Now You Know ✅

Chapter 11: Drenched

"I hate water," Roshon murmured spitefully under his breath. They had just had breakfast, and now all of the groups were instructed to congregate at a river that led to a lake. Roshon looked at the water with loathing, as though he was facing an old nemesis.

Pelham wasn't surprised to hear that Roshon was not entirely enthusiastic about the day's activity. One thing for certain was that he knew Roshon could not swim - water just had to be his biggest fear. He couldn't exactly blame his best friend for not knowing how to swim, especially after Roshon told him how his parents used to intimidate him at the beach when he was little, all for the sake of "facing his own fears". Pelham, on the other hand, had no trouble with water. But he didn't like to see his best friend being apathetic. It simply wasn't fair for both of them.

"I'm sure they have something for you and the rest who can't or doesn't want to swim," Pelham assured him once they reached the location.

"You sure about that?" Roshon cocked an eyebrow sceptically.

Pelham shrugged. "If you're expecting a one-day swimming lesson for people like you-"

"People like me, yeah?"

Pelham huffed. "You're not the only one who can't swim, mate,"

"I wish I were a boat. Boats don't need the effort,"

"Dream on,"

They were soon greeted by a lady in her late twenties - introducing herself as Deanne - who ran the day's whole activity. She merely gave them all a brief talk regarding the procedures; what they had to do was find some hidden objects under the water - which meant they had to change and dive - and causing Roshon to give a vexed groan. But then she added that each group would be divided into three more packs; one pack that consisted of those who would dive to retrieve whatever was wanted; another one that consisted of those who would stay on the boats to shepherd them; and the last one that consisted of those who would wait by the riverbank for their team to arrive.

It was only then that Roshon's face glowed. Pelham gave him a smug look, indicating that his assumption about the members being given different tasks had been correct after all.

"You have two hours to find all sixteen objects!" called Deanne.

Mutters broke out amongst the students fifteen minutes before the hour began. To Pelham, sixteen was quite a lot. And he was certain there the value was multiplied according to the number of groups present, which made the whole activity reasonably arduous. Fortunately, once they were given some papers of the objects they should locate, many students in his group volunteered to be the ones to dive. There were no limits; the students had to divide themselves accordingly, using their level of wit. So Pelham quickly went over to change into the suits that had been provided for them once he volunteered to be the one to dive.

He noticed that Lucio was lingering around the corner, looking somewhat irresolute of where he was supposed to be. The rest of the group were already getting ready, since they had ten minutes left before it started. Pelham approached him. "Come on, let's dive,"

"I can't," Lucio simply answered.

Pelham's eyebrows rose. "Did you get a new tattoo or something?"

Lucio frowned as though he had been asked a really dense question by the smartest person on earth. "I think the answer is obvious," he said.

"Oh," Pelham's eyebrows rose further that they were at the verge of disappearing into his hair. "Well, why don't you join Rosh, then?"

"Is he not going underwater?"

Pelham grinned. "Like you, Lucio, he can't swim,"

"Serious? I thought he only hates water," Lucio said. "Right, I'll join him. I don't know a lot of people here ..."