A/N: I am on a roll here! One more chapter up this week! Yay!
And big shout out to Pigwiz, every time I read your puns it makes me crack up to the point that my mom wonders why I'm laughing out loud.
Onward to the story!

Chapter 5: Is it Cold in Here...?

It was strange. Like I knew I was breathing, but nothing was functioning in my body. I felt tingles all throughout, coming and going, passing up and down my arms and legs; like it was being reawakened. Either that or I was like a robot and was being reprogrammed. I could feel the slow beating of my heart but I still felt lifeless for some weird reason. My brain was telling me to move my hands, but they felt heavy, too heavy for me to lift them. My legs felt like they were glued to the sand. My eyes stayed shut, I was too lazy to open them, and my throat felt hoarse, like if they shoved a shovel full of sand down it. The only thing I could do was hear. And the only thing I could move were the tips of my fingers amongst the cool sand.

Wait a minute sand?

I tried moving my fingers again, and true enough, there was sand underneath them. Which meant that there was no water, so that must have meant that I was safe. I was rescued. At least I think I was. I was alive, or else I was dead, and heaven had a ton of sand. Yeah, heaven, I don't think I have done anything worth going to hell. I wasn't that bad of a person. Almost dying was the worst thing I have ever done, and I don't think that should be reason enough to send me to hell for.

I felt something against my chest as I slowly started breathing, which meant that I wasn't dead. Or maybe I was, I don't know. Does one need to breathe when they die?

"He looks stable, now can we depart?" I heard a whisper. Thank god I knew that voice. It was Marina's. I wanted to take a deep breath and laugh at the world. I was alive after all.

"We're under the pier, who will come here and see us?" Sam's voice came out too. I wanted to take an even bigger breath because she was alive as well. I have no choice but to take the guess that she was the one who saved me. And here I thought I was going to be the big hero. Well, either she did or Marina, but I doubt she would be willing to save me. But wait, wasn't she drowning? And wasn't that the reason I jumped and risked my life in the first place?

"But you're incapable of reaching the ocean. Look at where you are." She cautioned Sam again. Isn't that the whole reason? The further away we were from the water that almost killed me the better.

"I'm fine without touching the water." Sam said. Why would she still need to touch the water? And why did Marina sound so worried? "Plus, I feel fine when it doesn't touch me either. Like, almost as if he-"

"He is nothing! I don't even know why you rescued him. He almost discovered who we are." Why she rescued me? I was a human being! Only a heartless person would let a person fall to their death. This Marina chick was starting to both bug and scare me.

"But he didn't so it's cool." Sam reassured her.

"If he were to wake up-"

"I'm hoping he will." I could hear the smile on her voice. She was being playful. "It's okay Marina. You can go back if you want. The moon is still out and I feel fine." Sam said. I felt something stroke my hair, and imagined it was her hand, fixing it just a little bit. I felt her other hand on the top of my chest, as if to check to make sure my heart was still beating. It was very slowly, and I tried my hardest to keep it at that tempo so it wouldn't show that having her touch me was exciting. Thank god I know self-restraint.

"Oh no." she said, very seriously, "Who knows what you will do if I leave you alone with him." The way she said it, her tone of voice as she said it. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew she didn't like me. Her voice was dripping with disdain and making me feel as dirty as the sand I was laying down on. The pressure was gone from my chest as Sam pulled away. I heard her footprints in the sand as I assumed she walked over to where Marina was sitting. A cold breeze blew past me and I felt myself shudder silently.

"We're no different. I bet they would think the same chizz about us freaks." Sam said, defending me. I felt her staring at me, both with fascination as well as a sense of understanding. Her footprints came closer, and again the touch of her hands was in my hair again. It was nice, even though I couldn't see her. I liked how I could hear her, smell her. I wanted to touch her hand in reassurance, to tell her that I was fine, and to thank her for saving me.

"Don't start with that." Marina said. "It's bad enough that you want to associate yourself with them, you know how much your father disapproves of such behavior. You should have been over this years ago."

"Well, I'm not, I still like it over here so he just has to suck it up." Her hand tore away from my hair once again and I found myself frowning. She was probably the first person to have ever just stroked my hair in an affectionate way. Carly would always pet it, like a friend. Not something I rather enjoyed, but I put up with it just because I was that much of a push over. But the way Sam was doing it; it was nice. "The food is what keeps me coming back." She said. Coming back from where?

