Chapter 38: ❝ we are the reckless ❞

(unedited)

Setting fire to our insides for fun,

Collecting names of the lovers that went wrong,

The lovers that went wrong.

We are the reckless, we are the wild youth.

Chasing visions of our futures,

One day we'll reveal the truth.

"Youth" –Daughter

"It's not too hard," Skylar assured me as we walked down the hall to where the Jet Skis were. We had all split up, since there were apparently four places with Jet Skis, one on each side of the yacht.

Skylar had come with me, obviously. Vanessa and Jacen were together, Keira and Nathan as well and Ashton was by himself in the last one.

I followed Skylar into a small room with long benches, not unlike the changing rooms at school.

"Take off your clothes here," she said. "They'll get wet if you take them off in there." She nodded to the door at the other side of the room. Through the small window, I could see the sky, and gentle waves, but something, a glass wall of some sort, I think, kept them out.

"You have a swimsuit under that, right?" Skylar asked when I hesitated.

I glanced away from the window. "Yeah, sorry. I spaced.

She shrugged. "It's fine. Just don't do that on the Jet Ski."

I nodded, though I was sure if she saw since she was pulling her shirt over her head. I followed her move, then took of my shorts, shivering a little when the cold air hit my skin. Once we were both down to our swimsuits, Skylar pulled me through the door on the other side of the room.

It looked a little like an oversized compartment. The walls, floor and ceiling were all metal. Except the wall directly across from us, which was glass. But even so, there was a rectangle piece of metal cut in, almost like a door.

Life jackets, harnesses, lifesavers and other safety equipment hung on the far left wall. The wall closest to us had a row of steel cupboards, and a couple pictures of Jet Skis and instructions hung in plastic frames.

Along the back wall beside us were two silver and blue Jet Skis. They looked fancy, and new, and shiny enough that I was fairly certain whoever had cleaned them hadn't breathed the entire time to leave an imprint.

Skylar grabbed something from a drawer in the cupboards, then turned and tossed it to me. It jingled as it flew through the air and I just barely caught it by the stretchy cord. There was a piece of black plastic at the end that looked a little like a 'U' shaped key. "Emergency stop," she said.

She brought me over to one of the Jet Skis, flipped open a panel to turn it on, then pulled out a red button at the front. "The black part goes in here, and the cord goes around your wrist," she explained. "That way if you fall off it'll stop."

It took me a couple tries to get the plastic key in, but a moment later there was a quiet beep.

"Okay, so for steering, it's pretty simple. Just turn this whichever way you want to go," she explained.

The steering wheel was a little like a cross between a bike's handles and the wheels you see on those big, plastic cars for little kids. There was a plastic part in the middle that was shaped like a rounded triangle, and two thick handles coming out. Like a bike's handles there were little things attached that I assumed were brakes or something of the like.

"Use these," she said, tapping on the brake-like things. "To go forward or reverse."

Okay, so not brakes. More like the opposite, they made the Jet Ski go.

"If it's on one, then it's forward," Skylar continued. "If you want reverse, switch it to two by turning the dial. Following so far?"

I nodded. It wasn't as complicated as I thought it might be.

"Everything else is pretty much safety," Skylar said, with a slight shrug. She paused. "Oh, but just be careful because sometimes it takes a bit of time even after you release the gas for the Jet Ski to stop if you've been driving on full speed for a while."

I glanced at the life jackets lined up along the wall. "Do we need to wear a life jacket?"

"Do you know how to swim?" Skylar asked.

I nodded.

"Then you don't need one." She paused, and shrugged. "You can if you want, but I'm not going to."

She stepped over to her Jet Ski, and slipped in the emergency stop, then ran a hand along the side. She caught me watching and gave a slightly sheepish grin. "It's been a while since we've used Vanessa's yacht to go Jet Skiing."

"Is it yours?"

She shook her head. "I just use it every time." She knelt down and turned on the Jet Ski like she had done with mine, then glanced back at me. "Ready?"

I nodded.

"You have to get on the Jet Ski, you know," she said, laughing a little.

