The Year I Almost Drowned (19 page)

stand it when I talked on the phone while she tried to study.

“Finn.” He sounded really tired, almost exhausted.

“You okay?”

“Just really tired. What can I do for you?” He perked up a little.

I walked down the stairs and pushed the door open to the outside. The campus

was quiet. Everyone was in their dorm rooms studying. Everyone but me.

“I have my presentation tomorrow. Do you think there’s anything I left out that I

need to add?” I had sent him a copy of my business plan in the mail. I tried to

email it to him, but he said he needed to hold it in his hands in order to read it.

Grandpa was seriously old school and refused to read anything electronic even

though it cost me fifteen dollars to print it and ship it to him.

“It looked good to me. But what do I know. That professor of yours is the one with

the

high-falutin’

degree,”

he

said.

“I

think

you

run

circles

around

him,

Grandpa.”

He

chuckled.

“We

gonna

see

you

soon?”

“In a few short weeks.” Sidney had invited me to go back with her to New

Hampshire and stay for a couple of weeks once finals were over. I had never

been anywhere north of South Carolina and was dying to see that part of the

country. “I can’t wait,” I said, and I really meant it. I wanted to go back home–to

Graceville.

“Well,

good.

Your

Nana

and

I

miss

you.”

“Me, too,” I said. My phone started beeping. “Listen, I have to go. My battery is

about

to

die.

I’ll

talk

to

you

soon.

Love

you.”

“Right back at ya,” he said, and I hung up. I punched in my code and walked back

up

to

my

dorm

room.

I lay down on the bed again and put my ear phones on, listening to music. Time

passed, and I was about to go to sleep. My eyelids felt heavy.

“Finn,”

Sidney

said,

waking

me

from

my

meditative

state.

I

flinched

and

said,

“Yeah.”

“Take off your ear phones,” she ordered. I took them off and looked at her,

waiting. She looked at her phone again. “Kaley just sent me a text.”

“That’s

great.”

I

started

to

put

my

ear

phones

on

again.

She huffed, “Don’t put those back on.” She took my headphones off of my ears.

“We’re going to do something fun.” She gave me a devious expression.

I titled my head and arched an eyebrow. “Like?” I asked skeptically.

“Like swimming in the campus pool,” she said with a broad grin.

“The pool is closed,” I said. Harrison had an indoor swimming pool that I hadn’t

used

my

entire

semester

there.

“Kaley

has

a

key,”

she

said.

“How?”

“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “I’ve got one more sentence to type, and then we’re

going.” Each of Sidney’s fingers quickly tapped on the keyboard. She pushed the

print button and gathered the paper from the printer, placing it in a nice, neat

stack. She stapled the pieces of paper together and laid it down on the desk.

“There. All finished.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s go.”

I didn’t think it could do any harm to jump in a pool. It did sound like fun, and it

couldn’t be trespassing if Kaley had a key–or at least that’s how I rationalized it.

It wasn’t breaking in if she had a key. The crazy notions people will come up with

to justify their illicit activities. We dressed into our swimming suits and put shorts

and t-shirts on over them, grabbed some towels and headed out the door.

Several girls were already swimming in the pool when we arrived. Kaley told her

friend who had told another friend, who then told her friend, who told that friend.

By the time it was all said and done, there were over thirty girls either in or around

the

swimming

pool.

I looked around nervously. “Sidney, we’re going to get caught. There are many

people

here.”

I

felt

like

I

was

all

talk

and

no

game.

“Please, Finn. Like campus security would ever figure out we’re here. They’re too

busy watching sports and eating doughnuts,” she quipped and stripped down to

her bathing suit. She jumped into the pool. Water splashed everywhere. “It’s

cold!” she shouted. “Quit being a wussy,” she barked at me.

I took off my clothes–the skimpy bikini Meg had loaned me the summer before

was on underneath–and walked slowly into the pool. The water was cold. Ice

cold.

My

teeth

chattered.

“It’s

cold.”

“Move around. You’ll warm up.” She swam away from me toward the group of

girls.

I stood in the pool shivering. I looked at all the girls swimming, splashing each

other. Some were drinking alcohol. Others were bouncing an inflated beach ball

back and forth to each other. Someone had brought a CD player. The volume

was

turned

up,

blasting

loud

rock

music.

At the far end of the pool was a diving board and a high dive. It had been a long

time since I had dived off of a high diving board. The last time was with Jesse–

he was the one who had taught me how to dive. The last time we had gone

swimming was at the end of summer when I had decided to stay in Graceville. I

swept that memory to the side and thought to myself–now is as good a time as

any. I got out of the pool and walked to the deep end and climbed up the steps to

the

high

dive.

“Look,

she’s

gonna

dive!”

a

girl

shouted.

“Do it! Do it! Do it!” they chanted in unison, pounding their fists against the surface

of the chlorinated water. With that type of pressure, I couldn’t go back. I continued

up the steps and got to the top of the board. Most of them peered up in my

direction.

“Show

us

your

best

kick-ass

dive!”

Sidney

shouted.

