After scanning my surroundings I exhale deeply. Everything about this pool area is disgusting. The scent of chlorine triggers thoughts of red eyes and dry skin, the sounds of children screaming and splashing around make me feel like I'm in a cage with monkeys who have an affinity for cocaine, and to top off the shit sundae I forgot my sunscreen and will surely find myself in the burn victims unit in approximately 90 minutes.

I try to feel more at ease with my surroundings. Beach City's pool wasn't really the finest establishment. It was really only used as overflow when the beach got too crowded. I don't like the beach and I definitely didn't like the beach's shitty little sister, but frankly, I owed Amethyst the favor.

She had been begging me all summer to come to the pool with her because Pearl always came here, and Amethyst certainly had a "thing" for Pearl. She was convinced that her new purple bikini would win over Pearl's heart. I didn't agree. Sure, Amethyst's curves work in her advantage, but I don't really think Pearl was the type to fall for someone over as shallow as a cool string bikini, but what do I know about picking up chicks? Most of the girls in our grade find me as attractive as a 50-year-old woman trapped in a preteen's body, which is honestly fair.

I lay a towel over one of the last free lounge chairs and dug around in my bag looking for a book. I didn't realize I could get this bored this quickly. The issue of boredom didn't even compare to the complaints my pale skin was having against the sun. The indoor pool, which was in a building only a parking lot away, wasn't open right now due to some unfathomable reason. I know because I tugged at each door twice.

I breathe deeply and remind myself of the importance of friendship. I am here today because I owe it to Amethyst and I owe it to Amethyst because I forgot her birthday, which was last week. Besides, Amethyst has liked Pearl for a while, and as much as she has played it cool, I know that if this plan didn't go well Amethyst would be devastated, and honestly, it's pretty likely that this won't go well. Amethyst is considerably younger than Pearl as well. Pearl is in my grade while Amethyst is two grades below. Senior, sophomore pairings almost never work out. It took a lot of coaxing, and I still opted to wear jeans and a shirt instead of a revealing swimsuit, but I did agree to come. I think a large part of it has to due with the fact that I think I understand how Amythest feels.

Last week I met a girl at the big donut and though it seems rather strange, I instantly knew that I wanted to be with her. I don't think she's older than me or anything, but it's obvious that we live very different lives. She ran over my bike, which is a shitty thing to do, but in the moment I didn't care too much. I saw her and I instantly forgave her, and I almost never forgive people. I thought the girl liked me back until I realized that the number she gave me was a fake number. It was the number to an Italian restaurant a block away from the Big Donut, but after a little bit of snooping and asking around I discovered that she works at that restaurant. I would've gone to the restaurant by now if not for the fact that when I think of this girl I get filled with rage. That's probably the weirdest part. Every time I think of her I also think of my crushed bike and the fake number and her idiot friend, Lars, and I think of the stupid fucking smug smile she flashed me in the Big Donut. I think of all that and I want to cuff her in the face, but I simultaneously think of her curly hair and strong arms and just how hot that smile was and I want to slam her into a wall and make her beg for mercy. See the predicament? I've concluded that my attraction to her is purely physical and that it's not worth pursuing. There will plenty more hot girls who won't destroy my only method of transportation then refuse to pay me back.

I shift my focus on people watching instead. It takes all of my effort not to think of the blue-haired donut girl, but eventually my love for people watching takes over. It's probably weird how much I love to watch people, especially considering how much I hate talking to them. Talking just isn't really my thing, but watching people is always interesting. They balance so well in photos. Seeing all the different colors of people's hair and skin and eyes is almost magical. There are so many moments throughout the day that would be excellent photos that could forever capture the feeling of life. If I was a better photographer I'd capture these moments everyday. I'd have thousands of them saved onto my laptop, but as of now I only have six. If I was a better photographer I probably would've thought to bring my camera to the pool. It's not like I'm getting anywhere near the water, and the people here, however boisterous, smelly, and annoying, were very fun to look at.

The people splashing around and talking idly almost intimidated me, but I couldn't help but think it was beautiful. Everything about humanity seemed to be this way. Childbirth, sex, emotions, dancing, living, dying. All those things that make stories great. The things that keep life moving. Everyone at the pool seemed to exist in another world, but they weren't. They were in my world. This world. Our world. The same world where some girl in Russia is stretching before she debuts in her first professional ballet recital and a dad in Australia is having "The Talk" with his adopted son and some Indian girl is pinning the last part of her saree together before excitedly marrying a man she's met only once and some falsely convicted prisoner in Hong Kong is getting tortured. This was all happening right now, or maybe not right now given the time zone differences, but they are all just insanely possible things that are going one while I'm sitting on a stupid pool bench in full clothing doing nothing.

