Chapter 2

"Let her be. Once she’s calmed down, she'll come after us like a good girl."

Lily looked full of guilt.

"When Juliet comes out, don't talk about her like that. It's my fault. If I hadn't pushed her just to make the drill look more real, she wouldn't be mad and hiding from us on purpose."

"Shouldn't we go back down and pull Juliet up?"

Joshua reached out to stop her, his face full of tender concern.

"You never look after yourself. You just swallowed so much water, and now you're still pushing yourself. What if you get sick?"

"What could happen to her? You know what she's like. She loves making a big deal out of nothing."

Caleb nodded along. "Yeah, she's not a child. She's not going to disappear on us."

"Besides, she held her breath longer than anyone else when we had that challenge."

Watching how confidently they dismissed everything, I floated beside them, arguing and screaming over and over.

"I'm not hiding from you on purpose. My foot cramped and I drowned."

"I'm still in the water. Please, go down and save me."

But no matter how I screamed, they couldn't hear a single word.

My brother waved a hand and called out toward the surface of the deep end. "Juliet, we're leaving now. It's your birthday today. Remember to book a restaurant, and we'll all celebrate with you tonight."

When there was still no response, he paused. "I'll buy you a strawberry cake from that place you like tonight. Happy now?"

When I was little, Mom and Dad were always busy with work. Simon was the one who took care of me most of the time.

I was a crybaby. Whenever I got upset, I'd cry and couldn't stop.

Whenever he didn't know how to cheer me up, he'd go two blocks out of his way to buy me a strawberry cake.

Over time, strawberry cake became our unspoken way of making up.

Back then, no matter how angry I was, the moment I saw a strawberry cake, I'd laugh through my tears and forgive him.

But, I would never have another birthday or eat another strawberry cake. And I would never be able to forgive any of them.

When they came out showered and changed, the security guard at the door was checking everyone’s names, getting ready to clear the building and close for the night.

"Everybody done? Anyone still inside?"

Lily mumbled under her breath. "When we were changing just now, the locker next to mine was empty. Juliet probably left on her own."

I was so frantic that I kept jumping up and down in midair.

I had put my things in the locker next to Lily's at first. But then I noticed that locker was leaking a little, so I'd switched to a different one.

Hearing that, Joshua said, "Yeah, we're all out."

The guard checked the list again and asked them sign. Then his eyes landed on the blank spot next to my name.

"What about Juliet Baxter? Why isn't she with you?"

Joshua took the sign-out sheet like it was nothing. "Juliet's my girlfriend. We had a fight earlier, so she got upset and left on her own."

He lowered his head and signed his name next to mine.

The guard leaned in and looked inside. "You sure there's nobody left in there?"

Caleb laughed and joked. "What, you think we've got somebody hidden in there?"

Simon handed over his ID. "Juliet's my sister. She really did get mad and leave early. There's nobody inside. Now you can get off work early and go home to your wife."

The guard flashed a wide grin, eagerly switched off the power inside, and locked the main doors.

Just before getting into the car, Joshua felt s strange, uneasy feeling. He turned and glanced at the dark swimming pool.

Seeing this, Lily spoke up thoughtfully, "Why don't we call Juliet and see where she is?"

Feeling irritated and restless, Joshua dialed my number.

My phone was in the locker, so of course, no one answered. After a while, an automated message informed him that the phone was switched off.