Hey guys, if you read this chapter and haven't seen this message, I added in a little scene at the very end, so please check it out, it sets up things better for the next chapter.
Chapter Eleven: Truth or Dare
"Hallie!" Miles yelled from beside me in the tower.
"Huh?" I asked, snapping back to reality.
"Are you even listening to me?" Miles asked with an eye roll to which I sheepishly smiled.
"Uh, yeah..." I trailed off, but I hadn't even convinced myself.
"Okay, tell me what's up." Miles sighed, "And before you start trying to say nothing's up... I know somethings up, so just save us the extra effort and tell me."
I sighed out, turning to face him fully just for a moment. It was me, him, Marco, and Wes at morning shift today. Today as in Friday, three day of the beach guard kickoff bonfire. "I guess I'm just worried about today, Miles. I can't help feeling like, you know, shits gonna go down."
"Oh please, George will be there. Shit is definitely going to go down." Miles replied matter of factly and rolling his eyes. "But your tower has your back, so it'll be fine."
"I'm worried about Mitchell." I admitted.
"What about him? That George will go after him?" Miles asked.
I shook my head slightly.
Miles's mouth formed into an 'o' shape as he came to a conclusion. "You're worried about what George will say, and in turn, what Mitchell will think."
I wasn't expecting Miles to be so close to the money, and I made the mistake of a dead giveaway by snapping my eyes away from his.
"What could George possibly say about you to Mitchell? And if Mitchell thinks any less of you... then to hell with him." Miles comforted.
However, he was close to the money, but not on the money.
"It's not exactly George talking that I'm worried about." I met Miles's gaze once again, and he just looked on at me in confusion.
Right, cause in his mind... who could possibly be worse than George?
"It's Connor that I'm worried about."
++++
It was just past one, when I saw it. A little boy wandered out just a bit too far in the water, and a rip current under a big wave caught him I supposed. I shot up out of my chair, smacking Miles's arm and bringing my whistle to my lips, blowing hard to alert Weston and Marco. "Everyone clear the water please" I ordered, yelling so that the beach bums and shoobies could hear me. While rescuing one, you didn't want to have to worry about another drowning.
Miles didn't question me as we ran down the small strip of beach to the water together, Marco and Weston falling in line with us.
"There was a little boy about fifteen meters back, he got swept by that wave." I briefed them as we ran knee deep into the water. "He was right here," I pointed directly in front of us, "And the current is going that way," I pointed right.
We linked arms and spread out, forming a human chain as we walked forward slowly, hoping to either run into him, or for him to surface.
We got lucky. We'd only walked a couple meters when he broke the surface, arms flailing, a lot farther out in the ocean and a bit down shore. Immediately, Weston and I broke the chain and began swimming to him while Marco and Miles swam in to get the med kit.
Out of the four of us, Weston and I were the strongest swimmers. Weston made it to him first and grabbed him quickly, holding him tightly before I reached them.
The boy was coughing and sobbing hysterically.
"Hey, listen to me. You're okay now, we've got you. You're going to be okay, but we need you to calm down so we can get you back to shore." I told him.
The boy nodded and relaxed slightly as Weston swam him in, and I stayed next to them, warning Wes about big waves and making sure they got in ok.
When we reached the shore, I took him from Wes, as Wes collapsed on the beach exhausted after fighting against the waves and the current while carrying another human. I sat the boy on the beach as his mom ran up to us.
"Hold on ma'am, we need to make sure he's okay first." Marco intercepted her, stopping her from hugging him.
"Hi, my name is Hallie. I'm going to be administering your first aid." I told the little boy, kneeling in the sand and looking at him eye level. "Can you tell me if you swallowed a lot of water?""
He nodded softly. He was probably only nine or ten, and he'd just had a potentially fatal experience, I didn't blame him for being shy.
"Does anything hurt? Did you scrape against the sand at all?" I asked him.
He held out his elbow and I took an alcohol prep pad from the kit Miles brought and rubbed it over his scrape. I then put some neosporin on it and covered it with a bandaid.
I stood up and beckoned over Marco and the mom. "He said he swallowed a lot of water, and he keeps coughing. I'm going to recommend you take him to the ER to have them check on his lungs-"
"Isn't he going to be okay?" The mom asked, her voice wavering.
