"Look, he's jumping--" My voice faded away, horrified at the scene above me. The previous grace with which Brandon had dived was now replaced by an awkward posture. From beside me, Liam gasped, his arm coming in front of me to shield me from the water.

Splash!

Water splashed everywhere, but all I could do was stare at Brandon dropping into the water. He fell in headfirst, and the sound was deafening, sharp in the hollow swimming pool. Liam tried to save me from being drenched, keeping me back, but all I did was to try to push him aside, looking out for Brandon. Fear settled in my stomach, unbelieving, and not being able to comprehend the scene in front of me.

A hushed silence seemed to fall upon inside the swimming pool as everyone watched the water.

"Dammit!" Liam was the first one to react as he broke the silence and sprinted towards the pool, diving in.

That's when I realized that Brandon had not come up for more than half a minute now. It had only taken him ten seconds to come up before. Another sort of fear gripped me as I desperately tried to look for Brandon's body from outside.

Something was seriously wrong.

I heard shouts from everyone else, but my eyes were glued to the swimming pool, and Liam's body diving under the water. I clutched my dress, my hands getting sweaty as more and more time passed and neither of them came up.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Seth jump in from the other side.

Due to the dim lighting in the indoor pool, it was hard to see inside to pool. But I strained my eyes and saw two blurry bodies swimming upwards. I closed my eyes in relief and brightened as Liam pulled Brandon out of the pool. Liam swam out first, water dripping down his body, and his hair masking his eyes. Others ran over to him, helping them pull out the limp body of Brandon behind him.

Shit. I ran over to them, not caring about looking like a wild goat as I did so. "Brandon!" My voice sounded frightened to my own ears, and I was surprised to realize that I actually cared about him, despite it being only a day since I had gotten to know him. I crouched down next to him, as Liam stood there. He shook his head, wiping away the water from his face, and taking in ragged breaths.

"Brandon?" I shook him.

No answer.

Confused at his stillness, I shook him again, this time harder.

He didn't wake up.

"Liam! He is not opening his eyes! Doesn't he need CPR or something?" I bent down my head to his chest, to hear if his heart was still beating or not. The blood pumping in my ears made it harder to hear it. I looked up, angry at the three of them for just standing there with blank expressions. "What the hell are all of you doing?"

"Well, I am not going to do CPR on him," Liam said matter-of-factly.

I turned to Leo and Seth and both of them shook their head. "Seriously?!" I put both of my hands up in the air in disbelief.

About to get up and have a very serious word with them, the unexpected voice made me stop in my tracks.

"Why don't you do it? It'll be more fun."

Blood drained from my face, and I bet I looked like I had seen a ghost or something. Slowly, I turned my head towards Brandon. One of his eyes was propped open and he was giving me a lopsided grin. Blood rushed back into my face, and instead of relief, I was filled with anger. Frustrated, but unable to say anything to him, I punched his shoulder.

Ungrateful bastard.

"Ow!" He rubbed the spot, closing his eyes and laying back down.

Everyone chuckled, and I covered my face with my hands as tears pooled into my eyes. I mentally kicked myself for falling for it. Of course, he was a professional swimmer! Why would he drown like that?

"You should have seen yourself, Tyler!" Seth laughed, bumping his fist with Leo. "I bet this was the best reaction I ever had on this prank!"

"This was a prank?" I asked, incredulous.

"Well..." Brandon trailed off, his tone not so humorous anymore.

"What do you mean?" Liam asked sharply.

"The starting part was not, uhm, a prank," Brandon said, his bent down. I could see that he was embarrassed, but couldn't muster up any pity for him. He sat up, combing his hand through his hair, his face red. With a nod of his head, he pointed towards his foot.

All of us looked down, to his left foot. A collective hiss went through us as we examined the red and swollen foot. There was no way he could swim in that condition. Let alone walk for a day or two. And as I looked at everyone else's faces, I could see that they were thinking the exact same thing. Our silence must have alerted the coach or something because he walked towards us, his whistle dangling from his chest. And finally, I looked at his face.

I stood up, my eyebrows up till my hairline. "Richard?"

"You know him?" Leo asked me, popping a lollipop in his mouth. (I don't know where he got that from.)

