Luciana: Braving the Deep

by Erin Teagan

  I saw Ella’s ears turn a little red.

  “Well, I can help in the pool tomorrow if you want,” I offered.

  “That’s okay,” Claire said. “We got special permission, and I’ve been doing this kind of thing for my whole life, almost. I’ve trained a ton of people.”

  “She’s a really good teacher,” Ella said, nodding.

  I pushed away my left-out feelings and all the other mixed-up feelings I had about Claire, and managed a smile. “That sounds great,” I said.

  Thomas had taken a turn looking at the ponies with Dominic’s binoculars, and now he handed them to me. To my disappointment, the ponies had left the shore, so instead I focused on the beach by our yellow cottage where tiny snails and hermit crabs scooched around on the wet sand. They made me think of Raelyn and how when we were little we spent hours scooping them into our pails to keep them as pets until our parents made us put them back.

  “Thanks,” I said, handing the binoculars back to Dominic, my homesickness welling up again. “I’m going to call my family. I’ll see you guys at the pool, okay?” I said to Ella and Claire.

  “Say hi to Izzy for me,” Ella said as Claire hooked her elbow and dragged her back to the cottage.

  I grabbed a bagel in the cafeteria and then went to find Sarah. I found her at a table finishing up her breakfast, and together we walked to the hangar, stepping around the Aviation kids lined up on the lawn for calisthenics.

  Sarah opened up the video-chat application on the laptop and entered my dad’s cell phone number. “This is how the astronauts on the International Space Station talk to their family members while they’re gone. So, that’s how we do it here too,” Sarah said as I scarfed down the second half of my bagel. I was excited to see Isadora, even if it was on a computer screen. Anything was better than nothing.

  “We have scuba skills in a few minutes,” Sarah reminded me, “so don’t stay on too long. You can meet us at the pool when you’re done.”

  “Okay,” I said. A few minutes was all I needed. Anyway, I already had my bathing suit under my clothes.

  When the chat first connected, all I saw was Dad’s hand in the webcam, but then came Isadora’s little face. “Lulululululuuuuu!” she squealed when she saw me. “Lululu!”

  I waved and waved. But I wanted to hug her and kiss her sweet face, and I wasn’t sure if calling home was making anything better, feeling my heart pang even harder. “Where’s your penguin?”

  Isadora pushed away from Dad and toddled out of the picture.

  “How are you doing at camp, Luci?” Dad asked, turning to me. “Are you having a great time? How is Ella?”

  “Ella is doing great,” I said, leaving out the part about her failing the treading test. Although she seemed to be doing great with her new friend. “How is Izzy?”

  “Hi, honey! We had an appointment with the surgeon this morning,” Mom said, popping into the picture, “and she said Izzy’s doing okay but if a spot opens up before our scheduled surgery, she’d like us to take it.”

  “What?” I twirled my hair, sitting up straighter. “She wants Izzy to have her surgery early? Like, before I even get home from camp?”

  “It’s nothing to worry about, sweetheart,” Dad said. “If they can get her in earlier, it would be better. If anything changes, we’ll call you right away, okay?”

  “Wait,” I said. “So, if there’s an opening tomorrow, Izzy will take it?”

  “Yes,” Dad said. “But for now we want you to focus on having fun at camp.”

  “I’ll try,” I said, not liking this new plan. Because now it felt like an emergency type of surgery. “But will you promise to call me the minute you get the new date?”

  “As soon as we find out,” Mom said.

  Before I knew it, the bell to start camp sessions chimed. I had to go. We said our good-byes, and I waved and clapped for Isadora who brought me her penguin, and then when no one was looking, I kissed the screen. And so did Isadora. And so did her penguin.

  When I got to the pool, I tried to put all of my Isadora worries and bad feelings from the morning behind me. I had to get serious if I wanted to make the dive team. I focused my attention on Pirate Pete, who was showing us the hand signals that we should use to communicate while diving, like the A-OK sign, and the watch-out-there’s-a-boat sign, and the out-of-air sign.

