"No" yells Jessie as she's thrown into the deep blue water of the pool. Levi, her boyfriend, stands triumphant at the ledge of the pool. Jessie breaks through the surface and thrashed wildly splashing Levi.

"You jerk"

I laugh as she continues to splash him and everyone around him. I sit at the top of the bleachers watching as all my friends jump into the pool, watching them all disappear into the blue and then break free from the surface. I take a deep shuddering breath, letting the chlorine enter my nose and fill my lungs. I stand up and begin to strip off my huge oversize t-shirt, revealing my purple tankini top and black trunks.

"Hey Karla"

I spin around and see Simon walking along the edge of the pool, towel hung around his neck. He brushed back his bleach blonde hair, giving me his super charged smile.

"Hey, I didn't know you were coming" I say, smiling at him but I can't help scanning the pool looking for a certain someone who pissed me off.

Simon must have known because he shrugged, then put down the two bags he had been carrying.

"He's here"

I shook my head and sit back down on the cold metal bench.

"Oh" I say, turning away so that Simon won't see me blush, or see the anger in myeyes.

"You know he really didn't mean what he said the other day right," says Simon, wringing his towel, "I know he isn't the social butterfly, but he's a cool guy, and if you let him, you'll see that he really cares about you"

I could feel my cheeks burning at the last part. As much as I hated it, there was that little part of me that wanted to burst out in joy. Simon stands there waiting for an answer.

"I'm sure he is a good guy," I tell Simon, "But you know as well as I do that Derek could really care less about me, I mean it's only been two weeks since you guys have been here, and yesterday were the first words he's spoken to me."

Simon glances around quickly and then sits down, "OK" he whispers urgently, "I'm going to tell you something and you can't tell anyone not even your girlfriends." I nod reluctantly and he begins to speak again,

"OK well for a fact I can tell you that Derek does care about you, I know you might not think so but believe me he does."

I blink, trying to grasp whatever Simon just said. "What do you mean"

"I mean" he pauses trying to find the right words, "ok he's had the biggest crush on you since we met you, when we got home from the skating rink, all he could talk about was how attracted to you he felt, and then with the incident of the sub, he came home worried that he hurt you and angry at himself"

Simon stops, glancing around the pool, looking for Derek. "Believe me he's crazy about you"

My heart flutters in my chest, realizing at what Simon's just said. "Derek likes me" I think over and over again in my head. I say it so much that before I can stop myself I break out into a blazing grin. Simon grin s back too.

"I'm guessing you feel the same way too"

I open my mouth about to answer him, but I see Derek from the corner of my eyes, emerging from the men's locker room, wearing black trunks and a black t-shirt. I quickly turn to Simon and furiously nod my head. Simon grins back, giving me a hug.

"Don't tell" he says one last time, and then I dive into the water.

The next day while I was brushing my hair and getting ready for school, I couldn't help but take longer putting on my make up and choosing my wardrobe. I tried to find something that would catch his eye but I settled on jeans and a t-shirt as usual.

I get to school, my heart pounding as I see Simon and Derek along with everyone else, waiting outside a big black hummer. I step out of my car, saying hello to everyone.

"So who's car is this?" I ask, joining the group in the front of the car.

Simon smiles and gives Derek a slap on the shoulder, his face warries a little as he grabs his hand in pain. "It's ours" he says, "Well more or so Derek, Dad didn't trust me with a car this big, but I'm getting a Mustang next week"

I glance up at Derek who's rubbing the back of his neck, even through the curtain of dark hair that's covering his face I can still see him blushing.

"Cool" I say, Derek looks up for just a second meeting my gaze, then in a split second grabs his bag and leaves, mumbling a thanks.

"Jeesh" says Zuzim, "You think getting a new car would make him happy"

I rub the back if my next and turn to look at Simon, who simple shrugs.

"Yeah" I say, "You think"

The rest of us all scatter on to the first period classes, and even though I desperately want to believe in what Simon told me at the pool, I know that it's not. Even if it were things would end in disaster, they always did. Derek would flirt with me for a bit, but then would leave me hanging for some bimbo who batted her eyelashes at him. That was the story of my life, as soon as I began to think that things might actually work, the gods would snatch him away.

By the end of physics I had decided that I wouldn't let myself feel anything more for Derek. I would keep my heart locked up. At the end of class I boldly shoved my way past him and headed out the door to geometry. On my way I noticed two blonde sophomore girls giggling and waiting behind another portable.

"Oh my god he's so cute" whispers one of them, "He's sooooo Asian!"

I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Simon was walking away from where I was. I roll my eyes and begin to shuffle through my bag looking for my geometry paper. As I'm shuffling I hear one of the blondes whisper.

"Oh look there's tall dark and gruesome, ugh I better get a date for being nice to him."

I look up in time to see the Derek blockaded in by the two girls. I bite my lip trying to hold back my laughter.

"So your Simon's brother right?" ask Blonde#1

Derek scowls and remains silent

"So handsome how are you?" asks Blonde#2

Derek jaw twitches as he rolls his eyes, he tries to get out of their way but they both push him back.

"Where are you going, we just want to talk"

Derek's fist clenches, the vein in his neck throbbing.

"Simon isn't interested; he's got his eye on someone else"

The girls smiles wilt, and all the laughter that I've been holding out explodes. Derek and the girls heads all snap in my direction, Derek's gaze impassive, but the girls faces are filled with fury.

"What's so funny" they snapped.

I shook my head, walking up beside Derek.

"Multiple things" I say, plastering on my big Cheshire cat grin.

"well for starters you think that Simon would actually be interested in you two hoe bags, two would be how your clearly insulting a guy who has higher IQ score than both of you combined, and third why would Simon want you when you both slept with the same guy and got crabs."

The girls stood their gapping at me, I began laugh even more and moved the two girls out of Derek's and my way.

"Now if you'll excuse me ladies, I have a class to get to."