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I watched as Nick rowed off on his own in his own raft. “What happened? You two were supposed to be getting closer,” Allison whined from her spot behind me in our raft. Instead of canoes, the campsite offered rafts to go white water rafting. I was the only one out of the bunch that had never been before, so dad stuck me with Allison and Casey. Nick went off on his own, then dad and Uncle Doug got their own raft. I sighed and looked back at her.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? He’s getting married a month from today, Al. There’s no way we’re ever going to get closer,” I mumbled and began to row in the water with my ore.

“That’s not what Casey and I thought,” Allison snickered. “Think about it, Sar. You’ve seen it done in movies hundreds of times before. The guy thinks he’s in love with someone else, when really all along he’s been in love with his best friend. Then they end up married in the end.”

“That’s in movies, Allison,” I rolled my eyes. “My life wasn’t a movie the last time I checked.”

“Just think, you have one month to steal him away,” Casey shrugged. “You’re so much better than her, Sarah. She’s nothing like you.”

“Maybe I should take that as my hint. Nick is obviously interested in other girls,” Sarah shrugged. The water began to move at quicker pace as the water began to move quicker and stronger. “We should probably turn back here.” She sighed. Casey and Allison exchanged glances. With a nod of Casey’s head and before I could say anything else, the two girls began to rock the canoe back and forth. “What are you guys doing?” I questioned hastily.

“We’re doing you a favor!” Casey yelled over the sound of the waves.

“Case, stop it!” I yelled back, but it was too late. Sooner than later, our entire raft had flipped over. I reached up to grab a hold of the slick underside of the raft, but my fingers slipped and I couldn’t grasp it. Casey and Allison managed to climb up and flip the boat over. Just with my luck, the waves picked me up and began to carry me down the river. One of the only things I had learned from white water rafting was to not put your feet down and try to touch the bottom. It would only make the situation worse.

“Sarah!” I heard Allison and Casey scream. I knew they would set me up. “Nick, Nick!” Casey yelled into the walkie talkie as they began to row down the stream to try and help me.

“I’m here, what?” He questioned back from his walkie talkie.

“Sarah fell out of the raft…the whole thing tipped over,” Casey explained with a smirk tugging the corners of her lips. “We can’t catch her. You have to help her before she drowns!” She yelled as if she was worried. They watched to make sure I didn’t hit my head or hurt myself. They weren’t planning on hurting me; they just wanted to set Nick and I up. Somewhat understandable, but I wasn’t exactly pleased as I was floating down the river.

“Ow!” I yelled out, just to give them a little scare. Casey’s eyes grew in horror as she watched me float farther and farther away. Their boat got caught on a few rocks, halting them.

“Nick, hurry!” Casey yelled into her walkie talkie. That was the last thing I heard as I continued to float down the river. I figured I might as well try to save myself since my sisters had failed. I noticed a tree branch dangling over the river and reached up to grab hold of it. As soon as my hands grabbed on, the water only pulled harder. The branch went through my hands like sand through your fingers at the beach and I felt the pain from the burning sensation.

“Shit!” I yelled as I brought my hands into the water to see the red from the blood that was surfacing on my hands.

“Sarah!” I heard someone yell from farther down the river. I looked to see Nick had “parked”, so to speak, his boat on the bank of the river and was standing there in a t-shirt and swimming trunks. “Hey, try to swim towards me!” He yelled again. Before I passed him, I tried kicking my legs to get closer to him. I was immediately repelled from the current and thrown back into my path of movement. This wasn’t a joke anymore. My heart began to pound in my chest so loudly that I could hear it in my head.

“Nick!” I yelled as tears flooded my eyes. I looked around helplessly and felt my back bend in an unusual way and a pain shot through my side. I yelled out in pain as I maneuvered my body to turn. It was then that I saw the large rock I had hit while I was traveling backwards down the river.

“Hold onto that, Sarah!” Nick yelled. I did as I was told and rested all of my weight against the rock. It wasn’t too difficult since the current was pushing me into the rock. I watched carefully as Nick maneuvered his way into the water where he was only ankle deep. He was strong enough to keep standing even though the current was strong. He held the end of his ore and pushed the other end out to me. “Take one hand and grab it.” He yelled over the water. I swallowed the lump in my throat and did what he said. Slowly he started to pull me towards him until I was close enough to stand. I nearly collapsed on top of him.

“T-Thank you,” I stammered as I held onto his shirt for dear life.

“God, are you okay?” He asked quickly as we made our way safely to the bank.

I sat down in the grass, tears streaming down my face as I tried to nod. He uncapped a water and handed it to me. “I-I thought I was going to die…” I sighed and quickly wiped my tears.

“You’re okay…” Nick leaned in and put his arm around me comfortingly. I felt his lips trace my forehead and a small smile was able to find its way on my lips. “I’ve got you now, you’re okay.”