"Cat?!" Jade panicked, she was in the ocean and only held up by an orange life jacket that she didn't even remember putting on, she uselessly doggy paddled her way over to her friend and pulled her close, they both cried into each other's shoulders then looked around, there was nothing.
Cat had a cut that went from her tear duct, across her nose and finishing on her chin that was bleeding and her hair was soaking wet and heavy on her shoulders. Jade wasn't much better, she had a cut in her scalp and her roots were soaked in blood and salt water.
She needed to work out where they were, "What happened?!"
Cat, between sobs of happiness and terror explained, "Well you were right and unfortunately for me and Beck, Andre, Robbie and Tori, we were awake and conscious for the whole of the crash... At first, we saw the lights all go out and we heard the captain shouting out for help, Beck and Robbie were holding my hands the whole way through then we literally flew out of our seatbelts and onto the floor, Miss Davenport was thrown out of the plane through the emergency door that had been unlocked, Sinjin was lying on the floor with blood coming out of his head but we were all fine, still holding onto each other. Anyway, we felt the plane crash nose first into the water and we were thrown out." Cat took more gasps for air and kicked around under water
"I don't know where Beck is... I closed my eyes when I went under... And everyone else, I don't know where they are!" Jade stared at Cat, trying to imagine the amount of terror she must be going through.
Jade took a large gasp then dived under, she saw 3 bodies of her classmates floating around, Sinjin, Hannah and Jessica – their eyes were open, they looked so scared yet peaceful. She felt sick in her stomach but powered on, going down another 4 foot. She saw the plane wreckage with a couple of students still inside, one presumably dead as he was belted in and looked asleep whereas the other had her hand over her mouth and was banging on the windows.
As Jade knew, airplane windows didn't open so she wasn't entirely sure if they'd smash, she guessed not because of the water pressure on either side but seeing as that girl was clearly losing air and dying, she needed to act fast.
She put her thumb up to the girl and for one second, saw that the girl had faith in her – it was Tori!
She desperately swam up for air but before Cat could finish her sentence directed to her, dived back down with another lot of oxygen stored in her lungs and swam towards the wreckage. Her arms felt tired already, like she'd been swimming for days, but it had only been 5 seconds. The overall water pressure and dense water was really attacking her body, like she was being stabbed even, it was unbearable and there was nothing more she wanted than to just re-emerge above the water level, hug Cat and get out of the icy depths, but she'd never be able to live with herself if she knew for the rest of her life that she didn't at least try and rescue Tori. She kicked on and on, changing her stroke into breaststroke when she started getting closer, close enough to see inside. She tugged upon the door which didn't even budge so went next to the windows, no, it wasn't even worth trying with them. Then it hit her, the plane must be sucking in water from somewhere! A gap in the plane's body? An open door? Either would be a perfect path to get to Tori with.
She swam deeper down to the tail of the plane and as she'd hoped, it was snapped in half and the main part had a wide enough gap for Jade to fit through and retrieve Tori. Eager, she dragged her fatigued body through and up the shaft, trying hard not to actually come to terms with what she was doing and how much danger she was currently in, she saw the boy that was 'sleeping' in his seat, at least he was peaceful she thought, the only bad thing was that she knew his full name, his birthday and where he lived – Shaun Martin Kingston, 13th May, 3 doors down from her. She was just glad it wasn't Andre, Robbie or Beck.
Despite that reality check, she continued along the rows of double seats, checking subconsciously for any other people trapped under or in their seats but there were none, only Tori who was now only a seat ahead. She pushed hard on the seatbelt releaser and it finally popped open, she was now struggling to breathe but realised Tori was much worse off, she pulled her brunette acquaintance from the cheap seats and back the way she came, trying hard to carry her own weight, plus Tori's and not hitting any barriers or dying on the way. Once they were out of the wreckage, Jade's vision went blurry and all she could make out was a figure swimming towards her, Tori was taken from her and the figure swam back up, she then returned and pulled Jade with her. When they emerged, they all took a big breathe in.
"Tori! Oh my goodness! Jade are you okay?! Breathe! Breathe!" Cat stammered, she was shaking, presumably from shock, the temperature of the sea and also the fact that she'd just seen her best friend again when she was just about to get used to the fact she might be dead. Cat tugged on both Tori's and Jade's arms and pulled them into a tight hug that lasted about 20 seconds.
From over Cat's shoulder, Jade asked, "Cat, where did you learn to swim that good? I thought you only started to swim last month?!" The 20 seconds of warmth then ended and Jade regained her composure, Cat just smiled and then together, in silence, they grabbed one of Tori's arms each and pulled her north. Neither of them had any idea where they were going, but they didn't ask each other – they already knew the answer. After what felt like days, they saw a tree. It felt like Laura's birthday! She was so happy, trees couldn't just stand up in water could they? It had to be on land!
"Oh My God, Jade! Jade!" Cat screamed in her ear, she turned and saw Cat was pointing with her arm outstretched to a body, only being held up by a lifejacket. Was that what Jade had looked like to Cat the first time she saw her?
Then it hit them both, messy brown hair, a bruise on the cheek, amazingly good looks, it was Beck.
"Beck!?"
"Beck are you alive?!"
"You hold Tori, I've got him!"
Jade dived again, with more might than she did earlier, to rescue her boy friend, she screamed in her brain to keep kicking and swimming until she managed to grab his hand and shake him, his eyes opened instantly like he had been electrocuted. "Jade thank god, when me and Cat couldn't see you, we panicked and just flipped out! Oh my god!" He hugged Jade tightly and kissed her forehead, then looked right and saw an unconscious Tori being held up by Cat. He looked back at his girlfriend then swam with her to his two best friends.
"Cat!" Beck hugged her as best as he could with Tori in the way then stared at Tori's expressionless face. "Is... Is she dead?" He asked quietly, Jade felt for a pulse then smiled, "No... She was however trapped in the plane so I'm not surprised she's a bit tired."
Beck nodded then noticed the trees that Cat had discovered earlier, "Come on, I'll hold Tori." He carefully put Tori over his shoulder in a fireman's lift and swam behind Cat and Jade towards the island.
