Welcome to the Games

Liam spoke what we were all thinking, “Who’s going in first?”

No one spoke up. I decided to take action, “Okay, let’s establish who isn’t going first.”

“Girls step back,” Joe said, “we’re not going to let any of you go in.”

“Exactly,” said Nick softly as him and the rest shooed us away and started talking amongst themselves.

“If I wasn’t so relieved, I’d say that was sexist,” said Selena with a chuckle.

No sooner were the words out of her mouth before Kevin called us back over there.

Apparently, they had nominated Taylor to go in. I noted that Selena looked anxious, which was understandable; she was his buddy and they both seemed to really like each other.

Taylor seemed uncomfortable as he took off his shoes and socks, and then his shirt. I don’t think he needed to be, though; his abs seemed to have been sculpted. Realizing I had been staring at his very attractive body for more than three seconds, I looked away- only to see every other girl staring. I noted some of the guys looked at his body too, only with their eyes full of jealousy.

Selena went over to the pool as he looked into it, and then sat down to dangle his legs in the water. It seemed hours, though it was only a few seconds, before he actually delved into it.

I held my breath as I looked at the spot where he’d disappeared into the blackness. Come back up Taylor. Please, just come back up! Seconds ticked away and you could almost taste the tension in the air. I kept silently praying to myself, and then took a huge sigh of relief as Taylor’s head emerged from the surface again. Apparently I wasn’t the only one holding my breath; I heard several more relieved sighs.

“I reached the bottom,” he said, looking at me as Selena helped him onto the floor. “It’s pretty deep.”

“Dangerous?” I asked.

He smiled a toothy smile. “Not at all.”

We all cheered and the guys began taking off their shirts and going into the pool- which seemed much larger than it had before.

“Hold it!” I said. “Guys, we still have to look out for each other; one partner at a time.”

I heard some of the girls groan along with Kevin as they sat back down. I’d almost forgotten he was Nick’s partner.

“Wanna go, Zoe?” Swifty asked, nudging my arm.

“Only if they guys won’t feel awkward with a girl in the pool.”

“Of course not!” Liam said before jumping in.

I shrugged and began stripping down. I took off my jeans and socks- considering I had no shoes in the first place- and then my thin t-shirt. I never realized how cool the room was, but now that I was in my bra and under, I couldn’t have been more aware.

“Is it cold in there?” I asked tentatively to Nick.

“Wha-?” Nick asked, as if he was snapping back to reality. “Oh, the water? No, it’s… fine,” he said gently. He offered a hand to me, “Here, jump in.”

So I did, clutching Nick’s hand- and he prevented me from delving really deep by almost catching me underwater. I laughed when my head emerged from the surface, and to my surprise he had a grin on his face too. At that moment Joe splashed us, causing Nick to shake his curls like a dog which caused me to laugh again.

“Hey,” Nick whispered into my ear after he pulled me closer to him, “distract Joe while I go dunk him.”

“Aye aye Nick.” I saluted him and swam to Joe- splashing him. His head snapped in my direction and I saw Nick creep behind him and then dunk him.

Taylor, Liam and I laughed- until Nick floated an inch or so away, his hands in the air, and Joe didn’t come up. I snapped into leader mode immediately.

“Where’s Joe?”

“I have no idea,” Nick said worriedly. “I just dunked him, and then he wasn’t there anymore.”

“Clear out!” I said seriously, swimming towards the edge of the pool. Swifty helped me up.
The guys were strong enough to get out themselves.

Demi rushed to the water’s edge, looking frantic. But I didn’t have time to deal with her, as my teeth were chattering uncontrollably and my body was going numb again. If it was cold when I was dry, it was freezing when I was sopping wet. Swifty had noticed, as had Nick and Selena. But because of the lack of towels there was nothing to wrap me in.

“Joe!” Demi said angrily.

I didn’t really care at this point. I was freezing. I think my lips were purple, and if they weren’t- it felt like it. Taylor and Kevin had come to us- Kevin tossing a scarf around my neck and Taylor bringing me his shirt. Selena helped me into his shirt, than mine. Swifty put on my jeans for me quickly, than my socks. Needless to say, I’d never felt more like a doll than at that moment.

When they were done Nick wrapped his arms around me in a warm hug, which I happily accepted. I wasn’t shivering as much anymore- but I could feel his cold skin. “Nick,” I said and he looked at me. “Go put your clothes on; else you’re going to freeze.”

