "Good morning Ethan, Cassie. You two are running a little late we started a few minutes ago. I have told the class to make groups of two and considering you are the only ones left you can go together. We are writing lyrics to a verse or chorus of a blues song. It doesn't need to have a tune just lyrics," Miss Andrews (the music teacher) motioned for us to sit.
We both nodded and then went over to sit on blue beanbags with a little orange table. The table actually looked like plastic stool except it was really heavy. I saw my friends in pairs, I hadn't gotten the chance to speak to them that much yet. So I still had to tell them the full story of what happened at the beach and also how I honestly felt about Ethan. They smirked at me and started making the letters 'CC' and love hearts with their hands. I just chuckled and rolled my eyes, "What is it?" Ethan asked as he looked over at my friends.
I cleared my throat, embarrassed, "Oh nothing just my friends being idiots. Please, ignore them."
"Haha okay," he turned his head and ran a hand through his hair, "I do ignore them. I just ignore everybody when they those things. They are just being immature," he started blushing and then he stared at the ground.
"Yeah...," I replied not really knowing what to say. I felt my face go red as I realised that he does actually notice about all that "stuff".
"So, we should um, start on our blues song. Do you have something in mind?" Ethan asked, trying to cut the awkwardness between us.
"Well blues songs were kinda' sad right? They singer would express their feelings through the lyrics. And sometimes they got a little silly I guess. Why don't we try write something heartfelt and about love or something. It's always easy to write songs about love," I blushed again, remembering the word 'love' and how my crush was right there with me and I was talking to him about love songs. Ethan has always loved music and he sings and plays guitar. It is really sweet. I could imagine being serenaded by him...
"Yeah I like it. I was going to suggest the same thing. I think we should write a verse. For the first line how about this," he took a pen and wrote down the first line in his notebook. It read 'My heart is cold. I am lonely. I'm waiting for that warmth to enter me'.
"That is great! Did you just come up with that on the spot?" I asked him.
"Yeah sort of. Well, no-it's complicated to explain. You can add on to it. We'll both write as much as we can and add on to each other's words."
"Okay," I added the lyrics 'How do I let you know? I'll just stuff it up you know. Can't express myself without actin' like a fool'. Then Ethan nodded and wrote some more.
Sometimes he would stick his tongue out just a tiny bit as he was writing. It was really cute. Then he would lean against the beanbag with his chin his hands whilst he read what I was writing. We both kept writing and we talked a little as we went. We talked about singers and bands. I asked him if he liked 5SOS and he said they're alright. That sometimes he would try relate to their song lyrics. I wondered what he meant by that, curious. Most of 5SOS's songs were about girls and love.
In the end these were our lyrics:
'My heart is cold. I am lone-ly
I'm waiting for the warmth to come to me
How do I let you know?
I'll just stuff it up you know.
Can't express myself without actin' like a fool
Every time I'm near you, I try to be all cool
But I still can't tell you how I feel about you-u, oh'
We only got about ten minutes to write them but we were happy with it in the end, "That is pretty good. I'm happy with it. I reckon we work really well as a pair. Maybe we should do it again?" Ethan raised his eyebrows so they made the slightest crease between them on his forehead.
"Yeah totally. That would be cool," I answered, making sure not to sound too enthusiastic. He smiled again and nodded. For the rest of the lesson we just did theory as a class about blues music. We had to create a short biography about a famous blues singer from a selection our teacher gave us and we had to do it in our pairs.
At the end of class Ethan approached me before I walked away. He looked nervous, "Hey Cassie um are you free this afternoon? I want to show you something. And also we can work on our music homework," he ran a hand through his hair again, trying to act casual. I couldn't believe it, Ethan actually wanted to spend time with me. My eyes lit up and my heart kind of leapt out of my chest. I tried my best to act casual back, and not like I was hyperventilating (in a good way).
"Yes I am actually. What did you wanna show me?" I was itching to know.
"Well I can't explain it all now but I am actually writing a song and I was thinking of starting a YouTube channel. Like singing and playing guitar and stuff, doing covers and maybe even original work. Look we'll talk later. I will give you my phone number so we can organise time and stuff later. You know my address right? I'll just send it to you anyway."
I stood there for a second with my mouth gaping open in shock and over excitement. I shut it soon enough before he realised, "Oh my gosh. That is amazing! Wow. I can't wait to see what you have done so far if you don't mind."
"Yeah of course. Well I'll see you around."
"Bye," I said as Ethan waved and walked away to join his friends, Jakob and Chris.
I started to breathe very fast and was about to to scream and squeal and jump up and down like Justin Bieber had just dropped a new record. But I stopped myself and scurried over to join my friends, Lauren and Vanessa.
