Chapter Twelve {The Noble Act}

I couldn't swim any longer. My legs were wearing out and every push felt like I'd put a hot straightener on my legs. However, Patrick seemed like he could swim for hours as he was way ahead of me.

The shark was still on our tail, snapping its mouth whenever one of us fell back too far. Finally, I couldn't swim any longer and I felt my body give weigh. I tried to gasp - only to realize the pill was wearing off and it was getting harder to breathe.

I felt myself plummeting deeper into the water and with the jerk of a wave, the shark swam down after me.

I tried to push myself upward through the water but it was no use and just as the shark snapped at me, Patrick yanked me further up. However, the shark quickly followed, snapping at my hair and almost getting a good grip.

 Patrick was now literally dragging me through the water by my elbow. The shark snapped again at my feet and I let out a gurgled squeal, kicking the shark right in the nose.Although, it didn't do much, the shark looked taken aback.

That was enough distraction for Patrick to pull us on to the surface of the water. My lungs were relieved and I sucked in all the air I could, not caring that I probably looked like a sink sucking up water.

"Leave some oxygen for me please!" Patrick cried.

I splashed water in his face. "This is all your fault!"

"How?" He shouted back.

"You weren't supposed to go any deeper!"

"I was trying to get away from you!"

I didn't say anything more and neither did Patrick. Instead he floated in the water, making the most ugliest pout I'd ever seen in my life. As I observed this, a thought struck me. "Patrick.....where did the shark go?"

Patrick frowned. "I don't-"

Suddenly, he was plunging back into the water, a shriek barely escaping him. I quickly swam after him just in time to see the shark dragging him by his leg. I really didn't wanna start World War Three with a shark but I couldn't just let Patrick die.

Although my whole body was protesting, I kept swimming. The shark was literally mauling Patrick and he was gurgling over screams. I remembered what I could about sharks and punched the shark in the nose. 

However, its eyes never left Patrick. 

Thats when another thought came to my head. I swam to Patrick, putting my hands under his armpits, trying to yank him away from the shark. I used what was left of the pill to say one word, "FLY!"

However, I wasn't sure how Patrick was going to be able to think of happy thoughts when a shark was biting his leg.

Then I felt it. I felt the waves rush over us as we floated out of the ocean and into the sunset sky. Yet the shark was still hanging on to Patrick's leg, floating in the air with us. I realized Patrick was shrieking like a little girl now and I manuevered my way to the shark, using one hand to push at its nose again.

That was enough to make the shark let go. Either that or it realized it couldn't breathe in the sky. However, it didn't matter. The shark went flying back into the sea and we were pretty sure it was dead.

However, the shark still did a lot of damage. Patrick was bleeding - and I mean it looked like he came out of a horror movie. I looked away. "Lets just get to shore."

"I don't know if I can keep flying!" He grimaced.

"You're not gonna get any help if we don't get to shore." I gritted my teeth, trying not to look at the horrible sight.

Patrick finally landed on the shore. However, everyone had already left since the sun had set. As soon as we hit the sand, Patrick collapsed in my arms. He was sweating and breathing heavily. He looked like a mess.

I tried to steady him on his feet but he only fell again.

"Just leave me to die!" He cried.

"Oh shut up," I said. "Its not like your leg got bitten off. I'll go get the step librarians."

I tried to get up and go but Patrick grabbed my hand. "Wait, Jamie?"

I groaned. "What?"

"Thanks." There was no playful smile on his face. Not even those smirks he had when he was trying to mess with me. It was just a solemn look that I'd never seen on Patrick before. "You probably saved my life and you didn't have to....especialley after everything else."

I smiled, trying to break the seriousness of it all. "Hey what are friends for right?"

"Friends?" A smirk came across his face.

I shrugged off his hand now, wishing I'd never even brought it up. "Let me get you some help before you lose even more brain cells."

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The next morning, all of Ever After High was buzzing about the shark attack. It turns out the only reason the shark had attacked us was because a side effect of the water pill was fish odor. However the funny thing was, Patrick only sprained his ankle, the blood was the shark's blood after I had punched him. Now the doofus was stuck in the nurse's room for the rest of the trip. 

Patrick had told everyone of my "noble act" and now everyone was treating me like some hero. It was pretty ironic since I would actually grow up to be the villain.

"So tell us the story, Jamie!" Tilly and Lilly exclaimed together.

The twins and I had started out on the beach playing games on our mirrorpads until I had suddenly gotten an audience.  I had already told the story a hundred times already and telling the same story could get exhausting.

However, I began the story anyway. "Well, we swam out to the mermaid kingdom with Cordelia after she gave us a pill for-"

"How big was the shark?" Daring exclaimed.

"I don't know," I shrugged, trying to remember. "Pretty...big?"

"Did he really bite off Patrick's leg?" Someone else asked.

I rolled my eyes at this question. "He's still alive isn't he?"

"Why would anyone want to give her the time of day?" I heard the most shrillest, annoying voice in all of Ever After High. 

Cindy Darling approached the group with Duchess Swan at her side. Her brown hair was swept into a messy bun and she had a surfboard under her arm. She towered over everyone, glowering at me. 

"How did you get here, Cindy?" I groaned. I was pretty sure Cindy was suspended from the trip.

"Headmaster Grimm appealed my punishment," She shrugged, a smirk on her face. "But what I wanna know is why everyone is treating this disgusting pirate like she's worth anything?"

"Disgusting pirate?"

"Yes, isn't that what you are?" She and Duchess laughed.

I really wasn't in the mood for Cindy. In fact, I was seriously considering just getting up and walking away. I realized Cindy wasn't worth my time. She was a girl looking for attention. A girl who used drama to keep herself in the spotlight. So I bit my tongue. "Whatever."