"Yes ma'am, he should be fine. But just as a precaution, it's unlikely but not unheard of for people to die from dry drowning-"
"Drowning?? But he's fine now he-"
"Dry drowning is when after a near drowning experience, the water in a persons lungs ends up killing them at a later time, usually within 24 hours." I explained, "Like I said... it's just a precaution."
The mom nodded, and took her boy by the hand, leading him off of the beach.
I glanced at Miles. His eyes were wide, probably still running on shock and adrenaline from the experience.
"Good eye, Johnson." Weston commented, sitting up from his position on the beach.
+++
"So Hallie, beach kickoff tonight, are you excited?" My mom asked, stirring something she was cooking up.
"Yep. Excited but also nervous." I replied shortly.
I had just come downstairs, dressed in a float white coverup and a turquoise bikini underneath for the bonfire. I was just about to leave to go meet Benji and Mitchell, so we could drive to Tower 1 where the bonfire would be, together.
"Have fun, be safe, make good decisions." My mom said, pausing her cooking to kiss me on the cheek.
"Love you mom." I called as I walked out the back door.
"Love you too sweetheart." My mom replied.
++
The bonfire was officially in full swing. There were a few jbl speakers set up in various places around the beach that were playing chill vibe music.
I was standing with Mitchell, talking to a girl named Samantha from Tower 3.
"Hey, I heard about your save today, Hallie. Nice job." A girl named Samantha complimented.
"Thanks, but it was nothing." I replied sheepishly.
"You saved someone today?" Mitchell asked, turning to me, "You didn't tell me."
"I mean, it's not that big of a deal, just part of the job." I shrugged, "Plus it was Wes who swam him in."
"Well whatever, I'm proud of you." Mitchell grinned at me.
"I'll leave you two alone." Samantha said with a smirk as she turned to leave.
"So how was your shift today?" I asked Mitchell, "First one without me, did it go alright?"
"Yeah, it was rather uneventful compared to yours." Mitchell replied with a wink, "Missed you though."
I smiled in response, it was cheesy, but cute.
Mitchell stepped closer to me, "Hallie-"
"Let's get this party started!" A loud obnoxious voice called from behind me, and I turned. It was George of course, obviously drunk.
Which sucked, because he only got meaner and stupider when he was drunk.
"The parties already going, man." One of the older guards from another tower sighed.
"Is this your definition of a party, old man?" George taunted, to which the guy just rolled his eyes. I supposed he was too mature to take George's bait. "Anyway, what do you say we spice things up a little bit... truth or dare style."
"No one wants to play with you, George." Benji sighed.
"Scared?" George asked.
Benji obviously was not mature enough to not take the bait, "You're on."
"Who else is in?" George asked with a smirk, his eyes finding me.
"I'm in." I sighed, walking toward him, but Mitchell grabbed my arm.
"I though you said he was bad news." He asked, slightly confused.
"Yeah, but I'm not letting Benji play without me." I replied.
"Well then," Mitchell sighed, "I'm in too."
"Me too," Miles added.
"Guess I'll play." Wes shrugged.
"And me." Marco added, though he didn't seem to thrilled.
"My boys and girl are in of course. Anyone else?" A few people from other towers voiced their opinions on the game.
"Dude, you know how this ended last year." Some dude spoke up.
"Man shut up. That was just bad luck." George snapped in response, his eyes flared with anger and I could tell the guy had struck a nerve.
I, however, had no clue what had happened to make it so bad last year, and looking up and meeting Connor's eyes, he didn't either.
In the end, a few people joined us, which I suppose satisfied George. But the dude who spoke up earlier and his friends had backed away from the group and were avoiding looking at us like we were the plague.
We made a circle off to the side of the bonfire, everyone else just still enjoying their peaceful party. "Well then, I organized the game. Rules are: you refuse to answer a truth or dare, you have to take the punishment. Only fair I get to go first." George smirked.
"What's the punishment?" A girl I'd never seen before asked, she was either new to town, or she had just aged up to become a beach guard.
"Skinny dipping in the ocean. And if your dare involves another person and you refuse, they go with you." George replied smirking.
"What if the person you're dared to do something with refuses?" She asked nervously, biting her lip.
"Well then tough-"
"Then we pick a new dare." Connor interrupted, which earned him a glare from George. "We honor consent here." Connor stated firmly, not backing down from George's incessant glare.
"Fine then, if that's all settled..." His eyes turned on Miles, "Truth or dare?"