NO RUNNING, NO DIVING
Disclaimer: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Here's a new fic for those who need something to read (like myself). Please read and review to tell me if I should continue.
Chapter 1
Being a lifeguard was actually pretty boring.
Usually people who came to a water park, knew how to swim.
So now I'm basically sitting on this highchair watching kids swim around, jump off the diving boards into the deep end, and have fun while I waited for my shift to end.
My dad just had to have his son on babysitting duty, way to exploit your kids dad…
My dad owns this entire water park… that would make me think that he would want to spoil his kids with the money he makes, but no he doesn't like that idea. Me and Xion have to work for everything we want…
At least she gets to work in the air-conditioned gift shops…
I guess I kind of liked being a lifeguard. I loved swimming and helping people so this was probably the best job for me.
Plus it pays pretty well…
The pool area I was assigned to watch today was called "Sparrow's Black Pearl." It was basically a beach looking area, but in the deep end of the pool there was a ship-like play structure. It had diving boards that looked like planks and ropes and things for the customers to climb.
You had to be at least ten years old to swim in this pool because it was slightly dangerous, but that was why I was here.
What I like most about this pool was the bottom of it. The "shore" had shells and rocks at the bottom; the deep end had synthetic coral in various different colors.
Of course all of these things had to be soft so that none of the customers hurt themselves, but it was still cool.
It made the pool look really fancy.
I leaned back in my chair and put on my aviators. They were actually part of the uniform… I thought that was pretty cool.
I heard someone knocking on the wood of my highchair. I looked down to see my friend Axel.
"My shifts not done is it?" I asked.
"No I just wanted to say hi." Axel said.
"Shouldn't you be doing you're job?" I asked.
"Well see, if you know the ancient art of persuasion, it's quite easy to convince certain people to do your job…" Axel said.
"Don't tell me you tricked Demyx into selling the ice cream again! He doesn't even work here!" I said exasperated.
Axel smirked. "And all I have to do is give him free ice cream the next time he comes here."
"You're a bastard… let me tell you. You're still taking this job when my shift is over, there's no persuading me…" I said.
"I know, I know…" Axel said. "How's business been anyway?" Axel asked.
"Boring… nobody's drowning…" I said.
"That's the horrible thing to say!" Axel sniggered.
"Yeah, but saving people is what I get paid for and nobody needs to be saved…" I said with a frown.
"Well what's really fun is people watching, Riku. Look at the kid over there! He's totally checking that girl out in the shallow end." Axel said.
I looked and it was true. There was a boy that was basically drooling while watching the girl talk with her friends in the shallow end.
I laughed, "It looks like the poor kid is creaming his trunks right now…" I said.
"Yeah totally. It looks like he's never seen the female body so bare in his life."
"Well the girl is wearing a pretty skimpy suit." I said and scanned the pool for any potential drowners.
"Well you only think that 'cause you're a fag. I happen to like the female anatomy." Axel said as he put on his glasses.
"Shut up, asshole."
I leaned back in my chair again and stretched. Sitting in this chair was not food for your posture…
"Oh look Riku, the girls noticed us. I think they're gonna come over here." Axel said and leaned casually against one of the legs of my highchair.
"Hey, you should come down from there. The water's really nice." The girl in the skimpy suit said while looking up at me.
I smirked. "Sorry girls, I'm on duty, so I can't. But my friend over here is not. I'm sure he'd love to enjoy the water." I said.
"Oh… well, he's seems comfortable leaning against the post of the highchair, I don't want to disturb him." The girl said.
"I don't mind swimming with y'all. In fact I'd love to take a dive." Axel said.
"No, it's okay you don't have to come with us…" The girl said and she and her friends returned to their previous spot.
I snorted before bursting out in laughter. "Damn Ax, you just got dissed so bad."
"Shut up you jackass! I bet if I was the one up there they totally would have wanted me. Women like a man on duty."
