Life in a Swimmer's Fins

•Prologue

My coach normally gives us pretty hard sets that everyone complains about but me. But today was particularly hard because, as my coach called it, today was "Work Your Butt Off Wednesday", but when we walked into the aquatic center and saw W.Y.B.O.W. on the board, we knew that practice was going to be two whole hours of hell.

•Chapter 1:

I have always been around water my entire life, and that's a pretty long time saying that I'm now 16. I began competeitive swimming when I was 4 and have fallen madly in love with it. Some of my best friends are on my team, which was soon to become the Malibu Marlins. My friend group seemed to consist of people with the same goals in mind, Olympic gold. First, there was Rebecca Shea, who is the fastest backstroker in Malibu. Then came Kayla Ross, one of the best backstrokers on our team. Then came was Spencer Key, possibly the hottest guy in the world, but back on subject, he is the best freestyler on our team. Then we get to me, Paige Windsor, the fastest butterflyer California has ever seen. Since we became eligable, my friends and I have been swimming or at least at Olympic trials every year that they are held, but there are so many people that we have come close but never have been able to make the US Olympic team. Even if we don't make the team, being able to swim in the same pool as Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin, and Natalie Coughlin is still pretty damn close to victory. We wanted victory, We were victory.

•Chapter 2:

Most of my friends know what I am capable of and what I do. But there is always going to be that one person who tries to constantly knock you flat on your ass. And in this case that person is Julia Meyers. Julia is that girl who everyone wants to be friends with or at least just be noticed by her, accept for me. And one day I let her know that because a she just pushed it too far. It all started when the team went to Captain Joe's Seafood Shop, and Julia came to my table where my friends and I ALWAYS sit. And she looked at me and said "Oh hey you guys why didn't you call me over to the like cool table?!?". I knew that the only way to reply to this was a sarcastic comment "Who invited you to the table of people who want and education past a GED?" After that comment my friends looked at me like "wtf did you just speak to her like that?!" Then Julia said something that just set me off more than it should have, she just stood there and looked at me with her stupid blue eyes and her stupid blonde hair and said, "Same people that invited you." And I said, "You know what bitch, while I have a really good paying job, you'll still be trying to figure out how to say the alphabet backwards!" And that's when the whole shop went silent and all that was heard was an array of oooohhhs and aaaahhhhs that were paired with eyes that just stared at me with the "did you just say that?" look. And that's when little miss beauty queen stormed out with everyone thinking it was my fault the was completely bat-shit stupid. From then on, I knew that she came straight out of hell to destroy what I had. After that, I would say how lucky the team was that she hadn't joined it, or worse, bought it. Until today.

•Chapter 3:

Remember what I said about the "she came to destroy me" thing, well the destruction was quick to begin, she had every boy wrapped around her little manicured finger because of how her boobs and butt looked in a suit, that always happened to be too small and show all of her butt which is why guys swooned at the sight of her. People always told me I was a leader and a level headed person but that all changed because of her, 'Little miss perfect', Julia Meyers. Her best stroke was nothing, but man could her daddy pay anyone to make her look good. For example, I raced her in the 200 butterfly, and of course she lost, but as I went to go grab my bag my coach called me over and talked to me about the race. He told me how much her daddy paid him, and made me tell people that she had won. However, there was no way in hell that i was telling people that and when Julia had flocks of people coming to her and laughing, she got mad. Personally, i think it was because she lost and her father couldn't pay their way out. The way I saw it was that, sorry I'm fast, sorry I am the best butterflyer in Malibu, and hate it for you but it is going to stay that way because success is measured by what you do, not by what you say, or how much your dad pays.