"Sorry." I awkwardly climbed onto the Jet Ski, and straddled the middle, wincing a little as the plastic dragged against my skin. "What about you?"

"I'll be fine, I've done this before." Skylar walked over to the glass wall and pressed a button beside it. There was a grinding noise, then the wall began to lower, and the metal part flipped out, forming a dock. Skylar hurried back to her Jet Ski and swung herself just as the water rushed in. "Squeeze the handles, remember?" she said, before taking off into the water.

I followed her instructions, jolting in my seat when the Jet Ski shot forward. I loosened my grip on the handles, easing up on the gas a little. Skylar turned right ahead of me, so I followed after her. At the front of the boat, were the rest of the Elite.

Who were all wearing life jackets.

I turned to ask Skylar if we really didn't need them, but she was already gone, riding circles around us and leaving choppy waves in her wake.

Ashton rode up, bumping into my Jet Ski gently. "Why aren't you wearing a life jacket?" he asked.

I glanced away from Skylar to look at him. "Skylar said I didn't need one."

"You need to," he said. "Especially since this is your first time."

"I know how to swim," I told him.

"The water's deep here," he replied.

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you worried about me?"

"Yeah, you and my future ability to have children," he said, lowering his voice after a quick look at his friends. "Kaden would skin me alive if anything happened."

I grinned. "Aww, is little Ashton scared of the big bad lawyer?"

He muttered something about him not being little under his breath -which made me decided that I didn't want to know what he had said- and gave me a flat look.

I returned his stare with one of my own.

"Come on you guys," Jacen interrupted, driving past us. "Can't you eye-rape each other somewhere else?"

We both ignored him.

"You're the one who said you didn't want to end up six feet under the ground," Ashton reminded me.

Of course, Jacen had to cut in again. "This sounds like pretty morbid foreplay."

Like last time, and all the times before, we ignored him.

But Ashton had a point. I didn't know much about Jet Skiing and Skylar hadn't worn one, but she had done this a lot more than me. I sighed. "Fine."

His frown turned into a surprisingly genuine smile. "One down, one to go." With that he drove away, probably to go find Skylar and convince her to wear a life jacket as well.

"So how long are you gonna keep this up for?" Jacen asked. I looked up to see him sitting on his Jet Ski beside me, looking skeptical.

I blinked. "What do you mean?"

"This staying alive thing, as you called it," he said. "Where you try and seduce Ashton."

I rolled my eyes at him and twisted the steering wheel to the right before squeezing the handles. It shot forward a little before executing the turn, giving Jacen enough time to catch up with me before I got very far. "I'm not seducing Ashton," I told him.

He snorted. "Looks a lot like it."

So apparently it looked like I was trying to seduce Ashton, without even trying. You know, I always though seducing someone would involve stripping or some other sort of provocative thing, but apparently not. Apparently now it requires life jackets, because they're so damn sexy.

"It's not gonna keep you alive, Elle," Jacen yelled as I twisted the wheel to the left, going back the way Skylar and I had come since I knew for sure there were life jackets there. It took a moment to respond, so I was a little farther away from the boat than I expected, but that wasn't a huge deal.

"Don't call me that," I said when Jacen showed up beside me again.

"You let Ashton call you that," he retorted. "Are you two on special nicknames now?"

"Why do you care?" I demanded, turning to stare at him. I yanked the wheel left again, but it took an even longer moment to respond, so instead of heading for the metal dock like I wanted, it was heading for the yacht. Did all Jet Skis react so slowly? It was strange because I thought the Elite would have the best, but maybe this was just how all Jet Skis were. I'd have to remember to turn earlier next time.

"Watch out, Elena!" Jacen yelled.

What? I turned back to look in front of me, but I was still pretty far from hitting the yacht. I had to turn earlier, true, but how would Jacen know that?

I pulled the steering wheel to the left, but even after a couple of seconds it didn't respond. That was when I started panicking. I yanked the steering wheel harder, and released my tight grip on the gas part of the handles, but the Jet Ski didn't slow down.

Sometimes it takes a bit of time even after you release the gas for the Jet Ski to stop if you've been driving on full speed for a while, Skylar had said.