A purple blur distracts me from the thoughts. Amethyst's obnoxious and recognizable laugh erupts from the corner of the pool as she splashes around. When we started our friendship I just assumed that she was more immature due to the fact that she was two years younger, but now I've realized that her immaturity is a part of her personality. Never in my life have I possessed the type of energy that Amethyst has. Not when I was 15 and not now. I roll my eyes then move my line of sight to Pearl who's staring intently at the scene from a chair on the other side of the pool. I can't read her expression from the distance, but everyone around Amethyst is smiling, so I assume Pearl is also enjoying the show. A crowd gathers around as Amethyst makes waves and does handstands underwater. At times I envy her charisma. Everyone loves Amethyst, and they cheer her on as she climb out of the pool and starts strutting around. "You guys ready for a something cool?!" Amethyst cries out to her fans. There's a general murmuring agreement accompanied by a few claps. Amethyst looks ecstatic and flashes Pearl a smile before trying to perform a dive that ended up being more of a belly flop. Everyone seemed thrilled regardless.

Everyone except for an angry Pearl who started storming off towards the lifeguard stand. If the goal was to please Pearl then Amethyst's success was comparable to that of the Apollo 13. She came nowhere near the goal, but at least her belly flop was cool.

"That girl has been causing a scene for the past twenty minutes! What happened to no horseplay? She really should be removed. I just don't understand how you could allow this behavior to happen!" I quickly lose focus on Pearl's rant and try to make eye contact with my friend. She looks and meets my eyes, but quickly looks away. In that short glance I saw tears and tears don't sit well with me.

I try to make a plan. I try to think of something I can do that will stop Amethyst from crying, distract the lifeguard, and make Peal less angry. I look at Pearl and look back at Amethyst thinking of how quickly things could go wrong and how even the best plans could turn to shit. What's the point of plans? Who needs a fucking plan? And in a moment of pure impulse I started running, sprinting into the water. Fuck.

"Look she's drowning!" First I feel incredibly stupid. and I would be mad at myself, but self pity took priority over anger in this particular moment. At least now I know I'm selfless. I always wondered whether or not I could die for someone; I just wish I knew that before I was y'know, dying. As I thrash around I briefly consider going still and naturally floating back up to the top, but before I can act upon this thought I feel something in the water reach out for me. In fear and anger I fight against this force. I fight until I think I'm about to lose my senses. I've never held my breath for this long. I inhale involuntarily, and the last thing I feel before blacking out is a burning sensation in my nose.

My eyes fly open and I start coughing violently. I am positioned on my side, but I quickly roll over and sit up. I'm alive. "Go back on your side!" The voice comes from the lifeguard who I assume just saved my life. As my vision focuses I feel a chill run through me. The lifeguard is the blue-haired girl from the Big Donut. "I just started my fucking shift and you have to try to drown yourself!" She looks pretty pissed. "On your side!" she repeats as she nudges me.

Her nudge brings me back into the moment. "Why?" I whine with zero desire to bring my body to the gross ground. The look she gives me is filled with contempt, but says nothing. "Where is everyone?"

"I shut down the pool, because you started to bleed in the pool," she points to a large scratch on my arm. I wish she didn't point to it because as soon as attention is brought to it, it starts to sting.

"Doesn't the chlorine counteract blood contamination in pools?"

"It does, but it doesn't counteract the grossed out public. Besides everyone started leaving when I started giving you CPR. It was freaky."

"YOU GAVE ME CPR?!" I begin to rub my mouth and think about how I disgusting I could've looked as she pushed down on my chest. I cringe at the thought.

"Uh, yeah. Now for the hundredth time, lay on your side!" She pushes me down forcibly and I welp. She grabs my arm and digs her fingers into it as she examines the cut. She crinkles her eyebrows and bites her lip. I briefly think about how her lips would've felt against mine if I were conscious, until I remember that CPR doesn't always require mouth to mouth. Would it be weird to ask her if that happened? I decide that it would be weird and that I'm entirely too confident for someone who nearly just drowned.