"What?" She put a hand to her ear and leaned towards me. "Miss Hook doesn't have anything to say today?"

"Leave her alone, Cindy!" One of the twins cried.

"Shut up night lights!" Cindy snapped. "I don't think I was talking to you."

"You're not going to talk to them like that unless you want to deal with me." I stepped up and Cindy nearly jumped back.

Duchess giggled into her hand. "I think she's letting her inner pirate out."

"So I suggest you stop because my inner pirate can be pretty scary." 

"Please," Cindy rolled her eyes. "I'm not scared of you."

"What do you want?"

From the corner of my eye, I spotted Blondie Lockes filming the whole thing on her mirror pad. That was just great.

Cindy looked around the crowd and then finally smiled. "A duel."

I gasped, taken aback. "A-a-a duel?"

Cindy nodded gleefully." Did I stutter?"

Cindy Darling in a duel? It was probably the most weirdest thing I'd ever heard in my life. Everyone knew Cindy was your typical prissy rich girl. She would never be caught dead in a duel.

However, its not like I could pass down a duel.

I cleared my throat. "When?"

"Tonight." She smirked. 

"And if I win?"

"I'll leave you alone for good," She said matter of factly. "But if I win," She snuck glances around the crowd and I suddenly had a really bad feeling.  Then things only got worse when she decided to whisper in my ear. "You leave Patrick Pan alone for good."

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It was nearly sun down on the beach. I had stayed on the shore all day, mixed thoughts in my head. It was all so bizarre. A duel? A duel with Cindy Darling? However, her guidelines were even more odd. If she won, I would have to stop talking to Patrick.

That didn't even make any sense. 

There was nothing between Patrick and I. In fact, I was pretty sure I despised him.But this is when things just get plain weird, I was sad. I was sad and nervous over this duel.  

After looking at the whole moment all over again on Blondie Lockes' blog, I still couldn't pinpoint why I felt so bummed out. It couldn't be because of Patrick. Patrick was annoying and I still had days where I wished he didn't exist for awhile.

"Jamie, what are you doing out here?"

I looked behind me to see Patrick limping over to me.He was leaning on a glowing cane that was probably charmed with pixie dust. I stood up so I could be at his eye level. "Well, you look okay."

"Yup, turns out I'm just an amazing healer." He smiled.

I narrowed my eyes. "Patrick, you just sprained your leg."

"Can we pretend it got bitten off and I have amazing super powers that grow limbs back?"

It was silent - but I couldn't hold my laughter long. By the time we both managed to control ourselves, my stomach hurt.

"So I heard you're in a duel with...Cindy?"

There goes my good mood. "Yeah."

"Why?" He asked and I had to remember he was genuinely in the dark about the whole fued with Cindy.

"Its a really long story." I sighed, not really in the mood to talk about it.

"I'm all ears," Patrick grinned and then those pesky occasional feelings got in the way and I thought he was cute for a fraction of a second. "Thats what friends are for right?" He nudged me.

"You know we can;t be friends right?" I asked. "I mean eventually we're gonna have to grow up and hurt each other."

Patrick shrugged. "Yeah but I figured I might as well get to know the person I'm gonna have to throw to alligators."

I stopped a grimace as that was still a touchy subject. However, Patrick still seemed to catch it as he stopped smiling. "Oh, sorry."

"Its okay."

"You know," Patrick looked over at the setting sun. "He seemed like a cool guy.Your Dad, I mean."

My throat felt dry and I had to clear it. "Yeah....he was."

"What was he like?" He looked at me now, a soft smile on his face.

Thinking back to my Dad was almost like thinking back to Summer. Thinking back to a warm sunny beach where the sun never set. Where there was constant laughter and smiles. Playful manner. Competive teasing.

I shook my head, trying to stop a smile. "Kind of like you now that I think of it."

Patrick chuckled. "Me?"

"Yeah," I decided that he was. "Except he wasn't a doofus." I punched Patrick on the arm, forgetting that he was on a cane - and Patrick fell backwards on to the sand.

I broke into laughter, barely able to contain it.

"Alright, alright, stop laughing!" Patrick scowled. "Its not that funny!"

"No-no-no it was your FACE!" I gasped for air. "Your face looked so funny when you fell!"

Patrick was struggling to get up and I held out my hand to help him up - however Patrick yanked me down and I found myself right on top of him. He was laughing now and I rolled my eyes. "Don't make me throw sand in your face."

Patrick laughed even harder, using his hands to block his face. "Oh, no, please don't!"

I managed to get to my feet - and thats when I realized what had just happened. I had fallen on top of Patrick. Then I found myself blushing and I quickly turned my back to him as he finally got up.

'Just ignore it, just pretend that did not happen'. 

I turned to him again. However, Patrick wasn't smiling anymore. Instead he was just staring at me, almost as if he were lost in thought. And trust me, seeing Patrick Pan actually thinking was like seeing pigs fly.

Just as I was about to say something witty, it happened.

Patrick kissed me. Patrick leaned in and kissed me. It was just a kiss.Just a soft kiss that probably didn't even last that long. However, in my mind, it probably lasted years. Years and years of the most oddest bliss I'd ever felt.

Patrick Pan.

Patrick Pan, of all people, was the guy to give me my first kiss.

He pulled away, a half-smile on his face. "This might sound crazy but I think I've liked you since the day you beat me in that duel."

I was still stunned. Still trying to find something to say. However, I realized there was really nothing to say. We would always be what we'd been from the beginning; enemies.

I couldn't get any words. The words I should be saying weren't words I wanted to say. So, instead, I ran. I ran as fast as I could. 

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Sorry for the long hiatus. I have to take Summer School and they just threw all this homework on me! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! & YASS IT FINALLY HAPPENED CX