Chapter 30

Chlorine burns my eyes when I open them, finding a blurry Rae at the bottom of the pool struggling to make it to the top. I swim to her, and scoop my arms underneath her. Her petite arms cling around my neck like a lifeline, her eyes wide with fear as bubbles escape her nose. Holding onto her, I kick my feet and swim upward. As soon as her face breaks water she hisses in a terrible sound of air, her whole body taking in the oxygen. She coughs, before laying her head on my shoulder. Her whole body shaking with fear and coldness.

Finding the pool steps, I walk us out, and her mother stands waiting with a towel.

"Nobody invited you here in the first place!" Garth hollers at Ace.

"It was a joke!" He laughs, his hands up in surrender.

"Oh my God, honey. You're as soaked as a sewer rat." Bailey looks at Rae with sympathy, wrapping the towel around her.

"You have her?" I question, and Bailey nods.

"Let's find you some dry clothes." Her mother ushers her toward the house.

As soo