Her commanding voice pierces my thoughts. "You're on your side because it reduces your chances of choking on your own spit or vomit. Bring your knees to your chest." Instead of pointing out that my chances of choking are ridiculously low and that I'm not even coughing anymore, I decide to keep quiet and comply with her instructions. She sighs. "Why the fuck would your run into the deepest part of the fucking pool if you can't even swim?" Every other word she hisses out is stressed and her face is red. She's wrapping bandages around my arm though I'm starting to get more concerned about the bruises her fingers will leave as her grip only tightens.

"I thought you worked at the Italian restaurant."

"Stalker. I have two jobs."

"Why do you have two jobs?"

"This isn't the time for small talk. You're a real mess. You know that?" Her grip becomes unbearable like hot iron. I cry out and try to tug my arm away.

"You're practically assaulting me and I almost died!"

"But guess what," she sneers "you didn't die because I saved your fucking life," she motions for me to give her my arm. I don't respond.

"Do you always curse this much?" She looks absolutely furious and yanks my arm back.

"Trust me, the last thing I want to do is be here bandaging your flabby arm."

"Don't call my arm flabby!"

"Well it is. You should work out more," My jaw drops. Sure, playing Overwatch wasn't the best arm workout, but I'm definitely not weak. It was one thing for her to be attacking my arm, but for her to calling my arm flabby too was literally adding insult to injury.

"But I'm skinny!"

"So? You're not healthy. Maybe if you weren't so out of shape you could hold your breath for longer." She ignores my question "Also why can't you swim. You're literally the second person I've had to rescue in the three years I've worked here." she shakes her head "I almost called off. I was this close to not coming in today."

"Maybe it's good you're getting more hours in because you need to pay me back for my bike!" she finishes bandaging my arm and stands up.

"Fuck you and your bike." she turns quickly to repack the first aid kit.

I stumble quickly to my feet and feel slightly dizzy as I do so. "Why are you angry right now? This is literally your job! What's wrong with you!?" she walks to a table on the other side of the pool.

"Everything," she calls out. She grabs a medium size box and shakes out all of the contents onto one of the tables nearby. There's a phone, a t-shirt, sunscreen, a water bottle, a pair of sandals, a bouquet of flowers, and other smaller things that I can't see given the distance.

"I need to get out of here," she persists as she quickly packs all her things into a small backpack.

"What are you doing?" I slowly walk over to help her pack and see what else is on the table.

"I closed the pool for the day. I'm leaving." The anger has left her voice and she seems more mild and cool now. She resembles the personality I saw when we met in the Big Donut, but now she's less playful and more over it.

"Can you do that?" She shrugs.

I reach her at the table, and I'm disappointed to find that the smaller objects were just several coins and a pair of earrings. I interest myself with the bouquet of flowers. "You have a hot date to get to?"

"No. Give those to me."

I stretch my hand out behind me "What's her name?"

"Why do you think I'm gay?" My face drops, and I start to go red. She was definitely flirting with me in the Big Donut. She had to be gay, but what if she wasn't.

"Give me my flowers."

Still thinking about her previous question, I almost hand the flowers over without thinking, but I stop myself. "Why should I? You ran over my bike!"

"I just saved your life." She pushes me once more and I fall flat on my back. Before I can speak she's on top of me, straddling me and prying the flowers from my hands. After ripping the flowers away she stays on top of me, purposely putting all her weight on my stomach. She checks her flowers methodically to make sure they aren't crushed or broken.

In this odd moment I take in the aesthetic. I can't really tell if I'm dreaming or not. Why is she so comfortable with touching me. I can hardly shake hands with a stranger, but here I am getting straddled by this near stranger and I'm doing nothing to stop it. I don't even know her name. An admittedly gorgeous girl in a with dark blue curly hair is sorting through her purple flowers. I scan her facial features which are all fairly mild. The one thing on her face that I wouldn't consider to be mild is the color of her eyes. Her blue eyes aren't bright and they're not jarring. They look like a storm. Mostly dark gray but technically bluish. They're fierce and unexpected and not very welcoming. When I first saw her at the Big Donut I hadn't noticed their color, just their ferocity. Now as the sun shone from in front of her, the only thing I can focus on is the way her eyes seem to be gradually getting lighter in the sun. As her eyes lighten, her expression relaxes too. It's a brief moment of perfection. This would be a beautiful photograph. It's weird how I can find such peace in a moment like this.

