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"C'mon! Jump!" Donna's auburn braids went flying as she jumped off the dock, spreading her arms out to her sides like they were wings.
To Eric, they might as well have been. She was an angel to him.
He'd been in love with her from the moment he met her, curiously enchanted by the little redheaded girl who punched him in the stomach. She made it clear she didn't return Eric's feelings - but they were next door neighbors and in the same class at school, and before they knew it they were spending all of their free time together making mudpies in Donna's sandbox, riding their bikes to Old Maine to play on the swings, building the tallest tower with Eric's Lincoln Logs just for his older sister Laurie to kick it down. They grew to be the best of friends.
Now they were eleven, and Eric was still enchanted with Donna. She didn't see him that way, though. She didn't see any boy that way. Donna practically was once of the boys. Just like Hyde or Kelso.
Except he never felt this way about seeing Hyde or Kelso in a swimsuit.
Donna came up for air with a splash. She giggled fearlessly as the called to him. "C'mon, slowpoke. The water's great!"
He could swim - he was a great swimmer. He just didn't like to put his face in lake water. And jumping in, would, you know. Involve that. The lake water would go up his nose - Eric could already feel the painful rush of pressure in his face, could taste the dirty, bacteria-ridden water on the back of his tongue. And worse still - there were fish out there! Big fish. Their dads caught Northerns and Muskies on this lake. No way was he jumping in - not even for her.
But she wasn't relenting. "Eric!" Donna shouted to him again. "Race me. I dare you."
"Why don't we just - just go back to the beach and - " but the words died on his lips. She'd thrown her arms out and her head back, and began to do casual backstrokes. The setting sun hit her long, exposed limbs in a way that made her almost glow. Eric couldn't look away.
"Are you scared I'm gonna beat you?" she taunted, playfully.
That did it. His lovelorn eyes sparked with defiance.
"No. No way."
Now his pride was on the line. There was no way he'd give her the satisfaction -
"Then prove it." She raised an eyebrow to him in challenge, then pointed to a red and white striped buoy floating about 50 yards away. "I bet I can swim to that buoy before you do. I bet I can even - "
But he didn't stick around to hear the end of her boast. Eric leapt off the dock with a competitive growl in his throat, and when he crashed into the lake water it was every bit as awful as he'd expected. He'd landed several feet ahead of Donna in the water, though, and he couldn't squander his advantage. She was a much better athlete than he was. She'd make up ground quickly.
Sure enough, by the time he was 10 yards away from the buoy, Donna had broken even with him. Eric pumped his arms and his legs as hard as he could, sputtering as he kicked up droplets of water into his own face. His heart pounded. He could barely see a few inches ahead of himself, but through the spray, he saw Donna's hand grab the buoy before his.
"G-good one," Eric said. He didn't meet her eyes.
They both wrapped their arms around the buoy, using it to stabilize themselves in the water so they could pant and gasp for air.
"Thanks," she said, smiling at him almost shyly. "It was really close." Her bangs were plastered to her forehead, slick with icky lake water and the sweat of competition, but she'd never looked more beautiful to him.
"'M gonna - g-get you next time."
"HEY! Kids! Burgers are on!"
Donna's dad stood at the shoreline. He was holding a beer in one hand, and waving at them with the other.
"Rematch, then," Donna grinned at Eric. "Right.... NOW!"
She dove off the buoy, back towards the dock, gliding gracefully into an easy front crawl. Eric groaned - he was still struggling to recover his breath - but took off after her. He wasn't about to be left alone in the middle of the lake!
Unsurprisingly, Donna reached the dock first. She'd climbed out of the water and tied her wet hair back into a ponytail by the time Eric got there. She could have said something mean about how long it took him, could have rubbed her swimming prowess in his face, but she didn't. Hyde and Kelso would've. His own family would've. But Donna didn't. She was never mean. It was one of the reasons he liked her so much.
As he reached the old rope ladder that hung from the side of the dock, though, he suddenly, he felt an unmistakeable swish against the side of his leg. It had to be a - "FISH!" he screamed, flailing his leg wildly.
Donna had initially dropped to her knees on the dock in concern, but now she looked like she was trying to hide a chuckle.
"Eric! Eric -calm down. It's more scared of you than you are of it."
"I highly doubt that!"
"Okay," she laughed. "Just take my hand." She reached down, interrupting his panic, and grasped his hand. Eric pushed off the rope ladder with his feet and Donna pulled him up high enough that he could grasp the edge of the dock. Gratefully, he pulled himself the rest of the way up - and out of danger.
"Whew." He ran a hand through his wet hair as he straightened up and got his bearings. He peered over the side of the dock down at the murky water, but it didn't reveal the sea monster underneath. "Glad I didn't lose my cool there." Donna smirked, and he met her eye. Sheepishly, he added, "Don't - ah. Don't tell anyone about that, okay?"
"Don't tell anyone what, exactly?" Her teasing grin was back, and she threw his towel to him from the end of the dock before they started to walk up the hill back to their cabin site. "How you bravely fought off a school of vicious minnows?"
"No. It was at least this big - " Eric held up his palm, but Donna was off again. She's dashed to the end of the dock, and looked back over her shoulder at him in a way that made his breath catch in his throat and his heart hum even more than it had been a minute ago when he'd thought he was close to death.
"C'mon. Race you to the cabin, slowpoke!"
He still hadn't caught his breath, but he took off after her.
He wondered if he'd ever catch her.