ELEMENTS: Acquiesce by Kathryn Andrews (snow like ashes series .TXT) 📕

The students began to chatter with excitement and a strong determination rose from the pit of Cordelia’s stomach.

“That’s not all,” he continued, “each winner will be able to choose a guest to attend the ball with them.”

“Looks like a trip for me and you then Rafe,” said Max. “I wonder who’ll be joining us.”

The girls hadn’t realized that Max and Rafe were sitting on the step behind them. Lana scowled at Max before turning back to Cordelia.

“I’ve been waiting for this opportunity my whole life,” said Lana, “they’re not going to win it that easily. I couldn’t bear to be on a trip with those two.”

“I wish there were four prizes,” said Cordelia, “then maybe the four of us could win.”

“That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all year,” laughed Max.

Cordelia took a deep breath and pretended she hadn’t heard Max’s comment.

Half the class had already performed their best dives and cheering echoed around the amphitheatre. Cordelia watched her friends perform their dives and then it was her turn. All eyes were on Cordelia as she confidently made her way to the diving rock, head held high and shoulders back. Without delay, Cordelia leapt backwards into the air and performed a faultless backwards dive.

“And that’s how it’s done,” said Lana as the class cheered and clapped.

“Bit easy though, wasn’t it?” said Max. “She’ll need to do better than that if she wants to be on the dive team.”

“Well done,” said Irvin Seymour, smiling with pride as he passed Cordelia her towel. Cordelia smiled at him and made her way back to her seat. As she climbed the steps of the amphiteatre she caught Rafe’s eye. He was sitting silently, arms resting on his knees, staring at her with a half smile, his eyes twinkling in the sunlight that broke through a small gap in the clouds.

For a brief moment, Cordelia forgot that she didn’t like him. That’s until Max opened his mouth.

“Bit basic wasn’t it? You wanna watch me, see how it’s really done.”

The girls turned around to see Max standing proudly on the step above them, stretching his arms whilst doing leg lunges.

“Oh please,” said Lana, rolling her eyes.

“We don’t need to see that thank you,” said Masika.

“You love it,” smirked Rafe.

Max winked at the girls and made his way down to the diving rock, high fiving his classmates as he went. He then performed a perfect inward dive. Again the class cheered and Max danced his way back to his seat, shaking hands with Rafe on the way who hugged him tight and slapped him on the back.

“Bet you can’t do that can you Cordelia?”

Cordelia ignored Max. Her eyes were involuntarily fixed on Rafe’s chiseled features. There was no clowning around from Rafe, no jibes, no showing off to his classmates. He simply walked to the rock, his toned body perfectly poised and then completed an impressive twisting dive. The crowd gasped before standing and cheering with delight.

“Bravo!” exclaimed Irvin Seymour, shaking Rafe’s hand with both of his as he emerged from the water.

“Thank you Sir,” said Rafe whilst simultaneously executing a killer smile.

He turned and caught Cordelia’s eye whilst still holding that smile - a smile that made Cordelia’s stomach flip. A feeling surged through her body that she’d never felt before. Flustered, she looked down at her hands that were resting in her lap.

“Don’t worry Cordelia, if you keep practising you’ll be able to do one of those fancy twist dives in no time,” said Lana.

Masika and Nerissa nodded in eager agreement.

The students continued to practise their diving techniques, most becoming more adventurous with each turn. Lana, Rafe and Max were all strong divers and moved on to somersaults before class was over. They were well beyond the abilities of their classmates when it came to diving, but that was to be expected given their backgrounds. Cordelia watched carefully, observing every twist and turn, locking every move in her memory.

By the time lessons finished that day, the sun was low in the sky and dusk was on the horizon. Cordelia, Lana, Nerissa and Masika walked along the cliff top with their towels and bathers and made their way to the rock pools. The sea was relatively calm and the tide was out. Her three friends looked around anxiously, checking that no one was about. When they reached the second pool, the girls changed into their bathers and stood on the edge of the rock looking down at their reflections, the sea breeze whipping their hair across their faces.

“It’s not so windy down here,” said Cordelia. She had moved down to a lower ledge, her feet submerged in the crystal clear water, the Irish moss caressing her toes.

“Come on!” she called. “It’s grand!”

The girls hesitated, still unsure of this new territory and wary of prying eyes.

“You go first,” suggested Lana. “We’ll watch from here.”

Cordelia slowly walked into the water, stepping onto lower ledges, one by one until she was neck deep in water. She floated on her back and smiled at her friends. “It’s beautiful in here, you’ve got to come in.”

Lana took one more glance around then dived straight in from the high black rock. “We’re here to practise diving, right?” she said to Cordelia, wiping salt water from her face.

“Right,” said Cordelia. “You want me to dive from all the way up there?”

“All the way up there?” retorted Lana. “That’s nothing. That’s where we’ll be diving from in the competition,” she divulged, pointing to the cliff face.

The part Lana pointed to was not as high as some areas, but still, it was high enough. Higher than anything Cordelia had ever jumped off before.

“It’s fine,” said Lana. “We climb part way down to that ledge. It’s just deep water below.”

“Out the way!” called Nerissa before she and Masika dived into the pool.

Cordelia swam to the edge, staring at the cliff face as she climbed out of the pool.