Sink or Swim

This summer Paige had sadly watched her big brother move out, she knew he wasn't too far away but it was still sad. He now lived in another part of the Village du Cheval with one of his friends from Beauxbatons. They seemed to have grown apart quite a bit during their time at the palace but he was still her big brother so now she was determined to not pry on his leaving. With this determination came another determination to spend much more time with her friends this year as well. The year was still young but Paige remembered during one of her conversations with Caleb him saying he couldn't swim. She didn't want to wait too long for it would start to get cold then so early in the year was the best time for a swimming lesson.

The small blonde had sent her friend and owl, that she watched arrive at breakfast that morning, to meet her by the lake this afternoon. The letter had said to wear something suitable for swimming. She couldn't not tell him what they were doing for then he wouldn't be prepared but she sure hoped he decided not to come because she told him they were going in the lake. Always the optimist Paige sat on the bank of the lake in her favorite red swimsuit and a towel around her. She patiently sat there watching the way her toes made the water shimmer when she moved them. She was trying not to get too worried but she was starting to think he wasn't going to show.

Getting a letter asking to meet at the lake was weird, but what made it extra weird was that it said to wear something to swim in. It wasn't that Caleb was scared of water or drowning or getting eaten by a giant squid, he just not thought it would be important to swim. But if Paige wanted to go swimming, he'd join her but stay close to land. If his feet couldn't touch the ground, he was too far out. What did he have that he could swim in? Had he packed anything that would be easy to swim in? He settled on a pair of shorts and a old t-shirt and headed towards the lake.

"I have a thing," Caleb stated when he saw his blonde friend, he got closer before continuing. "If my feet can't touch the ground, I'm too far out." He had come up with that rule after his brother convinced him it would be a great idea to see how far out he could go. "Why did you wanna go swimming with me? I can't swim, you could have asked someone that could swim."

Paige hadn't realized how intently she had been watching the way the water looked when she moved it around until she just about jumped out of her skin at Caleb's voice. Her hand flew to her chest but she still smiled when turned around. She listened to his 'thing' he said he hand but only laughed afterwards. "I know you can't swim, you told me before, that's exactly why I asked you to join me out here today. I'm gonna teach you to swim." She said cheerfully. "Unless of course you don't want me to teach you." She said a shyly this time, she hadn't thought of it before but what if Caleb didn't trust her to teach him. If something went wrong he probably didn't think she'd be capable of bringing him back to shore.

With that Paige pulled her feet back up over the ledge and stood up. "If not we can stay near the shallow parts." She said not nearly as cheery as before. She unwrapped her towel from around her torso and folded it in the grass, she started walking towards the part of the lake where the land gradually slopped into the water. "The water isn't too cold either, though I imagine its a bit off a shock to the tummy." She said folding her hands over her bare stomach. "But its pretty hot so I bet that will be nice." Paige said trying to fill the silence.

"Swimming sounds fun," Caleb replied, he was up for Paige teaching him to swim. It sounded like fun and it would be cool to just hang out and have a grand time. "And if you can't teach me then we can just relax and hang out." He took off his shirt so it wouldn't get soaked from the water and threw it as far from the water as he could. "Well, let's do this then." He stepped into the water, it was a bit cold. But it wasn't that bad, it felt nice. "Maybe after we can off in the sun and talk." He trusted Paige and was confident that she knew what she was doing. Nothing bad could happen as long as he stayed positive and positive was his middle name.

He was now stomach deep into the water when he stopped and turned to Paige. "Can we start here? Not that I'm scared or anything." Cause he wasn't. "I wanna take it slow, you know? Work my way up til I'm good enough to go deeper."