"The course of true love never did run smooth." ~ William Shakespeare
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Kailani Hummel, an innocent small-town genderfluid teenager, gets sucked into a world that seems like only they can navigate in an attempt to save everyone they love. Will Qu...
A/N: Honestly, this entire chapter is a Trigger ⚠️ so big heads up. Prepare for some heavy dramatic shit kids.
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"Swimmers! Take your mark!"
Kailani rolled her toes against the block, eyes focused down at the black mark at the bottom of the pool through the blue rippling waters. She took a deep breath, letting her lungs fill with all air she could, slowly exhaling, before inhaling once again.
Her body surged forward off the block and flew through the air as the gun filled with blanks echoed through the pool over the cheers of her teammates and a junior varsity members that had stayed to watch the scrimmage Coach Jason had decided to hold before qualifiers this week. Kailani's skin was encased by the cold slick feeling as she flew through the water, moving her body and feet as far as she could through her sore muscles, before she came to the surface and moved down the lane between two juniors, Madison Bernard and Bailey Crisps.
Kailani could feel the ache in her shoulders as she worked hard to pull herself through the water. She knew it was a horrible idea to practice all weekend non-stop with Hunter, but she genuinely wanted to figure out a way to get her boyfriend to not be so intense all the time. He was a nice guy, but her times were apparently too slow and Madison's were only getting better.
Which she didn't understand considering last she had checked Kailani was past Madison in practice.
Turning her head and taking a deep breath, Kailani made eye contact with Madison directly to her left, before her head went under yet again and she felt her body push forward, flipping along the wall, and pushing off back towards where Hunter was holding her timer at the end of the wall, ready to clock her time against Madison's.
Kailani wanted this. She really wanted this. She needed to beat Madison or she was screwed at the upcoming meet.
Pushing all thoughts out of her mind, Kailani took a deep breath and ignored all the pain pulsing through her body, pushing forward as hard as she could.
Meanwhile, on the bleachers watching the two rivals rip through the water down the long lanes of Mckinley's pool, Alisha, Kurt, Mercedes, and surprisingly to the Fineapples, The Unholy Trinity and Finn cheered loudly like the other swimmers and spectators.
"Let's go, Kailani!" Hunter yelled, bending down at the edge of the pool with the stop watch as they approached, neck and neck for first.
"You got this, girl!" Mercedes cheered, rolling her fist in the air.
"Swim! Swim Kai! Swim!" Kurt yelled, as Alisha punched his arm.
"What's she supposed to do? Drown?" She teased, turning and jumping to her feet, accidentally knocking her back on her back into Santana, who groaned and pushed her away. "Go Kai! Beat her!"
