"I saw my whole life as though I'd already lived it. An endless parade of parties, yachts and polo matches. Always the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter. I felt like I was standing at a precipice with no one to pull me back. No one who cared, or even noticed."

I ran down the boat, heels clacking against the wooden deck, knocking into people, but I couldn't find it in me to care. The cold air was stinging my face, threatening to freeze the tears falling from my eyes in place. I hit the back of the boat faster than I thought I was, stopping for a minute to catch my breath.
I'd only ran originally to get away from everything I hated, but looking up at the back of the boat, an idea caught my mind. They couldn't force me into that life, the life I didn't want, if I wasn't here to force.
I walked slowly over to the railing, quickly checking to see if anyone was around to pull me back, and placed my hands on the bars. I climbed over carefully, watching to make sure my dress didn't catch on anything that would stop me from falling.
"Don't do it." I heard a soft voice behind me and started.
"Stay back!" I warned, not looking over my shoulder. I didn't care who was behind me, I didn't care for anything. "Don't come any closer."
I looked over my shoulder, making sure they'd listen, when I saw who'd stopped me. Stood, wearing male attire, was the girl from this morning. My first thoughts were why is she dressed like that, but my confusion subsided when I looked down, remembering my task.
"Come on." She moved forward a little, reaching out. "Let me pull you back over."
"No! Stay where you are!" This girl wasn't listening to me, I wasn't used to that. Usually when I said something, the people around me obeyed immediately. "I mean it! I'll let go!" The girl took a drag from her cigarette and then motioned that she was going to throw it over the edge. She pushed her jacket away from her hips and placed her hands in her pockets.
"No, I don't think you will."
"What do you mean? Don't presume to tell me what I will and will not do! You don't know me." I was slowly getting more furious with this girl. Who was she to tell me what I'll do! She was common, she was nothing.
"Well, you would've done it already." She shrugged her shoulders.
"You're distracting me! Go away!"
"I can't. I'm involved now" I quirked my eyebrow at her. "If you let go, I'll have to jump in after you."
"Don't be ridiculous! You'll be killed!"
"I'm a good swimmer. Like a dolphin." This girl talked oddly.
"The fall alone would kill you!" I'm grasping at straws now, and I'm not really sure why.
"It'd hurt." She started untying her boots, "I never said that it wouldn't. I'm more worried about the water. It's cold. Really cold, like when you lick a lamp post and get stuck."
"And how cold is that?"
"Freezing. Like… More than freezing." Her eyes widen a little at that last remark, as she finishes taking off her boots. "Have you ever been to Wisconsin?"
"No… What?" I'm so confused by this girl my train of thought keeps derailing.
"It gets so cold there in winter. Colder than any other place I've been. I grew up there. When I was little, me and my father, we used to go ice fishing, on Lake Wissota" She eyes me for a second, like she's considering something. "Ice fishing, like when you…"
I cut her off, annoyed again. "I know what ice fishing is."
"Sorry. You just seem like the kind of person that does indoor activities." Was that a snide remark? "Anyway, I wasn't listening to my dad, chasing a duck, and I fell through some thin ice. Water that cold, like the water down there, it's like a paper cut, but millions of them, all over your body. Even places where you think you can't get paper cuts, like your eyeballs." Her eyes are wide again, like this is the most serious thing she's ever said. By the way she talks, it probably is. I can't see her talking down suicidal teens every day. "You can't breathe, like, at all. All you can think of is how cold it is. Which is why I kinda want you to come back over, so I don't have to jump in after you."
"You're crazy!" It's the only think I can think to say, and it's not much of a comeback.
"Everybody says that, but I'm not the one dangling off the end of a boat." She reaches her hand out again "Give me your hand. You don't want this."
I'm taking her hand before I even realise it, and when I turn to face her, I'm taken aback. She's so beautiful, under those male clothes and behind her insane words. She has the clearest blue eyes I've ever seen, and it takes me a minute to realise I'm staring at her.
"I'm Britt... Brittany Pierce." She smiles softly, looking relieved.
"Quinn Fabray." I reply, still holding on to her hand.
"Quinn… Cool." I smile at her slightly, before trying to step up onto the next bar, but I slip, and I'm suddenly very glad I kept hold of her hand. I feel her strain, and nearly topple over herself, and I hear screaming, which I realise is me. She rights herself quickly, pulling on my arm.
"I've got you, Quinn." She's pulling as hard as she can, and I can see the effort reflected in her face. She's a slip of a girl, and I'm surprised she didn't get dragged over the minute I slipped.
"Help, please!" I scream, trying to cling on.
"Listen! I've got you, I'm won't let go." She locks eyes with me. "Now pull yourself up!"
I pull as hard as I can, grabbing onto the railings like a ladder, and we somehow manage to get me back over. I hear footsteps approaching as we fall to the ground on the right side of the boat, and I'm frozen in shock.
"What's all this?" The voices around me sound distant. "Stand back! Don't move an inch! Fetch the master-at-arms"