"Sure Axel… whatever helps you sleep at night." I smiled.
"You know what? I'm gonna go talk to you're sister! At least she gives me the time of day." Axel grumbled.
"Yeah, Axel. Come back in an hour for shift change!" I yelled as I watched his back retreating.
The last thing I saw before I turned back to the pool was Axel's middle finger waving in the air.
I smirked. Axel was a great guy… I never understood why girls never liked him. He was nice, he was funny, sure he was a little obnoxious but not to the point of annoyance.
Axel was the kind of guy I would go for… the only problem with Axel was that he was taller than me…
That don't fly in my book.
I scanned the pool again and I stopped when I saw a small boy trying to pull another boy off the ropes.
I blew my whistle. "YOU IN THE GREEN TRUNKS! LEAVE THAT BOY ALONE! THERE'S NO HORSE PLAY ON THE SHIP! IF I SEE IT AGAIN I'M ESCORTING YOU OUT!" I yelled.
The boy immediately let go of the boy and waited his turn.
Ah, it was nice having authority.
I watched as a few others entered the pool. There were two boys and two girls. Two them had brown hair. The other two had blonde. It was strange…
Besides hair color… the two boys and two girls looked identical.
They seemed to favor the shallow end but that was probably because the girls didn't want to get their hair wet…
I don't get why girls are so worried about that…
I averted my eyes to see a girl push her friend off the plank.
I sighed and blew my whistle… "GIRL IN THE PINK AND BLUE! THERE'S NO PUSHING ALLOWED. DON'T DO IT AGAIN!" I yelled.
The girl started crying.
Shit, I hate when this happens… I sighed and got off my highchair. I told dad he needed to boost the age limit to fourteen. Ten year olds are too sensitive.
I walked to the end of the pool and climbed onto the boat structure. I approached the crying girl and kneeled to her level.
"Hey, I'm sorry for yelling. You have to realize that there are rules that you have to obey so that no one gets hurt. How would you have felt if your friend had hurt herself?" I asked softly.
"Really bad…" the girl sniffled.
"Yeah… that's why I'm here to tell you when you're breaking the rules so no one gets hurt. Don't be upset, I'll tell you a secret." I said and leaned close to her ear.
"If you go out to the ice cream stand, my friend Demyx should be there. If you tell him Riku said to give you free ice cream, he'll give you some. But only you though okay? If I hear that Demyx is giving free ice cream out to all the kids I'll be mad." I said.
The girl smiled and nodded.
"Are we okay now? Friends?" I asked and held out my hand.
She shook my and said. "Friends."
"Good. Now, go have fun." I said and watched her jump off the plank.
I decided I would swim back to my chair so I took a step back and had a small running start before diving into the water.
My body split the water and I slipped deep underneath the surface. I reached the "shore" of the thirty-meter pool in about a minute.
This was why my dad was pushing me to be an Olympic swimmer…
When I came up for air I stood and walked back to my chair.
When I sat and scanned the pool again. I noticed that not only the girls from before were staring at me, so where the twins on the other side of the pool.
I guess being that quick in the water did impress people.
I blew my whistle at one of the older boys that thought the rules didn't apply to him.
I hate those kinds of punks, and I knew exactly who it was.
"SEIFER! YOU CAN'T RUN, HORSE PLAY, OR DISTURB THE OTHER SWIMMERS! THESE RULES APPLY TO EVERYONE INCLUDING YOU!" I yelled.
"You're not the boss of me! I can do what ever the fuck I want!" Seifer yelled.
"We've gone over this… don't be bitter because I'm an all around better person than you. If you want people to actually like you maybe you should try to be nice." I said.
"What? And be a pussy ass faggot like you? No way!"
"Seifer! There are kids here! You can't just scream those kids of things." I yelled.
"It's a free country asshole!" Seifer yelled.
"Seifer, shut up! I realize you want attention but now is not the time. If you want a fight, when my shift is over I'll happily beat you." I said and leaned back in my chair. "Go somewhere else with your foolishness." I finished.
