The sun beat down on the world below it, sending heat and light to all those in it. Light splashes and Screams of glee echoed throughout the play space; little children ran about the establishment, only to be told off by the unforgiving whistle of the lifeguard. Yup, this was the normal day for the pool, and wow, the first day of summer definitely brought in the crowd.

.

"Hey, Sapphire!" Two girls stood at the bottom of the lifeguard deck, speaking lightly as they waited for their shift to start. "Yes, Lapis?"

"Are you ready to start this? Honestly, it gets a little boring."

"How so?"

"It sucks. That's all I can tell you.."

Sapphire shrugged, but rolled her eyes at her friends attitude.

"Its probably fine. I've trained and I'm ready for this."

"Oh well, good luck! Don't talk to me, though. I don't want to get caught again."

"Of course, Blue Diamond is VERY strict. I don't understand why.."

Lapis paused a bit, opening her mouth to speak. But seemed to decide against it.

"Ya.. I wonder why.."

Sapphire took this as her turn to stop talking. She bid her friend goodbye before climbing atop the high tower. She set her stuff down, and sat down in the high chair. She was already in her uniform, a red shirt and shorts with "lifeguard written all over them"

She was new to lifeguarding, but that didn't mean she was bad at it.

She scanned the area, searching for signs of anything. It was hard to tell, she'd admit, there was a shit ton of people.

She sighed, before resting her face in her palms. This was going to be.. An interesting day..

.

Sun was cast brightly on mahogany skin as a girl sat on the side of the pool, watching the members in the pool with mild interest.

Her amber colored eyes were scanning, uncertain on the water, not sure..

"Oh come on, Ruby! Try the water a bit!"

The girl sighed, before yelling back: "I'm good!"

"Oh come on, Ruby! You're always like this; what's the point of coming here if you don't want to swim?"

The girl-Ruby- narrowed her red eyes, before looking away. Her eyes downcast. Her arms were crossed and clutching at her shoulders. "You know I dont exactly like water, okay?" She could feel Amethysts questioning her intense brown eyes staring at her, even if she wasnt looking at the said girl. At last, she sighed in defeat.

"Fine. But no splashing 'kay?"

She heard a triumphant sounding cry from Amethyst before she turned back around, turning toward the pool. She winced when water splashed over her unexpectedly, but it wasnt too bad. Of course i had to go with Amethyst here. Why the hell did I agree? Oh well, its too late now. She thought sullenly as she stuck her foot into the water. Amethyst seemed to have gone quiet, no sounds were coming from the purple haired girl.

She sat down at the edge, preparing to slide in, before a gigantic splash of water knocked her in. She coughed, before glaring at the culprits, two kids. Her curly hair was plastered to her face. Great.. This is just great.

She sighed, before pushing herself over to the wall. Her friend wasn't there "Hey, Amethyst." She called out, noticing her friends absence.

"Amethyst? Where-"

She was interuppted from her sentence when her legs were suddenly kicked away from under her, and with a yell, she tumbled under.

She frantically thrashed underneath the surface, not knowing which way to turn. Terror shot through her, zapping her like a bolt of lightning. No, no! Not again! She thrashed violently, before her feet found the bottom of the pool. Without thinking, she launched herseld up desperately, wanting to get to the surface.

She gasped as she broke the surface, even though it had been a shirt time in which she was submerged underwater.

"Amethyst you Son of a -"

Amethyst covered Ruby's mouth, a smirk in her face. "Ah, ah. There are kids here, remember?"

Ruby huffed, but that didn't stop her from jumping onto her friend, pushing her underwater. Amethyst snorted before pulling Ruby down with her. The two friends were a laughing, shoving mess for a bit, before a shrill whistle cut through the air.

The two girls sat up, looking to one of the lifeguards, who was glaring at them.

Amethyst groaned, before lifting her wet bangs out of her face.

"Oh we get it alrea-" Amethyst shouted toward the lifeguard that had blown their whistle at them. She paused her speech, a smirk settling on her face.

"Hey, Ruby. Check it out." She winked to Ruby, looking once again over the said girls shoulder.

Ruby glanced backwards,at the lifeguard, who was putting his gear onto one of the lifeguard chairs. She had already known what Amethyst was going to say next. She rolled her eyes,

"Nah, not my type."