"Umm, yeah. He's a regular at our bakery," I mumbled. Though he looked anything but a regular. He was probably in his forties, like my mom, but was undeniably handsome. I mean, he was a swimming trainer after all. But with so many sweets in his system, I had no idea how he maintained his body.

"Shhh. That's our little secret." Richard winked at me and everyone's eyebrows shot up at that. I ignored them.

"What do we have here now?" He bent down and grabbed Brandon's ankle, who took in a sharp breath at the small movement.

"It hurts." Brandon groaned out, wincing with his eyes scrunched up. He looked so utterly childish right then, that I had to clap my hand over my face to stop myself from laughing.

Liam noticed that and attempting to grin, but the severity of this situation probably kept him from doing that. Still, he made an effort to give me a reassuring smile. I returned it. When I turned back, Brandon twisted his face away from me. a dark expression on his face.

"It'll take at least a week to recover."

"What?!" Everyone except me shouted in unison. The competition was next week, and if my maths was correct, Brandon would not be able to participate.

"Well, you should have thought of that before. Get in the car, and I'll drop you today," Richard mumbled, patting his shoulder.

"I can't believe this!" Brandon said, a little hurt, "I came all the way for this freaking competition and now I can't participate?"

"We'll see what we can do. But for now, you need to recover and rest."

"It's okay, dude. Not your fault," Seth said, crouching down to him, and then he softly whispered in his ear, "Still loved the prank though. "

All of us, including Brandon, rolled their eyes.

"Let me help you," Liam said, and with Seth, half dragged and half carried a whining Brandon to the car.

"Well, there goes our relay," Leo mumbled.

I turned to him. "Huh? Relay?"

"Yeah, we got second last year. We were aiming for the first position this time. Looks like we can't even participate."

"Oh." I didn't know what to say to that, so I quietly excused myself and tiptoed towards the car.

Richard dropped Brandon (and me) at my house, while Liam and the rest stayed behind. There was no point in staying any longer when the bigger problem was sitting in front of me. Besides, the others had to pack up and change anyway.

"Okay..." I trailed off, trying to make Brandon say something. He was still wearing his swimming trunks which were thankfully dried and would not drive my mom mad.

"Well it's a pity, I couldn't see you in your bikini, but I'll work with this," His eyes twinkled with mischief as he said so and I frowned. How did he know I was wearing a bikini?

I looked down my dress and noticed it was wet. But more than that, it had turned transparent after getting wet.

Mom...

Suppressing my urge to barge into the shop and demand an explanation from mom, I closed my eyes.

"Are you picturing me naked? Because I can totally help you with that," Brandon said and seriously I could have rolled the whole universe instead of just my eyes at his big fat ego.

"No, Brandon. If I had to picture you, I would be happy to see you tied to a rocket and kicked out from Earth," I replied, not knowing anything about where that came from. Oh well.

"Seriously?" Brandon laughed and I had to bite my cheek from doing so the same.

"Shut up. Do you want me to bandage you up?" I asked, pointing to his swelling foot.

Thankfully he didn't comment on it and just nodded. Giving him a real smile this time, I quickly took out the medical supplies and sat next to him on the couch.

I grabbed his leg and placed it on my lap. Carefully wiping it with a towel, I took out some muscle pain ointment and rubbed it in.

He hissed and I looked up to see his face scrunched up again in that adorably cute way.

Impure thoughts go away!

"What?" He asked, sensing that I was looking at him.

"Nothing, just that you look so ugly," I replied, wrapping the bandage around his foot. He helped me by lifting it up a little every time I circled at it. Well, he's not such an ass all the time.

"I'm letting that go because I know that you think I am hot. And for helping me of course," He mumbled and then placing his hands behind his neck, relaxed back.

"What?" I asked, sensing him watching me. "Do you like me?"

The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Still, I looked straight into his eyes, daring him to admit it.

"No, but I am sure you do." He bent forward so swiftly, that in a blink of an eye, he was almost touching my nose with his.

I gulped, but a comeback was already on my lips. "Huh! Liking you would be like counting the stars."

"Oh, really? Like infinite?" he asked, closing in even more. His breath fanned on my face, and I tried not to let that cloud my mind.

"No, it would be a waste of time," I replied, and gave his foot a little squeeze. He instantly snapped back in pain.

"Ow!" He clutched his foot in his hand, glaring at me.

Giving him a sweet smile, I sauntered out of there.

One point to Team Tyler.

*****