"Alright, your shift ends in an hour. When it's over meet me out back." Seifer said as he and his posse walked off.
I shook my head and looked over the water again.
"I really admire the way you handled that situation. It was really responsible of you." The blonde twin said.
"Yeah, thank you for getting rid of that punk. He was very rude." The brunette said.
I smiled. "Thank you ladies. I have to deal with him almost everyday so I've had practice." I said and looked out to the pool again. "Are you guys twins? I'm sorry, it's just uncanny how alike you two look." I asked.
"Yeah. Sora and Roxas are our cousins. They are also twins." The blonde said.
"That's really neat! What are your names?" I asked.
"My name is Kairi and this is my sister Naminé." The brunette, Kairi, said.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Riku." I said and scanned the pool again. "You guys have fun here, okay?" I said.
"We will thanks!" Kairi said and pulled her sister along with her.
Those girls looked like they were my sister's age. Xion really should stop being so shy and make friends with people like Kairi and Naminé. They seemed really nice.
I watched as Roxas and Sora walked to the ship, most likely to jump off.
They both got up on the ship and climbed through it to get to the deck. I watched as the blonde ran and jumped off the ship. He came up and swam back to the shallow end.
"Come on, Sora!" I heard the three others yell from the shallow end.
It was strange to see that the boy, Sora, was hesitating when his brother easily dove into the water.
I guess twins aren't always exactly alike.
Sora walked up to the edge and looked down.
Strike one.
His knees were shaking as he took a couple of steps back.
Strike two.
He ran to the edge only to slow down and stop before jumping.
Strike three… it was a fact.
The kid didn't know how to swim.
I calmly took my sunglasses off and got off of the chair.
I counted to twenty to see if the kid would come up.
He didn't…
I ran to the deep end of the pool and jumped in.
The kid was obviously panicking but as I swam towards him his movements slowed.
I grabbed his torso and started to swim upwards.
When I reached the surface I quickly swam to the edge of the pool and pulled him up on the side of the pool.
His friends were already there.
When I got out I quickly flipped him on his stomach to see if the water would naturally leave his lungs.
It didn't work.
I flipped him back over and tilted his head while lifting his chin. After that I opened his mouth and checked for breathing.
There was none.
Instead of wasting time to ask one of his fiends to give breaths, I quickly administered two breaths before pressing firmly downward onto his chest.
After around ten presses he finally choked up all the water in his lungs. I flipped him over so the water could escape quicker.
I sighed in relief… that was only the second time I ever had to do that.
So far no one has died.
I stood up and looked around.
Turns out life threatening situations attract a lot of attention.
I blew my whistle. "THE SHOWS OVER PEOPLE! PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR PREVIOUS ACTIVITIES!" I yelled slightly irritated by people's ignorance.
I looked back down to see the kid's friends hugging him.
It was touching.
I knelt back down and looked at Sora. "If you knew you couldn't swim, why did you jump?" I asked.
The boy looked down. "Well, I… It just looked so easy the way you and Roxas did it. I thought if I jumped in, it would just come to me." Sora said.
The poor kid looked so sad. It was heartbreaking.
"I'm going to have to ask you to stay in the shallow end of the pool." I said.
"Okay…" Sora said with an upset looking face.
"Look, my shift ends in fifteen minutes. When its over and I'm done kicking Seifer's ass, I'll teach you how to swim." I said.
"Really?" the boy said, his eyes brightening.
"Yeah, swimming is so fun. It would be a shame for you not to experience it." I said and stood to go back to my chair.
"Thank you Riku." The girls said.
"Yes, thank you." The blonde boy, Roxas, said.
"No problem." I said and returned to my highchair.
It seemed the hype was reduced due to the accident but that was fine because I really didn't want to have to go through that again.
When my fifteen minutes were over I saw Axel approach my chair.
