The relaxation of the pool today was unparalleled to anything. He could feel the pain in his foot fade away in the gentle waters, and despite his flippant showboating on the dive board, he felt that he could just relax. The chlorine-filled waters were slowly putting him to sleep. Though, he found it odd why he thought he saw a familiar purple nearby. Oh well, it must have been nothi-

Wait. Purple?

Rhys' eyes popped open, as he opened one eye, and viewed in the distance. Sure enough, in a school-sanctioned one-piece, possibly a nervous yet happy twinge in Rhys' back coursed through him. His mouth curved into a smirk. This would be a less relaxing day, but he couldn't not poke the bear, especially with the bear grabbing a pool noodle to dip inside the pool.

Peculiar. The ice queen grabbing a noodle, by the shallow end? Rhys' mouth began to curve into a mischevious smirk. Very interesting. What was that for, he wondered? A flip in the water, and he began to go under yet again, and make a swim to the shallow end. Without Amaryllis knowing any the wiser. When he made it to the shallow end, Rhys popped out, out of view, and fixed his hair. Once he fixed himself up to appropriate present-ability, he leaned against the wall of the pool. Whistling.

As soon as his eyes met Amaryllis', he looked surprised, despite how fake it was. "Amaryllis? Are you stalking me?" he felt his mouth curve into a smirk, his eyebrow rising to sell the act.

Now admittedly, despite the mostly black full body swimsuit, the abs that Rhys had from his years of acrobatic prowess showed in spades, and while they weren't a six pack by any means, they were impressive. Not to mention, he was trying. "Didn't realize you liked me that much, ice princess. I'm touched." he barked out in confident, false bravado.

And then he became serious for a moment. His grin was gone. "Don't worry, I got here about five or ten minutes ago. No, I'm not stalking you, you have to try harder than a foot stomp to take my heart, doll." he leaned back against the side of the pool, the same height as Amaryllis, as he waited for the response. At the very least, it wouldn't be that off, now that it was a full on coincidence.

Right?

Amaryllis Coll

Okay, maybe there was a little masochism in Rhys. He could have gone without messing with Amaryllis again. Honestly, he would've lived a long, healthy life without that girl to ruin it consistently, or stomp on his foot, or his feet during dancing. But really, But then, if he did, his life would've been boring, and admittedly, the lovely girl was more interesting. Ice queens tended to be.

Oh, a children insult, huh? Rhys retorted quickly; a little too quickly. "Says the shallow water swimmer with a floaty needle." Okay, smooth. That would show the ice queen who was more childish than the other. Even... if the action of doing so may have painted Rhys to be just as childish. So maybe he shot himself in the foot as much as she was an easy target. What did it matter?

Then Amaryllis pointed out that he liked the foot stomping too much, to which Rhys made a hearty laugh, before his stupid grin plastered on his face again. Of course he didn't like it. He definitely didn't want that again, and especially did not want the girl to step on him anymore. Who on the planet would want that kind of treatment? "Hardly. Still hurting from that. That's why I came here, princess. To relax." he winked, before resting his head back, and then standing up in the shallow waters.

It was time to get an answer. "So, should I guess why you have a noodle in the shallow end, or is this your vulnerable act that loves to make me talk to you? Because you must really be crazy about me to want to talk to me after earlier." Rhys was mostly joking, but looking at the noodle, he had to be sure. What reason could there be.

Probably to relax. After all, this wasn't like a TV show. People usually knew how to swim, and he thought little ms ice queen would be no different. So why the noodle? He wasn't sure. But he waited for his answer, getting off the side of the pool, and walking towards her just a bit, the lower half of his full suit in the water now, as he crossed his arms.


Amaryllis Coll

Seeing her eyes narrow, Rhys had a feeling he wasn't in the best of graces with Amaryllis; which was a problem that he needed to fix before things got too heated. They were stuck together for the semester, after all, so if something tore them apart on day one, then they would have to keep seeing each other regardless. Thinking about it that way, Rhys knew he couldn't let it sit where it did.

He did have to admit, however, that it was cute watching her move the hair out of her face. Rhys felt herself, in a day-dreamy way, look at her eyes, but shook it out of him. Nah, no way. Not with her. She was his opposite in almost every way. Right?

Wait. Was she staring at him? Did Rhys just notice her gawking at him? And then the insult came, and Rhys looked down at himself, eyeing the full body suit, and grinning, only this grin was different than normal. This was a nervous, don't-question-me-further grin. The sheepishness was unbefitting of Rhys. Immediately, he dodged the question.

Instead, he focused on what Amaryllis did next. Childishly enough, she she looked flustered, biting her lip and looked away. Mumbling that she didn't know how to swim. Rhys felt it would've been an easy target to laugh though, so he decided to stick on that. Best to avoid the full body suit and focus on the other thing.