"I'm just glad once you marry your betrothed-"

"I'm not gonna marry that nub." Sam said simply. I didn't even know she was in a relationship with someone, much less getting married. Then my mind came to the guy from the Groovy Smoothie, how he was all over her. I think his name was Mark? I would personally call him brooding, muscles, and Neanderthal-ish dude that was a wannabe surfer. How he spit up the smoothie from the best smoothie establishment in the world still baffled me. And I was right when I detected that sense of protection as well as a bit of jealousy. His grip when he grabbed me by the shoulders wasn't a brotherly one; it was one that was laying out the cards on the field to tell me where he stands. If I had the same amount of muscles (along with being as tall and angry looking) I would have done the same.

"You won't have much say in the matter, he is strong and your father has taken an interest in him to lead the kingdom since he has no sons. He is the perfect candidate-"

"Shh! Just because he's asleep doesn't mean he can't hear!" I heard Sam hiss. But it was too late. I heard kingdom, no sons, and the fact that her soon-to-be husband was big and strong. I felt like I was thrown in some sort of a fairytale. Kingdoms and betrothals and princes' oh my! Something by the way she said that made me think that she knew I was conscious, and that the reason behind my closed eyelids was voluntarily. I was tired of lying down, eavesdropping on her conversation. I gathered enough strength to pull my body up halfway. I heard Marina gasp and try to pull Sam away. I felt my hands move up and grab her, but she slipped right out of my fingers. Like if she had butter on her hands or something.

"Someone's coming!" She told her, not noticing that I was getting up. I felt my legs, my chest, everything become lighter so I stood up, opening my eyes to complete darkness. I closed them again to try to have them adjust, rubbing them with my hands. It was still night out. I saw something moving away from me and made a big splash in the water. And then I saw Sam, as she was falling into the water, but at the same time falling back to where I was.

"Sam?" I said, making her freeze in mid dive. My voice was still raspy, but it was loud enough to make her stop from getting further into the water. She froze, and then silently cursed, almost as if she was angry she got caught. But what it was I didn't have the slightest idea. I couldn't understand her. It was night out and that water must have been freezing. It was when I jumped in. What is she thinking going into the water? "What are you doing?" I tried getting up all the way but fell back down, my legs were like lead, probably from the excessive kicking I did probably not too long ago.

"Don't worry Fredbag. I wasn't going to jump like last time." She said, pulling herself away from the sea and plopping next to me. I felt my cheeks redden. She never voluntarily sat next to me before. I did it before, when we were under the lamppost. And she remembered my name and didn't call me a nub like she did the last time I saw her. "You okay after your failed attempt at being a hero?" she snickered. I glowered in her direction, but not enough to show that I was angry. I don't think she would have minded though; she would probably enjoy the anger that would radiate from within me.

"The point of the matter was that I tried." I tried giving myself some credit. But as I said it, it just made me feel more feeble and pathetic. Feeble because I wanted to do something heroic and in the end failed miserably. Pathetic because a girl had to save me, when it should have been the other way around. "So what happened? I don't remember anything after I fell in the water." I tried playing it off as I brought a hand up to my face, but deep down I knew. Marina pushed her in the water; I saw with my own eyes that she did that. I was curious though, to hear what she was going to tell me. And since I was under a pier, tired and freezing with no way to get warm, I had nothing to lose. Well I know that I had to go and look for something to keep me warm, but when was I ever going to get some alone time with this weird but fascinating girl?

"I went over the pier and Marina tried saving me but it was too late." I eyed her but she didn't notice and continued giving me her version of the story. "She didn't want to, she wanted me to stay still while you called for the ambulance, but I felt fine really. And I kept bugging her to take me so we ran to the pier." That explains how they got there so fast. "And I dared her that I could get a barnacle-you know those really hard to get black things that sprout on the legs of the pier-" she made tiny o's with her hands, and held out her palm, showing me the size of the barnacles, "and slipped on some green algae and fell. Good thing I can swim or else that would have been two dead bodies they would have found in the morning." She elbowed me, making me hold my side, and silently tell myself that it didn't hurt. But secretly, it did. "Then you jumped over, thinking I fell and not only did I have to save my ass but I also had to save you. That about sums it up." She said, looking in my direction. Even in the moonlight I could see her dark sea blue eyes, so playful and yet so strong, making me turn away quickly.

"But you were sick, puking up… water." I said, vividly recalling how she was hunching over and throwing up nothing but water.

