When I first planned this arc, this chapter didn't exist. The idea came to me while writing the last part.
Play It Cress-cendo: Part Four
Winter: You'll never guess what we're doing.
Jacin Bae: Building sandcastles?
Winter: Even better. We're teaching Cinder how to swim.
Jacin Bae: Oh stars…
Jacin Bae: Did she sink yet? Please tell me you captured it on video.
Winter: We didn't start yet but look at this.
[Winter sends a photo of Cinder standing by the shoreline wearing a bright orange life-jacket. She's zipping it up as Kai stands in front of her buckling it].
Jacin Bae: Aces, this will be exciting.
Winter: I wish I could see you laughing.
Winter looks up from her phone and sees Cinder pushing down the collar of her life jacket since it was choking her. Before Cinder agreed solely to get her friends off her back, they rented her the brightest life jacket possible. She even wears the matching floaties on her arms which Winter snaps a photo for Jacin.
"How do you know how to swim but Cinder doesn't?" Scarlet asks.
"Cinder skipped the days at the pool when we were kids," Winter explains. "I learned at the country club with Jacin, Kinney, and some other military kids while our dads were overseas and our moms were sipping sangrias in the sun. Cinder and Iko would hide somewhere else in the club and do whatever. Are you getting in the water?"
Scarlet shakes her head. "I was there earlier and my hair is soaked. Wolf purposely dropped me after giving me his version of CPR. You?"
"My fellow curly fry," Winter takes a seat next to Scarlet on the shoreline. The waves climb their ankles when the tide rolls in. "I will be finding sand in my hair for days. I don't need the ocean in there too."
Scarlet laughs. "My stars, don't get me started on the sand."
Besides, someone had to record the entire swimming lesson to laugh about later. Wet and sand-filled curls are heavy on the head. For the sake of their curls and the memories, they stay seated in the sand with their phones out. They take selfies to pass the time until the lesson starts.
Cinder stands in the water where it reaches the middle of her torso. She does her best to cross her arms with the puffy life-jacket and floatation devices on her arms but her furrowed brows carry her message. Wolf, Thorne, Kai, and Cress decided to be her swim instructors so Cinder has accepted death by drowning early.
"Come on, even I know how to swim," Cress says as she treads beside Thorne. "It's a life skill."
"I have made it this far without needing to know how to swim," Cinder states.
"You almost drowned once," Winter yells from the shore.
"It was that or burning alive!" Cinder responds. She looks back at her untrained teachers. "Have you two ever taught swimming?"
"I did a quick search before getting in the water," Thorne reassures, "and sent the same link to the others."
"Oh, spades…"
"What did the site say to do first?"
Nobody answers. Cinder's plastered smile screams for death. At least she's willingly in the water, bobbing on her toes in the sand. It's progress. She wasn't scared of the water in any way, shape, or form but at least it was exposure. And wearing all the floatation devices with her friends nearby is somewhat comforting. If she does drown, it's because her life-jacket suffocated her, her water wings cut all circulation to her arms, the incompetence of her friends, or all of the above.
"Might as well start with the motions," Kai says, waving his arms back. Cinder doesn't budge.
"This is like those water aerobics classes at the gym," Wolf says.
"Or some synchronized swimming performance," Cress suggests when Thorne joins Kai. Winter and Scarlet are hollering from the shore.
"Stars be with me…" Cinder mutters as she readjusts her ponytail. "I can at least hold my breath underwater."
"As I said, movements," Kai swims over to Cinder and stands behind her. "Just hold on to me and I'll carry you."
"Comforting."
Kai gently arches Cinder's arms back to lock them around his neck. She lifts her feet off the sand to let the water and Kai gently hold her and guide her through the water. Cinder looks up at the sky, barely catching Kai's hair in her line of vision. Admittedly, this is relaxing. She feels weightless with small splashes of the water on her face with Kai holding her.
"Let's add some kicking," Cress says. She swims up to Cinder's legs and holds her ankles, motioning how to kick without bending her knees until Cinder manages on her own.
"Should we test your sense of buoyancy?" Kai asks.
"What?" Cinder questions, snapping out of her daydreams.
Before Cinder could ask again, Kai dips out of her embrace, leaving her on her back. Without thinking, Cinder's body seizes and she rolls onto her stomach because her gut told her to look for Kai. Bad mistake on her part since, the moment her face hit the water, her body reoriented itself vertically as if to stand but she didn't have any sand below to step on. She was too deep. Her body started sinking and she was convinced she would've slipped out of all her floatation devices.
Screw these spades.
When she feels movement in the water, she clings onto it like a wet cat (which is an accurate description of her current state). Kai screams as Cinder unintentionally digs her nails into his shoulder. She tries to climb him to get out of the water, her wet hair sticking to the back of her neck. Instead, it looks like she's submerging him as he holds her waits to try and get a grip on her. Once her mind settles, she relaxes in Kai's arms.
"I hate swimming," Cinder mutters.
"Looked more like flailing," Thorne comments.
"It was a good start," Wolf comments, "and a hilarious end."
He laughs and Cinder rolls her eyes. She can't deny it wasn't funny, especially since Kai looks overwhelmed by the last few minutes. They went from gracefully floating to a one-sided brawl. Everyone looks over to see Winter and Scarlet sitting on a paddleboard to float towards them. Immediately, Cinder lunges over and climbs on, panting heavily as Winter helps her and keeps their paddleboard steady.
"Amazing, Cinder," Scarlet says sarcastically. "A real fish out of water."
"Ha, ha." Cinder rolls her eyes.
Before any of them could respond, their paddleboard flips over. The three of them fly into the water, splashing nearby Cress and Kai. Cinder flails around until her floatation devices get her bobbing around like an apple. Winter and Scarlet look over and see that Thorne and Wolf swam underneath their paddleboard while they were helping Cinder up. Now Cinder is in Kai's arms and he signals the other two boys with a thumbs-up.
"If we had our phones on us, you two would be swimming for the stars right now," Winter states. Forget their now-heavy and sponge-like curls, if their phones were damaged, then it would be war.
The next chapter will have another fun summer activity.
A little spoiler for the last four chapters of this arc but Jacin will be appearing … not in the way he has in the past arcs.