Chapter 15: Rachel

(Continued POV From Chapter 11):

We made it to Nixon's Creek, the sweltering heat of the sun beating down on us through golden rays of light. With one last pitiful push I pedaled into the cool shade of a tree right on the bank of the stream, the green foliage providing the only shade around. I wheezed out shaky breaths, hacking coughs interrupting my laborious work for air. My lungs felt like they were on fire, the devil pressing down on my chest with flaming-hot hands.

"Geez, E, take it easy." Abby chided, her bike crashing into the cool grass with a thud as she didn't bother to park it. My eyes were blurry from sweat getting in them but I could make out her figure as she loomed over me. The sizzling hiss of cicadas filled the air, my mind envisioning the sound like the very air was burning under the sun's wrathful glare. Why did I agree to come here?

"Oh, come on Abbs stop babying him." Tanner chimed in, the boy ruffling his curly black mop of hair. He used his other hand to tug at the collar of his shirt, the white fabric was stretched and worn and the emblem for Falkner County Racing had faded into only little flecks of paint. The sleeves were cut off, in fact, most of the shirt's sides suffered the same fate as his tanned midriff was exposed. He didn't have a six-pack or anything but he sure as hell had a better physique than my pale chubby gut. Dad always said I looked like a frat boy after a week-long binge.

"I'm not babying him, he's like 10 Tanner, stop being such an asshole!" Abby glared back at the boy, his brown eyes meeting hers. A cocky grin spread across his lips, his white teeth gleaming under the sun.

"Hear that squirt, she thinks you're nothin' but a little kid!" James snickered at Tanner's sneering tone. My eyes glanced over at Abby, her inability to make eye contact wasn't helping disprove his words.

"Fuck off, Tanner! Just because you want in Abby's pants doesn't mean you have to take it out on little E." Rachel spoke as she leaned up against the trunk of the tree, her fingers still typing away at her phone's tiny keyboard as she glared at the boy. She seemed more pissed that she was being distracted from her texting than the fact that Tanner was being an asshole.

"Shut up bitch, ain't nobody here cares about what you have to say!" Tanner glowered at the girl before turning around in a huff. "Come on James let's go!"

"Sorry," James gave an apologetic smile before shrugging his shoulders. He soon followed behind the curly-haired boy stomping toward the bank of the creek, the rushing current below filling the air with the sound of burbling water. Kicking off their flip flops both boys hastily took off their shirts before tossing them at us. The sweat-soaked hillbilly tank top Tanner was wearing smacked across my face with a damp thud. A groan leaked from my lips at the nasty stench of his B.O. assaulted my nose.

"Gosh, why did we invite him again?" Abby asked as she watched both of the boys wade out into the creek, the water starting out just below their knees. They waded to the middle of the stream as it rose up to their chests, the current pushing against them as they dug into the creek bed with their toes.

"Because you wanted to make it look less suspicious when you invite—" Before Rachel could finish her words Abby shot her a mean glare that promised only pain if she spoke further.

"I'm going to go swimming, E, do you want to join me?" Her big doe eyes turned to me without even a hint of the anger she showed her pink-haired friend. The normally pale skin of her cheeks had turned a reddish pink, her hand fiddling with one of the stray strands of hair not wrapped in her ponytail holder.

"U-uh, sure." I couldn't swim as no one ever taught me. That wouldn't stop me from agreeing to her offer though, the girl was too pretty to deny. My underdeveloped brain was completely unprepared for the way she batted her eyelashes at me. The shy smile on her face only added to how cute she was.

"Abbs, I don't know about this…didn't your sister say he couldn't swim?" Now it was my turn to blush, the scalding hot sensation of my cheeks only growing as the two boys lazily floating in the creek began mocking me. Rachel gave me an apologetic look, her blue eyes holding nothing but concern.

"Pffthahaha, of course, Porky wouldn't know how to swim. He'd sink like a rock as soon as he got in the water!" Tanner's roaring laugh filled the air, the boy splashing the water like he was drowning. James tried to pull at his friend's arm but all that did was make the black-haired boy cling to his arm like he was holding on for dear life. His laughter grated on my ears, my teeth grinding together as my jaws clenched.

"Don't listen to him E, he's just bein—" I stood up despite Abby reaching for me.

