with both feet.
My extra-high heels caught Tipkins in the stomach, doubling him over in the middle. I kicked again, connecting with his forehead and watched as he toppled backward, hitting the water with a splash that sent water sloshing over the side of the pool.
I didn’t waste any time, immediately popping to my feet, kicking off the heels, and hopping toward the gate again.
I heard Tipkins splashing around in the water. His clothes slowed him down, but it wouldn’t be long before he found his way to the side and out onto dry land again. I had to move fast.
I hopped as quickly as I could, only vaguely aware of how ridiculous I must have looked, making it to the side gate just as I heard Tipkins sloshing up the ladder and out of the pool.
I pushed on the gate, but it was firmly latched in place. Not only that, but a shiny, silver lock gleamed back at me in the moonlight.
I felt desperation bubble up in my throat as I whipped my head around for any sign of a key. But it was too late. I could hear Tipkins’s wet footsteps moving the length of the pool. In an instant, his arms encircled me from behind, wet, rigid, and as unyielding as steel.
“No!” I cried out, feeling tears well in my eyes as he dragged me toward the water.
“Please, I-”
But that was as far as I got in my pleading because, without ceremony, Tipkins tossed me over the edge, into the deep end of the pool.
Cold water instantly enveloped me, hitting my body like a shock. I kicked my legs, wiggled from side to side, moving anything I could as the frigid water rushed over my body, pressing in on me from all sides as I sank lower and lower.
I felt panic coursing through my system and fought the urge to scream as I watched the surface of the pool grow farther and farther away. I could just make out the blurry figure of Mr. Tipkins walking away.
Leaving me there to drown in a watery grave.
I felt hot tears slide down my cheeks in the freezing water. I thrashed, the ropes cutting into my wrists until they burned like they were on fire. I kicked, my feet coming up against something hard. The bottom of the pool. I shoved with all my might, shooting toward the surface… but I fell short, only managing to move a couple feet through the thick water… that felt like it was growing thicker and heavier by the second, pressing in on me, closing my visions down to one small pinpoint of light as my eyes grew heavy. My lungs were screaming for air, burning, feeling as if they were going to burst at any second. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could resist the urge to open my mouth, not drag the heavily chlorinated water into my body, filling my lungs until I drowned.
My brain began to feel fuzzy, images swimming in my vision as I watched the last of my oxygen leak out of my nose in tiny little air bubbles that floated so easily to the surface. If only I could float like that. If only I was light enough to just float right out of my body, up toward the surface out into that sweet, sweet air.
And suddenly I was floating. I vaguely wondered if maybe I’d left my body, if I was dead and floating toward the heavens, slowly rising from the water. I watched the surface swim closer and closer until I could almost feel the crisp breeze of gloriously fresh air.
I opened my mouth, not able to hold it in any longer, sucking in as hard as I could, expecting the rush of water to fill my lungs and end it all.
Only it didn’t.
Instead, I dragged in a deep, full breath of air as my body broke the surface.
I gasped, coughing, choking, and dragging in oxygen as if I couldn’t get enough.
“Hartley!” I heard someone calling my name from very far away.
But I didn’t care. All I cared about was the delicious feeling of filling my lungs, in and out, in and out. Was there anything better?
“Hartley? Can you hear me?” the voice pressed.
I blinked, regaining my vision, the oxygen slowly clearing the clouds from my brains. A face came into focus in front of me. A heavily made-up face, surrounded by clouds of blond hair.
“Drea?” I asked, confusion lacing my voice as her features materialized in front of me.
“Ohmigod, you’re okay!” She leaned down and hugged me, my soggy self making wet spots on her itty-bitty minidress.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Rescuing you,” came another voice. I looked to my right and saw two more cheerleaders from Drea’s posse standing nearby.
“We saw everything,” Drea said. “We came running to get you out as soon as we could.” I looked down and saw a long pole with a hook on the end that the maintenance workers used to drag leaves from the bottom of the pool. Or in this case, cheerleaders used to drag me from the bottom of the pool.
Great. Saved by cheerleaders. I would never live this down.
“Thanks,” I said. “But how did you find me?” I asked, still dragging in deep breaths.
“We were shooting videos of the dance for Nicky,” Drea explained, leaning down to untie my bonds.
“And we saw Mr. Tipkins helping you from the girls’ bathroom,” Cheerleader number one said. “We totally thought you were drunk or something.”
“Yeah, so we followed you guys, shooting in case you puked or something cool,” Cheerleader number two said.
“Nicky would have loved that,” Drea agreed.
I just bet.
“But I wasn’t drunk,” I pointed out.
Drea nodded. “Yeah, we realized that when he tied you up.”
I blinked at her. “You watched him tie me up? Why didn’t you help me?”
“Dude, we tried! The gate was locked, and we couldn’t get in.”
“We even tried to climb over the fence,” Cheerleader number one said, “but that totally wasn’t working with our wardrobes.” She gestured to the micromini dresses they all wore.
Drea nodded in agreement. “It wasn’t until Tipkins opened the gate and left that we could get in and rescue you.”
“Thanks,” I told them. Meaning it. If it hadn’t been for them hoping to catch me making a fool of myself, I’d have made a dead body of myself. “And Mr. Tipkins?” I asked, my gaze whipping around the area.
“He ran,” number two said. “Totally took off toward the parking lot as soon as he tossed you.”
“So he got away?” I asked, a sinking feeling hitting my stomach.
But Drea grinned. “Not for long. I got his whole confession on video.” She held up the Flip cam she’d been carrying around with her all night. “And,” she added, hitting a little red button on the side, “it’s all uploading to YouTube as we speak.”
I grinned.
Score one for the brats and their technology.
Chapter Twenty-Four
TWENTY MINUTES LATER, IT SEEMED LIKE THE ENTIRE STUDENT population of Herbert Hoover High was standing by the pool, plus our chaperones, teachers, and about a dozen police officers. Drea and Cheerleaders number one and two were enthusiastically giving their statements to officers, complete with lots of hand waving, jumping up and down, and video footage of them coming to my rescue. Sam and Kyle were exactly where they’d been ever since running from the cafeteria at speeds that left both crowns at odd angles: right by my side. Sam had immediately wrapped both arms around me, letting go only when I begged for air, and hadn’t let go of my hand since. Kyle had taken it upon himself to shield me from the thousand questions everyone began throwing at me the second they saw my dripping hair and soggy homecoming dress, holding them at bay by repeatedly yelling, “Give her some room to breathe!”
Someone had found a tarp in the utility shed, which I’d wrapped around myself as a makeshift blanket, but I
