Self

Chapter 99

Hey, she looks pretty pale. Should we get her to a hospital?” The coach, who had been out of the loop, piped up suddenly.

Yara noticed for the first time the crowd around her, all exhaling in relief.

Rainie snapped back to the present. “I’ve already called for an ambulance. Are you hurting anywhere else?”

“I think I hurt my hand.”

Yara tried to move it; it was fine underwater, but it was completely immobile at that moment.

“What happened? How’d you just sink like that?”

Yara paused, a flicker of concern crossing her face. “There was something wrong with my oxygen tank.”

Rainie’s mind raced as she grabbed the discarded tank. It looked fine on the outside, but the bottom…

A hole?! Tiny as a pinprick, but unmistakably there!

Rainie’s eve intensity.

narrowed, her gaze landing on the diving coach with laser–like

“No way! That couldn’t have happened! We get brand–new gear every year, and it’s all checked out thoroughly before we even touch it. We’ve never had a single screw–up, not once!”

The coach quickly jumped to his own defense, his face set in a stern look.

“Plus, even if there was danger, we were in a safe zone. Rescue would be here in a flash–no chance of anyone drowning.”

Rainie’s

temper flared even hotter.

“Are you trying to say my friend’s making stuff up? Do you know what could’ve happened if I hadn’t zoomed over with the yacht just in time?”

Yara gave the coach, who was still scrambling to explain, a quick look. His panicked and earnest expression seemed genuine, and he was obt

es mystified

During the heated argument, Yara blurted out, “I ran into a shark.”

Rainie gasped in shock.

The coach could not believe his ears. “No way!

“Sure, there are blacktip reef sharks out past the safety zone, but they’re deep- sea creatures, usually sticking to waters over 200 meters deep. They’re the shy type, more likely to steer clear of humans than go on the attack.”

Yara’s voice was calm. “The dive suit’s camera caught the whole thing. If

you’re doubting me, we can check the footage now.”

The coach was speechless.

“Oh, man. What in the world happened here?”

Whe

Just then, the lifeguard, had been missing the whole time, showed up Tooking stunned, like he had zero clue about the entire mess.

The coach glared at him, itching to land a punch. “Kim, where the heck were you? Why weren’t you on the scene for an immediate rescue?”

With his hands up, the lifeguard backed off with an awkward grin: “Hey, I just had to hit the bathroom real quick. So, what’s the big emergency? Why’s everyone looking so serious?”

Rainie was instantly livid. “How dare you, she snapped.

“You’re a lifeguard! My friend was out there waving for help after an accident, and you were nowhere to be found. I’m starting to think you did it on purpose.”