I'm Sorry, I Can't

"Spencer, if you brush any harder, you're going to break the canvas," David tells me. I breathe out a sigh of frustration and focus on the details of the art work.

"I'm sorry. I'm just a little frustrated," I tell him.

"That's the same thing you said Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Now it's Tuesday and my partner is still in a bad mood. Is it the subject of the artwork? Is it messing with your mind?"

I look up at him and he really does seem concerned. I know I'm probably rubbing my bad vibes on him and I feel kind of guilty for that.

"No, it's not the project," I tell him and paint some rose petals. He takes the paint brush gently out of my hand and places it to the side. "What are you doing? I thought you wanted to get everything done early."

"Well, you seem distracted and you shouldn't be distracted while doing something this important. So, if you need to get something off your chest, I'm right here," he says, motioning to himself.

I shrug my shoulders and look over at the pool. We're sitting by the school's indoor pool with a huge canvas in front of us. Our project is almost done. We could probably finish today.

"It's just... A friend of mine is going through a rough time. She pretends she isn't, but I can see through her. I want to talk to her, but she's been avoiding me for a couple of days now."

Since that day Hope walked out of the gym, she's been avoiding me. I see her at school, but she distances herself from the group. She's still torturing the squad. Taking out her pain on them.

"Why don't you just wait for them to come to you and ask for help," he suggests. I shake my head.

"It's not that easy. What if I allow them to have too much space and they do something or end up in a worse situation? That'll be my fault and I won't be able to forgive myself.

He breathes out a sigh, probably seeing my dilemma now. I watch as he stands up.

"I'm sorry I have to do this, but you'll thank me later," David says and the smirk on his face tells me I'm really not going to like what happens next.

Next thing I know, I'm shoved back into the pool by David. I try to save myself, but my actions are too late.

I crash down into the water. My butt actually touches the bottom of the pool and it bounces me back towards the surface a couple of inches.

Ugh! This asshole is going to pay.

I kick my feet and paddle back to the surface to hear another body hit the pool. David swims over to me and splashes me with water.

"What was that for," I ask him in disbelief and spray water back at him. He must have an insane problem with throwing people in the pool.

"Race you to the other side of the pool," he says excitedly. He leaves me behind. "If you don't race me, you'll regret it," he says when he sees I'm not racing him.

I take his threat seriously, not wanting to know what he's capable of. I'm not an expert swimmer, but I'm still fast. I catch up to him and he tries to push past me to the finish line. I dunk his face in the water and swim fast to the pool wall.

I get there first and he gets grumpy about it.

"That doesn't count. You cheated." He frowns like a ten year old.

"How old are you again? Plus, you cheated first. You got a head start and you tried to stop me from winning."

"Whatever. You win," he says with a smirk. We both chuckle.

"Thank you. I know you only did that to distract me from my mind exploding."

"So, it worked," he asks me. I nod my head. "See. I told you you'd be thanking me afterwards."

I notice that David has gotten closer to me as we were talking, but I don't say anything because I don't want to make it awkward. His face seems to go serious, meaning he was going to change the subject.

"I know I never apologized for everything I said when I was mad at you. It was completely hurtful and I apologize. I had no right to judge you or say you and your friends are just rich brats." I look up at him shocked.

"I didn't think you were a person that did apologies," I mock him.

"Well, I tried. Am I forgiven?"

"Of course. It's all already forgotten." David tries to act all cool and unbothered during school hours, but he's just a big softy. I'm sure he wouldn't even start a fight with anyone.

Silence stretches between us and I can see wheels turning in David's head. Different emotions flash across his face. He comes to a resolution in his mind and he starts coming closer to me. That's when I realize what he's going to do.

I'm stuck between the pool wall and David. His body isn't touching mines, but he's close enough. Did I send the wrong signals. He's coming in for a kiss. What do I do?! Jeez, I'm going to crush his heart.

Before he gets any closer, I stop him by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry David, but I can't," I tell him. I couldn't have found an easier way to say it. I look up at his face and I see shame written all over it.

"You're right. I don't know what I was thinking. You have a boyfriend and you clearly don't see me that way." The way he answers makes me feel bad.

"No hard feelings, right? We're still friends?" He hesitates, looking at me in the eye before he agrees with me.

"Yep. No need to make things awkward." He gets out of the pool before me and shakes off his hair. "We can finish the project tomorrow. It's getting late and I know you have a game tomorrow."

I almost forgot about that. Our flag football game against Rooklyn High. Our team has a good streak so far. We won three games and only lost once. It'll help us qualify for the championships.

I can't lose sleep tonight. I need all the sleep I can get. I hope Jamie will be okay to play tomorrow. I don't know if she succeeded in getting Parker to talk to her or if she has told him the truth. I should ask her when I get home.

I've been so focused on Hope I forgot about everything else.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow." I walk out of the indoor pool area with soaking wet clothes and walk through the school. I convinced Nick that he didn't have to be my bodyguard anymore and that I could drive myself to school.

Chester hasn't tried to sneak into my room anymore. He just stays until my mom, Frank, Nick, or Grant kicks him out. Yes, even little Grant kicks him out of my room.

Poor, Chester. I think that time he fell out the window taught him a lesson.