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"What do you think about Jade and Noah?"

I smiled "I think he’ll bore her to tears soon What do you think?"

"Sah"

"Yep, me too"

We sat down on a piece of driftwood and watched the water as he held azed down at me with his melted-chocolate eyes and my insides turned toHe always had the saled up close The sea breeze was just a little bit chilly as it came off the water and I shivered He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me even closer I melted into his warmth And then he stiffened

"What the hell?" he exclai back the e had co and immediately tensed up, both as a result of Noah’s actions and the pain that was shooting fro I clutched my wrist and stared

Noah stripped off his shirt and waded into the Pacific, the pale expanse of his back reflecting the dying light of the sun Gavin and I rushed back to where Jade was standing on the shore, all while Noah continued to walk straight out to sea The pain fro

As we got closer, Gavin shouted, "Noah, what gives?"

Noah turned around and grinned "I’m no chicken, Chase"

"Who said you were?"Gavin shouted back

Noah pointed at Jade and turned back around, plunging himself into the waves I sucked in my breath The current was known to be bad here If an inexperienced swirabbed Gavin’s arm

"Gavin, make him stop!"

Jade interrupted "I didn’t reallyabout swi I said, ‘Well, if you ever stop being a chicken, you can put your e I was joking" Her eyes ide and nervous and I squeezed her elbow

"It’s not your fault You didn’t know that he could be such an idiot" I looked back out at the water He was chest-deep now

"Noah, get your pathetic butt back here!" I shouted "I rin plastered on his face

"You can’t make me, Lockhart You don’t have my balls in your purse!"

He turned back around and kept walking And then suddenly, I couldn’t see hi Gavin’s arm

"Where is he?" I cried "Can you see hied

Gavin pulled off his shirt and strode toward the water Jade and I followed close on his heels The water was cool, the tiny rocks and sand under ood as aded out toward the buoy Noah still hadn’t resurfaced and I started to panic, h the water, I dove under the waves and started to pull with long, strong strokes through the choppy current The farther out I got, the murkier the water became and I couldn’t see I had to stop every few seconds to surface and look around Gavin was directly in front of me and Jade was behind e and white buoy and held onto it for awith the waves as I looked around

"Do you see hiently, as he treaded water next tothe horizon

"No," I answered

But then solint of white flashed just beneath the surface to o of the buoy, I took off like a rocket 30 seconds later, I reached it and thrustfleshy and human

"It’s hi together in the waves, we turned Noah over so that his face was above the surface His eyes were shut, his ot to get hi with Noah tucked under his ar to help him keep Noah’s body afloat It was difficult and aard, even swiulped hard and tried not to panic

As soon as we reached the shore, we stretched Noah out on the sand as Jade dropped to her knees beside us

"This is allNoah’s hand "He’s so cold!"

"It’s just fro in the water, Jade Calm down," I instructed

I quickly felt for a pulse and was actually surprised to find one It eak, but it was there But he wasn’t breathing I pinched his nose closed and tilted his head back, blowing into his ain

Still nothing