Amethyst groaned, before grabbing

Ruby's shoulders, turning her a different direction

"No, dumbass! That one!"

Ruby sighed before following her gaze once more.

Her jaw dropped,

Okay, this girl was certaintly her type.

Her light brown skin shone in the bright light, making her stick out even in all these people.

Okay, let's cut to the chase. She was beautiful.

"Hey, Ruby? Oh god, you better not be getting a lady boner on me."

Ruby shook her head, shuddering somewhat when her wet her touched her face. "Huhwhat- wait!- No! I mean she's pretty and all but-"

"Sure. Alright. What did you get on the test-" Ruby froze when she heard the name. "Oh my god, I completely forgot!"

"What?"

"I was supposed to tutor Connie today.." Ruby groaned, before paddling over to the side of the pool.

"Look, Amethyst. I have to go."

"But, you just got here! Its no fun without you, especially if P actually does make it today."

Ruby smiled slightly, "Sorry, I can't just ditch her, though. She's my cousin!"

Amethyst huffed, a few strands of her unruly hair lifting up from the breeze.. "Fine, but you better make this up!"

Ruby chuckled, before rolling her eyes, "I will, I will, don't worry."

She pushed herself out of the pool. Literally pushed. Its not the graceful kind of getting out of the pool either. You know the kind where you put your leg over the side of the pool edge and struggle your way up? Yup. That's the way.

Ruby felt her face go hot when she heard Amethyst snorts of laughter. But she couldn't quite get up, as much as she trued to pull. If she slid back down, she would get quite a few scratches and Amethyst might try to force her to swim again.

She was stuck.

"Hey. Need a hand?"

Ruby looked up, about to retort, before her eyes widened. It was the girl. The light reflected off her light hair, making her shine.

"U-uh, ya." The girl smiled slightly, before grabbing Ruby's hand. Ruby flinched slightly at the contact, she wasn't used to it. But she got up all the same.

"Er, thanks."

"No problem."

Ruby looked up, the girl was a bit taller than her. But it didn't matter. She realized her eyes were covered. What's up with that? She thought, confused by how a lifeguard could see through those bangs

Oh ya! Lifeguard!

"Uh, so you're the new lifeguard,right? I haven't seen you around here before; I've come here since I was little, after all." Ruby found herself stumbling over those words, and near the end, her voice cracked.

Great this is just great.

The girl smiled softly, "Yes I am. I just moved here from beach city, that's probably why you haven't seen me around either."

Ruby smiled back, "Ya I guess-" Water slashed over her foot, and she turned to glare at the one who splashed her, Amethyst winked at her, mouthing the words: 'do it or lose it'

Ruby nodded hesitantly, "So hey I-"

"10-6. We need an extra, 10-20-"

Ruby was cut off by the static voice the radio produced. The girl smiled shyly, "sorry, I have to take this. See you around."

With that, she walked away.

"Oh clmekn, Ruby! You could've done so much better than that!"

Ruby huffed, throwing her flip flop at Amethyst. "Oh hush up, will uou? Its not my fault that I got completely cockblocked by a goddamn RADIO. Whatever, see ya Amethyst!"

"Bye!"

Ruby walked off, towel sound around her shoulder.

That was so embarrassing

.

'"I can't believe I just made a fool of myself in front of everyone.. Goddamn! You had one job, Ruby, and you failed." The girl was currently pacing on the other side of the pool, the uninhabited deep end,that was mainly used for diving. Once out of eye and earshot. She paced alongside the pool , a thing she normally did when angry. Ruby stayed as far from the edge as possible, not wanting to fall into the 20 ft abyss of darkness.

She was surprised no one else was here,

"Hey, get out of the way." Ruby narrowed her eyes at the woman in front of her, before realizing it wasn't worth the fight. "Sorry." She moved aside, closer to the pool, in her case.

The woman smirked, as she shoved Ruby aside even more.

"Whoops. Sorry."

Ruby didn't get the chance to respond before she was thrown downwards. Ruby expected to feel concrete as she fell, but as she opened her eyes, she was forced to close them once more as water came to meet her vision. She fell into the water with a clumsy splash. Under the surface she struggled slightly, looking for a place to put her feet, just like last time. She was calmer about it, knowing it'll be okay. But her feet touched nothing. There was no floor within her reach.

...Shit! This is the deep end

And with that, Ruby sunk down, down, down.