Her Curse

Chapter 16 - Amends

   After the remainder of our school day, Chase asked if we could all have a talk after our swim practice. Even though I can't trust him as deeply as before, I agreed. Lucas was hesitant, but even he agreed to the meet up. We said that we would meet up at my house later on.

   "Lucas, what are you thinking about?" My question seemed to have cut off his train of thought. Lucas sighed before looking at me. "I know Chase is trying to make up the fact that he's on Ginger's side by helping us, but its hard for me to look past that. He not only hurt us, he made me question my entire friendship with him." I couldn't believe he just said that, "Lucas, you don't mean that." Lucas only shook his head, "I don't regret being friends with him, but I did look back and question what was real and what wasn't." I reached over and took one of Lucas' hands into my own, gently running my thumb over his knuckles. We continued walking to our practice in silence, it was a silence that was steadily becoming louder. It wasn't like the agonizing silence when we waited in front of Mr. Seabourge's office or the comfortable silence when we're just enjoy being in each other's company. This silence was choking me.

   I walked into the girl's locker room and the weight of the silence eased off my shoulders a little bit. I changed into my swimsuit and braided my hair. As I looked at my reflection, I barely recognized myself: my eyes had dark circles underneath and my skin had paled from when I ran from the Fallen around our school earlier today, my hands were slightly shaking from the pressure I'm suddenly feeling. I shook my head and turned on a sink faucet, splashing some water on my face to help me feel a little better. After grabbing my goggles, I walked out to the pool area and felt a wave of dizziness hit me. I ignored the feeling and walked over to a lane, jumping in and letting the cold water bite at my skin. I held onto the wall as I struggled to put my goggles on. 'Adelina, don't swim.' The voice said, but in this moment I couldn't care less. I felt a presence next to me in the water then felt a hand on my shoulder.

   "Hey, Adelina, are you okay?" I looked at the person to see that it was another girl on the team. She had a concerned look on her face. "You look sick, are you sure you want to swim?" I didn't respond as my vision slowly became black. The girl was repeatedly calling my name in the dark before yelling, "Coach! We need help here!" I couldn't hear what else was said as I slipped away from my conscious state.

   I don't know how long I was like that, but when I woke up, I was lying on a backboard and the entire swim team was around me. Lucas was at my side as well as my coaches; I felt crowded and pressured. The coaches realized I was awake and the assistant coach looked at everyone, "Guys, back up a bit. Let's give her some space." With that, the team backed up but still kept their eyes on me. I tried to sit up, but the head coach carefully pushed me back down. "Woah woah, don't try to sit up. Just relax okay?" I couldn't even try to argue back, I felt too weak. 'I told you not to swim, you should listen to me sometime.' The voice caused a sharp pain in my head. I rubbed my head and closed my eyes to ease the pain.

   "Lucas, can you call her parents and take her home? You two don't have to come back until she completely feels better." The coach said.

   "Yes sir. We won't be back until she's completely fine." I heard Lucas' voice say.

   "Good, thank you. Keep us updated on how she is." I heard the assistant coach's voice say.

   I didn't hear a response; instead, I felt a pair of arms pick me up and a comforting warmth flooded my body. I opened my eyes and saw Lucas carrying me away from the pool area. "Lucas, I'm fine." I said weakly. "Adelina, don't try to say you are. You fainted in the water. We're going to your house." Lucas said sternly. I immediately gave up fighting and just closed my eyes, not wanting to make the atmosphere anymore tense.