Ash
Setting - The Lake
Time - 5:15pm  

The cool water embraced Ash. She raced herself, her own mind, across the lake to the small buoy platform. Without coming up for air, she flipped and swam back. It wasn’t far, not as far as she could actually swim without coming up for air, but adults tended to worry if she was under too long. Ash had long ago learned to come up for air when the others in the water did. At home though she swam long and deep when no one was there. So long that she had lost count.

At the shore she bobbed up for air and to slink around in the shallows a bit. Jamie was approaching the lake, his tie was loose, and his shirt half-buttoned and untucked. Not that it mattered after class hours, but Ms. Reese still gave him an exasperated look. He was grinning, but even still he seemed off on another planet. 

“Jamie.” Ash yelled and got out of the water with a lot less grace than when she gets in. 

“I am here on time, yeah?” Jamie looked at her confused. She hadn’t expected him for at least another 10 minutes at the earliest.  

“Yeah, but didn’t you have a meeting right now, with the Valkyrie girl? I thought that was right after classes.”

Jamie looked around, beckoning her over. Ducking his head, he murmured, “She’s missing. Can’t really set-up some sort of stupid apology thing when nobody knows where she is. It’s all...” He paused. “Very hush-hush. Coleman-esque.” Ash’s eyes widened and she turned so her back was to Ms Reese.

“Are you going to swim or not?” Ms. Reese asked.

“I’m going to just a minute.” Ash called back at her. Ash looked at Jamie she stumbled over several words before finally saying. “What is the staff doing about it?”

“Probably pissing about,” Jamie said, crossing his arms, scowling furiously and looking like Drummond Sr. when he talked about injustice in the business world. Ash hid a smile at the image. “Aveline says she’s doing all she can but… I dunno. Is she being real, or are those just –  platitudes.”

“Probably. They searched for Coleman for ages, and it was still a student who found her -”

“Miss. Mareino if you don’t get back into the water in the next minute I’m leaving.” Ms. Reese cut her off.

Without skipping a beat, Jamie replied for her. “But Miss, do you [i]really[/i] want to interrupt blooming romance? That’s heartless!” Ash turned bright red, and looked back at Ms Reese, her face on fire. Ms. Reese blinked, and then walked away a few feet looking out to the lake as if someone else was swimming in it.

“Wow, she’s never nice to me, must be you.” Ash whispered. 

“[i]Everyone[/i] loves me,” Jamie replied. His lip curled ever so slightly, but he held his chin up. Ash snorted the image was too much after he had looked so much like his father. “But no, I know that your one true love is the water – who am I to get in between that? I can wait ‘til after to start all the conspiracy theory goodies.”

Ash smiled, her face burning hotter, “Well I wouldn’t say the water is my only love.” She glanced over her shoulder to check on Ms. Reese, who was whistling and pointedly looking the other way.

“O-oh.” Ash wasn’t the only one flushing scarlet. She stood up straight and leaned forward returning the cheek kiss from earlier. Jamie let out a nervous chuckle of laughter tugging on his shirt collar. “W-well, that’s a thing.”

Ash grinned, “I should get a couple more laps in before Ms. Reese actually leaves. We’ll talk more about... uh, this.” She gestured between them.

“The possible deaths of all our schoolmates including one or both of us [i]and[/i] – this?” He was no better when it came to describing [i]it[/i] but charged on smoothly. “Sounds like normal dinnertime conversation, doesn’t it?”

“Here at Northwood, it sure does.” Ash shook her head, and headed back towards the lake, with a small wave to Jamie. 

“Later, [i]doll[/i].” He didn’t leave immediately, but when he did Ash was swimming the backstroke. She could just make out his face, it was a mix of emotion as if he blamed the lake itself for the missing and dead girls of Northwood.