I was screwed.

"Jump off, Elena!" Jacen shouted from behind me.

I shifted my weight to my feet, standing unsteadily, but just as I was about to jump, the Jet Ski turned, skimming the side of the yacht. I lurched forward, grabbing the wheel to try and steady myself.

"Pull out the emergency brake!" Jacen yelled. I looked up to see I was headed for the metal dock that jutted out from the side of the boat. Quickly I grabbed the plastic cord that should've been around my wrist and yanked out the black plastic piece behind the red button. I was hoping it would be able to react in the second before I hit the dock, unlike the rest of the Jet Ski's functions.

It didn't.

The Jet Ski crashed into the dock, causing an awful screeching sound to fill the air. The sudden crash threw me off balance and before the sharp noise ended, I was underwater. I moved to swim upwards, but I couldn't.

My hair was caught on something.

I wasn't sure what, since I had my eyes closed. Opening them would sting. But I'd rather have hurting eyes than be dead altogether.

The motor.

My hair was stuck in the motor.

The motor that's still going.

The emergency brake hadn't worked.

I clawed at my hair, trying to get it free. If it had been just a little bit, I would've been able to tear it off, but a big chunk was stuck in there, too thick for me to rip.

The motor was slowing, probably because there was nothing pressing the gas anymore, but it was still going. I choked as my hair tangled around my throat, automatically opening my mouth to gasp.

Bad idea.

Water flooded my mouth as I yanked at my hair, desperately trying to get it free. I wouldn't last long, the water was filling my mouth and I was out of air.

No, no, no, no, I don't want to die!

I kicked and flailed, trying anything to get air now. If the motor would just stop I could pull my hair free, but I was out of time. Black spots danced across my vision as a white burst of bubbles appeared before me.

When they both cleared, I saw Jacen in front of me. I wanted to speak, to signal, anything, but my muscles wouldn't comply. My eyelids were drooping shut, and I wasn't sure if Jacen intended to save me, or watch to make sure I died.

The tugging on my hair stopped, and something grabbed my arm, pulling my limp body upwards. I landed on something hard and cold, and something -a hand, maybe- pounded down on my chest.

"Come on, Elena, breathe," a familiar, but distant voice said.

Breathe? Why? How was I supposed to breathe? I couldn't.

I choked, my body convulsing as water rushed up my throat. The salt water tasted horrible coming back up. I coughed as I spat it out.

I opened my eyes, wincing at the bright sunlight and blue sky. I glanced around. To one side of the dock, there was my Jet Ski, which was now still. On the other side, was Jacen's. His life jacket had been slung on top of it carelessly.

A shadow fell over me and I looked back to see Jacen leaning over me. His hair was darker, and matted to his forehead, his mouth turned down in a tight grimace, and he was dripping.

"This wasn't an accident," he said. "Someone tried to hurt you."

What? How would he know it wasn't an accident? The Jet Ski could've simply been defective, or a part of it could've been broken. That was the first conclusion someone would've jumped to. Unless, that is, they knew something.

"How do you know it's not an accident?" I choked out, between fits of coughing.

"The hydraulic wire in the steering wheel was cut," he replied. It didn't make very much sense to me, but he seemed to know what he was talking about. "It's the only way both the turning and the emergency brakes could be affected."

"How would you know that?" I asked.

His expression hardened. "I didn't do it, if that's what you're asking."

I shook my head. "Every time something happens, you seem to know exactly how it could've and why. Sorry I don't exactly trust you."

He had saved my life, but before I had even fallen off the Jet Ski he had called out a warning, like he knew the steering function of my Jet Ski had been messed with. It was possible that he had just noticed my delayed turns but that seemed like a pretty big coincidence considering he knew what was wrong and that this apparently wasn't an accident.

Jacen stood up, giving me a harsh glare. "Just remember, Elle, if I wanted you dead, I could've just left you to drown."

-- ♡ --

Teaser: "Tell me what he said isn't true."

QotC: Thoughts on Jacen? Like him, hate him, trust him, think he's involved with all of it?

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