DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. – Armed with an infectious personality and a generous spirit, Angel Rivera found himself bragging Monday -- but in a good way.

The 11-year-old sixth-grade student at Deerfield Beach Middle School is credited with pulling Usely Michel from the bottom of a pool Sunday.

"Some of (my) friends have been calling (me) superhero, little hero," Angel said. "Stuff like that, but who wouldn't call a kid that saved somebody's life a hero?"

And yes, mom is proud.

"He's my little Angel," Violeta Rivera said.

Angel heard the cries for help from the community pool at the Highland Mobile Home Park in Deerfield Beach, where the 13-year-old boy and her family gathered, despite signs saying the pool was closed.

When Usely began to drown her mother called 911, but that's when Angel stepped in.

"I didn't know what to do," Marielle Michel, Usely's stepmother, said. "I was shaking and then the 11-year-old just jumped and saved her life for me."

Angel quickly took over the situation.

"I saved her life," he said. "They had to do CPR on her and I had to make sure she was OK, and now look at this. She's doing very well."

Usely was unconscious on the pool deck when paramedics arrived, Broward Sheriff's Office Department of Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles said. She was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Her family said that doctors want to keep Usely for one more night and said that she does not appear to have any permanent or physical injuries.

While Angel and Usely go to the same school, they don't know one another, but that may change soon.

"I would like to thank him and I would like to meet him personally to thank him very much, because without him I could have lost my daughter," Michel said.

Days after saving's the teen's life, Angel and his mom got a look at photos of Usely at the hospital, where she was smiling.

The families are hoping to get together soon to celebrate Angel's courage and selflessness.

"I'm going to tell her that I'm the little person that saved your life, and I just wanted to let you know that I hope everything is going well for you," Angel said.