Deeper (12 page)

He’s been waiting, he’s been flirting with me all season. And he’s right, there’s no reason we shouldn’t anymore, we’re both free. He’s handsome, even if he is a year younger than me. I’ve never had a fling, and that’s what this would be right? I’ll be going to college in a month when the season ends. I can’t help but think his face is just a little too innocent to be attractive. One of the other guards gets in the side of the double tube next to Kristy, and William looks at me for a moment before stepping into the other side. There’s now three people in the chain. The girl next to Kristy grabs Kristy’s tube handle and Kristy grabs hers back, creating a strong link. The platform isn’t long enough for all of the tubes, so we’ll have to hang on tight while Kristy’s tube hangs a bit down the slope.

“So what you think, Rain? Gonna join me?” William reaches out his hand, and I take it and lower myself into the spot on the next double tube, the one next to him. I grab his handle, he grabs mine. We’re a link four people strong, five counting whoever agrees to take the spot on my tube. We’re hoping to be six total. I can’t think straight, too much adrenaline from watching the other dumb things the guards have been doing all morning. At least I avoided participating in a lot of it because I twisted my ankle doing a rescue drill in a shallow area. But they caught me walking normally and now I’m here.

Time seems to freeze as I capture this moment in my mind, William’s shy, smiling face as our hands cross in the tube, the guards around me, young and attractive with their hair whipping in the wind and their skin goosebumping in the suddenly cool air.

Last year a guard died jumping off the top slide tower into the slide. He missed it and immediately fell 70 feet to instant death. But it hasn’t stopped us from breaking the rules, even at official trainings. The cynical part of me feels management overlooks it because as long as we push the boundaries they’ll know the limits of what is safe for patrons without being sued.

Why else would our supervisors allow, no encourage, no, demand this? It’s all I think as Laurie agrees to be in my double. We share a grin, and she turns to talk to the person who’s going to be on the single. Probably Brandon. I look at William, wishing someone other than me would stop this madness. Brandon has to move us down the platform to load his tube, and William’s double tube moves down the platform, just me and him holding him, Laurie and Kristy up with our slippery handles. He looks up into my eyes, still focused on my reply rather than the situation we’re in.

“So, what do you think?”

“I’m in.” It’s not the most romantic way of saying it, but sometimes you can fall in love with someone later. And he’s waited so long, and been such a good friend. My reasons for agreeing to date him are as tenuous as our reasons for thinking this chain thing is a good idea, and as Brandon pushes into his tube, the girl holding Kristy’s tube starts to lose her grip.

William lunges across her to help grab the handle, and they smile when they are successful in keeping the chain together. It’s going to be the longest chain we’ve ever done.

“I can’t hold it on my own,” I say, surprised I can even hold the three of them for a moment, even if they are on a slant rather than just hanging.

“I can’t grab both. Just hold on a sec,” William says.

“Brandon, hurry!” I shout. “I’m losing them.” We won’t have our chain after all. William’s eyes turn to me with disappointment as the tube starts to slip away. “It’s okay Rain, we’ll just do two chains.”

But Brandon isn’t happy with that. When I let go of William’s side of the chain, he grabs the handle of my double tube, jumps in his single, and pushes off, telling me to grab them. He really wants this record, and I’ve ruined it.

The problem is the slide is fastest right off the platform, and that split second of time has led to William’s tube and Kristy’s next to it flying up the other side of the slide as we fly down this one. As we come up their side, they have hit the ramp and are coming down. Ten feet from the top, 50 feet in the air, we collide in a mash of tubes.

One moment I’m watching William’s face, trying to time when I should grab his tube, the next I’m airborne, for what feels like forever, and then I land, on my tube in the water.

Safe.

I hear the other tubes land. I can’t believe we pulled it off! Why didn’t I realize the rim on the back of the slide would keep everyone on, even in a chain? I’m so relieved, I could just find William and hug him, maybe kiss him. We’re free now, after all.

I don’t know why I kept turning him down. Just like I shouldn’t have been wary of doing the slide. It was fun, it was fantastic, it was…

I’m facing away from the other tubes, and I see a red ribbon threading through the water next to me. I hurry to stand and slip and hit my knees.

