if i've gone overboard [knox]

you've got your ball you've got your chain tied to me tight tied up again who's got the claws in you my friend into your heart i'll beat again sweet like candy to my soul sweet you rock and sweet you roll lost for your i'm so lost for you you

I SEE THE WAVES COME AND CRASH INTO ME

nell was a naturally acquiescent person. it could be said that she had no desires of her own because she cared deeply about the desires of others. and her one true goal in life was to be there for other people, that's what she wanted to succeed at. of course, she did have her individual personal and did not base it on what others liked, but she was agreeable enough that if someone wanted to watch a certain movie or do a certain thing, she'd go along with it. she simply did not see a reason to argue over trivial matters like that, for one, and the other reason she did not protest was because she kept the other person's interest at the top. if she wanted to do something, she could do it by herself or a friend who would agree to it. she was not in the habit of forcing others to do anything. which was why she felt the incredible guilt when one of her plans went wrong. devin came to mind, of course, but luckily sandra had talked her out of the whole zoo release fiasco. nell was also a natural activist, and she liked to joke that it was because of her earth elemental background. they were all do-gooders, and of course she wanted to help the animals and the trees. she just wanted to help everyone, so it was nice to have a group like the earths around.

including knox, even though it was sometimes funny to view him as an elemental like her because they rarely saw each other in the school setting. neither of them hung around the dorms too often because they were both college students, and as neighbors it was much easier to visit the other at home in the hollow. then again, it was easy to view everyone as just a normal human when they did not have any sign of their element. she usually liked to walk around with flowers in her hair or vines growing around the strap of the bag she usually carried, but she was careful about what she did so she would not be in trouble with the government that she'd grown to fear so much. more than the fear of being taken away herself, she feared being responsible for others getting in trouble. as in-tuned she was to other people's needs, she picked up on the time it took knox to answer her usually simple question. with him, though, it was always different. whereas her other friends would naturally and easy respond to things, he had a stutter that required time to sit and listen to what he said. she didn't mind; she liked giving that time over. and she simply thought him too endearing not to listen to. nell didn't want to demean him by informing the boy that he reminded her of a puppy, but he did.

in any case, to her this did not seem too natural. he almost appeared afraid, and she wiped her sandy hands off on her legs. there was no way that any part of her body would be clean, anyway. "you don't have to if you don't wanna," she said, not aware that he might have any aversion to the wide open lake. it almost looked like the ocean, but she wouldn't really know much since she'd only seen it a few times, both when she was on vacation with josh. she watched as he stood and brightly said, "all right then." she also stood, not worried about leaving everything behind, maybe being too trusting of strangers around her but believing that no one would steal anything from a beach. she pranced over to the water, placid and calm and the lack of large waves a reminder that it was just a lake. there were little ones, however, and as she stepped into the water she did a little dance. "'s cold," she said, waving her arms around in an excited little dance. "think we should like, dive in or something." she had gotten pretty good at swimming mostly because she just loved it. she took her time, even though she had only learned it a couple years ago. nell was a late bloomer in most regards, but she liked to believe that she had a good grip on the things that she did learn.

you've got your ball you've got your chain tied to me tight tied up again who's got the claws in you my friend into your heart i'll beat again sweet like candy to my soul sweet you rock and sweet you roll lost for your i'm so lost for you you

I SEE THE WAVES COME AND CRASH INTO ME

it may have been that nell was observant. it was true, considering the what she was studying now. she'd finally decided on her major being psychology, the study of the individual mind. it was something she'd found she was good at -- people. more than the fact that she was observant, she liked people. that was what really helped her in life. she paid attention to people because she liked being around them, she liked listening to them and finding out about them. there may have been reasons behind this, the fact that she had been so sheltered away may have helped, but it was truly who she was right down to the core. she lived for other people, she lived for their smiles and their happiness and catching them in private moments when they think no one else is looking. so maybe she saw more about knox than she should have, but one thing she never liked to do was jump to conclusions. she had been raised by a man who told her everything is bunk until you have the factual evidence. she lived by that in most areas.

but knox said he was fine with it, and she decided that if he really didn't want to go in the water, he might have found an excuse. she didn't know what was going on in his head, how the cogs were moving in his brain. she wished she had that kind of insight sometimes until she remembered how fun she was discovering things about people through experience. having everything about a person up front? that was not so fun. "swim time!" she said, clearly more excited than he was. she loved swimming, simply enjoyed being in the water. she wished she could go to the ocean more often just for that, but they weren't too close to the coast. maple hollow was so isolated that it took hours to drive anywhere outside of it. so she was satisfied with the lake they had here, and hey, it was pretty damn close to the ocean. as long as she could swim, she would be happy. and she still needed a little bit more practice, all things considered.

she noticed knox's hesitance, the fact that he seemed more content in staring at the water than actually venturing into it. her suspicions may have been disregarded easily before, but now it was pretty obvious that he wasn't too keen about going into the ocean. she didn't want to make it known that she had this suspicion, whereas someone else may have told him this. she didn't understand how anyone could not like the water. well, her fiance did that, but it was an aspect of him she accepted as fact now without really questioning it. like his vegetarianism and on that train of thought, the fact that he could forget to eat. the latter did not please her usually, but she made sure that he was kept healthy whenever he decided that work was more important than his own body. she looked out at the lake. she sympathized, but she could necessarily understand because adored being waist deep in the water with all the fish swimming around her legs. she wasn't afraid of the unknown down there. it was a lake, though she did hear of lake monsters. nessie was one, right? in any case, she just wanted to flail around in the water like a little kid. like she never got to before.