He nodded and went to change, and I turned around to an angry Demi gripping a sopping wet Joe.

“Joe thought it would be nice to play a little prank,” said Demi, half snarling at Joe and half talking to me.

“It started out that way, Zoe, but,” Joe started, than he saw the layers I was wearing, “wait, are you okay?”

“I’m fine Joe, just continue.”

“Okay, but after Nick dunked me I decided to go to the bottom like Taylor and… well, I possibly found another way out.”

“What?” asked Nick, coming back and surreptitiously snaking his arm around my waist, which I leaned into.

“I swam to the bottom of the pool and I saw this huge plug thing,” Joe said. “It had a handle on it and everything. Now, I thought that maybe, just maybe, if we were to pull it we could get out of this room.”

“That’s great Joe,” I said. “Really, it is. But there’s no way that one person could go down there by themselves and pull that thing out. Well, maybe Taylor could, but if the water were drain from the plug he could get sucked in.”

“And we don’t want that to happen,” said Swifty.

“But that’s the only lead we got,” said Kevin. “It has to be the way out.”

“That may be true,” I said. “And if it is, we’re going to have to find another way to do it.”

“We could make a chain!” said Miley, joining out conversation. We all looked at her, surprised she would even suggest something that good, or even participate. “What? It’s stupid, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not,” Swifty said. “It’s actually really good.”

I nodded. “Yeah, Miles, it is a good idea… but it’s going to take some planning.”

“How so?” asked Demi, who’d let go of Joe and wiped her wet hands on her shirt.

“If you think about it,” said Selena patiently, “we’d have to figure out how many people we need in the chain, as well as who goes in what order.”

“Exactly,” I said with a sharp nod. “Tell me, Joe, Taylor- how deep is the pool?”

Taylor scrunched his face together in thought before saying, “Maybe eight or nine people long.” Joe added a nod.

“Good, good,” I said to myself, getting out of Nick’s hold and making my way to sit down in one of the chairs. As expected, everyone followed. “That’s a start…”

“So now we should be figuring out the order in which people will go, right?” asked Kevin.

“Exactly,” said Taylor. “I think I should be first, I’m strong enough to pull out this plug.” We agreed.

I quickly ran over things in my head before speaking next, “Okay then. Taylor, stand over there. Now, Swifty, I want you to go next, your height will add length. Then you, Kevin, then Demi and then Joe. Then-”

“I want to go last,” Miley interrupted. “I came up with the idea, so I think that I should have a say in where I am.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine then. You’re last. Okay where was I? Oh yeah, Joe. After that Selena, myself, Nick and then Liam bringing up the rear.” It was crucial to have the two strongest people on the ends. “Miley, you’ll be holding onto Liam above ground if the chain is long enough. Okay, is everyone happy?”

Everyone had joined in the line after Taylor after their name was called, Selena and Nick leaving a place for me, and all chorused yeses. I gulped for nodding myself; I seemed to be doing a lot of those things today.

“I guess that we should get our things together, whatever those may be,” I said, trying to act leader like, “and maybe have some food and drink before we start. We may not have any more later.”

The nine others agreed and dispersed. I took a bite of my unfinished granola bar and stuffed my journal and pen into the plastic bag from the chest, I wouldn’t want those getting water logged, before securing the bag in my back pocket. I almost shuddered at the thought of going back into the water and having to dry off again; I think I’d just suffered from hypothermia.

I looked around the room and saw the others either securing their things in their plastic bags or in their pockets or, if you were Joe, searching for his things and his bag. As I was watching, Taylor came and asked me if he could take an experimental dive to see this ‘plug’. He sounded a little bit skeptical, so I allowed him, and observed everyone else as their heads snapped up when they heard his splash.

Within a matter of seconds he came back to the surface and gave me a thumbs up.

I called everyone together and we got into the assigned order and got into the pool. Taylor dove down, dragging Swifty along with him- she was holding his feet. And so we slithered down after taking deep breaths. I actually felt safe; comforted by the thought that this idea may just work and by the fact that Nick was holding my feet.

Selena took her breath and started to swim; I quickly grabbed her feet and a breath and did the same- opening my eyes under the water. It was dark, and the only clear thing I could see was Selena’s pale feet which were an arms’ length away from me.

As soon as I felt like I was going to run out of air, something happened. Something bad. First a great sucking sensation and the twirling of navy water around me, and the second a distant voice followed by a splash.

Than everything else was just a whirlwind of confusion and fear.