I raised my arms above my head and clasped my hands together and dove

forward, deep into the water. I came up from the depths of the pool and saw huge

grins on on the thirty-plus faces. They clapped simultaneously and shouted “Woo

hooo!”

I

bowed

and

smiled.

“Again!”

they

shouted.

And that’s what I did. I got on the high dive and did it again and again and again.

After a few hours, campus security came in and threatened to expel us all if we

didn’t vacate the premises immediately. We ran out of there as fast as we could.

Sopping wet and still in our swim suits, Sidney and I ran across the lawn in the

middle of the night trying to elude campus security. We laughed the entire way to

the

dorm

room.

“That was so much fun,” I said to her when we reached our room.

“Oh my gosh, it so was. Stick with me and you’ll always have fun. I know things,

know what I mean?” she said and raised her eyebrows up and down. “I’m taking

a

shower.”

“Okay.” I put on my oversized fuzzy robe that my mom had bought me for

Christmas and crashed on the bed, not waking up until late the next morning.

***

“Finn!

Oh

my

frickin’

god,

wake

up!”

Sidney

shouted.

I

sat

up.

“What’s

wrong?”

Her eyes were wide. She gave me a frantic look. “We slept in! I have to turn this

paper in or I’m toast. You have a presentation to do, don’t you?” She was still

shouting.

I looked at the alarm clock. Ten a.m. My class had been in session for thirty

minutes. I only had thirty more minutes left of class before it ended. No

presentation meant NO final exam grade which meant a big, fat “F.”

“I forgot to set the alarm clock!” I leapt out of bed and quickly put on a pair of

jeans, t-shirt and tennis shoes. My hair was a complete wreck. I pulled it back into

a pony tail and put on a baseball cap. Hopefully Dr. Norton, my professor, wasn’t

grading

my

presentation

on

appearance

alone.

We ran out of the room and flew across the campus. I reached my classroom in

record time. I had fifteen minutes left of class. I opened the door and everyone

looked

at

me.

So

much

for

trying

to

sneak

in.

Dr. Norton pursed his lips and shook his head. “Miss Hemmings, nice of you to

grace us with your presence.” He looked at his watch and then back at me.

“You’re

up,”

he

said.

He was baiting me. But I wasn’t worried. Talking about running a diner was as

easy as breathing. I could’ve stood up there for hours, but I only had five minutes

to

get

my

points

across.

When the assignment had been given, a lot of the other girls in class were

panicking, worried about having to come up with a business plan. After working

with my grandfather at the diner and seeing how he ran things, I felt pretty

confident in coming up with a business plan for running a diner. Plus, having his

advice throughout the project made it all the easier. Running a Business the Right

Way had turned out to be my favorite class of the semester. I didn’t know for sure,

but I was thinking that business may be my choice of major after all.

“That was a good presentation. You know a lot about the restaurant industry and

show a strong head for business. Next time, dress more professionally for a

presentation. This would never cut it in the business world,” Dr. Norton said to me

when

class

was

finished.

I received an “A” which meant I would keep my scholarship. Whew. That was a

relief. Not that I was anticipating a bad grade; it just reassured me that I could

keep going to Harrison. All I had needed to keep the scholarship was a 3.0 GPA,

and I was pretty confident that mine was at a 4.0. I wouldn’t know until final grades

were posted, but I had a feeling that I had done well on all of my exams.

I stopped to get a cup of coffee and strolled back toward my dorm room. I was on

cloud nine. One semester down and seven more to go. The sun was shining

bright.

It

had

just

rained,

and

the

grass

was

still

wet.

I should’ve realized that it was strange to see them on campus standing in front

of my dorm building. I should’ve noticed their grim expressions and their stiff body

language. But I wasn’t that perceptive. All I could think was “It’s him. He’s here,

and now I can’t breathe or think straight.”

He spoke first. I just stood there gawking at him like an idiot. Seeing him after all

that time was heartbreakingly painful. I knew I missed him. But seeing him for the

first time in months affirmed that. I missed him. I missed our talks. I missed that

feeling of being so incredibly comfortable around him–how I could really be

myself.

No

one

knew

me

as

well

as

Jesse.

No

one.

Distance in time meant nothing. He would always hold a special place in my heart.

He looked older, more mature, and maybe even more handsome, if that were

possible. His dark wavy hair was cut short and cropped closely to his head. It

looked good on him. I wanted to reach out to touch him, to see if he was real or

if he was some mirage. Was I that tired? I had gotten four hours of sleep. That

was enough. No one starts to have hallucinations from not getting their required

seven

hours

of

REM.

“Finn,” he said. His expression was grave, so serious. What was he trying to tell

me? Why was Meg standing next to him giving me the saddest expression I had

ever seen?

“Why are you here?” I only asked him. I knew Meg was there. Somehow I forgot

to speak to her.

“We need to talk to you. Is there a place to sit down and talk?” he asked.

This was serious. What was going on? Deep down I had a sneaking suspicion of

why they were there, but I didn’t want to face it, to believe it.