Float

Original Edition: Chapter Six

I'm sure there are a lot of things people think about when they know that they're only seconds from death. Some people might contemplate the afterlife, or wonder if they're headed to heaven or hell, or pray to a deity.

I, on the other hand, was thinking about double chocolate fudge ice cream.

If I'd just stayed in the ice cream parlor with Lena and Alissa, none of this would have happened. I wouldn't be caught in a whirlwind of water, kicking my feet like crazy as I tried to find the bottom of the ocean. But, just as Jesse had said, there was a drop off a few feet out into the water. I wasn't sure how far down the bottom was, but I was sure someone would find out when they went to retrieve my corpse from its watery grave.

I was sinking like a rock.

A big, big rock.

Tied to an anvil.

And as I sank, I looked up at the water above me. Distorted sunlight danced on the tops of the waves, and the water felt warm against my skin. It would have been peaceful, except for the fact that, you know, I was going to die and all.

But then, just as my lungs felt like they might burst, something disrupted the peace. A dark figure came crashing through the waves, blocking out the sunlight and headed straight for me. I would have screamed if I'd been above sea level, or not on the brink of losing consciousness.

Hands reached out to tug me by my shirt. I crashed against a warm, hard chest.

Everything became blurry.

Next thing I knew, I was bombarded by the sounds of people yelling.

"Jesse!" someone groaned.

"I didn't mean to!"

"What did you do to her?"

"I call not giving her mouth to mouth!"

"Shut up, Ethan."

"Back up, guys, give them some space!"

I felt myself being lowered to the ground and tried to remember when I had been picked up in the first place. I felt warm sand underneath my bare arms and legs. Ground. I liked the ground. I almost sighed in relief, but there was no air in my lungs. I tried to inhale, but there was something blocking my throat.

"She can't breathe!"

Before I could try to breathe again, someone pressed down right into the space just beneath my ribcage. All at once, everything in my lungs was moving. I coughed up water like a fountain, then I gasped in a deep breath of air.

My eyes flew open.

Blake hovered over me, on his knees, dripping wet.

"Waverly! I'm so sorry!"

The voice wasn't coming from Blake. I tilted my head to the left and saw Jesse standing a few feet back from us, wringing his hands and looking about ready to cry. Beside him stood Lena, who looked about ready to wrap her freckled hands around his neck and strangle him.

When had she gotten here?

"It's okay, Jesse." I croaked.

He looked more traumatized than I was.  I tried to sit up, just to show him I wasokay, but Blake reached out a hand and pushed me back down into the sand. Iopened my mouth to make a comment about how boys aren't supposed to push girlsaround, but Blake spoke first.

"Give yourself a minute," he told me. "You need more oxygen."

Ifigured I should listen. Blake was, after all, a lifeguard.