Jim re-planned the way his swimming lessons would go – this time he would include the older kids to help him out. At the announcement of this, Aelita groaned silently.
"What's wrong, Aelita?" Jeremié questioned.
"Who's a year older than us and a great swimmer?"
"Uh... Yumi?"
"Who else?"
Jeremié then clicked, understanding her. He knew she didn't mind the recordings so much before but after almost getting the factory found out, she had reacted quite negatively. William had shrugged off her a bit too, only filming her when he thought of a good question to ask or if they were in the wreck room.
"Well, we'll be swimming, Aelita. He won't be able to record anything."
She shrugged and they both turned to watch the older kids arrive at the bus just outside the school grounds. Jim checked that everyone was there and began boarding everyone on. Aelita sat next to a window and Jeremié next to her, Ulrich and Odd in front of them. They had saved a space for Yumi and William next to them but Sissi had taken it forcefully, leaving the seats behind Jeremié and Aelita free instead. Yumi sprinted down the aisle to catch the pair of seats before anyone else could take them, while William took his time to reach the spaces.
As he walked by, he glanced at Aelita, sullenly looking out the window. She's still mad? He sighed and clutched onto his phone on the strap around his neck and went to take a seat next to Yumi.
"You guys ready to learn from the professionals?" Yumi chuckled as she leaned towards the gap between Jeremié and Aelita's seats.
Jeremié swallowed, slightly worried, and Aelita continued to stare out the window, completely ignoring the question. Odd and Ulrich looked back between the gap of their own seats and raised their thumbs, grinning.
"You betcha, Yumi!" Odd exclaimed.
They glanced at Aelita who stayed silent, then at William who looked uncomfortable. The rest of their journey was made in silence.
Once at the swimming pool, the older kids stood behind the younger kids that were sat on the bench just beside the pool. As Jim was explaining swimming techniques and what they will be doing in the lesson, Yumi nudged William's side.
"You can't keep this up. You better do something," she crossed her arms, aiming her attention back to Jim.
William shuffled uncomfortably, but he would do it. He knew he had to do something. As soon as the other kids from his year went off to find a partner from the lower year, he went straight for Aelita, who stayed sat on the bench, fiddling with her fingers. He slid down the bench, lightly bumping into her, and he managed a silent "hey" – which she completely ignored. With a heavy sigh, he began.
"Listen, I... I messed up, I know. We wasted a good amount of energy on a return to the past that wasn't needed because I led a group of people to the factory because of my – stupid – recordings. I know," he waited for a response, to which there was none, but in fact more of a frown than there was on her face before. "So... here."
He passed his almost unrecognizable phone, covered in a thick case with no openings, and placed it on her lap.
"Throw it."
She finally moved her glance from the pool to the phone then at William.
"I may be mad at you but I won't break your phone for it, what do you take me for?"
He raised both his eyebrows briefly, seeing as that didn't help as much.
"You told me yourself. It's better if whatever's on that phone is destroyed."
"Well you can take out the memory card, not toss it into a pool."
"You're angry, wouldn't that relieve you?"
"I'm not that kind of an angry person."
"But surely you'd-"
"I'm not angry!" she yelled as loud as she could, clutching the darn phone and swinging it as far into the pool as she could.
All eyes at the pool were on them; Aelita breathing heavily with her arm outstretched and William looking warily terrified. Yumi groaned and rubbed at her temple as she faced the others' bewildered looks. Aelita slowly calmed down, lowering her arm and beginning to look flustered.
"I- I'm sorry, that was-"
"Felt good, right?"
Her lips began to quiver – he should be yelling at her this time, even though his stupid phone deserved it. She watched as he dived into the pool and searched the bottom for the phone. As he emerged, he made his way towards the edge of the pool where Aelita was sitting, resting his arms against it. William dropped his phone right at her feet and exchanged glances between it and her, an amused look on his face.
"Want to do it again?"
"What?!" she exclaimed, looking completely shaken.
He picked the phone up and pressed on the screen, using it as if nothing happened. He felt her gaze turn confused and he glanced up at her, smirking.
"Waterproof case, twenty Euros, Amazon."
Aelita really tried to be genuinely mad at him this time, but she couldn't find it in herself to do so. She opened her mouth but shut it straight after. She then proceeded to sink her head into her hands and began to laugh silently. Taking his chance, William pushed himself out of the water and sat next to her again, patting a wet arm against her dry back, increasing her giggles.
"I'm really sorry for what I did, Aelita. Am I forgiven?"
"You're... terrible..." she said between laughs, nudging him every now and then.
"Well, come on, partner. Time to get you swimming," he took his chances, turning on his phone's camera and catching her constant laughter.