Chapter Six

Tatsuya had a boring Sunday. And he liked his Sundays that way—quiet and boring. Her sister didn’t go out with her friends, though, so he was mostly with her the whole day. Along with his grandfather, who was now spending lots of time with them. His mother had gone to work again, which left him in charge of everyone, but it was nice having a quiet Sunday at home with his family.
And then on Monday morning he realized he didn’t have any of his homework done. Oh well. Gina woke him up for school, and he left without worrying about it too much.
Why does school have to be so damn boring? Tatsuya thought to himself. And it’s not even the good kind of boring. It’s the annoying kind of boring.
Speaking of annoying, Darren was still hanging out with him every chance he brought. The only good part of this was that since Darren and Maddy were kind of going out, she hung out with them as well.
The most annoying bits of Darren were shown after school. He just couldn’t seem to get his mind off of Maddy. Tatsuya didn’t blame him, though, since Maddy always did have that effect on people.
The three of them were walking on the edge of the parking lot after school, and then Darren and Maddy decided to have a make out session in front of the swimming pool.
One of the many stupid things about the school Tatsuya went to was that in the front of the school was the parking lot, and right next to that was the swimming pool. They had one of the nicest swimming pools in the area, yet there was no fence around it, so if someone really wanted to, they could drive their car into the pool and not have to go through any difficulties.
“Life is pretty damn good, isn’t it?” Darren asked, sitting down by the edge of the swimming pool. “Except for the fact that what I did just there was pretty stupid and now my jeans are wet.”
Maddy giggled. “Darren, you’re so cute.”
Darren smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t think being at the edge of the pool is very smart,” Tatsuya said.
“Oh, C’mon, Tat, what’s the worst that can happen?”
And then Tatsuya knew something bad was going to happen, and just then it did. A bicycle came in from the left, and when bicycles came near Madison Anabel Fisher, it was always a bad sign.
Maddy took two steps back to avoid the bicycle, and as she stepped on the edge of the pool, she tripped over one of her high heels and—SPLASH.
“Oh my God,” Darren said, standing up quickly.
Tatsuya didn’t even think about what had happened, or what he was doing. He dropped his bag, and jumped into the swimming pool after her.
Maddy wasn’t coming up. Her bag was too heavy to allow her to float, and she simply wouldn’t let go of it. Tatsuya dove down, pulled her bag off of her arm, and pulled her up to the surface.
The two of them gasped for air, and Darren helped pull them back up.
Tatsuya and Maddy coughed all of the water out of their lungs, and Darren began to panic. “I-I’ll get the nurse,” he stuttered. “I’ll go to the office real quick, and I’ll bring some towels or something. Don’t move, just stay here.”
“Th-thank you,” Maddy told Tatsuya once she had her breath back. “I don’t know where that bicycle came from.”
“You seem to have pretty bad luck with bicycles, don’t you?” Tatsuya asked quietly.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“Nothing. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine, thank you. But where’s my bag?”
Tatsuya coughed. “I managed to bring it up.”
“Oh, thank you so much. I don’t know why I was so stupid to be cling ing onto that stupid thing. I could’ve drowned.”
“No, you’re not about to drown in the school’s swimming pool.”
Maddy laughed. “I can’t thank you enough, Tatsuya,” she said again. “Really. Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” Tatsuya said. “I wasn’t even thinking, I kind of just jumped in after you due to natural reaction.”
“Yeah,” she said, smiling. “You’re a nice person. I don’t understand why you sit by yourself all the time.”
“Well, I—” Tatsuya started, but Darren was running their way with a couple of towels. He wrapped Tatsuya and Maddy in on each.
“The Nurse asked if you two were okay, and when I said that you were fine, she said to just give you these. I guess she was too lazy to get her fat ass out of her chair to come and help you guys.”
“That’s all right,” Maddy said, drying her hair. “Thank you, Darren.”
“Yeah. You two are all right, right?”
“We’re fine,” Tatsuya said. “Just a bit wet. I think it’s best we be heading home now, though.”
Darren picked up Maddy’s bag. “I’ll walk Maddy home,” he said. “I’ll see you around, Tat.”
“Bye, Tatsuya,” Maddy said, standing up.
Tatsuya followed, and stood up as well. “Bye,” he said, picking up his own bag. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Maddy smiled, and Darren put his arm around her and walked off in the opposite direction Tatsuya was going.
Tatsuya noticed how freezing cold he was on the way home, and he couldn’t stop thinking about Maddy. He didn’t even think about anything in particular, he just thought about that girl who used to be his best friend.
“Mom,” Tatsuya called as he walked through the door. “I’m home.”
“You’re mother’s not here,” his grandfather called back. “And I’m in the kitchen.”
Tatsuya followed his voice into the kitchen. “Hey, grandpa.”
“Hello, Tatsuya. How was school? Why are you soaking wet?”
“Oh, that’s a long story. But I’m okay.”
“Okay. You’d better take some rest. You look like you just had the wind knocked out of you.”
“Yeah, like I said, it’s a long story. I’ll be in my room. I’ve got a ton of work I need to make up.”
“Take care, Tatsuya.”
Tatsuya locked the door of his room behind him. “Hey, Gina.”
“Good afternoon, Tatsuya,” she said. “I hear you have lots of homework you need to do.”
“Yeah. Do you mind—”
“Doing the math? Of course, Tatsuya.”
“Thanks, Gina. You’re the best.”
“I know this.”
Tatsuya chucked his bag onto the floor and sat down. “God, I’m so done with this whole having friends thing.”
“Is something wrong, Tatsuya?”
Tatsuya threw the towel that was on him onto his bed. “Yeah. I just can’t take all these complications anymore.” And just as he said it, his phone rang. It was Darren. He picked it up. “What is it, Darren?”
“Hey, dude, what’s up? I called to ask you if I can come over and get some help on the math homework. I don’t get this at all.”
Tatsuya groaned. The last thing he wanted at that moment was Darren coming to his house. “No, Darren. I need some quiet, and frankly, I really don’t want to see you right now.”
“C’mon, dude, I thought we were friends.”
“No. You’ve always thought that, but you’re just this random kid who comes and sits down next to me at lunch. I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. You’re this new kid, and I’m the kid who sits by himself in the corner.” Tatsuya panted. It was tiring for him to get so worked up. He was never really this angry before. “We’re not friends, Darren, and you need to leave me alone. Just leave me alone, okay?”
There was no response on the phone.
“Darren?” Tatsuya called. “Are you there?”
Still no response. Tatsuya hung up the phone. “At least he gets it now. Thankfully. I am so sick of hearing that boy’s voice. He just doesn’t know when to shut up, and he’s so freaking awkward all the time, and he doesn’t even know it. I’m just so sick of hearing from him all the time. And the way Maddy is all over him all the time. The way everyone is all over him all the time just pisses me off! Seriously, I think I’d be better off if I never have to see his annoying face again.”
“Tatsuya, you need to calm down,” Gina said.
“Don’t tell me what to do, Gina,” Tatsuya yelled back. “If I want to be upset, then let me be upset. And frankly, I just want to be left alone right now.”
“I understand, Tatsuya.”
Tatsuya collapsed onto his bed, and buried his face in his pillow. “I’m so freaking tired. I’m taking a nap. Gina, could you wake me up in a couple hours? I’ll finish my homework later.”
“Of course, Tatsuya.”
After Gina woke Tatsuya up, he followed his regular routine without any interruptions. There was no more diving into swimming pools after people, there were no annoying phone calls, and there were no people disturbing him. Tatsuya was alone, and he finished his work in peace and quiet. Tatsuya Gray was alone, and he liked it that way.