"Drank too much water I guess. But then I got it out of my system and felt better." She explained. She didn't get up and for that I was glad. Actually, I was just glad that she didn't leave me here all alone. I liked sitting here talking to her, even though I knew I should have told her by now to help me up and find somewhere I could get a towel or somewhere warm or even to go get my stuff or something. I had to go home. But with Sam, I didn't feel rushed or anything at all. On the contrary, I wanted to stay here a little while longer and just stay here talking to her. Her and just her. That's when I realized that someone wasn't present.

"Where did Marina go?" I asked. Wasn't she here just a second ago? "I heard you two talking?"

"Getting your things at the top of the pier." She pointed a finger up to the boards that were acting like a shelter to the both of us. The only thing it wasn't doing was covering us from the cold breeze that would come by once in a while, making me shiver uncontrollably. Sam, however, didn't even notice (or should I say feel) the cold. "I guess I should take you to a hospital or something before you die of pneumonia or whatever is spreading around these days." She said, a look of agitation on her face. I don't think she knew what to do. But she was in the water too. She should have shivering uncontrollably like I was.

"I just need to keep warm." I said through chattered teeth. "Like body heat." I didn't notice it while I said it but after I saw that there went my cockiness again. I just didn't know why but she did that to me. She arched an eyebrow, shrugged and started getting closer. My feet didn't feel so heavy as I too started getting closer in her direction. My first time having such a close contact with a girl that made me turn away in embarrassment. And she was willing too! I was just centimeters away from her skin grazing my arm. But the minute I touched her skin I recoiled and so did she.

"Why are you so cold?" I yelled, "and slimy?" I rubbed my shoulder, feeling the same thing I felt when I went for her hand: a slippery type of sensation.

"Why are you so wet?" she yelled back, "And dumb?" Dumb? The wet part was obvious; I was just in the water. The dumb part was what threw me off. I didn't notice until now that her arms were still wet. She hadn't touched the water since she came to sit down with me. I felt my face, my arms and saw that they were dry. The only thing I still had on me that was wet like she was was the shirt and pants, not even my hair was that damp anymore. She, on the other hand, looked like she just jumped out of the water. Her hair was still hanging loose, the water bringing it down, making it look even prettier straight. "Just forget about it. I went in a little and got out quickly, that explains why I'm still like this okay?" She explained and I couldn't stop from staring, amazed that she was still wet, and she wasn't shivering like I was. She wouldn't look my way. I observed that she didn't want to look my way.

"What is going on?" Marina came from behind, making me jump and turn her way. She was carrying my shoes, shirt and backpack. She stared at Sam the entire time as she handed my things to me and went to Sam's side, automatically noticing something was wrong. "What happened?" She looked from Sam's direction, to mine, and then back to Sam again.

"Nothing." Sam quickly replied, but Marina didn't believe her. I could automatically tell by the way she was looking at her. "I was just getting bored of sitting down next to this nub. Honest." She added, insulting me along the way. Well it was nice while it lasted. She started walking away, further down the beach, kicking the sand a few times.

"Wait, Sam-" I started getting up but Marina pushed me back down. She was pretty skinny; I didn't think she had that much strength to push me down so easily. When I tried getting back up she pressed her finger in my chest. I stared up at her and saw a serious look come upon her pretty round face.

"You need to refrain from seeing us." She warned. "You are not making this a simple feat so if you could please-"

"Marina!" Sam yelled from over her shoulder. Marina shot up like a bullet from where I was and took one last nasty look at me and departed, reaching Sam's side in less than a few seconds. She didn't even turn around to say goodbye. Neither one of them did. Figures. She would always just get up and leave, and I would always look her way and wonder who she was and why I honestly cared. Her strong eyes, her hypnotic voice, and lets not forget her desirable need to cause me nothing but physical harm should tell me straight away to get as far away from her as possible. Yet here I was, freezing my ass off when I should have gone to a hospital or something by now. A stronger breeze brushed past me and I reached for my shirt, put on my shoes and started walking towards the street. I figured there would be no point in chasing after her right now, unless I wanted to get gangrene on my toes or something. I had to take care of me first. I'm pretty sure she was going home anyways. The only destination I could think of right now was Carly's house. I took out my phone from my jeans... Wait, from my jeans?

True enough, my phone was completely washed. Who knows how many times my mom called... Oh shit. Mom...

The last thing I wanted to think of was the look on my mom's face if she saw me like this: trembling under the only source of heat: the lampposts lighting up the streets. When I told her I was at the library, the warm and comfy library.

Sure didn't sound like a bad idea right now.

A/N: Hope you guys liked it! Feel like leaving me a little review? I love reviews. :)