the lakes - charles leclerc

𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟖

the sun shone on a clear sky on the beginning of the second week at the lakes, setting for a perfect day to enjoy the waters and warm weather. george, already awake (and shirtless, much to alex's annoyance) was the one to wake the girls up, as the bell for breakfast had already rung. a short interval later, the whole group was reunited at main camp. breakfast consisted of cereal, much to olive's relief as she didn't have to cook anything in the sweltering heat. the morning was mainly lazing around, with little movement, as (according to lando), it was "too hot to do fuck all.". a short while later, georgia came up with the brilliant idea for them to go in the water to cool down.

"georgia, why on earth are you in a bikini?" pierre asked the australian, confused as to what she was doing.

"i'm going in the water. it'll be FUCKING HELL THAT'S COLD BUT IT'S NICE," she responded, sighing in relief as to how cold the lake was. "oh my god that's heavenly,"

"did someone say cold?" charles asked, laying on his back, head facing their direction.

"yeah, mate, the water's cold," pierre commented, throwing his shirt onto one of the stumps before joining georgia in the lake.

"rea-"

"GUYS THE WATER'S FREEZING!" lando shouted, as he rose from doing a cannonball from the small pier. "YOU SHOULD JOIN US,"

the group, slowly but surely, got themselves in suitable attire to go in the waterhole. adriana, however, was not so willing to go into the body of water, as flashbacks from the last time she went into open water played like a film in her head.

"guys, i don't think i'll go in,"

"what, why?" asked olive, curious as to what was stopping her.

"i just don't want to. i'm not that great of a swimmer, either," she said, somewhat telling the truth, but lying in the latter half of her response.

"come on, adri! you know we'll help you. you can tread water, we did that practice whilst at lyon. there is literally nothing to be scared of. yes, it's a little cold at first, but you'll be fine." hailey responded, seemingly to have forgotten when she was with adriana on the yacht three years ago.

"but i don't think you understand..." she whispered, hands rubbing her biceps, with arms crossed. she knew that she was getting nowhere, and had to give in at some point to keep the group happy. "give me a minute, i need to go put my swimsuit on."

when she returned, she walked in, completely fine, acclimatising to the new temperature. but she soon had to tread water and swim, which, at first, was manageable. but when she realised her feet weren't touching the pebbly floor, things turned black for her. the time between each breath was shortened. the only thing she could hear was blood pulsing to her brain, like someone beating a drum near her ear canal. beads of sweat graced her forehead, and a sharp shiver ran down her spine, visible to everyone. vision soon blurred, and the group didn't know what on earth they could do.

"adriana, hey," charles spoke softly, his hands holding her shoulders. "do you need to get out?"

"what the fuck do you think, i think i'm having a panic attack," she spoke with a harsh tone, tears brimming her eyes.

"it's okay, i'm here for you. i'll get you out of here and into the cabin, okay?"

"calm down, adri, come on," pierre commented, clearly only joining the room now.

"pierre, don't can't you see she's not okay?" maeve spoke, swimming over to charles, who was walking slowly with adriana, trying to control her breathing. "don't state the obvious,"