I listened to music in the car on the way to rowing practice. My mother had finally started letting me drive myself even though I'd had my license for a while. Blasting "Wings" by Little Mix to match my mood, I parked next to the lake and made my way to the top of the hill.
After finding my friends, we waited for the coaches to give us our instructions. "Coach says she's gonna tell some of us our lineups for the Southeast Regionals," Grace said, grinning. Everyone let out a small squeal in unison and then we all doubled over laughing, attracting odd looks from others on the team.
"All varsity rowers over here," Coach Alana yelled. The voices stopped and the varsity met by the Coach Alana. "Okay, some of you will be getting your lineups today. Some will have to wait," she said, and was met with a mixture of squeals and groans.
"We're going to have a varsity girls quad, a mixed double, and a varsity boys four. Those are the lineups I'll be giving you today," she announced. My heart sank when I heard about the mixed double. That was probably Peter and I. Everyone else, however, were watching Coach with intense anticipation.
"The varsity girls quad will be Grace stroking, Morgan, Alexandra, and Abby steering. Go get your oars and boat and head out on the water," she said with a rare smile. The girls chosen smiled widely and bounced over to get their boat. Skyler had a frown on her face, she probably barely lost to one of the other girls.
"The varsity boys four is Ben stroking, Zach, Joe, and Kendall," the varsity boys coach, Andy said. I smiled with excitement for Kendall.
"And our mixed double is Peter stroking and Bella steering," Alana said with a nod to us. "Go get your boat and get out on the water." I smiled widely despite the fact that I was paired with Peter.
"Thanks Coach," I said and wheeled around to go bring down the sculling oars. Peter followed a moment after.
"I can get the oars, will you unstrap?" I asked. Peter nodded wordlessly and I brought down the oars. I jogged back up to the racks to help him carry the boat down. He had unstrapped it and I went to bow to help carry it. "Up off racks, ready up," I said and we lifted the boat off the racks.
"Up to shoulders, ready up," I said and we lifted it onto our shoulders. We walked down to the dock and rolled it into the water. Peter got the oars and I unscrewed the oarlocks. In silence, we put in our oars and got in the boat.
"Let's row to the first cove and wait there for Coach Alana," I said as we pushed the boat off the dock.
"Sure," he said and we rowed in an awkward silence to the cove, where we sat... in silence. This was going to be three terribly awkward weeks of rowing. A stork flew past us and I squealed in excitement. "It's Johnny Bird!" I said without thinking.
"You've named the birds on the lake?" Peter said slowly. He turned around and gave me a look as if he questioned my sanity. I blushed.
"Yeah..." I said and he burst out laughing. I glowered at him which just made him laugh harder. "Shut up," I said defensively. He turned around to face me and his bright green eyes bore into mine after he finally stopped laughing.
"So tell me, what are the other birds names?" he said with a straight face. I looked at him suspiciously. Was he actually interested or was he looking for an excuse to make fun of me? Looking in his eyes to analyze his true intentions, I realized how stunning they were. They sparkled with mischief and I decided he had to be teasing me.
"No, you'll just make fun of me!" I said with a pout and looked down at my hands on my oars. He reached out and lifted my chin up. Now, his eyes glowed with sincerity. My breath caught in my throat. "Um... Well, I guess if you - uh - if you really really wanted me to."
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The Conversion
Teen FictionBella was a geek in middle school. Not just a geek, but a nerd, outcast, victim. Through all this, she still had her friends. But middle school is over and she's a sophomore. She's changed her image and now she's popular. But will the return of one...
