Deep Water
Part the First
Three Whistle-Blasts
"C'mon, Jeff!" Michael "Skittery" Hasczak said encouragingly, holding his arms out to his little brother. "Jump to me!"
Jeff Hasczak, five, looked at the wide gap of three feet between the wall where he stood and his brother's arms. He didn't know if he could jump that far, and he couldn't swim that well.
"Mikey?" he quavered.
"Yeah, Jeff?"
"Can you—can you move in a little bit?"
Skittery grinned. "Sure thing." He moved about a foot closer, still holding out his arms. "C'mon, Jeff! I got you."
With a giggle, Jeff launched himself into his brother's strong arms. Skittery caught him adeptly and held him close as Jeff's arms wound around his neck.
"Good job, Jeff! Wanna do it again?"
Jeff's face lit up. "Yeah!"
"Okay, swim back to the wall!" He turned Jeff back to the wall and set him in the water. Jeff began doggy-paddling to the wall, finally reaching it and pulling himself out.
"Hey, Skitts!" someone yelled.
Jeff leapt, and Skittery caught him while turning to face the speaker. "Hey, Pie, do another belly flop?"
Byron "Pie Eater" Kline made a face and nodded, then pointed to the deep end, or, more specifically, to the high dive. A slender figure with wide trunks on could be seen standing on it, striding confidently to the edge.
"Swifty's gonna do his Super-Duper-World-Famous Two and a Half," Pie Eater informed Skittery and Jeff.
"What's that?" Jeff asked curiously.
"He's going to jump off the high dive, flip twice, and dive in the water," Skittery told him. Jeff's eyes widened.
"Wow! Can he do that? Won't the lifeguards yell at him?"
Skittery burst out laughing. "No, Jeff, the lifeguards won't yell at him. It's okay for him to do that."
Swifty walked back to the ladder, turned, then took off at a run. As Skittery, Pie Eater, and Jeff watched, he bounced and tucked into a ball.
"Oh, no!" said Pie Eater. "He didn't get far away enough from the board! He's gonna—"
As soon as Pie Eater had spoken, Swifty hit the board with a sickening crack and rolled bonelessly to the water below.
James "Snoddy" Thatcher was bored. There weren't that many kids in the deep end, and they could all swim, so he was currently amusing himself by randomly shouting "Polo!" to a group of children playing Marco Polo and seeing how long it took them to realize it was him. [1]
He turned back to the deep end. A kid was facing backwards on the medium dive and, as he watched, executed a perfect back dive. When he broke the surface, the kid was grinning like an idiot.
"Did you guys see that?" he yelled. "That was perfect!"
"Get to the wall," Snoddy called.
"Yeah, Snitch, get to the wall," someone said.
Snoddy rolled his eyes and turned back to the middle section. The game of Marco Polo continued.
"Polo!" he shouted at the same time as the other kids. One of them, a little brunette girl with her hair in pigtails, turned and frowned at him.
"Hey!" she said. "You aren't playing!"
Snoddy laughed, and turned back to the deep end. Another kid had just performed an aerial, but messed up on his landing and did a massive belly flop. As one, the people in the deep end winced and said "Ooh!"
The next person to hop up on the high dive took Snoddy's breath away. A slender Asian guy stood at the edge of the board, gazing over the pool like he was lord of all he surveyed. His wide trunks emphasized the slimness of his build. Fine black hair flopped into his face, which he brushed away with a careless flick of his hand. He was, to summarize, absolutely gorgeous.
I'm single, you're gorgeous, wanna get nasty? The rogue thought popped up, and Snoddy tried to banish it. He was a lifeguard, and that guy was the clientele. Such things did not happen.
Still . . . yow.
The guy walked back to the ladder, then began to run. He bounced, and tucked into a ball. Immediately, Snoddy could see something was wrong. He hadn't gotten far enough away, he was going to—
There was a loud crack.
Snoddy had blown his whistle and was in the water before the guy ever hit.
If there was one thing Simon "Swifty" Li was not, it was scared. He knew exactly what he was doing. He'd done it a million times—it was just a two and a half. Elementary stuff.
Swifty watched as Snitch pulled off his first perfect back-dive.
"He finally didn't whack himself in the back," Swifty commented to Pie Eater, who was ahead of him. "That's a first."
Pie chuckled. "I'm gonna do an aerial. Pray for me."
Swifty laughed. "Will do." Pie was notorious for his belly flops.
As always, he hit hard. He popped to the surface, holding his stomach.
"I'm okay!" Pie choked out. He began swimming towards the middle section with difficulty.
Swifty scampered up the ladder and stood at the back of the board. This was gonna go perfectly. He could feel it in his bones.
. . . no, wait, he was feeling something else. Someone's eyes. Surreptitiously, Swifty glanced around. The lifeguard's sunglassed eyes were burning holes into him.
Is he checking me out? Oh my God!
The drama queen in him forced him to flick his hair out of his eyes and toss a look at the guard before walking back to the ladder. He turned, faced the water, and began to run.
Once he was close to the edge, Swifty bounced, closed his eyes, and tucked for the first flip.
Suddenly, he felt a searing pain go through his shoulder, and everything went black.
~end part one~
[1] This is actually how we amuse ourselves in the stand. Sad, isn't it?
So, what do you guys think? Review, please!