A/N My teacher edited it a bit for me. lol

It was one of the most beautiful things Amelia had ever seen. He had grace like none she'd ever witnessed before. Even the splash he'd made left a lovely ring in her ears.

She wanted to be down there with him. She tugged off her shoes and left them under the magnolia tree next to Conner's, then stood at the edge of the rock. The drop was about six metres, the kind of high dive that had always made Amelia's heart skip a beat. In a good way.

A second later, his head popped up above the surface. He was grinning, treading water. "Don't make me change my mind about letting you win," he called.

Taking a deep breath, she aimed her fingers over Conner's head and pushed off and up into a high swan dive. The fall only lasted a split second, but it was a delicious feeling, sailing through the sunny air, down, down, down.

Splash. The water was shockingly cold at first, then ideal a second later. Amelia surfaced to catch her breath, took one look at Conner, and started in on her butterfly stroke.

She pushed herself so hard that she lost track of him. She knew she was showing off and hoped he was watching. She drew closer and closer until she slammed her hand down on the rock, an instant before Conner.

Both of them were panting as they hauled themselves up on the, flat sun-warmed surface. It's edges were slippery because of the moss, and Amelia had a hard time finding her grip. Conner had no problem scaling the rock, though. He reached back and gave her a hand, then pulled her up to where she could kick a leg over the side.

By the time she'd hoisted herself fully out of the water, he was lying on his back, almost dry. Only his shorts gave away any hint that he'd just been in the lake. On the other hand, Amelia's wet clothes clung to her body, and her hair was dripping everywhere. Most guys would've seized the opportunity to ogle a dripping-wet girl, but Conner lay back on the rock and closed his eyes, like he was giving her a moment to wring herself out. Either out of kindness or a lack of interest.

Kindness, she decided, knowing she was being hopelessly romantic. But Conner seemed so perceptive, he must've felt at least a little bit of what Amelia felt. Not just the attraction, the need to be near him when everyone around her was telling her to stay away, but that very real sense that they knew, really knew, each other from somewhere.

Conner snapped his eyes open and smiled-the same smile as in the picture in his file. A rush of déjà vu engulfed her so completely that Amelia had to lie down herself.

"What?" He asked, sounding nervous.

"Nothing."

"Amelia."

"I can't get it out of my head," she said, rolling over on her side to face him. She didn't feel steady enough to sit up yet. "This feeling that I know you. That I've known you for a while."

The water lapped against the rock, splashing on Luce's toes where they dangled over the edge. It was cold and spread goose bumps up her calves, Finally, Conner spoke.

"Haven't we been through this already?" His tone had changed, like he was trying to laugh her off. He sounded like a posh guy: self-satisfied, eternally bored, smug. "I'm flattered you feel like we have this connection, really. But you don't have to invent some forgotten history to get a guy to pay attention to you."

No. He thought she was lying about this weird feeling she couldn't shake as a way of coming on to him?

She gritted her teeth, mortified.

"Why would I make this up?" she asked, squinting in the sunlight.

"You tell me," Conner said. "No, actually, don't. It won't do any good." He sighed. "Look, I should have said this earlier when I started to see the signs." Ameliasat up. Her heart was racing. Conner saw the signs, too.

"I know I brushed you off in the gym before," he said slowly, causing Amelia to lean forward, as if she could draw out the words more quickly. "I should have just told you the truth."

Amelia waited.

"I got burned by a girl." He swung a hand into the water, plucked out a lily pad, and crumbled it in his hands. "Someone I really loved, not too long ago. It's nothing personal, and I don't want to ignore you."

He looked up at her and the sun filtered through a drop of water in his hair, making it gleam. "But I also don't want you to get your hopes up. I'm just not looking to get involved with anyone, not anytime soon."

Oh.

She looked away, out at the still, midnight-blue water where only minutes ago they'd been laughing and splashing around. The lake showed no signs of that fun anymore. Neither did Conner's face.

Well, Amelia had been burned, too. Maybe if she told him about Tyler and how horrible everything had been, Conner would open up about his past. But then again, she already knew she couldn't stand hearing about his past with someone else. The thought of him with another girl - she pictured Sarah, Chloe, a montage of smiling faces, big eyes, long hair - was enough to make her feel nauseated.

His bad-breakup story should have justified everything. But it didn't. Conner had been so strange to her from the start. Flipping her off one day, before they'd even been introduced, then protecting her from the statue in the cemetery the next. Now he'd brought her out here to the lake - alone. He was all over the place.

Conner's head was lowered but his eyes were staring up at her. "Not a good enough answer?" he asked, almost like he knew what she was thinking.

"I still feel like there's something you're not telling me," she said.

All of this couldn't be explained away by one bad heartbreak, Amelia knew. She had experience in that department.

His back was to her and he was looking toward the path they'd taken to the lake. After a while, he laughed bitterly. "Of course there are things I'm not telling you. I barely know you. I'm not sure why you think I owe you anything." He got to his feet.

"Where are you going?"

"I've got to get back," he said.

"Don't go," she whispered, but he didn't seem to hear.

She watched, chest heaving, as Conner dove into the water.

He came up far away and began swimming toward shore. He glanced back at her once, about midway, and gave her a definitive wave goodbye.

Then her heart swelled as he circled his arms over his head in a perfect butterfly stroke. As empty as she felt inside, she couldn't help admiring it. So clean, so effortless, it hardly looked like swimming at all.

In no time he had reached the shore, making the distance between them seem much shorter than it looked to Amelia. He'd appeared so leisurely as he swam, but there was no way he could have reached the other side that quickly unless he'd really been tearing though the water.

How urgent was it for him to get away from her?

She watched, feeling a confusing mix of deep embarrassment and even deeper temptation, as Conner hoisted himself back up onto the shore. A shaft of sunlight bit through the trees and framed his silhouette with a glowing radiance, and Luce had to squint at the sight before her eyes.

She wondered whether the soccer ball to her head had shaken up her vision. Or whether what she thought she was seeing was a mirage. A trick of the late-afternoon sunlight.

She stood up on the rock to get a better look.

All he was doing was shaking the water from his wet head, but a glaze of droplets seemed to hover over him, outside him, defying gravity in a wide span across his arms.

The way the water shimmered in the sunlight, it almost looked like he had wings.

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