"Yeah little dude, don't pay any attention to what that asshole—" Rachel's words entered through one ear and out the other as I began running toward the bank of the creek, my flip flops falling off my feet.

"Cannon Ball!" I didn't look back, my chubby body rising up as I lunged into air. Curling up as best I could I screamed in a mix of terror and anger, my target was the water directly in front of the two boys. I'd show them, what it would be that I showed them I didn't know.

Similar to a bomb detonating underwater the splash I created was massive. The boys yelled as they were doused in a torrent of water, but I had little time to celebrate as reality set in. My inability to swim meant I sunk to the bottom of the creek like a rock, my arms and legs scrabbling for anything to grab hold of. I could no longer tell which way was up and which way was down, my brain unable to think while I panicked.

Even worse was the fact that I hadn't held my breath, water pouring down my throat almost immediately as I choked. My vision began to fade, my thoughts slowing to almost nothing. I was going to drown, and death was closer than ever. I had killed myself to prove a point I never could, and tried impressing a girl I never would.

***

(Rachel Carter POV):

I watched with wide eyes as the idiot jumped in the air, his shrill scream echoing in my ears. The splash was massive and Tanner was soaked, but Ethan never came back up. Abby was frozen stiff, her face going paler than a bed sheet as she looked at the spot where the boy disappeared. I clicked my tongue as I realized she wouldn't be able to help, my eyes turning to the other two to see if they were going to be any better.

"Hey, you two he's drowning!" I yelled, my voice cracking as I looked expectantly toward James. Tanner was a lost cause, the boy smiling at Ethan thrashing under the water like he'd won the lottery.

"I-I can't man, drowning people can pull people down with them!" James ever the scaredy cat yelled, his hands held in the air like he was surrendering. The boy's wavy surfer blond hair stuck across his face like a curtain still wet from Ethan's cannonball.

"Bullshit, you can literally stand up in the water!" I growled at him, my scream growing hoarse as the frustration mounted. Reluctantly I shoved my phone into Abby's shirt, the girl still frozen like a statue didn't even react. Next came my white tank top, my blue bikini top now revealed to the world as I threw the shirt over my shoulders.

"Bro I can't, I can't!" I wanted to hit him, his cowardly attitude making me wonder why I even had a crush on him in the first place. Shimmying my shorts over my hips revealed the matching blue bikini bottom of my swimsuit. I had planned on teasing the boys with its reveal but now was definitely not the time.

"You guys are fuckin' useless!" Screaming one last time I ran to the bank of the creek in the same way Ethan did. My feet pressed into the scorching hot grass along the bank, the coarse feeling of dirt on my feet making me grimace. Then before I ran out of real estate to run I jumped.

Instead of splashing down, I landed in the water like a dart, my feet pressing against the smooth moss-slick stones covering the creek bed. Squatting down my head went under the water as my arms wrapped around the thrashing boy, his efforts to save himself growing weaker and weaker by the second. I pulled hard, my feet pressing against the ground giving me leverage as I fought Ethan's sinking weight.

I gritted my teeth, my muscles straining in my arms with an aching burn. My eyes clenched shut as I put everything I had into pulling us up to the surface, our bodies rising up before breaking the tension of the water with a splash.

I gasped for air, my eyes opening to see the boy in my arms not moving.

"Abby, help, Ethan isn't breathing!" My shuddering cry seemed to snap the black-haired girl out of her frozen state as her panicked eyes turned toward me. Slowly I waded across the water toward the bank, my muscles straining as the weight of the boy in my arms pressed down on me. He probably weighed as much as me without being soaked to the bone so when adding the water weight I'm sure I was lifting more than my own body weight. Adrenaline is one hell of a drug.

"I've got him!" As soon as I made it to the edge of the creek Abby had her arms around him, her breath hitching in her throat as she looked down at his lifeless body. She dragged him up over the bank as his wet clothes dragged across the dry ground leaving a smear of mud in its place.

"Put him on his back!" I pulled myself out of the water, the CPR training I took to get qualifications as a babysitter kicking in. Abby did as I said, her shaky hands sprawling out the boy across the soft grass covering the ground.

I was already on my knees in front of him, my index and middle finger tilting his chin back. Once in the right position I slightly tugged open his lips as my other hand pinched his nose. My lips slammed into his as I provided him a breath, a pause, and then I lowered my lips back down again for a second breath.