she nodded her head, but her arms circled around her body to keep herself warm. she didn't want him to worry, as hesitant about the water he seemed. her mind made up excuses, though. maybe he'd eaten a big meal earlier and didn't want to get sick. or maybe he just heard a legend about someone drowning in here. she hadn't heard any of that, and while years ago she might have chalked it up to being a foreigner, now she was glad to realize that she knew all the ins and outs of maple hollow. that didn't mean to say she wouldn't get lost in it, but she knew a lot of the news and the legends and all the things anyone growing up there might have known. she liked that feeling, it was like she actually belonged there. she so rarely got to experience that and it was reassuring, really, she could belong somewhere.

warming up to the temperature of the water -- it must have been about sixty-eight degrees farenheit and twenty degrees celcius -- she waved her arms at him. "come on, it's no fun for me to swim alone!" she called to him as she started to back a little deeper into the water, slowly getting acclimated to it the further she went. "you get used to it after a little--" she stopped short after she tripped over a rock and went under, reemerging after a few seconds, and laughing. she wiped the water out of her eyes and spit out some of the water she had swallowed. after she felt a little bad, but then thought of everything else that must have been in the water and figured her spit was not the worst of it. "i'm fine, just a rogue rock." okay, so rocks did have business being in a lake, but it had still hurt, banging her foot against the thing. it was throbbing, but at least the water was cool and would keep it from swelling or anything.

you've got your ball you've got your chain tied to me tight tied up again who's got the claws in you my friend into your heart i'll beat again sweet like candy to my soul sweet you rock and sweet you roll lost for your i'm so lost for you you

I SEE THE WAVES COME AND CRASH INTO ME

nell couldn't be called a very powerful swimmer. she had only learned very recently, when she first came to the academy actually. she had made friends with the water students rather easily, and whenever they wanted to take a dip in the lake, whether it be at the academy or in the hollow, she'd wade in the shallow end or sit on the shore building a sandcastle. it wasn't until she was with her friend tas that she actually started testing out what she could do. slowly she evolved from the doggy paddle to actually swimming and having races with other water students. which, she now thought, was not very fair considering they had element on their side and a hell of a lot more experience. it didn't bother her much. she did it for the fun and the sport, even when she got competitive. it was all in playful fun. unfortunately, some people didn't take it the same way. that's why she loved playing with the kids at the daycare. sports were easy, they hadn't gotten to the age where they had to prove themselves in everything just yet.

being that she wasn't the most powerful swimmer, she should have been much more panicked when incidents like this happened, where she whacked her foot off a rock and began sinking like one. but she wasn't afraid of the water, or drowning. she didn't feel the panic. only slightly, when she realized that it felt like a force pushing on her, but it wasn't enough to be mistaken for claustrophobia. all she had to remember that it was wide open. strangely, that comforted her at times like this. the vastness of the lake, how large it was and how she would not be able to meet the end of it very quickly. that instilled terror in people that were drowning and needed something to hold onto, but for her it was as reassuring as emptiness could be.

nell rubbed at her eyes, clearing the water out of them, and saw that knox had come closer. she shook her hair out. she had kept it up, little strings of hair clinging to the back of her neck, covering parts of her tattoo. usually, she kept it down, especially for work. when she was at the daycare it was especially important, at the concert it wasn't so much enforced, but at the casino she had found they had rules against it. she would never be cutting her hair short now -- she left her hair down all the time when she worked. at school, she was glad for the freedom of leaving it uncovered. now most of her friends knew she had it, and it inspired them to ask a few questions. and usually, she didn't like questions. however, there was a reason she had gotten such a personal tattoo. that way, when people asked, she could tell them that a young girl once told her the greatest truth. she had that truth printed on her skin so that the only time it would be lost was when she ceased to exist as well.

she spat some more water out before giggling again, not realizing just how confounded her friend was. "right as rain, mi amigo!" she told him, giving him the thumbs up sign. "pretty sure this is gonna bruise but eh, it happens." that's how she treated most injuries. anyone who knew her understood that about her. especially avery, who she came to a lot with a shrug and a half-smile saying "you know how it is here." she didn't make a big deal out of any of it. she just left it be. "hey, you're in the water!" she said, as if that was the greatest thing at this point in time. it made her inexplicably happy at that point, wearing a goofy grin as her foot throbbed as if to remind her that she had just hurt it and that she should not be smiling like that right now.

she flapped her arms in the water, creating little waves and smiling to herself. it was one thing she never seemed to stop doing, smiling. she made a soft sound of curiosity when knox started in on his question, thinking about it for a moment before she answered, "no typically. i mean, i only learned recently. but i know that i'm gonna get better! i swim all the time!" her views on everything were optimistic, so there would be no reason for swimming to be left out of that. she even threw up her arms in excitement over this claim. no, she didn't usually flail around in water and doggy paddle half the time, but she couldn't exactly do laps at this point in time. she could only get better, though, that was her belief. "do you know how to swim?" she questioned, lips pursed as she thought of what the answer might be herself. it might explain why he hadn't been particularly keen on diving in and swimming around.