Float

Original Edition: Chapter Eight

"You know, the goal is to keep your head above the water."

I glared up at Blake, wishing I could jump out of the pool and smack that stupid smirk off his face. Since I had done so well with the whole float-on-your-back thing, Blake had decided it was the right time to take me into the shallow end of the bigger pool and teach me how to tread water. He'd demonstrated how I was supposed to kick my legs and circle my arms, but he made it look much easier than it actually was. I was getting tired of lifting my feet up, flailing my limbs, falling under the water, and then standing back up.

Blake, however, didn't seem to be getting tired of watching me.

"This is impossible!" I groaned.

"You're not even trying," Blake scoffed, plopping down on the end of one of the recliners by the side of the pool.

"I am trying!"

"Kick your legs more."

I took a deep breath and submerged myself up to my neck in the water. Then I lifted up my feet and began kicking furiously. I barely heard the beginning of Blake's chuckle before my head sunk under the water. I put my feet back down onto the bottom of the pool and stood up, chlorine burning my eyes and Blake's full-on laughter bombarding my ears.

"Shut up!" I snarled.

Blake stopped immediately, his lips quivering with the effort.

"I'm sorry, Alaska."

I quirked an eyebrow.

"Okay, fine. I'm not." Blake leaned back in the recliner, kicking his feet up and putting his hands behind his head. "I just don't get how someone can get to the age of seventeen without learning how to swim."

"I'm from Alaska. There was no water where I grew up."

"None?"

He sounded a little shocked. Of course, someone who had lived by the ocean for his or her entire life probably couldn't even fathom the idea of not being near water.

"Well, there was a pond behind my school," I said, "but it was frozen."

"Even in the summer?"

Blake's eyes were somehow even bluer than the pool water. I realized I was staring and hadn't answered him, so I gave a quick nod and ducked back down into the water.

He sat up and reached down to where he had set his shirt, shoes, phone, and sunglasses. I tried not to watch his tan, freckled arms flex as he slipped a pair of black Ray-Bans over his eyes. "Wake me up when you can keep your head above the water for more than three seconds."

I stared at him for a moment.

He had to be kidding.

Blake was supposed to be teaching me how to swim, not napping.

With all the strength I could muster, I lifted up my arm and then swung it down again, sending a wave of cool water up over the edge of the pool. I grinned as the water rained down on Blake, who flinched and bolted upright in the recliner. He tore off his sunglasses and glared down at me, looking even more pissed than last night when his parents had ordered him to take me to the beach bash.

"Really?" he hissed.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to cool you off. You're a bit of a hot-head, you know."

Blake stared at me for another second.

And then he smiled.

The wicked grin on my face fell as I tried to figure out why Blake was smiling at me like that. I watched as he delicately set his overpriced sunglasses down on the patio, then rose from the recliner.