We are all in the same classes as well. Lauren is really tall and really skinny. But a good skinny, she has a great body. She has really long legs and she dances like me. Her hair is shoulder length, thin and chestnut in colour. Her beady eyes are hazel and she has naturally curled eyelashes. Lauren was very pretty. Vanessa has a Brazilian heritage, and her complexion is beautiful. Olive-tannish in colour. She has long, dark brown wavy hair with light brown natural streaks in it. Her eyes are dark brown and big. She too is very pretty.
"Nessa, Lauren! How are you guys? Oh my gosh I have heaps to tell you guys come let's go find a seat before they are all taken. You know how the cafeteria is," I greeted them as I hugged them both.
"We're fine but how are you!? Cass you got concussed and almost drowned yesterday you could have even gone to hospital or died!" Lauren sounded really worried but I laugh and tell her to calm down.
"Wow that's nice Lauren. But anyway, Ethan saved her so she is more than fine," Vanessa raises her eyebrows and did a cheeky smirk. She placed her hands on her hips and hooked her thumb in her school skirt, "We saw you lovebirds in music getting in I swear. You were laughing together and everything. And in music. You both love music."
We all started cracking up and I started blushing, "Yeah about that. Um I need to tell you guys something," I said to them. We walked into the cafeteria and sat at a four seater table. We all had packed lunches today, we usually did. Cafeteria food is usually pretty disgusting and gross. I smoothed out the creases in my navy school skirt as I sat. I hated our uniform. Our junior uniform was a dress. I told my friends everything that happened, only leaving out a few details about how I felt when Ethan was talking to me and all that.
"Oh my gosh, Cass you gotta' be careful out there. The ocean is a dangerous place. I prefer to just stay on the sand and sun bake," Lauren pointed her fork at me and nodded, her hazel eyes wide with sympathy.
"Yeah I know right. Oh Brave One aka Cassie. And are you sure there isn't any thing else you need to tell us?" Vanessa smirked again raised her eyebrows suspiciously, "Maybe about Ethan?"
"Okay fine. I like him again okay! But not just 'like'. I can't stop thinking about him. And when he placed his hand on my back it felt like his hand made and imprint and was stuck there. You guys know I have always kind of liked him. But now it is like more. We keep having these 'moments'. And we exchanged numbers!"
Lauren and Vanessa just stared at me, their mouths gaping open. Lauren dropped her fork and it cluttered against her watermelon container, "Whoa steady there you guys are already dating!?" Lauren opened her eyes wide with shock.
"Jeez Cass. Sounds like your in love," Vanessa chimed in a singsong voice.
"Oh my goodness Lauren! We are NOT dating hahaha," I then stopped laughing and said in a really soft, serious voice, "I wish."
That made my friends laugh, and then I started cracking up as well, "Fine. But what was the phone number for then?" Lauren asked, curious. I told them all about the video thing and him wanting me to come over. Also so that we could work on our homework.
"That is still weird though. Like why does he want you to? Couldn't he have asked like Chris or Jakob or something? That doesn't make you think anything?" Lauren asked. She winced just a tiny bit when she said 'Jakob'. He and Lauren used to have a thing. They used to like each other and and stuff but then Jakob said that he wasn't ready and he just wanted to take a break. That happened about three months ago. Poor Lauren really liked him, and I'm pretty sure that she still does. They are still friends though.
"What do you mean?" Vanessa asked her.
"What I mean is that he obviously is trying to find an excuse to hang out with her because he really wants to. I swear to God he likes you too Cass, Nessa and I have both seen the way he looks at you. You should just tell him that you like him," Lauren gave me a serious stare with her beady hazel eyes. She was so serious it made me want to go up to Ethan right now and tell him.
"I don't know how! I can't just say it to him randomly. And if he does like me I'm waiting for him to say it first. Boys are more open with that stuff. If I say it I'll just sound desperate. Besides why would he like me?"
"Seriously Cass?" Lauren gave me a look then said 'Are You For Real'. She gives me that look a lot. She says I doubt myself way too much. I guess it is kind of true though, "The whole damn school thinks you guys are a CC even if you aren't even together! He is practically yours! And also, why the hell wouldn't he like you?" Vanessa nodded in agreement like I was crazy or something.
Nessa sighed, "Half green half hazel eyes, long, wavy naturally ombré brown hair, full, heart-shaped pink lips, tall, skinny, nice tanned complexion. Wait I'm trying to memorise the list. Very nice, down to earth, warm heart, amazing personality, and super smart."
Vanessa and Lauren both gave me the 'Are You For Real' look, "Still think he doesn't like you?" Lauren asked me, smiling.
"Thanks guys really. You have encouraged me a little I guess. I do want him to know. I'm just waiting for the right time."
"Speak of the devil," Vanessa said as she turned her head to the doorway to see Ethan, Jakob and Chris walk through the blue doors of the cafeteria.
The three of them walk in laughing and chatting, and Ethan gives Jakob a noogie. Chris nods at them and points in our direction for them to sit at a table. Then Jakob twists his hips between the tables and plonks down on a seat at the table right next to us.