No SwimmingBy Lily Hubert

Josefine and Cecilia ran. They ran on the sharp oyster and slippery rocks with their wet suits still wet from the morning, sticking to them. They didn’t stop to sweep the stones in their feet out.

Earlier that day they had been swimming in the tepid waters. “Cecilia, are you sure we are allowed back here?” Josefine asked. “I thought that we were only supposed to be by the docks to swim.” Josefine stood on the edge of the rocks, grass sticking to her bare feet watching Cecilia splashing around in the ocean. The Island wasn’t big but it was perfect for a sailing summer camp. The morning was sunny, a tad windy but perfect for swimming. You could only see the clouds being blown in.

“Relax! Have a little fun! We would hear the bell if they were calling us! Its fine we are going

sailing later and besides, do you really want to go sailing?” Cecilia looked at her and Josefine didn’t answer. She jumped into the water

yelling, “CANNONBALL!!!” And splashed Cecilia in the face. In the distance was a faint sound of a bell, not loud enough for the two girls to hear.

Cecilia was a year older than Josefine, going into eighth grade. Josefine was going into

seventh. They didn’t go to the same school, although Cecilia had never really talked about her school or parents. Josefine was tall and beautiful. Her long brown hair tied in a long French braid down her back. She had bright blue eyes and perfect skin. Cecilia was also tall. She had scruffy blond hair that, that laid over her shoulders. Usually it was put up into ponytail. When they first met Josefine had said, “Oh, I learned how to do this braid when me and my family went to Paris last year! Boy was that exciting. My parents come with me everywhere usually. This is the first vacation without them!” They had became friends from being roommates at the summer camp. Josefine lived in Sydney, Australia and Cecilia lived in Newcastle, Australia.

At the no swimming zone, the two girls splashed each other, laughed and had breath holding

contests. That’s when Josefine stopped. “What?” Cecilia asked. Josefine lifted her finger and pointed off into the distance. Where they could both clearly see

a big bunch of red sails. These sails belonged to the camp and where the same kind that the students sailed in.

The two girls gasped, “We must have not heard the bell!” Josefine yelled. They hurried out

of the water.

“They won’t notice we are gone, please I don’t want to go sailing. I want to have fun!”

Cecilia argued. “What about me? I want to go sailing! Come on please! Let’s hurry

and get our wet suits on.” Josefine said back. Now the two girls were running to get their sail boat, hoping to be able to catch up with the

rest of the girls. The clouds were now blown in and the weather was windy. The air was misty from ocean water. The girls hopped into the boat. Josefine was at the mast and Cecilia steering. The sail boats were only big enough for two people, bright red with big white sails; theirs had the number 2013 on it. Most of the instructors were out in the ocean monitoring the other students who were sailing. The rest were preparingfor dinner inside. And there was no way the girls would go to them obviously having to tell where they had been.

After a while of sailing they had gotten further away from the island. “Where are they? Are you sure this is the right way.”

The waves grew bigger. The clouds blew in. The sky was darker.

“Where is everybody?” asked Josefine. She looked worried.

“I don’t know, gosh don’t worry, they are ahead probably I mean they can’t be that far. I think this is the right way.” Cecilia said. She was trying to convince herself and Josefine that it was okay.

Although she was also worried, she couldn’t think of where the others where. “Lets switch spots, I’ll try and steer us to the right direction.” Cecilia nodded “I’ll count to three and we both stand up. 1.....2.....3...” The girls stood up. The wind switched direction and the mast turned. The mast hit Josefine in the head and she went overboard along with Cecilia who flew out of the tipped over boat.

Josefine landed behind the boat, hitting her back hard against the water, knocking the air out of her. As she sunk under she got a mouth full of salt water and seaweed. It was worse for Cecilia who had fallen on her belly hitting it hard while swallowing lots of salt water. Tears streamed down Cecilia’s face from the water in her nose and in her dry salty throat. The red bottom of the boat stuck out from the water,

“What are we going to do!!!!? Nobody is close enough to find us!” Cecilia yelled as they both swam over to the boat.

“How do you turn it over?” she asked, “I don’t know! We missed that tutorial also!”

Cecilia climbed up onto the boat and scanned the area. To the east was Wide Ocean with a small island far off into the distance. To the west of her was the other the island that this camp was on. Then the rest was far ocean until you saw the land in the horizon. There were a couple other motorboats that would race by every so often.

The waves seemed to be bigger, time had passed, and both girls were now on the boat. And both girls were yelling, “HELP!” The air was cold and they knew the others must already have been onshore. The weather had gotten too windy for them to still be in the waters.

“Wasn’t that rock further away before?” Asked Josefine and they both were staring at a rock that was in the water.

“Yeah I thought it was.” They looked at one another, shocked. That’s when they realized that they were drifting further and further out.

“This is your entire fault Cecilia! If you hadn’t wanted to have some ‘fun’ then this would have never happened! I wish my parents were h-e-e-ere!” yelled Josefine who was now angry and scared.

Their cries for help grew louder and louder. It was getting colder. The sun was setting. But the clouds were passing.

“We are going to die out here!” Cecilia yelled.

She leaned on Josefine.

“No, no we aren’t! Although I am …..thirsty.....and … famished, they know that we aren’t there, they take roll! They know we are still out here and they must be looking!” Said Josefine excited.

Five minutes went by when Cecilia finally said, “You know there is no reason to wait lets swim to shore, get something to eat, and then contact them, okay?”

Josefine looked at her, “ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!!? WE CAN’T JUST GO! IT IS TO FAR...LIKE WAY TO FAR! AND THEY WOULD BE WORRIED!” The two girls sat in silence when Cecilia jumped back into the water.

“What are you doing?” The frustration in Josefine’s voice became bigger. Cecilia swam around the water then said,

“I am afraid to go back, I want to run away.” Josefine looked at her with a confused look on her face.

But before she could ask what Cecilia had scanned the area again, this time seeing the same thing as before but in the distance around the island was a small white thing. It was coming close and closer increasing in size as it did. As it became bigger the two girls were able to make out what the small object was.

“It’s Henry! Look it’s really him he’s coming!” By this time Cecilia was on the other side of the boat. Josefine was waving her hands in the air like crazy.

“Josy, can you just tell him that I was on the island the whole time? Please? I don’t want him to know I am here.” Josy didn’t answer, the motorboat came closer and you could see Henry, one of the instructors, clearly. His brown hair no longer slicked back in the normal gel, but being blown from the wind. His sunglasses were reflecting the water. The water splashed them as he quickly pulled up next to the boat. A ladder fell down the side of the boat.

“Come on! Get in!” Josefine looked behind her and said, “Come on Cecilia! You go first!” Cecilia looked up at her and Josefine smiled a cheeky smile. The two girls climbed up into the boat. Henry looked at the two girls after they slipped out of their wet suits and were wrapped in the towel.

“You guys are in some trouble, you guys went to the restricted area to swim, and we found your flip-flop.” He looked at Cecilia,

“And Cecilia some people from the orphanage are here to pick you up.” Josefine gasped and looked at Cecilia. Then Henry added in a lower voice staring directly at Cecilia,

“This isn’t the first time is it?” Cecilia sighed a big sigh, looked across the water and slowly nodded, making no eye contact.

A bright round sun sat on the edge of the water, making the sky around it and the water

under it a pinkish color. The light led the boat back to the island as another boat passed it picking up the little red boat, with the number 2013 on it.