"Well, I heard that you got your share of entertainment. Good job, Riku. I'm glad you saved another one." Axel said.
"Thanks. I've got to go kick the shit out of Seifer, then I'm going to teach that kid how to swim so I don't have to worry about him drowning for the rest of his life." I said.
"Whoa Riku! It sounds like you really like the kid." Axel said.
"I just don't want the kid to die okay!" I said and walked to the back of the park.
Nobody ever goes there because it's where all the damaged stuff goes so that it can be taken away in the future.
"Well I'm glad you showed up. I would have been really pissed if you didn't show." Seifer said.
"I don't give a shit. Please come at me so I can get this over with." I said.
Seifer ran at me with a fist flying. If that fist were to hit me, I would definitely be screwed.
Luckily, I'm a lot quicker than him. I moved out of the way of his fist and then I grabbed it held it in a very painful position.
Thanks dad for signing me up for karate when I was seven.
"You bastard! That's cheating!" He yelled.
"How is fighting back cheating?" I asked.
"Just let go of my arm, you dick!" Seifer yelled.
"Fine, but leave my pool alone when I'm on duty." I said before walking back to the "Black Pearl."
When I got there Axel was actually doing his job.
"YOU PUNK! GET OFF OF THAT KID!" Axel yelled after blowing his whistle obnoxiously loud.
Well… at least he was doing his job…
"Ummmmm, Riku? Are you gonna teach me to swim now?" A timid voice said from behind me.
"Yeah, I was looking for you. I'm going to take you to the wave pool. It's closed today because my Dad is weird and he likes to close off perfectly good pools. There we won't be bothered. I just need to get the keys from my sister."
"Your dad can do that?" Sora asked.
"Well yeah, he owns this park." I said passively.
"WOW! THAT'S SO COOL! DO YOU GET FREE STUFF? DO YOU GET TO USE THE PARK WHEN IT'S CLOSED? " Sora yelled excitedly.
"No, I get the privilege of cleaning the pools when the place is closed and I get to work here during the day." I said without enthusiasm.
"Oh… I still think it's cool." He said.
"I do too, I just wish I didn't have to work so much." I walked into the gift shop. "How old are you anyway?" I asked.
"Oh. I'm fifteen." Sora said.
"That's my sister's age. Hey! Xion can I have the key to the wave pool?" I asked as she was getting out from behind the counter.
Our shifts end at the same time.
"Why do you need it?" She asked.
"I'm going to teach this boy how to swim." I said and Sora blushed.
Xion looked at me. "Are you going to by my lunch later?" she said with a smirk.
She was a sweet girl but she was also smart…
"Fine. Just give me the keys!" I said.
She giggled and handed me keys. "Please don't turn the waves on. You might drown the kid!" She said.
"He's your age you know. You're not allowed to call him kid." I said.
"If my brother does something mean, tell me okay? I'll get him for you!" Xion said as she left the gift shop.
I watched her leave with a smile on my face. She really needed to act like that all the time.
"Your sister is nice. She's someone I would be friends with." Sora said as we walked to the wave pool.
"She actually only acts like that when I'm around. Ever since our mom died, she's closed herself off from others except for me and my dad. It's really sad because she's such a great girl. It's a shame people don't really get to see who she really is."
I don't really know why I was saying so much to this boy but I couldn't stop. It was really easy to talk to him.
It was the fact that he just seemed to be really interested in what I had to say. It was nice.
"I'm sorry to hear about your mom. That must have been hard." He said with a really sad face.
"Hey! Don't cry on me! I'm fine, my sister will find someone eventually." I said trying to keep his good mood up.
"I really hope your sister finds someone. She seems like a strong person."
"That's exactly what she is…" I said.
We opened the gate to the pool and closed it again.
"Are you ready to swim?" I asked.
"YEAH!" Sora said with a huge smile.
I couldn't explain the warmth I felt after seeing such a smile.