Bondi Rescue

First Day, First Rescue

Jamie is ecstatic when she gets the news. But with those happy feelings, comes anxiety, fighting to take over. But with reassurances from her mother and Hoppo, she feels better when she arrives for her first day.

Donning a blue lifeguard polo, Jamie sits in the buggy with Deano who waits until she's settled before starting towards the water. She's been on the beach a million times in her life but never seen it from a lifeguard's point of view. So Deano does his job to explain everything to her.

After a while of patrolling the beach with no rescues, the two head back to the tower.

"First day, how is it?" Harrison asks her as she takes a sip from her water.

"Good," She nods with a grin.

"Ready to get in the water?"

"Yeah," Jamie admits with a light chuckle.

"You'll get your chance," The young man assures her. "What do you say, Deano, you want to take her back out or let her try tower duty?"

"I think we'll go back down," The other man decides. "See if there's a chance to use the PA. I wanna see how she does." Instead of the nervous reaction, he was expecting, Jamie merely laughs.

"I would love to yell at some people," She informs them and all those in the tower share a laugh.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Jamie nods enthusiastically and Deano shrugs.

"Alright, let's go," Nudging her shoulder, he points towards the stairs and lets the girl go first. He shares an expression with the other lifeguards over his shoulder before following after her.

Harries is already down at the south side by himself when they arrive. His eyes stay glues out at the swimmers in the water. No one is in trouble yet but the water conditions are only growing worse.

"Looks like you'll get to yell at some people," Deano tells Jamie, using her previous words from before. Harries laughs and looks between the water and them as Jamie climbs onto the side of the buggy. "Here you go," Handing it to her, Deano instructs her to just press the button on the side before speaking into it.

Clearing her throat, Jamie crosses her fingers. "Hey, guys," She starts strongling, doing her best to keep her voice loud and clear. "You can't swim here, the conditions are too dangerous. We don't just enjoy putting these signs up, they're there for a reason." Jamie continues with a gesture towards the dangerous current signs. Harries and Deano chuckle at her choice of words as some people actually do as they're told and leave the water. "Make your way north. Swim between the yellow and red flags. If anyone needs help, just put your hand up and someone will come get you."

Dropping her hand back to her side, Jamie looks to the older lifeguards who nod and offer her thumbs up. "Good job," Deano tells her with a pat on her arm. She offers a relieved smile before her eyes flicker back up to the water.

"Is that a hand?" She points to where she's looking while squinting against the sun's glare. It looks like a girl fifty meters out. She doesn't look to be struggling too much but she's in a rip and tiring quickly.

"Yup," Deano nods. Immediately following the confirmation, Jamie sheds her shirt while Deano radios the situation back into the tower. Meanwhile, the trainee rushes into the water. She throws her board down before jumping on and paddling out as quickly as she can.

When she reaches the girl, Jamie sits up on her board and grabs onto her arm. She pulls her up and guides her hands to the ropes. "Just take a breath," She tells the struggling girl. "I need you to lie on your stomach facing away from me." Helping her onto the board, Jamie guides the girl's legs back onto either side of her before turning the board. A wave chooses that time to crash into them but doesn't knock them off.

Shaking the water out of her face, Jamie blows air out of her mouth before paddling back to shore. It's slower than paddling out by herself but only a moment later, she's able to catch a wave back in. "You okay?" Once back to shallow waters, Jamie helps the girl stand and holds a hand on her shoulder. "Did you swallow or inhale any water?"

"No," The girl gasps out as she continues to catch her breath.

"You sure?" Jamie earns a nod in response and she guides the girl back onto the sand. "If you start feeling sick stop by the tower. But for now, just sit down and rest. You don't need to be swimming here, stay between the red and yellow flags."

Nodding her head, the girl makes her way higher onto the sand. Jamie watches her a moment before moving to put the rescue board back on the rhino.

"Good job," Deano tells her. "Great first rescue. Too bad they won't all be that smooth."

"No faith," Jamie shakes her head but chuckles at herself. She got lucky with that one, she knows. The girl she rescued wasn't much bigger than herself and the waves weren't so bad on her. It won't always be like that.

Squeezing the water from her hair, Jamie pushes it out of her face before sitting back in the buggy. Despite the rescue going smooth and quickly, her heart rate rose and has yet to come back down. She clutches her lifeguard shirt in her hand and squeezes it before making herself relax.

"We're gonna stay down here for a bit," Deano says when he joins her. "But soon we'll swap out."

With most of the swimmers having moved further down the beach, there's not much going on except experienced surfers. After time passes, the two of them head back up to the tower.

"Beautiful first rescue," Harrison congratulates her when she moves up the stairs. He holds out his hand for a high-five and Jamie does so before sitting down.

"Thanks," She nods and smiles up at Hoppo who pats her shoulder. For the rest of the day, Jamie stays on watch in the tower until it's time to take down the signs. Chappo comes to get her before to show her how to take them down. All in all, it was a great first day. 

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So far I've just been doing this story a chapter at a time. Like in each chapter has it's own little thing it's based around rather than a run on story. Almost like episodes in a tv show. Though the chapters will connect of course. Some are much longer than the others and some are short. (Did that make sense?)