DEEP DIVE (Undergoing thorough editing)

"Ryder? Ryder, are you okay?"

"I'm drowning," I managed through shaky breaths.

"No, you're not drowning, Ryder. You're fine. Just breathe for me!"

"I-" I swallowed, clutching my chest. "I can't feel the bottom. I'm sinking. I'm sinking. Help me."

"You're not sinking." I felt his hands slide behind my thighs as he scooped me up, my legs wrapping around his torso. "I got you. Breathe, Ryder! Breathe! You need to calm down!"

"I can't-"

"Yes, you can. Breathe for me!"

"I..." I held my breath, shutting my eyes.

"Let it out! You got this!"

I exhaled slowly.

"Let's go again. You're doing great."

***

After a devastating loss that broke her family apart, Ryder Sparks-a seventeen-year-old national-level swimmer from Toronto-is sent away to the United States on a foreign student exchange program.

Drowning in guilt and grief, Ryder shuts down every part of herself, including the one thing that used to give her purpose-swimming.

However, in a small town like Cannon Beach, where the swim team dominates every year and everybody knows everybody, it is nearly impossible to keep her identity hidden and talent locked away.

Enter Austin Reed-golden swim captain: driven, talented, and charming, but also struggling in biology.

In order to stay eligible for postseason, Austin approaches Ryder for tutoring, while also conspiring to get her back in the water-until she becomes the one thing he cannot control.

But Austin isn't the only one watching her.

Jay Carpenter-kind, protective, friendly, and the boy whose house she lives in-is the first to notice the cracks beneath her silence, the things she hides, and somehow, he can't seem to look away.

One offers stability.
The other offers intensity.

But no matter how far she runs, the past always seems to catch up to her when she least expected it.