  “It’s not like you’re cutting your own neck off,” Pete said to the boys doing their own violent version of the out-of-air sign. “Like this.” He moved his hand from one shoulder to the other.

  “So, I can’t do a thumbs-up to say, like, ‘good-job’ anymore?” Dominic said.

  “When you’re scuba diving, a thumbs-up means you need to surface. Thumbs-down means you’re ready to go under,” Pirate Pete said, grabbing a wire basket off the shelf. “Come pick a scuba mask and let’s get in the water.”

  “Do we need flippers?” Buzz said, standing next to a container full of them.

  Pirate Pete chuckled, and so did I. “Those are called fins, and no, not today.”

  Buzz sighed and lowered himself into the pool. Ella tapped me on the shoulder, her green scuba mask pulled up onto her head. “Hey, want to practice in the pool tomorrow with us? It’s super fun and Claire will tell you all about the time she scuba dived in the Bahamas with a ton of sharks.”

  I took a pink scuba mask from Pirate Pete. Hearing Claire’s diving stories that may or may not have been totally true did not sound like my idea of a great way to start the day. “Maybe.” But when I thought about it more, I figured it would be better than hanging out by myself. “Okay, probably.”

  “Great!” she said. “Sorry I didn’t wake you up this morning. I should have asked if you wanted to come too.”

  My heart swelled because just hearing her say that made me feel not so left out anymore. “Thanks, Ella.”

  Once our crew was in the water, Pirate Pete, now fully decked out in scuba diving gear, showed us how to adjust our masks. Claire swam over to Ella and me and we all dunked ourselves and waved and gave our A-OK signs to one another.

  Ella and I popped out of the water at the same time.

  “I can see all the way to the bottom. It’s so clear!” I said.

  Ella nodded, a big smile on her face.

  Once we were all set with our masks, Marcus and Sarah came over to the side of the pool holding scuba vests with air tanks strapped to the back. Buzz got his first, lines and gauges and tubes floating out from behind him like an octopus.

  “Regulator.” Pirate Pete held up a long tube with a round piece of equipment and a mouthpiece attached to the end. “This is what you breathe through. Try it.” He placed it in his mouth and so did Buzz, who was looking more serious than I’d ever seen.

  Marcus put an air tank on Dominic and then Thomas and Sarah brought over three sets of scuba tanks to Claire, Ella, and me.

  Sarah held up a vest for me, and I put it on, zipping into it and tightening all the straps. But when she let go of the air tanks on my back, I was so surprised by how heavy they were that I tripped backward in the water. Ella grabbed me before I fell into the deep part of the pool.

  “Should kids even be doing this?” Buzz yelled from across the platform, holding his regulator up.

  “Scuba diving?” Pirate Pete said. “Yes, kids are fine to be scuba diving.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Buzz said. “Just checking in case anyone wasn’t sure.” He peeled off his air tanks and pulled himself onto the pool deck. “Bathroom break. Don’t wait for me!”

  We practiced breathing through our mouthpieces above and under the water, all of us standing in a line in front of Pirate Pete. At first it felt uncomfortable, as if I wasn’t getting enough oxygen. But then I got used to it and soon we were all kneeling on the underwater platform, breathing through our regulators like professional scuba divers. All except for Buzz who was still taking his bathroom break.

  Still underwater, Pirate Pete signaled to us to watch him. Then he grabbed
his scuba mask with both hands and tipped it forward, filling it with water. Then he showed us how to clear all the water from the mask by blowing bubbles through his nose, forcing the water out of the bottom of his mask. He pointed to us, telling us to try it. I looked at Claire, who filled up her mask and expelled the water in one try.

  Pirate Pete pointed to me next. I took a deep breath through my regulator and tilted my mask forward. The water rushed into my mask so cold and fast, I felt stunned for a second. And even though I’d had water in my goggles at the pool before, it felt more dangerous and serious when you were all dressed up in scuba gear. I got some water in my nose and I came up fast, coughing and sputtering and choking.

  Ella came up too. “Are you okay?”

  I yanked off my scuba mask and took deep breaths, my nose still stinging from the water.

