(Qibli's POV)

I was sitting in the cafeteria at school, next to Winter, with Moon across from me, and Kinkajou across from him. Turtle was on my right. It felt a bit like a boys-versus-girls arrangement, but really it was just awkward because no one was talking. My mind, meanwhile, was racing.

She's so beautiful, the way her hair falls around her face like that. Brilliant, too. I know that she's been acing all her classes. I could learn a few things from her, probably. Maybe I could get to partner with her on a project one time, then I could learn about more about how that amazing mind of hers works. But why would she ever choose me, especially when I can see how Winter looks at her-look at her, she's looking at him now. They'd be good together, I suppose-I just wish I weren't quite so worthless... Ah, but maybe I could still hang out with her sometimes, just as friends-that would be acceptable, I suppose. But would it be awkward, with Winter and all- I tried to cut off my thoughts. I was going way too far ahead. Stay here in the present, Qibli. Don't forget to pay attention to what's happening around you.

I ended up being the one to break the silence. "So, Moon, how were your classes today? Are you liking Pyrrhia High?"

Moon looked up at me, with a bit of a surprised look on her face at being addressed. "Um, yeah, it's great. History is interesting, and I've always liked science."

"Science is awesome," I agreed, glad that this didn't just end up being a one-word conversation that ended after five seconds. "I'd like history, but I'm afraid that Webs can be so frightfully boring sometimes. It's the only class I've ever managed to fall asleep in."

Moon gave a soft murmur of laughter. Winter snorted. "As if. Remember that time in P.E. in fifth grade?"

I did remember. And it was a subject I tried to avoid. I had fallen asleep in P.E. one time, and when I came home late from detention, my mother had been furious. It wasn't the best night of my life, to put it mildly.

"Winter, I though that we had all agreed that we weren't going to talk about the P.E. incident?" Kinkajou broke in. Winter had the grace to look ashamed.

"Sorry, I forgot." He mumbled.

"Um.. I get the feeling I shouldn't ask this, but what was the P.E. incident?" Moon said tentatively. "You don't have to answer."

"No, it's fine." I said, cutting off whatever Winter was about to say. "Here's what happened: I fell asleep in P.E. one time, got detention, and came home late and had to explain the whole thing to my mom. She threw me out of the house for the night and turned my siblings loose on me. It wasn't a pretty sight." I finished, glancing at her to see how she might react. In truth, I was kind of gentling it a bit. By 'not a pretty sight,' what I really meant was that I came to school the next day with a black eye, more large bruises all across my face, including a particularly nasty one on my lower jaw. "It's fine, though. Used to happen sometimes. Is that enough for you?"

Moon looked a bit guilty. "Sorry I asked, I didn't mean to intrude."

"Nah, it's fine," I said, and the bell signaling the end of lunch got me on my feet. "Come on, we'd all better get to our classes. Let's go, Winter. It's time for spanish class." I pulled him to his feet. I always ended up kind of running off and trying to leave as fast as I could whenever my family came up. It was habit, and instinct. As we were pushing through the crowd of students trying to leave the cafeteria, I felt something touch my arm. I turned to see Moon.

"Qibli? I am sorry. I hope I didn't hurt your feelings or anything." Moon said. Huh. Nice of her to apologize again, even though she did nothing wrong.

"It's fine, Moon. I don't really talk about it much. Just, maybe ignore it? I try not to remember that time of my life."

"Sounds fine," she smiled. I smiled back, unable to resist. "And I know we only just met a few days ago, but... you seem really nice and funny and kind, and if you ever want to talk about it, I know how it feels." With that, she slipped away into the crowd.

That's right, I realized. She has Morrowseer for a father. Maybe I'm not the only one with family issues.

And so with that, I walked off to my next class, and I was smiling quietly to myself for the rest of the day.

***

(Riptide's POV)

I was walking over to the pool where Tsunami and I had agreed to meet after school. School had ended ten minutes ago, and we had agreed on fifteen. So that meant that I had five more minutes to wait. Which basically translated to five more minutes to get more nervous. I decided to jump in, since I was always calmest in water. I looked at the regular diving board that was off to the side, in the deep end. Then I looked at the one next to it. It was about twelve or fourteen feet from the water, and I always loved jumping off of it, maybe doing a flip or two while I was at it. I hadn't gotten a chance for a while, sinceI was always busy at swim practice or doing homework.

Climbing up the ladder quickly, I walked out to edge. Ah, the smell of water, even if it has chlorine in it, I thought. I preferred swimming in freshwater or saltwater, but if you were on a swim team, you swam in the school pool, merely because you had access, and why waste it? Besides, I didn't know what Tsunami liked.

Footsteps had me look up as I was about to jump. Tsunami was walking into the pool area, and she glanced around, probably looking for me. I grinned and called to her, "Look up!" Tsunami did so, and smiled when she noticed me. "Hey, Riptide. You gonna jump?"

"Yeah, that was the plan." I responded, wondering what she was up to. There was something in her voice that made him think that she might be planning something.

"Okay, then. Go ahead." Tsunami grinned, kicking off her sandals and dangling her feet into the pool, her eyes trained on me. Ah. That was it. Now I had an audience. A very pretty audience.

I stepped to the edge. training my eyes ahead, not down. Three, two, one... I counted down in my head, doing a small bounce with each number. Jump! I shoved off the diving board, tucking my legs towards my chest and going into a double flip. I hit the water feet first, and they stung a bit from the impact. I shoved myself upward, breaking the surface of the water and taking a breath.

I swam over to the side of the pool, placing my hands on the edge and shoving myself onto the concrete. I pushed my sky-blue bangs, which were now plastered to my forehead, out of my eyes.

"Nice flips." Tsunami's voice reminded me that she was still here.

"Oh.. uh, thanks," I muttered. What was I supposed to say? Ugh, I was horrible at situations like these.

"So, what's your main stroke?" She asked.

"Huh? Oh, I'm a freestyler. I'm pretty good at butterfly, too."

"Cool. I'm definitely a freestyler too." Tsunami responded. As she was talking, she was walking over to the lower diving board, climbing the ladder.

"Doing a flip?" I asked.

"Nah, just a dive." Tsunami answered. She jumped off the board in a smooth dive, before coming back up to the surface, pushing her long hair back out of her eyes.

***

After spending an hour and a half laughing, talking, splashing, and swimming in the pool, Tsunami grabbed her towel and began to wring her hair out. I quickly followed suit, though I only kind of ruffled my hair, not really caring how dry it was. I was setting my towel down was I realized Tsunami was looking at me and chuckling softly. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing," she said, muffling her laughter.

"Seriously, Tsunami, what?" I asked, starting to get a bit freaked out.

"Your hair is sticking up everywhere." Tsunami said. I hurriedly reached a hand up to try and smooth it down, but I was stopped by Tsunami grabbing my wrist. "Don't fix it. It looks cute." she blushed almost immediately after she said it. Wait. Did Tsunami basically just say she thinks I'm cute? We both realized at the same time that she was still holding my wrist. She quickly took her hand away and set it in her lap. Our eyes met, and I realized that maybe, just maybe, I had a chance at this girl.

Maybe I wasn't as bad at this as I thought.

Okay, so... sorry I like literally abandoned this book for a few weeks. I whipped all this up in one day, and I tried to make it good. I'm really debating that on Qibli's part, because I don't think it was very good, but I wanted to do a little Moonbli versus Winterwatcher thing, just to get a bit in there. Plus, I wanted to give you guys some Ripnami, so maybe I didn't totally fail? Anyways, hope you enjoyed!

Glorybringer1163