The other tubes are scattered over the bottom of the slide, in the center of the U, in the water. I’m the only one who landed on her tube. I’m the one who let go.

I walk to Kristy, who’s kneeling, clutching her nose that’s spurting in the water, causing beautiful, flowery ribbons to flow between the tubes. Brandon is in front of me, he stands, and limps to the side of the slide, the side opposite me.

I count the people on the slide. I see the other girl from my tube, holding her leg and crying, and the girl who was on William’s tube, trying to help her while nursing a bump on her own head. No William.

I push tubes out of the way in front of me and try to avoid hurting anyone, even as guilt floods me that they are all hurt and I’m not, and I’m the one who let go.

Including my tube, just one double tube and the two singles. One missing. William missing. I flash back to the moment of impact, can see now that while my tube flew into the bottom of the slide, William’s tube catapulted off the side. I can see Laurie falling off down the slide, bailing when she saw us coming. Why couldn’t I see any of this at the moment of impact? I have to run up the steep side of the slide to get to the other, and I slip several times, causing nasty pain to my knees that will surely result in bruises. I finally make it to the side edge of the slide and look over.

In the distance, I can hear yelling. I turn and look back toward the direction I came from and see our EMTs running towards us. I look back to William.

No. No. No.

It’s been a week since Knight and I hung out at the golf course. If you can call it hanging out when you kiss in the moonlight.

My eyes find him across the pool deck, watching me with that odd look he has. Even though it’s nearly the end of our second week open, and he should have confidence in me by now.

I don’t know why he’s so worried. No catastrophes have happened. A couple kids ran on the deck when they shouldn’t, but weren’t terribly injured, and a couple guards have frozen, but I was able to snap them out of it so they could do their saves. Once a guard misses a save there’s no way to bring back their confidence, so I like to try and push them into it rather than jumping in for them.

We have two no-shows today, and when I called them, both were sick. Both boys. Amy and Sarah were both willing to stay on after early swim lessons to do the rec shift, so the lap pool rotation is all girls. Hopefully Knight doesn’t notice, because he’d probably have a sexist fit about it.

I come up beside Amy, who’s diligently watching her water. “Need anything?” She’s been here since five am, and I don’t want her hungry or dehydrated.

She shakes her head. “I’m doing fine.”

“Any troublemakers?”

“Not so far. Kind of a rowdy group in the pool, but they’re keeping to themselves.”

“Want me to stay here for a bit?”

“Naw, just do your rounds like normal. It’s fine. We’re fine.” She waves to Sarah on the other side of the pool.

“Alright. If you say so. Can I refill your water?”

“Sure. Have you seen Knight staring at you? I still think you’re making a mistake not taking that boy up on what he’s offering.” She bends to get the bottle at her feet, without taking her eyes off the water. It’s right on the edge of the pool. I think of Knight’s warning, just for a split second, before Amy gets yanked in.

It happens in the blink of an eye. One second Amy is beside me, the next she’s not, and a big splash stings my face and eyes. I wipe off my face and Susan starts to blow her whistle manically.

Four or five teenage boys crowd Amy in the pool, tearing at her clothing and skin with their hands, causing the water to churn around her. Like a whirlpool. So this is what Knight meant. My heart pounds in my chest, and things turn to slow motion as I make the only decision I can.

I blow my whistle twice, for Knight, as I jump in. I’m fully committed, and my brain does that thing where it goes eerily calm as I commit to saving her. I know Knight is going to hate me for this, I know he’s going to wish I called him first, but Amy can’t wait for me. I might not be able to pull all of them off, but I’ll be able to get her out. I surface in the middle of the group, blindly grasping for Amy.

When I find her, I ignore the hands grabbing everywhere, the sound of male grunts, and dunk under water with her, pushing her down below me as their hands find my body instead of hers. I push her out between a gap between their legs, shove her away from my body as hard as I can. Out of the whirlpool.

I come up for air, ignoring the water and hands flying around me, until I see her finally surface and start to pull herself out. Relief floods me, until a hand lands on my chest. I slap it away and start to fight.

