Chapter 2: "Trying It Again"

As nightfall took place, Melissa switched off the TV, finished what was left of her dinner plate, said "good night" to Betty (Betty said it back, of course), and the two went to sleep. Unfortunately for Betty she couldn't. The entire day was just too much to handle. For one thing, she knew she wasn't hallucinating when she breathed underwater, but the mere thought was just illogical! How on earth could that have happened? Betty knew it wasn't just her thinking that and then believing it. After all, some people can go underwater and start to think they can faintly breathe underwater until they start to turn blue and then swim up to air.

It was just much too confusing for Betty. And then there was the boyfriend she'd never expected to see the rest of her life, let alone Durst University. It was weird how he turns up to rescue her right when she formulates some dumb idea. Betty didn't have time for Jason though. Not when classes were just about to begin. Sure it was selfish of her for not giving Jason a chance, but she didn't feel the need to rekindle, and she suspected that was Jason's main idea after asking her out. Betty hoped that they could just settle as friends. Mere acquaintances. And then sleep overcame her.

The next day Betty headed off to her Biology class. Ironically they started to learn about respiration, more specifically, gills. Betty, as always, would pay attention and take notes diligently, but in this instance she expressed much more of an interest. This was actually something she could make an entire presentation of. It was fascinating to her. She began scribbling instantly.

-gill: a series of tiny flaps that have rich blood supply.

-The fish takes in water through the mouth.

-As water washes over gills, the filaments collect oxygen and give up carbon dioxide.

-Filaments are made up of tiny flaps, and oxygen goes into the flaps to reach the blood.

Betty was quite intrigued. But one thing stumped her. She didn't have any known gills. And surely it couldn't be her—no, it wasn't worth a try. But once class for the day was over, she'd head out to the pool again and try it (this time while trying not to make such a spectacle of herself).

After class she headed out to the pool like she had planned. Much to her dismay was Jason, watching the people in the pool, looking for any emergency. She groaned as she went into the locker room to change. She was wearing a flattering two-piece light blue bikini. She then went outside to go test herself. As long as Jason didn't interrupt, she might be fine.

She went into the shallow part of the pool on the other side of the pool where the diving board was far away. She expected Jason to pay attention to that place. Then the made the dunk. She went down to the bottom of the pool and kept her floating body down there as her auburn hair gently floated above her. Her eyes were closed, but then she remembered that there was nothing to fear… as long as her ability worked.

And it did! Once again came that great feeling. She inhaled and exhaled. Apparently she could breathe through the nose and mouth like she normally did. There went the gill theory. She looked around her, plenty of legs and ass surrounded her as more people went into the pool. Perfect.

She swam over to the middle of the pool where less people were. It was such a graceful feeling. Even her swimming improved into practically flying underwater without any effort whatsoever! She giggled underwater as she watched some bubbles float upward. Could she be losing her breath? It didn't seem so.

Above the surface, Jason watched the pool. He had his sunglasses and binoculars at his side while he sat there under a large red parasol on his tower. Then he noticed it. There was some figure weaving through the countless swimmers. And boy was this person fast!

"What the hell?" he said puzzled. He raised his binoculars to look closer at the person. It was hard to tell, but the person definitely had a brownish tinge to her hair. He was certain it was a girl too. After all, not many men are brave enough to wear a two-piece light blue bikini… and even if they did they couldn't pull it off. One word came to Jason's mind: Betty. Hopefully she wasn't pulling another stunt. But boy was she under for a while.

As the minutes passed by, Betty remembered that she was supposed to stay inconspicuous. She then swam up and pretended to make heavy gasps as she took in the air. She tried not to face Jason, so she kept her back to him. Jason sighed, knowing it was not the time to mingle with a friend during his shift. But boy was it hard. Oh, not that. I meant it was hard to resist going up to Betty and talking. Jesus…

Suddenly, from right in front of Betty emerging from the bright sunlight was Melissa!

"Oh, my God, Melissa," Betty began, "Don't sneak up on me like that! You could've given me a heart attack! Christ!"

Melissa giggled. "Sorry. I was just in the neighborhood. Wanted to see if you were here to see if you were going to make a scene again and voila! You're here. Plus, I wanted to test my new bikini and see this Jason for myself." Melissa raised her hand to shield her eyes as she caught a glimpse of an impatient Jason. "Oh, hot! Are you sure you don't want him?"

"No, I do not!" Betty growled.

"Then why are you here at the pool on such a hot day? You know, other than the obvious?"

"Because," Betty said before she remembered that her reason was farther than farfetched, "because I just wanted to see him, okay?"

Melissa squealed as she dipped her legs into the water and sat by the edge. "That is so cute! I can totally see you two going out! Just be courteous and leave a sock on the doorknob. I don't want to walk into some coital festival."

"Would you shut up?"

Melissa shrugged as she scoped the pool for some flirtation. Betty then drooped down into the water, dunking her head in, embarrassed. Melissa scoffed as she pulled Betty back up.

"Don't try to drown yourself now. I was only playing with you."

Betty let out a laugh. "Trust me. I am not going to drown. Anyways, I invited Jason over to go with us out into the city for some clubbing this Friday. Do you mind?"

"Not at all! I encourage it! We need some eye candy when we backhand all the other pigs trying to grope us. Except for Jason. He can grope me if he wants."

"Oh, you whore!" Betty yelled laughing. Melissa also laughed. It was a good thing the two were friends because usually calling someone a whore isn't a good thing.

Jason, while watching the girls laughing, half-laughed himself as if he was in the conversation as well. It was just some sort of unconscious habit while he waited for his shift to end. But Jason wasn't the only one watching the two girls and that was something the trio were all equally unaware of.

Melissa and Betty went to the showers once they reached McIntyre Hall as each occupied a cubicle while they both showered. They giggled thinking about the time they spent at the pool. It seemed like the beginning of a porn movie what with the innocence. I'm proud to say that Jason wasn't watching them showering. They both then got out in towels and headed over to their room.

Melissa and Betty were both sitting at their respective beds, talking. Melissa was doing her toenails and reading a magazine while Betty was scribbling down notes on her lesson. She silently tried to find the logic in her ability while Melissa talked about some show being cancelled from what she read in the article before her. Betty decided it was time to test her sanity.

"Hey, Melissa."

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to ask you a question. But you have to promise to not laugh or totally alienate me from our friendship or anything like that. You okay with that?"

"I don't know. It depends on the question. Could it be about Jason perhaps? Maybe your burning love for him and you don't want me to compete with you?"

"Oh, no, it's not like that at all. I wanted to ask you what you thought about… evolution. Do you believe in it?"

"Evolution. Hmmm, toughie that one is. My dad brought me up to be totally religious. But if I had a mind of my own, well, I'd say it could happen. We're not going to have some rousing debate about this are we?"

"No. I just wanted to see what you thought about it."

"Doing a report?"

"Just asking is all. I mean, some part of me wants to believe that evolution can be occurring this instant. It would definitely provide some answers—never mind I said that."

"Sorry. I wasn't listening. What did you say?"

Betty sighed as she shut her book and put her stuff away to get into bed. "Never mind what I said. It was just my old rambling." Melissa nodded, amused, as she put her stuff away. "Sweet dreams, Melissa."

"Likewise, Betty. My favorite part of the day because I get to fantasize about Jason at night. I wonder what he's wearing right now." It was dark, but Melissa knew Betty was red in the face. "I know, I know. I'm a whore. Crucify me."