Mia Evian has to piece together the mystery of Zack Maddox, the bad boy whose life she saved, while simultaneously keeping her own crumbling life together before Zack ends up in trouble again - or worse yet, dead.
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It feels like I'm underwater. Robbie's blabbering on the phone, but I can't hear a word he's saying because I've been staring at Zack so long that it's disorientating me. He's progressively looking worse and worse, and Aiden's staring as emptily at him as I am. Robbie's muffled voice rings in my ears, and I slowly turn my eyes to him. I lock them onto his tanned face for a few seconds before wavering back to Zack, who's still lying lifelessly on the ground. I exhale a lungful of air.
'No,' I mutter to myself. 'No.' I say it louder this time.
This is a joke, isn't it? The two most heartless human beings known to mankind thought it'd be hilarious to fake something as serious as this, and they figured it'd be even more hilarious to make an idiot out of two nobodies. I clench my teeth. The anger that had settled is bubbling up all over again. This isn't funny. This is really not funny.
I bend down and kneel next to Zack, then shake him. Nothing. Robbie's talking on the phone above me as I shake Zack even harder. Has he actually called emergency services? I begin tapping Zack's cheeks, so much so that Robbie snaps at me for hitting him so hard. I ignore him and start shaking Zack again. Still nothing. This is all a joke, it has to be. I hiss Zack's name. No response.
What's happening?
'Is he still not breathing?' Robbie asks me so quickly that he nearly trips over his words. I don't respond, I just stare. 'For God's sake, is he? They need to know!'
I hover my hand over Zack's mouth expecting to feel a warm breath, but the air is still. More nothing. I turn back to Robbie and shake my head as a stutter escapes my mouth. He's not. He's actually not breathing. This can't be real. He has to be breathing. As Robbie continues talking on the phone, I carefully place index and middle finger onto Zack's neck.
'A pulse--He's got a pulse,' I announce, although I'm not sure to who.
'Shit, Mia, we did this at school, remember?' Aiden is kneeling beside me. I hadn't even noticed. 'First aid, recovery position, y'know? I don't remember, I can't... I don't know.'
He places his hands under Zack's arms, then hesitantly maneuvers him onto his back. He proceeds to move his arms around in different directions, none of which are anywhere near correct, not to mention the fact that CPR is supposed to come before the recovery position. The music blasting from the house is deafening, and the smell of the humid summer air is intoxicating.
This is happening. This is as real as the flesh on my bones.
Before I can think about making any moves, a loud swear leaves Robbie's mouth from above. I look up to see him bashing Aiden's phone screen with his fingers. He swears again, dives onto the ground beside us, and starts shaking Zack with way too much force.
'Stop! It'll make him worse!' I shout.
'You were just doing the exact same thing!' Robbie growls back, and while he has a valid point, now is really not the time to be arguing.
