The Lifeboat Clique by Kathy Parks

The Lifeboat Clique by Kathy Parks

Author:Kathy Parks
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-11-18T16:00:00+00:00


DOCE

OUR THIRD DAY AT SEA BEGAN WITHOUT INCIDENT BUT quickly went south. We got up, reality set in, we divided our rations and passed around the jug, arguing a bit more loudly over the difference between a sip and a drink and a gulp and whatever. . . . The water wouldn’t last, and the fact was a fact.

Abigail and I volunteered to watch for boats and planes. She looked out one way and I looked out the other, while Trevor sat drumming on himself in his swivel chair and Hayley and Sienna took shelter under the sunshade. I flashed my mirror and let my thoughts drift as my tired eyes looked for something out there in the shape of a rescue. Below us was the natural habitat of fish and sharks and whales. Frantic thoughts were reserved for above the waterline, where five exhausted teenagers struggled through another day. If only to be a little fish, moving naked through the cool sea. I imagined them in those peaceful depths, so much like LA, no change in seasons, just one day after the other, their gills moving slowly, their eyes blank, empty of the concerns of linear time.

Oh to be like those— Splash.

Splash? It took a moment for my groggy daydream to twist and turn like a Rubik’s Cube until it had reconfigured into a panic. That splash was substantial, ominous.

“Hayley fell overboard!” Sienna cried. “She was on the rail trying to adjust the—”

Abigail and I were still blinking when Trevor dove overboard after her. We rushed to the rail and watched as he swam toward Hayley, who floundered a few yards from the bow.

“I’m goin’ in,” Abigail said.

“No,” I said. “Just wait.”

“Hell with that. Git out of my way.”

But just then Trevor reached Hayley, and she grabbed him by his wet hair and pulled so hard he winced in pain.

“Hayley, let him go!” Abigail shouted.

But she was fighting him, grabbing on to him and trying to pull him under in her panic. Finally Trevor got behind her and put his arm around her neck. I could see him talking to her and even hear his soothing voice, but he was too far away for me to understand what he was saying. Probably reciting some lyrics designed to make teen girls lose their motor skills so he could drag them out into the alleyway, or rescue them from drowning.

Trevor tugged Hayley to the back of the boat, and Abigail and I reached down and pulled her to safety, while useless Sienna did nothing as usual except chatter excitedly about how terrifying it felt to watch her friend plunge overboard and how glad she was that Hayley wasn’t dead.

We laid Hayley down on the deck and helped her sit up as she coughed and sputtered and gasped. Trevor crawled up the ladder and joined us in the boat, sinking to his knees in front of Hayley, who reached up and grabbed him and pulled him down to her. The two of them lay gasping for air on the deck.



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