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They laughed, but I didn’t. I was too busy focusing all my energy on staying as still as possible while Blake and Malakai used the oars to sail us across the lake.
The other team was right on our tail, but we had a head start. Until we reached the halfway point and one of the guys’expertlytied knots started to loosen under our weight. Malakai was certain it would hold, but I watched it slip looser and looser until the last pole started to drop away from the others.
“I’ll grab it.” John maneuvered onto his knees and shuffled to the edge of the raft.
“No, leave—” Blake yelled, but it was too late.
John leaned over the side a little too zealous and toppled headfirst into the lake. The raft lost balance, and, in a panic, I grabbed ahold of Sheridan, who grabbed Sara. When it landed back in the water with a thud, it sent all of us crashing into one another. Nearest to the edge, I lost my balance and rolled backward.
“Somebo—”
The cold water hit me with force, and I gasped as the water closed around me. Icy liquid filled my mouth, plunging up my nose as I choked and spluttered, trying to kick my way to the surface.
I’d survived a wild summer here, managed to keep thirty teenage girls alive, and yet, here I was, about to drown on my last day.
Someone grabbed me around my waist, and just for a second, I felt paralyzed.
And then something in me broke.
Panic surged through me, and I started kicking and thrashing.
I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t get free.
Oh God.
I was going to die.
I was going to drown in a lake all thanks to John and his crappy knots.
Arms tightened around me as I tried to kick to the surface and—
“Penny, Pen, calm down, it’s me.” A familiar voice whispered into my ear as we breached the surface. “It’s me.”
I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my eyes. Trying to suck air into my waterlogged lungs.
Blake stared back at me with such reverence I finally stilled. “Hi.” He smiled.
His arms were wrapped firmly around my waist, supporting us both in the water, keeping us afloat.
The panic subsided, and I slowly regained control of my limbs and forced myself to tread water.
“Are you okay?” he asked, and I nodded.
“Come on.” He released one arm around me to pull us closer to the raft. Sara held out the oar for him to grab, and she and Malakai pulled us in.
Blake pushed me to the edge of the raft, and a soggy John and Sheridan helped me up. I was completely soaked and very embarrassed. Blake pulled himself out of the water behind me, but I didn’t dare turn around.
“I told you you’d end up wet,” a voice from across the lake shouted.
We all turned to find the other raft passing us and a very smug-looking Marissa with her hands cupped around her mouth.
Everyone around me burst into laughter, and I felt Blake’s stare burning into my back. I glanced over my shoulder, and our eyes locked. The sheer emotion glittering in his inky depths winded me.
Sucked the air right out of my lungs.
What was he trying to tell me?