  “Want me to show you how—” Claire started, but I shook my head. I could do this. If I wanted to go to Cetus, I wasn’t going to let a little water in my mask get in my way.

  I went under again and filled up my mask, taking careful breaths only through my regulator. I pressed my hand to the top of my mask and blew bubbles hard through my nose. There was a little bit of water still left at the bottom of my mask so I blew again, concentrating on breathing through my regulator at the same time. Ella and Claire clapped for me underwater. I did it!

  Ella had no trouble blowing the water out of her mask. In fact, she got it right the first time. Pirate Pete gave us all A-OK signs and then a thumbs-up. We surfaced, the boys still practicing their skill.

  “Great job. That was part one of the scuba skills,” he said.

  “That’s it?” I said, grinning at Ella and Claire. “We passed?”

  Marcus and Sarah clapped from where they sat on the side of the pool, their legs dangling in the water.

  “Yes, you passed the first part. That’s a hard technique for many people,” Marcus said. “You really have to talk your body into feeling calm, even though your face is covered with water. Okay, you three are ready to learn the second part. If you get this right, then you pass your scuba skills and you’ll be ready to do the pool dive on Sunday.”

  Claire raised her hand. “But not if you haven’t passed the treading water test, right? I mean, I have but …”

  Ella’s cheeks went bright red.

  “We’ll give everyone the chance to make up any tests before the dive,” Pirate Pete said.

  “Good,” Claire said, looking at Ella. “It’s such an easy test; there’s no way you won’t pass.”

  “It’s not that easy,” I said. “Treading water is hard work.” And then I stopped talking because from the look on Ella’s face, I probably wasn’t helping the situation.

  “We’d make great candidates for the dive team, huh?” I said, trying to change the subject.

  Marcus and Sarah laughed. “Let’s see how you do on this next part, Miss Confidence.”

  Ella grabbed my hand and squeezed it, smiling, and then to my surprise, Claire took my other hand and it felt nice, the three of us standing there swinging our arms back and forth together while we waited for instructions from Pete.

  “It’s a little bit weird that you, me, and Ella are all on the same crew,” Claire said to me, “but at the same time also competing against one another.”

  I squinted at her. “What?” I asked, because that was the opposite of what I was thinking. “I’m hoping we all get picked for the team. Together.”

  Ella looked from Claire to me. “I think what Claire meant is that it’s kind of unfair how the whole crew can’t go to Cetus, right?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Claire nodded her head. “That’s totally what I meant.” And then she whipped her wet ponytail over her shoulder, spraying me.

  Pirate Pete clapped his hands together. “Okay, next up: What is a pirate’s favorite class?”

  Sarah groaned. “Feel free not to answer that.”

  Ella shot her hand into the air. “Arrrrrrrt class!”

  Pete slapped the water with his hand, chuckling and we couldn’t help cracking up a little too.

  “But seriously,” he said, getting back to business. “In the event of an emergency, like you’re out of air or your regulator has malfunctioned, you’ll need to share air with your dive buddy.” He reached for the hose on his back. It held a second regulator.

  “Oh, this is easy. I’ve done this a ton of times,” Claire said.

  Another story. I wanted to roll my eyes, but Claire had proven herself with the first scuba skills tests, so I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

  “When you take your own regulator out of your mouth, do not hold your breath. Instead blow a small, steady stream of bubbles through your lips.” He turned to Claire. “Let’s demonstrate.” And then he flashed a thumbs-down sign and we went underwater, kneeling on the platform.

  Pete gave Claire an A-OK sign. She took out her regulator, swam over to Pete while blowing bubbles, and took his emergency regulator. She put it in her mouth, pressed the button to expel the water in the lines, and started breathing like no big deal. Okay, so maybe Claire wasn’t lying about diving with the sharks in the Bahamas, I said to myself.

  Pete pointed to Ella. She spit out her mouthpiece and easily took my extra air hose. Dominic and Thomas were still taking the first part of the scuba skills, so Pirate Pete moved closer to them so he could better see us all. Once Ella was breathing off of my emergency regulator, he gave her the A-OK sign and then pointed to me and Claire.

