"Theo—I mean, Fish!" I yell and run over to the side of the tank where he'd plunged over and disappeared into the salty blue water.
The tank wasn't that wide on top, but it was super deep, and there was another floor down below where people could stare at the small sharks and weird fish floating around. Only now, they weren't just gawking at flounder, but a genuine, real-life maniac in the water.
"Oh my God! Help, somebody! My friend just jumped into the tank! " I holler, and I look around at the crowd of horrified people, trying to find an employee to come over with a net or some kind of fishing pole before Fish drowned down there or got sucked into a pipe.
"That guy just dove in after a kid!" A guy shouts. "I saw it with my own two eyes!"
"Where did he go?" Someone else demands.
"My baby's down there! He fell in!" A woman wails when an employee runs over to console her.
Ice water immediately slides down my back and everything comes into focus. Fish hadn't just jumped in because he was batshit insane like I had originally thought, he'd jumped in because somebody's kid had just fallen into the water. But where was he now?
I drop my backpack, kick off my shoes, and do the unthinkable.
I jump in after Fish, without even thinking about it, or the fact that I could drown down there with him. I mean, I was a pretty strong swimmer; I wasn't afraid of the water or dying, but the water was unpredictable, as I had come to find out.
Anything could happen.
I cut through the water like a knife, immediately engulfed in silence, the sound of frantic screams fading behind me as the world turns upside down.
Ever since I was a kid, I had wondered how it would feel to be on the other side of the tank with the fish and long strands of kelp. And now I was living it, if not for a second.
Saltwater shoots up my nose and burns my eyes, but I push forward and start searching for Fish and the runaway kid among the colorful creatures swimming by. There were stripey rockfish swimming by, seabass and rays swooping past like birds in the sky, all avoiding me as I kicked past.
But where was Fish?
I turn around and something large passes by that makes the water tremble. I see a flash of copper, fish scales, just like this morning when I went swimming in the ocean. But it's gone in a flash, and when I spin around to see where it went, Fish is rushing past me, dragging a little boy in a red and white striped shirt by the arm as he goes.
And he was fast. And by fast, I mean, he was crazy fast. Which normally wouldn't have surprised me, considering the fact that I was a beast on the swim team.
But this guy was something else. He was like a dolphin gliding through oil.
No, wait, that was a horrific comparison.
He was like butter on a hot pan, sliding through the water with ease, and he didn't need my help at all. Which was insane, because I'd literally just dived in to save his crazy ass.
I break the surface moments after he does and gasp in a sharp breath of air, sunlight in my eyes, the sound of screams making my eardrums vibrate.
"Jeffery!" The boy's mom is screaming, and Fish is holding onto the edge of the tank and dragging her son out of the water by the back of his shirt. The little guy's unconscious, so they quickly pull him out the rest of the way and onto land, where he splashes onto the concrete, then starts to cry a few moments later.
Oh my God.
I splash over to Fish and grab onto his shoulder, both of us treading water when he turns to face me, all that soft blonde hair plastered to his forehead and cheeks, his plump lips parted slightly as he catches his breath. And I wanted to be angry.
God, I wanted to be so angry with him. But he'd just saved a kid when he didn't have to, so I just sigh and accept defeat. "Let's get out of here," I grumble, "I think we need to talk."
Fish pushes up the wet hair that's covering his eyes and smiles at me in response.
Who the hell was this guy? Seriously?
We manage to climb out of the tank while the crowd is busy calling 911 and checking on the half-drowned kid lying on the concrete. Both Fish and I are soaked from head to toe, and we slosh our way to the other side of the building to find cover and some clothes in the gift shop.
"I can't believe you did that!" I tell Fish as we're walking side by side. "That was the craziest, most insane thing I've ever seen in my entire life!" I turn to face him and start walking backwards so I can see his expression. "How the hell are you able to swim so quickly? Did you take lessons or what? "
Fish looks through his pockets, pulls out a clump of wet paper, and it splatters to the floor.
Both of us stare down at the remnants of his communication cards, then Fish shrugs at me as if to say, "Well, I'm fucked."
"Hold on!" "I'll go grab a pen and a paper from the front desk!" I exclaim as I stop walking and push him to a halt. "Just give me a second!"
Fish stares at me as I run off to go grab a notebook from the lady at the front entrance, which doesn't take more than a minute. By the time I get back, he's still waiting in the same spot I left him.
A second later, I hand him a pen and point to a line on a paper notepad, gesturing for him to write something so at least I could know we were on the same page.
Fish eyes me, and then he jots something down.
I take the paper when he passes it back to me and practically groan in defeat. It's a picture of two stick figures holding hands, one with longish hair like mine, the other with crazier hair like Fish.
When I look up at him for an explanation, I see him blush bright red and turn away.
What the hell was going on?
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