In Too Deep Read Online Free Page A

was the first time I’d ever had to use it. I tilted his head back to get his airway clear. I put my ear to his mouth and listened for breathing, praying that I’d see his chest rise.
    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my mom come running, but she stopped in the doorway. “Annie!”
    “Nine-one-one! Nine-one-one!”
    She disappeared again, and Josh wasn’t moving and his face was turning pale. I put my lips on his and breathed twice, then moved to his chest and pumped down with my arms locked. Thirty times, to get the circulation going, and then back up to his mouth. A rhythm, a cycle to keep my mind off of what was actually happening.
    Mom ran back in, clutching the phone against her chest. “They’re on their way.”
    Again, the cycle. And again. Finally, Josh coughed. He spit up water, and I turned his head to the side so that he wouldn’t choke on it. He coughed again, spit up, and pushed himself slowly to his hands and knees.
    My mom rushed over to Josh and put her hand on his shoulder as if assuring herself that he was actually alive there.
    She moved to me, but I was too exhausted to stand up, so she just huddled over me while I panted. “My god, Annie, I don’t even know what to say.”
    She looked from Josh to me, and then she leaned against the wall and slid down. We stayed like that for a while, the three of us saying nothing, listening only to the whining rumble of the pump.
    Josh lolled his head toward me. “Did you slip me the tongue?”
    I slapped him on the shoulder hard enough to leave a red handprint on his skin. “I should have let you die.”

THREE
    I f this had been a movie, Josh would have felt a sense of gratitude so profound that he’d have begged me to ride in the ambulance with him, to hold his hand and assure him that he would be okay. Though his energy was weak, he would have found the strength to brush a strand of hair from my forehead as we held each other’s gaze, the wail of the siren blending into the background. We would have known— known —that no matter what happened from that point forward, we would always be linked together.
    Unfortunately, this wasn’t a movie. After the paramedics did the whole vital signs check—blood pressure, blood oxygen level, heart and lung check with the stethoscope—they stuck a little electrode on Josh’s chest and hooked him up to a portable monitor. He made a big stink about it, but they loaded him onto a stretcher and wheeled him from the pool room into the shop.
    My adrenaline rush ebbed slowly, robbing me of the ability to control my legs like a normal person, so I had to stay seated against the wall. My stomach hurt, my head pounded, and my fingers shook so badly that I stuck my hands under my arms so they wouldn’t freak me out.
    Gracia had called again to check up on me, and when she heard the news she had her driver bring her right over. We hadn’t been able to get in touch with Josh’s mom, but her assistant, Violet, was adamant that we not let Josh go anywhere.
    “I don’t think that’s up to me,” my mom said icily.
    The paramedics were a medical odd couple: one tall and bald, the other short with a belly and a black mustache. While they monitored Josh over near the wetsuits, I mustered up the energy to change into shorts and a T-shirt. Physically, I was better, but now that the action was over, my mind was filled with thoughts of what could have happened. Josh dead. My parents sued. The shop gone. Me responsible.
    “Did you really save him?” Gracia said, enveloping me in her Southern embrace as I came out of the small dressing room. “As in, mouth-to-mouth?”
    “We call it cardiopulmonary resuscitation,” I said with a wink. At least she’d gotten me to joke about it.
    “So you put your lips to his and pumped his chest? You vixen!”
    It’s not like I’m the kind of girl who needs her best friend by her at all times, but it was nice to have Gracia there.
    The paramedics were just about to wheel Josh out of