February 16, 2011
It’s a rare sunny day in Salinas. My morning wasn’t full of arguments with my parents. You were in a good mood when I met you for lunch. I’m holding my breath and praying— weird for me since I haven’t been to church in months—that the rest of the day will stay this good. I need a good day.
It’s a rare sunny day in Salinas. My morning wasn’t full of arguments with my parents. You were in a good mood when I met you for lunch. I’m holding my breath and praying— weird for me since I haven’t been to church in months—that the rest of the day will stay this good. I need a good day.
Swim
practice after school. Tina and I share a lane, with Tim and Jacob next to us.
We goof off and somehow manage to finish good portion of the workout. We’re on
our third to last set of the day: 3x50’s on 50, when Tim grins over at us.
“Race
you.” He says.
Tina
snorts. “Why would we do that?”
He
raises an eyebrow. “Winners get a day off from covering the pool?”
Ooh.
That’s a solid offer. Covering the pool is a dreaded task everyone tries to get
out of. It involves dragging giant tarps across the entire (Olympic size) pool
so that heat doesn’t escape and cost the school more money to heat the pool bla
bla whatever. It sucks butt.
Coach
divided us up into shifts, so that every swimmer doesn’t have to help every
day. The easiest way to split it was boys and girls. Today is the girls’ day,
but I’m sure that if Tim and Jacob win, they’ll make us take their place
tomorrow, when it’s the boys’ day to cover.
Tina
and I exchange looks. Jacob isn’t a strong swimmer but Tina isn’t a sprinter
like Tim and me. It would be a close race.
“Fine.”
I say.
We
discuss the rules: no false starting and we decide to forgo diving too. First
team to finish wins. Fastest swimmer anchors the relay, so Tim and I watch as
Tina and Jacob struggle across the pool as fast as they can. Distance swimmers.
Pfft.
I
focus in on Tina who is just clearing the flags. I watch her stroke length. Calculate
when she’ll touch the wall. Wait for it…
I
streamline off the wall. One, two, three butterfly kicks. Then I burst to the
surface and start stroking through the water.
I
reach the wall, flip-turn—ducking my head, flicking my legs over, pushing off
hard—and start my second lap. I know it’ll slow me down, but I can’t help a
glance at Tim.
Shoot.
He’s on my tail. I will not lose to him. Not a chance. I put on an extra
surge of speed. My arms whip around. My lungs burn. I turn my head to breathe.
I
swallow a bug.
I
come up sputtering and spitting and coughing, hands clawing at my tongue. It
tastes like dust and fart, not to mention the gritty and uneven texture. Ew ew ew
ew ew.
“You
okay?” Tina calls from the wall.
“What happened?” This time it’s Tim who asks,
and I can just hear the smugness in his voice. I call him some names in my head
while clearing out the remaining bug carcass.
“Nothing
happened!”
I
start stroking into the wall.
“Jess.
Come on, what—”
“I
SWALLOWED A BUG OKAY.”
They
don’t even try to suppress their laughter and I reach the wall to see Tim
mimicking my spaz attack in the water. I reach across the lane line and snap
his goggles.
“You
okay now?” Jacob says.
“I’m
fantastic.”
“You
guys don’t have to stay and cover for us tomorrow.” Tim says, still grinning,
all arrogance and raised eyebrows, but I do notice that he’s moved out of my
reach.
I
stick my tongue out at him. “I don’t want your pity.”
Tina
sighs, wistful. “I want his pity..”
She
laughs, and Jacob and Tim join in, and even with how crazy things have been, I
manage to laugh too.
:)
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