"Do you have the mythology paper we did today?" Nick gave me a dumb look after I asked him. It was Friday and we were on the bus, on the way home.

"You mean the one I turned in?" I raised my eyebrows. Well then.

"Yes." I grumbled. He smirked.

"Give it to me. I'll give you the answers." I smiled and handed over my half-completed worksheet and my pencil. I pulled out my phone and answered a few texts while he wrote in my answers for me.

Once he gave it back, I smiled and said thanks.

"No problem. Don't expect it to often." He smirked.

"I just wasn't paying attention." He laughed and looked down. I put my worksheet back in my binder and zipped up my bookbag. When I looked back up at him, he looked sort of sad.

"What's wrong?" He looked up, annoyed.

"Is there ever anything wrong with me Miles?" I shrugged.

"If there was, you wouldn't tell me." He nodded.

"I just don't feel like talking today; I feel like staring off into space." I looked at him funny and tapped him with my foot to get his attention. He kicked me in the shin.

'Fuck, that hurt. Does he just like, not like me anymore?' I shook my head of that thought. No, something bad just happened today I'm sure. I sighed and took my Beats out of my bookbag and shoved them over my curly hair and turned Kanye West up loud.

"Dude, I'm hungry as fuck." I laughed at CJ as we walked into McDonalds on Sunday afternoon.

"Same." I said as we got in line. I stared off into space; I hadn't been able to get Nick off my mind all weekend. I wanted to know what the hell happened on Friday. He seemed fine in Myth.

"Dude, Miles. Pay attention." I looked up, the annoyed, impatient Mickey D's worker waiting for me to place my order. I sighed and ordered our food.

Once we got it, CJ and I sat down, dropping our drawstrings and skateboards beside up, and started shoveling food into our mouths. We hadn't eaten since this morning.

"What we doing after this?" I asked, chewing on a Big Mac.

"Basketball at the park." I groaned.

"But you jackasses never let me play."

"So?" He asked, except his mouth was full so it sounded more like "fwo".

"SO, it's boring watching you guys play."

"So have someone come down." Nick.

"Who would come to the park and not play basketball?" Time to set the trap.

"Nick…or Connor." I scoffed.

"Not Connor. No way." CJ crumpled his wrappers up into a ball.

"So call Nick." I shook my head, shoving a fry in my mouth.

"Don't have his house number, you call him." CJ sighed and pulled out his phone and dialed Nick's house number. Nick didn't have a phone.

"You busy?...We about to be up at the park...Miles…Nah, she says she doesn't want to be alone while we play…yeah…kay, see ya." He hung up.

"He comin'." I nodded and finished my food. We got up and walked out with our skateboards.

We peddled off towards the park. The streets around us weren't busy, ever, so we always rode in the street. It was smoother than the sidewalk. And bigger.

We rode up to the park and rode down to the courts. We flipped our boards up and CJ handed me his board and bookbag. I set our boards down near a blue picnic table, and our bags on top of it. I put my Beats on my head and turned up Lil' Wayne.

After awhile, I got board of just watching the courts, so I turned to look at everything else. Nick was sitting on his bike behind me, close up. I screamed. He laughed.

"How long have you been there?!" Laughing so hard he couldn't talk, he held up a two. I punched him in the shoulder.

"Asshole." He kept laughing and sat across from me.

"Why did you guys want me to come up here if all you and I are gonna do is watch CJ play basketball?"

"That's exactly why we wanted you up here. So I wouldn't be bored." I smirked. He laughed.

"Hey, what was wrong on Friday?" He looked at me.

"What do you mean?"

"You wouldn't talk to me and you kicked me in the shin." He looked down and smiled.

"Sorry."

"What was wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I ran a hand threw my curly hair.

"I guess there's no point in trying to get it out of you. You're not gonna tell me." He smiled sheepishly and shook his head. I smiled softly.

For the next two hours, all Nick and I did was sit at that picnic table, talk, and watch CJ play basketball and football.

"I kinda feel like throwing the ball around."

"Kinda defeats the purpose of the reason we called you, but go ahead." Nick got up from the table and walked over to where CJ and all his friends were playing football. I looked at Nick, he was wearing dark blue jeans and a white v-neck with a plaid shirt over it and Nikes. His ass looked good in the jeans, not gonna lie.

I looked down at my outfit, a bright orange Swim States champions t-shirt and dark blue jean shorts with black converse, my brown curly hair probably a complete mess from the wind and sweat.

I watched Nick and CJ play. Someone threw the ball and while CJ and another guy jumped for the ball, Nick caught it, barely moving an inch. I chuckled.

A half hour later, Nick and CJ walked up to me.

"Ready?" I jumped out.

"Been ready." We grabbed our boards and Nick followed close behind with his bike. We rode up to my house, which was only five blocks from the park.

"My moms making dinner, you guys in?"

"You even gotta ask Miles?" I laughed as CJ opened my front door and walked in.

"Hey mom!" My mom smiled at my best friend calling her mom. CJ had been doing that since we were in eighth grade.

"Hey CJ. Hi Nick. How are you guys?"

"Good." They both said.

"You guys want food?"

"YES!" That was all three of us. We were starving.

My mom gave us three bowls of spaghetti and we sat down in the dining room, my mom in the den.

"So, Miley and her mom have a bet. About you." CJ pointed his spaghetti covered fork at Nick. Nick raised his eyebrows at the comment and looked at me.

"What kind of bet?" I could feel my cheeks turning red.