I try to take a deep breath, and realize that I'm still staring. My eyes inadvertently drop down from her face to her thighs, and I quickly come to terms with the fact that she's wet and wearing a one piece bathing suit. Her uncovered tan thighs are spread and straddling my stomach. This is the closest I've physically been to another person in a long time. I feel a blush spread across my cheeks and a try to squirm away. She doesn't notice, and if she does then she doesn't respond. She's definitely gay, or she's just being a bitch and teasing me because she knows I'm gay, or maybe she's just a physical person?

After what feels like an eternity, she gets up and packs the rest of her things. I sigh with relief as she goes into the bathrooms and emerges quickly, sporting a black dress. She grabs a set of keys and wordlessly gestures towards the gate. I read the message loud and clear and walk out before she does. I watch as she locks the gate to the pool. She doesn't even look my way before walking off to the parking lot. Bye aggressive lifeguard girl. Thanks for saving my life.

"What were yew finking?" Amethyst asked with a mouthful of burrito. As soon as I left the pool I called my friend to find out why she ditched me. I didn't press it too hard because I assume she left to mourn the loss of Pearl. She picked me up in her brother's car which is illegal due to her age and unwise due to her brother's aggressive nature, but in the moment I kept my mouth closed. She drove us to her favorite Mexican restaurant to catch up.

"I wasn't thinking anything, or maybe I was?

Amethyst ponders my words "You're really stupid. You know that?"

"I know. Trust me. The lifeguard was pissed."

"Well no shit, but she should really get over it considering they make like $13 an hour and most of the time they just sit there."

"Really? Thirteen?" That isn't too surprising considering the training it takes, but that's almost double what I make working at the car wash with Greg.

"Yeah! I know because Jasper tried to work there. Thirteen whole dollars, so I wouldn't feel too bad." Jasper was her older brother who's gotten fired from half the stores in beach city.

"Speaking of feelings, how are you?"

She shrugs nonchalantly "So much for impressing Pearl."

"You surely made an impression." I say with a dry laugh.

Amethyst turns " She's never gonna talk to me again."

I frown. "It's her loss, you're a real gem."

After dinner Amethyst wants to go to the park and smoke. She offers to bring me but I know she wants to be alone. I do however wish I would've let her take me home, because the walk was a lot further than I anticipated. I miss my bike. My arms may be flabby and my core strength might be equivalent to that of a toddler, but my legs were in decent shape from all the pedaling around town. I manage about three miles before deciding to sit down on a bench near a stop sign.

For about twenty minutes I sit and watch cars pass by. I realize that only approximately 70% of Beach City's populants stop at this particular stop sign. At minute number twenty three I see a stray cat across the small road. She's small, probably young, she has white fur that's slightly matted and gray. I stand, but just before I can cross the street to scoop up the kitty, a blue Toyota Corolla comes tearing around the corner. It's an old one. Probably from '97. To my surprise the car comes to a screeching halt at the stop sign, and I get the chance to peer briefly into the window and look at this reckless driver. It's lifeguard girl. I'm not surprised. This reckless display would match up with someone who would run over my bike and leave. Her hair is pulled back into a stubby little ponytail and there's dirt on her arms. She doesn't notice me. I wonder why I've been bumping into her so much all of a sudden. Just as she pulls off I notice tears spilling down her cheeks. I hate when people cry.

A strange feeling starts bubbling in the pit of my stomach. I turn my head to see where she turned from and frown after reading the sign "Beach City Cemetery". I curse myself silently. I've been sitting here for nearly thirty minutes. I can recall every car that's past, I even remember the license plates to a few of them, but in the entirety of that half hour, I never noticed that I was sitting just yards away from a cemetery. Something tells me to turn that corner and go into the cemetery, and I immediately shut down that idea with the understanding that feelings like those are reserved for the stupid people in horror movies that are drawn to their deaths. I turn to continue my walk home and only make it five steps before giving into my previous feeling and running back towards the cemetery.

I've never been here. Only one person in my family has died, but it wasn't here in Beach City. It was my Grandma, and we weren't that close anyways.

I run up to the cemetery and immediately see a bouquet of purple flowers under the a tombstone reading "Luis Lazuli". I feel like I've seen too much. I feel horrible. I feel closer to lifeguard chick in the worst way possible. I don't even know her name yet, but I already feel like I know something about her that she wouldn't want me to know. I sigh and leave the graveyard with my mind swirling. Every time I've seen her she's been so different than the last time. I wonder who she really is, and I wonder where I'll bump into her next.