"Call 911!" While I yelled at Abby I placed my hand at his armpit on the other side of his body before dragging it across. The heel of my hand pressed against his sternum as I began doing compressions, my mind counting to thirty as I made each push count. After that I titled his chin back again and pressed my lips to his, but this time on the second breath something else happened.

"Ghrk—ghk!" I pulled back quickly as the boy retched up murky water and bile. Chunks of the hotdog he ate for lunch were inside of the vomit as I turned his head to the side to make sure his airway cleared itself. After the last gag left his lips I resumed compressions, and even though I hated the idea after I had finished pressing my palm against his chest thirty times I put my lips against Ethan's mouth again. The tang of vomit filled my mouth and I really wanted to gag myself but I soldiered on, the boy would die if I didn't.

"Rachel, look, he's breathing!" Abby's words broke me from my rhythm, my eyes looking to where the sobbing girl was pointing. Faintly, ever so faintly his chest rose, and as I placed my finger in front of his nose I felt his warm breath brush against my skin.

"Help me put him in the recovery position, EMS is on their way right?" I asked as I wiped away the beads of sweat slicking my forehead. My eyes looked toward the two boys who had pulled themselves out of the creek, a scowl growing across my face. These two had done nothing while someone could've died, in fact, Tanner looked disappointed that it didn't happen.

"They should be here soon!" She still had the phone pressed against her ear, the dispatcher no doubt talking her through the process. My shoulders slumped as relief crashed over me like a tidal wave, my body slumping into the grass next to Ethan. Despite how scary it was I couldn't help but smile, a stupid thought coming to mind.

"I stole his first kiss." Abby paused her conversation with the dispatcher to glare at me, my grin widening at her cute reaction. Glancing over I looked at the chubby little boy breathing right beside me, the realization that I saved a life filled me with immense joy. I would remember this day until the day I died.

***

(Present Day Ethan's POV):

"Long time no see little E." Rachel grinned at me as I exited the car. Her calling me little now was a little ironic considering I towered over her petite frame, my eyes taking in the sight of a girl I hadn't seen in nearly five years. She had been the oldest of Abby's friend group and the first to leave for college, the last time I saw her was her senior graduation when I was in the seventh grade.

"…" Instead of talking I stepped across the gravel drive of Camilla's house or I guess their shared home. Once I reached her my arms opened wide as I enveloped the girl in a tight hug. My strength allowed me to pick her up with ease as I twirled her around, Rachel giggling at my antics.

"Okay, okay, stop Camilla is staring~" She demurred, her hands pushing off my chest but not before feeling my muscles up. "Oh wow, you've really grown!"

"Uh…yeah I was honestly surprised you recognized me because the last time you saw me I was just beginning to lose the pudge." I patted at my gut, what was once a flabby mess had been turned into a rock-hard stomach. No, I didn't have a six-pack, but I was showing signs of the core muscles underneath.

"Abby sent me a few pics of you lookin' all studly but they didn't really do you justice cause damn son, you're jacked!" Her hands trailed across my biceps and triceps, the 18-inch cannons flexing much to her amusement.

"When did she take pics?" I asked and all I got in response was some not-so-innocent whistling before the pink-haired girl looked over at Camilla awkwardly standing across from us.

"So tell me, why are you driving my super sexy roommate in your Dad's pimp-mobile?—Camilla I thought you had a ride, did it fall through or something cause I can always drive you?"

"Her ride was Mr. Mathews." Rachel dry heaved at the mention of him, her eyes looking at Camilla with pity.

"I understand why you chose this knucklehead over that fat bastard, I would too." Her eyes moved past her roommate and to the car or more specifically to the two occupants inside. "Hey, E is that your little sis and her friend?"

"Yeah, I'm taking them home before I head to work."

"Do you have some time to help me with somethin'?" She asked as she batted her eyelashes at me, her clear blue eyes sparkling like diamonds. I had a bad feeling about it but I wasn't going to deny her request.

"What is it?"

"Can you help me move some equipment?" By the way Camilla winced I knew moving the shit was going to be a real pain in the ass. A tired sigh leaked from my lips as I nodded.

"Just make sure you keep an eye on those two for me while I do it."

"Deal!"