"My mom bet me fifty bucks that you and I would get back together before the end of the year." Nick laughed. "Obviously I'm gonna win." He raised his eyebrows as CJ walked into the kitchen to get water.

"Even if you don't win, you could lie and say you do." He whispered. I smiled.

"But I want half that money." He was talking in a normal voice now.

"No way!" He laughed.

"Ten percent."

"No."

"But I'm part of the bet."

"I don't care." We both smiled at each other. About a half hour later, all three of us had finished eating. By now it was after nine.

"Can I get a ride home?" I shrugged.

"I'm grounded. Ask my mom." CJ nodded and all three of us walked in to the den.

"Mom, can I have a ready home?" My mom laughed.

"Sure CJ. Do you need one too Nick?" Nick shook his head.

"No ma'am, I have my bike outside." My mom nodded.

"Miley just use your car."

"YES!"

"But just for this." I nodded as she tossed me my keys out of her purse. CJ, Nick, and I walked out into the dark. I unlocked my car and slid into the drivers seat.

'Oh yeah, back in my seat.' I laughed at how happy I was to be back behind the wheel of my car. I turned, facing outside of the car and leaned my side on the back of the seat as Nick got his bike.

"See you guys tomorrow, on the bus." He smirked at me.

"Bye Nick." I laughed as him and CJ fist bumped and Nick rode off. I waited until he was out of sight of my mirrors and backed out of my driveway. I drove up the street towards CJ's house. He lived less then two minutes away by car. I pulled up to his driveway and put the car in park.

"See ya tomorrow." He held his fist out and we bumped fists. He got out and I waited until he got in his house before driving away. I drove around the block and pulled back into my driveway.

I jumped out of my seat as the last bell rang. I was excited to get to practice. I grabbed my bookbag and swung it on my back and put my swim bag over my shoulder. I walked past the commons and down the stairs to the basement. I was walking down the hall when I saw Nick, walking towards the buses. He looked up at me, and gave me a little 'sup' nod. I smiled and kept walking.

I jumped off the block and dove straight into the pool. Once I reached the water, I started swimming in and out of the water, performing a fifty butterfly for a practice race against a few teammates. I finished in second and held onto the block bars as I listened to my coach's tips. I sighed and plunged underwater.

Through my goggles, I looked at the entire pool. Calm, inviting, quiet. Everytime someone asks me why I love swimming, I say it's because it's challenging and fun. But the reason I really love swimming, is because if you go underwater it's completely silent. No one yelling at you, no one talking to you, no one bothering you. It's just you, in your own world. It's calm and quiet and it seems like the water just floats the stress away, like an oceans waves. I shut my eyes and slowly came back up to surface, because I needed air.

If I had had the option to be born with gills, I probably would've been.

"You're not going to practice today?" I looked up at Ben on Tuesday morning. He walked up to my locker, while I was still squatting on the ground putting my forensics binder away.

"I never said that." I shoved my Myth binder into my bag.

"You don't have your bag." I stood up and put my forensics book back at the top part of my locker. I winced at the pain of raising my arms.

"I pulled like four muscles in my back and my ass yesterday. It hurts to swim." He laughed and pulled out my mythology book for me. I smiled to thank him.

"You pulled a muscle in your ass?" I nodded and laughed.

"It hurts to sit. I'm not even joking." He laughed.

"Are you going tomorrow?" I shrugged.

"I have two projects and three papers due. I need some work time." He nodded.

"When are you gonna start going?" I raised my eyebrows. He had been on vacation for two weeks. He's been back for almost a week, but hasn't gone to practice yet.

"Today." I laughed.

"I might see you there tomorrow." He nodded and started walking away.

"See ya kid." I rolled my eyes and walked towards my second period. I strolled in and sat in my seat, wincing at the pain in my back and butt.

"You in pain, Miley?" I looked at my teacher smiling at me. There were only eight or nine kids in the class so far.

"Yeah, I pulled a few muscles at practice yesterday."

"Practice for what?"

"Swim team." She nodded.

"How did you pull muscles swimming?" I chuckled.

"Freestyle, mostly. It stretches your back more than any other stroke." She nodded.

"You can stand for the class." I shook my head. That would put to much attention on me.

"No thanks." She shrugged as the bell rang. I started turning my head towards the board, and noticed Nick had been watching and listening to our whole conversation. I smiled at him, a bold move for me, before turning to face my teacher.

I hugged Beth goodbye and walked onto the bus. I walked back too my seat and Nick moved his foot off my seat when he saw me. Once I sat down, he tried to put it back on but my legs were now in his way.

"Water football is so much fun."

"Water football?" I laughed.

"Yeah, I kept trying to jump up to get the ball and my ass landed on the gutter like nine times." We both laughed. We continued to talk as the bus pulled out of our schools parking lot.

"You coming over today?" He shrugged.

"Is your mom working late?" He whispered, barely audible. I nodded.

"Ad club." He nodded.

"Probably." I nodded.

"Oh girl, I'm in love with you girl." Nick and I looked up to see Matt singing a horribly off-key, out of tune song he made up to me. He continued to sing as he put his hands on my face, close to my neck. I screeched a few times before he let go. I looked over at Nick, who was laughing.

"What was that? 'EEEEEH, EEEEH, EEEEEH,'" I glared at him, but laughed.

"I don't like when people touch my neck." He laughed.

I walked in my front door and threw my backpack onto the couch before walking to my fridge and looking for food.

I made some popcorn and plopped down on the couch, watching SVU. Around four thirty, I figured Nick wasn't coming and laid down and fell asleep.

I hate that I miss him.