C H A P T E R 3 0

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Inhale the future. Exhale the past.

"One. Two. Three. Go!" Olivia said enthusiastically as she watched us jump into the pool. I resurfaced quickly before taking a long breath and going under water. Ethan was already there and searching for his key. I looked around on the pool floor but couldn't find anything. The tiles were blue and the pool was big. It could be anywhere.

I couldn't hold my breath any longer so I resurfaced out of the water. Olivia and Tristan were standing on the edge of the pool. Olivia was cheering for me and Tristan was supporting Ethan.

"Go, Juliet! You can do this." Olivia yelled as she bit down on her nails. Taking a huge breath, I dove inside the water until I reached the floor and started searching for the key again. My hands tapped around to feel for a key but I couldn't find it anywhere.

I couldn't hold my breath underwater for too long. I had last swam about four years ago for a competition which I lost in the end. So I was out of practice and couldn't hold my breath for too long. I was coming up for air too many times compared to Ethan. In a span of five minutes, I think I came up for air for about twenty times whereas Ethan only came up ten or so times.

I swam over to where Ethan was searching, relieved that even he wasn't getting any key either.

We spent another few minutes searching until something sparkled inside the water. At first, I didn't pay attention and thought it was just the water but when my eyes happened to glance over in that direction, I saw the key. Keys, actually. Both of the keys were lying in the corner, about a feet or so away from each other.

Ethan must have noticed it too because the moment I started moving in its direction, Ethan lunged for them too. I was too late to back away because we bumped into each other, hard.

Shit. He had noticed the keys too and I had to resurface with the key before he does to win this task.

Water went into my mouth and I realized that I had opened my mouth and released my breath due to our bump. I recovered as quickly as he did but before I could grab a key, two arms wrapped around my waist and pushed me back. I fought against him but he snatched both of the keys and resurfaced back.

"He cheated!" I yelled as soon as I was out of the water.

"What? What happened?" Olivia asked as she handed me a towel. I yanked it out of her hands.

"I almost had the keys first but he grabbed me and pushed me back! He cheated!" I shrieked while he just dried himself out with a towel, acting as if he didn't even listen to me. That pissed me off more than it had.

"Juliet, there were no rules against not cheating. So Ethan won the first round," Tristan said. "Don't worry, you have two more chances."

"You're just saying this because he's your friend and you're happy he won. But he cheated, goddamn!"

"Suck it up, crybaby. We weren't told that we couldn't stop the other from having the key. So you can't really blame me." Ethan said, smirking victoriously.

I fumed. "I hate you two! And what happened to a fair match between us?! This is not fair!"

"Calm down, Juliet. I'm sure you will win the next two rounds. We'll show these jerks!" Olivia sneered.

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