He blurted out. "You can't?" His eyebrow rose in intrigue, and with his stupid grin returning, he held his hand out once more, like he did earlier to become her partner. "If you want, I can teach you. It's not hard, promise." Rhys focused the conversation on what mattered, and preferably, not on his suit. If anything, no one needed to see that. And he would grill anyone who tried to see the scarred body of his in its entirety.


Amaryllis Coll

The movement of her hand was about to make it to his. Rhys prepared to smile, but then there was hesitation. When the question was asked, Rhys blinked, and rose a brow. Normally, he wouldn't ask for anything, but somehow the idea that he could get something out of this intrigued him. Ulterior motives were never his spiel, but for Amaryllis, he almost thought about adopting one real fast. As he watched her, his red eyes shined with a mischevious spark of light.

Then Rhys responded. "A date." He didn't say it to mean it, not completely, but to see Amaryllis' reaction, just to see how she'd respond to the line. Regardless of her reaction, he stayed with a poker face that wouldn't let anything slip. And then he began to grin, waiting for the right moment.

And then he began to chuckle a bit, shaking his head just a bit. "Kidding, kidding. You don't do partners, right?" he waved his hand in front of his body, and made sure to recite the same line that she told him the first time they met, a knowing look on his face. If she backtracked to it, then maybe, but he doubted it, highly. "Wouldn't mind some tutoring though; pretty sure you have great grades. But strings free. None attached. You know the saying."

He got didn't wait for her to hesitate any longer, and instead pulled her hand to pull her off the noodle, and got into a familiar dance pose, holding her close for just a moment, his grin close to her face now. It was a bit of eagerness, but as soon as he let go, he grabbed onto her hands, and let her float. "Okay. Now. Start kicking your feet. Okay?" Rhys made a pleasant smile after he finished speaking, and waited politely for the girl to begin kicking her feet behind her.


Amaryllis Coll

Call it priceless, but Rhys just found amusement in the purple-haired girl as soon as her face reddened. Was that really how the ice queen reacted? Was that embarrasment from him asking? Anger because he asked? He wasn't sure what the reaction had been. Maybe a blend? Who was to say? Or maybe she really was interested in acrobat? Rhys was truly unsure. Even after explaining it to be a joke, she only seemed to show it physically, and then, even her eyes still threw daggers at him. Though the slight bit of blush was.... odd. He wasn't sure as to why.

Rhys rose a brow at her part of the deal, to which, he smiled. That sounded fine. Perhaps then he could actually learn math. Surprisingly enough, he actually wanted this not for the girl, but for the deal itself, as he did need some help with a few of his own subjects. Like math, or maybe history. He'd easily sleep through history, and math... well, he found little point to it, even though he himself enjoyed adding and subtracting distance via spacial manipulation all the time.

He already made the deal as he pulled Amaryllis to him, and he hadn't exactly thought she couldn't swim at all, but mostly just wasn't sure exactly how... so when she began to sink into the water, Rhys actually began to stress a smidge. Immediately, he went under in the shallow waters, and placed his hand on her stomach, to push her up with one hand. With a quick breath, he knew that he had at least gone way too prematurely.

He sighed in releif once he got Amaryllis some air. "Okay. You can punch me later for that one, doll. I'll keep up up with my hands. We're going to try to have you swim in place right now, okay?" Rhys leaned over and grabbed the waternoodle, handing it back to Amaryllis, with a more concerned grin over his normal charming one. "Alright? Now, do this, alternating between each arm." with his free arm, he began to showcase the proper arm motion for swimming.


Amaryllis Coll

Rhys felt horrible. He almost let the girl drown, and if anything, now he felt an overwhelming sense of guilt, a dash of dread, and honestly, a bit of sadness that wouldn't go away. It was his fault, and he would blame himself. Even though his grin was wide, it was a lie. His happiness was a lie. His grin was a lie.

Well, at least she was just as sassy as she was when she went under, and as soon as she grabbed the noodle, Rhys began to explain how it was done, she began to try it. Admittedly, her legs weren't... great at this, but her arm work was satisfactory. She wasnt kidding when she said she didn't know how to swim though. It was kind of funny, but Rhys wouldn't dare to laugh, else he get crucified. Still, if nothing else, she did use her arms better; since she did have two left feet.

"Yeah. You're doing fine, Amaryllis. See?" Rhys made a smile, something to let her know she was doing fine, while at the same time trying not to patronize her. Helping her move her arms a bit, he realized she was getting it down properly enough. So he'd have to teach her to swim and to dance? Truly, she must have been a genius academic, because she was not an athlete.

With that, he began to let her sink just a bit into the water, attempting to let her do this by herself, without needing to hold onto her; and she had the noodle, so he didn't need to keep her up anyways. So why was he so worried she might drown again?

After a moment, he let go.

Rhys got off his feet in the shallow water, and began to swim himself, to show her proper technique. Not to show off, but to give her an idea of how it was done. After he made it to one end, he kicked off back to her, and after he finished, he got up, standing beside her. "There. That help any? That's the technique you want."


Amaryllis Coll