First, Wyatt’s brows pulled together slowly as if he couldn’t begin to understand what Asa was telling him, but then the realisation eventually dawned on his face, and his green eyes widened in disbelief.
Wyatt let out a sound that was between an incredulous laugh and a scoff. “You’re kidding.” He shook his head and stepped back slightly. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
Asa ran his fingers through his hair, looking away into the distance as he watched students enter the building in groups. “Wish I was.”
“No no no.” Wyatt shook his head, obviously not willing to accept the startling news. “No, they can’t do that! They can’t.”
Asa shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant even though he knew his friend could see right through that façade. “It’s all right,” he lied. “I mean, our school still has a chance of winning—”
“I don’t give a shit about the school,” Wyatt muttered, looking away. “This meant a lot to you, didn’t it?”
Asa didn’t respond for a while and just stared at the side of his friend’s face and it hit him then how oblivious and blind he could be sometimes. Because here was someone standing right in front of him who’d stood by his side for as long as he could remember, but someone he’d never appreciated enough, if at all.
Picking up on the lack of response, Wyatt turned back around to face Asa, confusion flickering in his eyes. “Asa?”
“Do you remember how we became friends?” Asa asked, but he didn’t know who he was really speaking to, Wyatt or himself.
“Um—”
“Freshman year,” he went on, watching the memory play out in his head as if it was just a moment from yesterday and not a little more than three years back. “I had entered the swimming building for the swim team try-outs.”
“Yes, I rem—”
“And this particular group of other freshmen—there must have been three of them—told me that I had no business trying out for someplace where I didn’t belong and that the openings on the team belonged to them already so I shouldn’t waste my time hoping to get it.”
“Okay—”
“And the others within earshot just looked away awkwardly because they figured it wasn’t their problem and they pretended to not have heard anything… but you didn’t stay quiet.” Asa’s vision zoned out of replaying the scene in his head and focused back on his current surroundings, his eyes meeting Wyatt’s confused and surprised ones. “You told them to shut up if they had nothing nice to say and that if they so much as looked at me in the wrong manner, you would place them in a chokehold underwater.”
Wyatt grinned then. “I remember that. Their expressions were hilarious.”
Asa didn’t register his words as he continued to speak, the words flowing out of his mouth naturally. “When I went home that day, I was so upset, and all I did was keep thinking about what they said. Ma was worried that I’d never make any friends and that maybe we’d have to move somewhere else.”
“I’m not getting what you’re trying to say.” Wyatt frowned.
“I’m saying that I went home with their hate at the back of my mind. I’m saying I stayed up the whole night ranting to my mother about how I wished none of them would be selected for the team. I’m saying I spent so much time letting the anger in that I forgot to tell her about this one boy who’d stood up for me. And…” Asa’s fingers curled around his bag’s straps, his nails digging mercilessly into the leather. “And that’s what I’ve been doing all this time too. Focusing on all the people who’ve stuck knives in my back rather than the ones who’ve had my back.”
Wyatt opened his mouth, blinking in bewilderment, but he seemed to be at a complete loss for words. Asa didn’t mind, though. Today, he’d rather do all the speaking. God knew he owed the guy standing in front of him that much, at least.
“So I want to say I’m sorry,” Asa murmured, looking away from his friend and past his shoulders instead. “And thank you. Thank you for that first time in freshman year, and thank you for all the times you’ve been there.”
Wyatt was still not speaking. He seemed to truly be clueless as to what he should do or say which only resulted in the situation slowly beginning to grow awkward, and with that, Asa’s urge to face-palm increased, too.
“Dude,” Asa deadpanned finally, throwing his hands into the air. “I get that you’re not like me—that you’re not that heart-to-heart kinda guy—but a little courtesy would be nice anytime soon.”
Wyatt snorted and looked towards his right, but the small smile on his lips didn’t escape Asa’s attention. “Next thing I know, you’ll be asking for a hug,” he muttered, a teasing edge to his voice.
“I wouldn’t mind one actually,” Asa said in a serious tone, but his eyes were alight with mischief.
Wyatt grinned. “I haven’t seen you this carefree recently; good to know you’re back.”
“I’m still waiting for my hug.”
“Oh, piss off.” Wyatt snorted and shoved Asa playfully before walking down the hall with a smile and a shake of his head.
Despite the light-hearted moment, Asa found himself in wonder if perhaps losing something in the short run meant winning another thing in the long one.
Because even though he knew that Isla was no more a part of his life, leaving a dull ache somewhere in his chest, gaining back Wyatt’s friendship felt like a breath of fresh air and for once—for once—he wanted to focus on the good rather than letting himself drown in the bad.
•••
Asa was using the school’s pool again.
It was a spare period, and just like all the other times, he wanted to spend it in
