It had been the first really hot day of the summer and it was the perfect day to go swimming at the community pool. Riley had worn her cute new bathing suit and had gone with all her friends from her hockey team and she was having an amazingly fun time, at least until Meg had dared her to jump off the high dive.
It had seemed like a fun idea at the time, but now that she was up there, staring down at the water that appeared to be miles away, she suddenly found that she couldn't bring herself to move; paralyzed by fear…
Literally…
"Everyone is staring at us." Disgust sighed with aggravation.
The purple emotion remained gaping at the View Screen, unblinking, his hands clenched on the controls so tightly his lavender knuckles were turning white.
"How did you ever talk us into this, Joy?" He asked, his voice quivering.
Just moments ago they were climbing the ladder, with him repeating to himself Joy's affirmation of 'we can do this' over and over until they had reached the top. But the second he had seen how high they were, he had rescinded any faith he had in her plan with a loud 'WE CAN'T DO THIS!' before pushing her out of the way and pulling the brakes on the console. And now he simply stood there, clutching the controls, whimpering, as solid and unmovable as he could be with his legs trembling as they were.
"Its okay, Fear," Joy answered calmly. "There's nothing to worry about. It's only water. We've jumped off the low dive before and remember how fun that was?"
She reached over and pressed the button that recalled a memory from last summer. The golden sphere projected an image of Riley taking a running leap from the pool's low dive, her parents cheering her on.
He glanced at her hopeful smile but remained unmoved.
"The low dive is a foot high, Joy. We're like, FIFTY feet up right now!"
"We're only TEN feet up." Disgust corrected him with a roll of her eyes.
"Still, think of what could happen if we hit the water wrong. Injury, paralysis, DROWNING! I saw that lifeguard out peripheral vision, he was busy flirting with some blond in a bikini." His eyes narrowed seriously, "I don't trust that he's certified."
"Well, you think about how embarrassing it will be when all of Riley's friends see her chicken out of Meg's dare." Disgust shot back.
Actually, he had considered it and it was the anxiety brought on by the potential negative judgment from Riley's friends that was the biggest reason he hadn't taken her back down the ladder yet.
"We could end up doing a belly flop… That would be painful and embarrassing." Sadness flatly added from her seat on the couch behind them.
"Guys, nothing is going to go wrong." Joy assured "So let's go for it!" Gently, she tried to nudge Fear away from the controls, but he was still rooted to the spot, pushing back like a springy sapling.
"That's not gonna work." Anger snorted and threw down his newspaper. Dismounting his chair, he stepped up behind Fear with a devious grin. "You want me to light up his bottom? That'll get us going." If it were possible, Fear's eyes seemed to bulge out even more as he let out a worried squeak at Anger's offer. He was on the verge of hyperventilating.
Joy frowned slightly. "No, we won't need that." But she paused and thought a moment, glancing at Fear who was shaking so much the controls were rattling, then at Disgust who was fiddling with her hair with impatience, then finally at the View Screen where Riley was gazing at her friends, waiting for her at the pool's edge and chanting, "Jump! Jump! Jump!"
Suddenly Joy lit up with an idea. She turned to Fear and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Fear, do you want us to get down from here?" She watched him nod.
"Uhuh."
"Then let's get down." She smiled.
His breathing slowed and his posture slackened.
"You…you mean it?" He stammered, perplexed she was giving him the Okay to withdraw Riley from the diving board. She nodded back.
"Yeah, we can back up nice and slow, all the way back to the ladder."
Disgust groaned, "We're seriously giving up?"
Joy didn't give her an answer as she placed her other hand on his arm as he switched the controls into reverse and slowly Riley started to back up down the diving board. She reached the end and placed both hands on the ladder's side rails.
"Aw, come on, you big chicken." They heard Meg exclaim.
Fear hesitated, his hand hovering over the movement controls.
"We don't have to do this." Joy told him. Then she smirked. "But, doing it would be much more fun!"
Before he could register it, she had pushed him off the controls and set Riley into a running leap off the diving board. The girl cannonballed into the pool below with an excited whoop and a huge splash. He couldn't even try to stop Joy. The moment he had hit the ground, Anger had piled on top of him and kept him pinned down despite all his struggling and wriggling.
"Leggo! Anger, get off me!" He cried, fruitlessly reaching for the console.
"Heh heh. No way, noodle boy." Anger chuckled, having far too much fun doing this.
"Joy, that was positively ruthless. I'm impressed." Disgust complemented.
"Well, I try to be positive in everything I do." Joy smiled back, oblivious to Disgust raising an eyebrow at the fact that she had missed her point.
Fear lay under Anger's Half-Nelson, silently fuming. She had tricked him! Got him to lower his guard just enough to steal control away from him.
"You lied to me." He accused.
"I didn't lie," She defended herself, "I just never said we weren't using the ladder to get down." He glowered at her, thought he felt so pathetic down there on the floor, it almost came out as a pout. "Don't give me that face, Riley's fine. Look at how much fun she's having."
Finally allowed up, Fear took a look at the View Screen were Riley was busily splashing her friends who had joined her in the water.
His panic was fading but his resentment lingered, followed by a creeping unease that Joy or any of the others could try such a trick on him again. He tried to ignore the paranoid notion and instead placed his focus on the screen where he could ensure that Riley wouldn't engage in any horseplay that could lead to drowning.
He folded his arms and sat himself down on the couch, trying to appear as if he still possessed some of his dignity.
"Can you believe she did that?" he huffed aloud, "I feel so …betrayed." He turned to Sadness beside him, her big eyes staring intently at the screen. For a moment he wasn't even sure she had heard him, then she glanced at him and replied,
"And now we'll probably get water in our ears." She gave his hand a quick pat and returned to staring into the empty space ahead of her.
He sighed quietly. At least Sadness understood there were risks worth obsessing about, though not quite on his level. And now, while watching the others playing at the controls; Joy guiding Riley through a game of splash-tag, Anger making sure she wasn't going to loose and Disgust reminding Joy to make sure they didn't swallow any of the water, he decided this was the best he was going to get.