نجات!

CHAPTER NINE - Rescue!

When Joey woke the next morning, she felt terribly sad. At the end of her evening with Jeremy, he had walked with her to her home. He had kissed her gently. They had promised to write to each other. They had promised to meet again one day.

But now, Jeremy was gone.

“Maybe my love for him will go too,” she thought. “Maybe I will love Dawson again in the future. But now I don’t want to be in love with anyone. And Dawson will always be my friend.”

She got out of bed and dressed quickly. Downstairs, she saw her sister. Bessie was feeding the baby.

“Hi, Joey,” Bessie said. “Let’s do something together today. Let’s try to have some fun.”

“I’m sorry, Bessie. I have to go out,” Joey said.

She left the house. She took her bicycle and she rode to Dawson’s house. It was eight o’clock when she arrived.

But Dawson wasn’t there.

“He went out early,” Mr Leery told her. “He went to the TV station. He’s going to work on a film there for an hour before the station staff arrive.”

Joey remembered Dawson’s idea for a documentary film.

“He’s making a report about that Australian girl,” she thought. “If I do meet him today, he’ll talk about her all the time.”

Joey felt very unhappy. Jeremy had gone. Dawson had forgotten about her.

She stood on the dock and she looked over the creek towards her own house. She didn’t want to go home. She didn’t want to see her sister.

Suddenly, there was a loud, high sound. It came from the pocket of her jeans. BEEP - BEEP - BEEP. It was Howard. The noise made her ears hurt! Angrily, Joey pulled the virtual pet from her pocket. She threw it as far as she could. She threw it into the creek.

A moment later, she was sorry.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” she told herself. “Clarissa loves Howard. I must find him.”

Quickly, she pulled off her shoes and she jumped into the creek.

That morning, Pacey was feeling good. He walked towards Jen’s house with two cups of coffee in his hands.

“Today, I’ll behave differently. I’m a different person,” he said to himself. “Today, I’ll be nice to Jen. I was unkind to her last week. I’ll tell her that and I’ll say sorry to her. Maybe she’ll be my friend again.”

He met Jen outside her house and he gave her a cup of coffee. He apologized for his behavior.

“It’s OK,” she said. “If you try to be yourself, you’ll be fine, Pacey. Come on now, or we’ll be late for the class.”

“I won’t go to the class any more,” he replied. “I’ll never be a good lifeguard. Tim was right. I joined the class for the wrong reasons.”

“You’re wrong about that, Pacey,” Jen told him. “You’re a strong swimmer. If you try to learn from Tim, you’ll be a fine lifeguard. But you must - “ Suddenly, they heard a noise behind them. SPLASH!

They turned round. They saw Joey swimming in the creek. She had jumped in the water while they were talking.

“Why is Joey swimming in her clothes?” Jen said.

A moment later, Pacey said, “Something’s wrong, Jen. Joey’s in trouble!”

Pacey shouted to the girl in the water.

“We’re coming, Joey!” he shouted.

The two young people ran to the edge of the dock and they jumped into the creek.

Dawson was in his bedroom. He’d got home a few minutes before. He heard someone shouting outside. Then he heard a splash! He looked out of his window. Jen and Pacey had jumped into the creek. Why? Were they practicing lifeguarding? It was very strange. Then Dawson saw Joey’s bike by the dock.

“She came to find me and I wasn’t here,” he said to himself. “I was excited about going to the TV station. I’m so stupid! I forgot about Joey. Where is she now?”

A minute later, he had the answer to his question. Pacey was pulling Joey’s body from the water. She wasn’t moving? Was she alive?

Dawson ran down the stairs and out of the house.

Pacey and Jen were kneeling on the dock. Joey was lying between them. Her eyes were closed. She wasn’t moving. She wasn’t breathing. She was unconscious.

“It’s OK, Pacey,” Jen said. “I read about CPR in the manual. I know what to do now. And you were great. You got her out of the water so quickly.”

Jen started to work on Joey. She gave her mouth-to- mouth resuscitation. She held the girl’s nose and she breathed into her mouth. She did this three times. At last, Joey coughed and opened her eyes.

“Well, somebody read the manual,” Pacey said. “I’m happy about that. You were great, Jen!”

At that moment, Dawson ran onto the dock. His face was white with fear. He pushed Jen and Pacey away and held Joey in his arms.

“Joey! Joey, are you OK?” he asked. “I forgot about our meeting this morning. I’m sorry - I’m really sorry. I’ll never forget about you again.” There were tears in his eyes.

Joey looked up at him and smiled. “Hi, Dawson,” she said quietly. And Dawson kissed her on the lips.

Jen and Pacey were late for class that morning. Tim was angry. But Pacey explained what happened at the creek.

“You saved someone’s life, Witter? I don’t believe you!”

But Jen said, “It’s true, Tim.” And she told the instructor the whole story.

At the end of her story, Tim smiled. They hadn’t seen the instructor smile before!

“You did all the right things,” he said. “Both of you did the right things. You were great!”

And that evening, Sheila visited Dawson at his house.

“I’m sorry about yesterday, Dawson,” she said. “I want us to be friends. I trust you, so I want to tell you the truth. I was frightened about being on TV.”

“I left Australia because I was very unhappy there,” Sheila went on. “My father disappeared. My mother got a new boyfriend. He was a terrible man. So I came to the U.S. But I didn’t have much money. When I was in Boston, I got into trouble. I stole some food and some clothes from a shop. The police were kind to me. They didn’t arrest me - they let me go. But lots of people in Boston know about me. If any of them see me on TV, they’ll tell the Barclays about me. I’ll lose my job. Do you understand?”

“Yes, it’s OK, Sheila,” Dawson replied. “I understand. Don’t worry. I won’t let anybody see the film. And I have a better idea for a documentary film now. It will be about teenagers who are learning to be lifeguards. I know a lot about those. Today, two of them saved the life of someone I love very much!”