But she didn’t get a chance to ask. Valerie dove clean under the next small wave. Adrienne followed a second later and headed straight for the purple lane. Once she was in place, floating on her back, the wooden slats about twenty inches above her, she inhaled so deeply she imagined her lungs like two buoyant pool floaties. All they had to do was keep her above water.
“TIME STARTS NOW!”
For the first few seconds, everything felt relatively calm. There was only the gentle sloshing of water against wood, a brilliant blue sky lined by wooden slats, and the hyperconscious breathing of eight women trying hard not to panic. Adrienne was breathing the loudest.
“This might be an overshare,” Niko said from somewhere to Sienna’s left. “But I feel like this is the right time to admit that I was twenty-two when I swam in the sea for the first time.”
“You’re joking, right?” Amy asked.
“I grew up in Ohio. We had a pond in the backyard. My brother and I used to float around on those cheap neon-orange tubes from Walmart, chasing the bullfrogs. The first time I saw the beach was when my brother brought home a surfing magazine. I wasn’t at all prepared for my first experience at sea.”
“Was it bad?” Sienna asked.
“I ended up in the hospital,” Niko replied, chuckling. “I swallowed a terrifying amount of water after getting tumbled by a wave. I made the mistake of Googling secondary drowning when I got home, convinced myself my lungs were filling up withfluid, and panicked myself right into the ER. It turned out I was totally fine, just embarrassed.”
“What beach did you go to?” Isla asked. “We usually take the twins down to Paradise Cove. We love having lunch at the restaurant.”
“I think it was called Zuma Beach,” Niko replied. “Can’t be sure. It was a long time ago.”
There was a scoff, then Sienna said, “Zuma Beach is notorious for strong rip currents. What were you doing swimming there as a beginner?”
“Well, I wasn’t exactly knowledgeable about the beaches in LA,” Niko said plainly. “Besides, I was a little preoccupied trying to impress a cute blonde I met the night before at Ruby’s Lounge. She had legs longer than the Pacific Coast Highway. If she said jump, I was going to ask her how high.”
Laughter carried across the water. Adrienne didn’t join in, just squeezed her fingers tighter around the slats and kept her focus on a single knot in the pine that looked just like a tiny, lopsided eye.
“FIRST DROP!” Vivian’s voice boomed from shore.
Before Adrienne could even prepare herself, there was a loud mechanical thunk. Then the wood dropped so close that she could see the tiny, splintered grains in the wood.
“You alright, Adrienne?” Valerie called. “It sounded like something bit you on the ass.”
Adrienne hadn’t even realized a sound had come out of her throat, but then again her heart was hammering so loudly in her ears, it was no wonder. “I’m fine,” she muttered. But she was absolutely not fine. Even though the drop was just a few inches, it felt like the entire sky had just collapsed right onto her chest. “I just hate this more than I’ve ever hated anything.”
“More than a knock-off pair of Chanel slingbacks?” Valerie asked.
“If that’s you trying to make me feel better, it’s working,” Adrienne said, a tiny smile cracking through.
Valerie chuckled. Then suddenly the sea swelled, and water poured over Adrienne’s nose and chin like a heavy blanket. The next second, all the space between Adrienne’s mouth and the wooden slats was gone. The world turned to liquid, and before Adrienne could panic—though she was pretty fucking close—the water receded. She blinked back the stinging salt.
You’re safe, she thought.
Safiya wasn’t so lucky. She must’ve been mid-breath when the surge hit because there was a sudden muffled gasp, followed by an explosion of coughing. The next second, Safiya was diving backward out of her lane. “I wasn’t prepared for that at all,” she spluttered, still choking on seawater. “I’m sorry, Isla. I thought I could last longer in this challenge. I’ve been practicing.”
“Don’t worry, Saf. I’ve got—”
Isla didn’t finish her sentence, because the next second Vivian was shouting. “AMY’S OUT OF THE CHALLENGE!”
Amy? Adrienne hadn’t even heard Amy. But Vivian was right. Adrienne could see Amy swimming past her line of vision toward the beach. Her hair was so matted against her head that it looked like she’d gone through a spin cycle. Would Adrienne look like that too when this challenge was done with her? The thought was terrifying, which was why she forced her eyes back to that lopsided wood knot in the pine and focused on it like it was her only lifeline.
Nobody spoke anymore. Then, out of nowhere, Vivian’s voice boomed. “DROP TWO!” The winches groaned, and the wooden slats went down another two inches.
Adrienne was just about to turn her head to see if everyone had survived the drop, but then suddenly a wave lapped over Adrienne’s chin, filling her ears. Out of nowhere, saltwater rushed straight up her nose, her eyes flew open, and withoutmeaning to, she swallowed a massive gulp of the Aegean Sea. Everything burned. Her life flew in front of her eyes in a series of Instagram stories—the miserable morning her parents had dropped her off at the Institut Le Rosey in Rolle, Switzerland, her first pair of red-soled Christian Louboutin heels, crashing her brand-new matte-black G-Wagon into a manicured hedge in Beverly Hills, running down the Spanish Steps in Rome holding Dua Lipa’s hand, seeing Valerie in that hideous golf shirt aboardThe Valentine—and before she knew it, her fingers slipped from the wet slats, and she was on the other side of the lane.
“ADRIENNE’S OUT OF THE CHALLENGE!” Vivian called before Adrienne even registered what had happened.
Shit!
But she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a little bit relieved. Being out of that coffin had to be better than being in it. It was up to Valerie now. “You can do it, Val,” Adrienne called just as Niko popped up next to her, wiping hair out of her eyes. “For fuck’s sake,” she spat.