I’ve succeeded in rescuing Amy, but now I’m the one in trouble. Their hands are everywhere. Damnit. My usual calm isn’t helping anything. I can’t even scream or grab my whistle. I keep getting pushed down, and I have to close my mouth to keep the water from getting in my lungs. I thrash, pulling their hands away from my swimsuit, dodging in the water to keep their hands from going certain places.

Their faces go around me as I swallow more water from the splashing, and they’re intently focused, leering, yelling. They aren’t even that old. Not old enough to be animals.

So this was what Knight was trying to prevent. I’m kind of wishing I had put a male guard on the lap lane. I’m a damn good guard but I’m not strong enough, and the defense I know doesn’t work on a gang when I’m half underwater.

I try to push out of the circle but get pushed back in, pulled down, groped. As I swallow more water and cough on it, it dawns on me that I’m not going to get out. I’m not big enough. I can’t get through. There’s no water rescue I can use. Am I going to be raped in my own pool?

I’m having trouble staying focused because it’s hard to breathe when I’m constantly knocked down in the water, and the water is constantly splashing up into my face when I’m not submerged. Things are starting to become fuzzy. Screw being raped, am I about to die?

I’ve done such a good job keeping other people safe I forgot to keep myself safe. Maybe I deserve this, because once last summer, I kept myself safe and let someone else die. But I didn’t mean to. I swear I didn’t mean to. Does saving Amy make it right? Am I forgiven? It’s my last lucid thought as the water takes over and I become frantic and dizzy. I’m still dodging, still slapping hands away, but I can’t stand it much longer. The faces…

It was worth it. Worth jumping in for Amy. Maybe if I live after this I’ll tell the guards what Knight said about not putting their water bottles too close to the water.

If only Knight were here now. What I wouldn’t give to see his stupid, sexist face right now, bearing down and pulling them away. I lash out with a last bit of strength and hit one of the guys in the face. He shoves me under the water, and I start to sink down, holding what air I can in my lungs. I can’t fight anymore. Don’t hate me Knight, I just wanted to keep everyone safe.

It’s our second week open, and I’ve been surprised by Rain. She’s capable, she walks the pools well out of harms reach, and she’s fast during save situations. She also doesn’t just jump in when a guard is freezing up. She comes up behind them and gets them to go on their own. Most sups freak out and just go in, ruining the guard’s confidence.

Even though I respect her, I still worry about her every day. I wonder if I’m just having a hard time keeping her separate from Camille. It’s been a long time since I had someone to watch out for.

I walk out from the first aid station when my break is over and look around the deck for anything that might need to be done. My eyes find Rain, over by the lap pool talking to Amy as she rotates. Probably giving tips. She’s fine. Maybe after a few more days like this I can stop acting like a stalker and just let her do her job.

I go into Nate’s office, which is just a little desk inside the chem room. He looks up, shaking curly hair out of his face. “What? Need something?”

“PH levels okay?”

“Yeah, great. You could ask Rain though, she likes to check them instead of taking breaks. Kind of annoying.” But he grins and I can tell he likes someone taking an interest in his job.

“Great, you doing okay? It’s hot in here.”

“Knight, you do care.” Patrick wipes his sweaty hair off his neck. “Naw, I’m fine. Did you just hear a double whistle?”

“What?”

“There, heard it again. Double whistle.”

I listen, and I hear one, two, maybe three guards. I run out of the office and towards the far side of the pool. I can see something going down in the lap pool, but can’t see what. I can’t run because of the stupid wet tile and the fact that it’s a one-way ticket to cracking your head open, but I jog. As the pool comes into view, I can’t see Rain anywhere. My pulse quickens. Amy is at the side of the pool, soaked and disheveled, and there’s a flurry of splashing happening next to her.

“Knight! Whirlpool!” Amy slips as she tries to stand, but catches herself on her hands. She waves. “Help Rain!”

I start to run. I can’t help it. Why hasn’t anyone else gone in? I look around the lap pool, all four are girl guards. Damn, why hadn’t I noticed she switched the rotation? The others look troubled, blowing their whistles.