  I pulled out my regulator, and moved over to Claire, and when I realized her emergency hose was on the other side of her air tanks, I tried swimming around her but got out of breath too fast and had to surface.

  “You all right?” Marcus said from the side of the pool.

  I nodded, putting my own regulator back in and trying again. This time I lined up on the right side of Claire before removing my air. But still, before I could snag Claire’s emergency regulator, I ran out of breath from blowing bubbles out of my mouth, and came sputtering out of the water again.

  Claire came up this time. “Do you need a break?”

  It was almost as if she was moving away from me underwater. I’d never had trouble losing my breath underwater before. In fact, Raelyn and I always played how-long-can-you-stay-underwater games at the pool and I won every time.

  “Nope, I can do this,” I told Claire.

  “I need to take a bathroom break,” Ella said. “Are you sure you can do this test now, Luci? Maybe you need a break too.”

  I shook my head. “No, thanks. I can do this.” Then I turned to Claire. “Ready?” The two of us went underwater again. This time I swam a bit closer to Claire before taking out my regulator. But, again, I ran out of air before I could reach her emergency mouthpiece. What was even happening? I swam up to surface, gasping.

  When Claire came up she said, “Maybe you do need that break.”

  “No,” I said, “I’m doing this today.”

  I looked at the pool’s edge and I could have sworn we had just been standing in front of the filter, which was now at least two feet away. I was right. Claire had moved away from me. Just enough so I couldn’t quite reach her regulator.

  Hadn’t she?

  “Maybe you’re not ready for this skills test,” Claire suggested.

  Was she serious? “I’m definitely ready for this test, Claire,” I said.

  Ella came back from the bathroom, her goggles pushed up on her head.

  “Did you figure it out?” she asked, pointing to Claire’s emergency regulator.

  I shook my head.

  “Just because we made it look so simple, doesn’t mean it is, right, Ella?” Claire said.

  I was practically vibrating with anger.

  “You moved away from me,” I snapped. “We started all the way down there.” I waved to the pool filter. “And now we’re over here. How did that happen if you weren’t moving away from me?”

  “What?” Claire said. “That’s ridiculo
us. Ella, you were right with us the first time, did I move away from her?”

  “Oh, um …” Ella glanced at me. “Sorry, I got distracted watching the boys do their mask skill, and then I was just in the bathroom, and …”

  “Time’s up,” Pirate Pete interrupted, glancing at his waterproof watch. “Don’t forget that if you didn’t pass a skill today, you have until Friday to make it up. You’ll have lots of time over the next few days to practice and catch up.”

  “Can I have another minute, Pirate Pete?” I asked. “I want to try one more time.” I glared at Claire.

  “Okay,” Pete said. “But let’s make it quick. There’s another group scheduled to use the pool in a few minutes.”

  This time Pirate Pete came under with us and miraculously, I was able to reach Claire’s emergency regulator right away, barely getting out of breath.

  When we reached the surface, Claire and Ella bounced up and down for me, making little waves in the pool.

  “It doesn’t matter how many times it takes,” Claire said to me. “You did a great job.”

  And I tried to smile. I really did. But I couldn’t get out of my head what Claire had said earlier. About how we all wanted a spot on the dive team and that made us competitors instead of teammates. Was she competing against me instead of treating me like a teammate? Is that why she moved away?

  Or was it all in my head?

  The next morning, Ella woke me up early, the sky still pink with sunrise. “We’re going to the pool. Want to come?” But they were already dressed and Claire was halfway out the door, the humid bay air floating into our cottage.

  I sat up in bed. “Pete said we’ll have time to practice in the pool later today. Why are you up so early?”

  “I have to pass this, Luci.”

  “Yeah, I know,” I said. This treading test was why Ella was so good at not failing at things. She practiced until she got it right.

  Claire was getting impatient, shifting her weight from one leg to the other at the door. “I can train you with some scuba stuff too, Luci.”

  I pasted on a smile, but I really didn’t feel like spending any more time in the pool with Claire after what happened yesterday. “Thanks, but I think I’m doing okay,” I said.