Day 2: Swimming with Aerith and Riley
“Let Poseidon be praised, Akira let us sleep in until 11.” Alice laughed at Ace’s wit and began stretching. “Speaking of scary people, where’s Riley? I thought she was supposed to help what’s-her-face help us swim or whatever.”
“I won’t lie, I’m just here for the bathing suits.” Travis, the pasty leprechaun, earned himself a score of dirty looks, but the odd chuckle here and there. He glanced at the girls around him and zeroed in on the blue-haired swim instructor.
“Hey, you with the face,” He tapped her on the shoulder and received a rather vacant look. “I see you don’t remember me, but I never forget a face. When is this debacle going to start?”
“As soon as Riley, Solana, and Akira get here. However, feel free to take the plunge.”
“We’ll just tell the police that you died of natural stupidity.” Rano and Tono snickered.
“Ha-ha, very funny.” Travis scuttled away to nurse his ego and hunt for his fictional ‘babe’.
20 minutes passed, but there was no sign of any of the missing people.
“Ohmigosh, maybe they drowned.” Kateri gasped for air and hung dramatically to Griffin’s arm. “We could be the sole witnesses to a crime scene! I’ve waited my whole life for this.”
“Sorry to rain on your parade, but I’m very much alive and we’re standing by the only pool located outside.” Akira sidled up, wearing a bathing suit similar to every other girl’s: One piece, black and red, custom fitted. There were some varying colors, depending on the wearer’s choice, but overall, they weren’t allowed to show much skin.
Riley, dressed in scuba gear, a tube, two arm floaties, flippers, and a mask, glowered. “I don’t know who the freak picked us two to do swimming, but I will personally make life hell for them.”
“That’s my job, now everyone in the water.” Akira wouldn’t take no for an answer, so those who were reluctant about getting in, were given a strong nudge. “I sure hope everyone can swim, this pool is 24 feet deep. Aerith, begin.”
“Let’s start off easy: if you don’t know how to swim, proceed in drowning and I’ll come get you. If you do know, follow Riley to the other side of the pool.” The water dragon mentally counted: about 9 good swimmers, 3 or 4 okay ones, and the rest were going to die.
“Okay, okay, calm down. I’ll get you.” And so began the slow process of channeling small currents to take the spluttering members of the MCC to the shallow end.
“Hey, Tinkerbell, why aren’t you in here?” Tommy sat on a deck chair in full view of the pool. He had spotted Solana hiding in the shadows from the time Riley and Akira had stepped out. She didn’t seem transparent like the ghost boy, or wilt when touched with chlorinated water like the mandrake girl had, so perhaps she was playing hooky.
He stood up and walked over to where she was skulking, not bothering to help the leprechaun kid who repeatedly yelled he was drowning. The girl in the scuba get-up ran parallel to him and whacked him in the head with a noodle.
“Don’t come any closer,” The nymph’s wings shook like a leaf and she sounded like she was on the verge of tears. The other girl, Kaki (Tommy guessed), sat with her back to the crowd and her face in her knees. This didn’t seem like a club, it was more like an insane asylum.
“Thomas, is Solana over there by you?” Akira had climbed out of the pool and her eyebrows were knit together.
“Define over there,” He looked back and saw that the girl had disappeared and he was left with the ghost, asylum chick, and the dude from the bar.
While Akira had her back turned, Riley whipped the mask off and proceeded to rub the fog out of the eye sockets. “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I was chosen to do this.” She muttered darkly. There was nothing more that she hated than water.
“Something tells me that you’re just a waste of space and you’re deathly afraid of water.” Dante, one of the few who made it to the better swimmers circle, eyed Riley skeptically.
“Why don’t you just focus on treading water before I get all ape sh*t bananas on everyone and tear out your throat?”
“How can you tell me what to do and you don’t even know how to do it?” Dante was rewarded for his slick tongue by a swift jet of water to the face, courtesy of Alice, who floated by in a kayak. She had a water gun laying across her lap and a blood-box in a cup holder located on the side of the kayak.
“I can’t cross bodies of water or swim,” The little vampire shrugged and paddled across the wide pool.
“Try me one more time and you get the full force of the noodle,” There was a not so subtle scoff from Griffin who covered it up with a cough. “That goes for you too.” Riley growled.
“How about we lighten this up with a little joke,” the fallen angel smiled. “What is short, could make a career out of sucking at videogames, and can’t swim?”
“As suspenseful as your obvious joke is, I don’t have time for this. I’m getting out.” Amor executed a perfect backstroke and exited the pool. On her way back into the house, she passed Nodin and Camilla who were in the process of enjoying the cool A/C that blew through open sliding-glass door.
“Riley, I think you should consider the consequences of your actions,” Griffin was cutting through the water to where Riley stood. The rest of the swimmers were absorbed in their lessons—or in Melina’s case, trying not to drown when Aerith wasn’t looking.
The okay swimmers had ended up joining the beginners.
“Say your prayers Dante, ‘cuz I’m going to send you to the afterlife.” Riley launched herself with as much grace as a rhino skydiving into a pudding cup, but it didn’t matter. As far as she was concerned she had conquered her biggest obstacle: the water. The rest would be easy.
“Oh my gosh, she’s going to drown us all!” Kateri bobbed unsteadily in the deep end, her natural instinct telling her to swim away.
“D*mn straight!”
And that was exactly what Riley did.
