I immediately sat up and coughed up so much water I thought I was going to drown again. But no, I was out of the water. My lungs were technically water-free but I couldn't stop coughing.
The lights at the bottom of the pool were back on, so everything was blue again. Blue? Blue! Oh my God.
Ethan was kneeling next to me, looking blue and wet and scared out of his mind.
"Holy shit, Bella," he sighed heavily, sitting back against he wall. "Why'd you jump in if you couldn't swim?"
"I can swim," I managed hoarsely. I cleared my throat. "I know how to swim. I can swim." I coughed again. "Did you do CPR?"
Ethan looked at me like I was stupid. "How else was I getting the water out of you? Did you hit your head or something?"
I coughed. "I almost drowned and you're being mean to me?"
He sighed. "Sorry. You scared the hell out of me. You know we're not supposed to be in here, right?"
"That seemed obvious long ago." Cough.
"I would've been in a shitload of trouble if we were caught."
"I would be too." Cough. "Do you cuss a lot?"
"Only when I'm mad… in this case, scared and mad. And," he scoffed, "you wouldn't be in trouble. You're the new girl who almost drowned."
"Not anymore—oh my God, what time is it?"
He frowned at me. "It's three thirty. You were out for maybe… three minutes? There're still some kids in school. After-school tutoring isn't over for another forty minutes."
Not a lot of time had passed. I could've died in such a short amount of time?! "How long was I in the pool?" Last cough.
His eyes widened. "I have no idea. You weren't moving when I saw you."
I frowned. "The pool lights were on?"
"Uh duh."
I kicked his thigh. "Don't duh me. They turned off when I fell in."
Ethan stood up. "They look fine to me." He offered me a hand, but I stood up on my own. "Do you want to call your mom or… something?"
"Hell no," I said, wringing out my hair. "This is just going to worry her."
"That doesn't seem like a good idea. You could've died."
"But I didn't."
"But you could have."
"But I didn't. Besides, she'll just get mad at the school and you'll get in trouble even though you saved my life. Thank you, by the way."
He sheepishly looked away. "Whatever…. Does she at least know where you are?"
"She knows I'm in school with you, which probably already gives her something to worry about. I don't keep everything from her. And I know how to swim."
"Okay…."
"I do. I can swim. I can prove it if you want." At least while the lights were on and I wasn't alone.
"Calm down—you don't have to prove anything."
"I just want to make sure you know that. I'm not the damsel-in-distress type." Not until I moved to Cheshire anyway—oh my God—was Beatrice haunting me? Did she just try to kill me? I thought she wanted me to solve the freaking murder?! I can't do that if I'm dead. Although… I would probably see everything Beatrice got to see—
"Hello? Earth to Bella. Come in, Bella."
I moved away since Ethan was waving his hands in front of my face. "Damn—what?"
"One last time: Are you s—?"
"Ask me if I hit my head one more time and I'm hitting yours."
"Okay, okay. I was going to ask you if you wanted to go home."
I glanced down at my wet clothing. "Not like this."
"That's an easy problem to solve. Follow me." He picked up his backpack—and then picked up mine and my jacket before I reached them. "I'd feel more comfortable if you walked really close to the wall."
"Now you're just insulting."
"I'm serious. Saving your life was very stressful. I almost thought I was doing CPR wrong."
I wasn't sure what to think about the fact that hothothothothothot Ethan had his mouth on my mouth and I wasn't even conscious for it. Great—now I couldn't stop looking at his defined back through his wet shirt as I followed him around the pool and towards the opposite door.
"It's the boys' locker room, but no one comes in here since the swim team was disbanded for the semester." Ethan set our stuff on a bench. "They still practice on the weekends, though." He went to a cabinet and took out two towels and a robe. "These're freshly laundered, so don't be scared of any boy sweat."
I swiped them from his hands. "I think I'm man enough."
He chuckled. "There's a washer and dryer in here. You can change in one of those stalls, or a bathroom—"
"Where's the bathroom?"
He frowned. "I'm not gonna look."
"I wasn't worrying about that until now."
Ethan sighed. "You're really stressful. Follow me." We walked by the showers, and then more lockers, and past what looked like a teacher's office. I already spotted the bathroom. "Bathroom's there. And then here…." He turned left toward an open door. "Here're the washer and dryer. I'll keep a lookout by the lockers. No one comes in here, but I'll keep watch—just in case."
The lockers looked pretty far. Ethan was already walking away when I said, "Ethan," and then immediately wished I hadn't said anything.
He turned around. "What?"
Ugh, I felt so embarrassed I couldn't meet his eyes. "Can you keep lookout… here?" Guess I'm not man enough.
Ethan casually shrugged. "Sure."
I disappeared into the bathroom and into a stall, still embarrassed but—come on. There was a dead girl's ghost in my life now, so being alone didn't feel so hot anymore. Especially not after I almost drowned.
It was pretty quiet with me just changing. "Can we talk?" I asked. "It's too quiet."
"Sure," he said again. He probably knew I was still freaked. Ugh, I felt like such a little girl in front of him. "Wanna talk about the project?"
I thought I was going to pick the topic. "Want to talk about that tomorrow? We could meet after school—some place dry… like the library."
Ethan laughed. "Not a problem. What'd you want to talk—?"
"Did you really go out with Cynthia freshman year?"
Wait, what?! NO! I didn't want to ask that! Especially while I was partially naked!
**********
I've reedited this about fifteen times, and I'm somewhat satisfied.