Awa'altu High: ATWOW highschool au!!

Ao'nung

Ao'nung left econ a few minutes early to help Rotxo set everything up. He was already there when Ao'nung got to the pool, cleaning the water with a skimmer. Rotxo's face lit up when he saw his friend. "You ready?" he called, voice echoing across the water. "Yeah, sure," Ao'nung grinned, nodding. Honestly, he was. He loved swimming, and he loved the team. He was anxious and horrified beyond belief, but he would ignore that. He simply had to, for now. He'd left himself no other option. Ao'nung dropped his stuff in the locker room, tying his hair up in a lazy knot. He sighed to himself and went to go help.

"Do you have the name sheet?" Rotxo asked, leaning against the pole of the skimmer. "Yeah, I do," Ao'nung nodded absentmindedly. Rotxo exhaled sharply out of his nose. "Wanna go get it?" he asked, poking Ao'nung in the side. Ao'nung rolled his eyes and nodded, heading back into the lockers. He found it crumpled up in between two binders. Ao'nung cringed to himself, trying his best to flatten it out against his knee. Rotxo came into the lockers, skimmer abandoned somewhere outside. "Bell's gonna ring in 5," he said, going to his locker and pulling out his swimsuit. "Yeah, I know," Ao'nung grumbled, setting the paper down on the bench. Rotxo glanced over and laughed under his breath. Ao'nung rolled his eyes and changed into his trunks, deciding to leave his shirt on as long as he could. "We could do a few warm up laps," Rotxo suggested. "Nah, let's just wait," Ao'nung answered, shaking his head. "Come on, man. Scared I'll beat you?" Ao'nung scoffed. "Okay, fine, but when people start showing up we have to help them." Rotxo grinned and nodded.

Ao'nung left his shirt balled up at the edge of the pool. He knew he could beat Rotxo if they were actually racing, but since it was a warm up, they kept pace with each other. People began showing up about five minutes after the bell rang, nervously clutching drawstring bags and watching the two boys swim. Ao'nung flagged Rotxo down and the two of them came to a stop. Ao'nung scanned the crowd. Neteyam wasn't there yet. He sighed, pushing himself out of the pool and getting to his feet. "Okay, boys lockers to the left, girls to the right," he shouted, addressing the crowd as a whole. When no one moved, he heard Rotxo laugh from where he still stood in the water. "That means you guys can go change now," he called. The crowd dispersed, whispers echoing throughout the bunch. A chorus of soft laughter came from the group of girls. Ao'nung glanced over, feeling himself flush at the amount of eyes that were briefly on him. "Forgot about that part," he joked, helping Rotxo out of the water. "I didn't," Rotxo grinned. "Where do we go?" asked a soft voice with a heavy accent. Ao'nung recognized it immediately. He whirled around to face Neteyam. "Boys to the left, girls to the right," he grinned. Neteyam had tied his braids back from his face and taken off his necklaces. They hung loosely from his fist. "Thanks," Kiri muttered, pushing her brothers towards the correct lockers. Tsireya sighed softly, waving at her brother. "How many showed?" she asked. "A lot more than last year, that's for sure," Rotxo laughed. "Good, that's good," she nodded, heading off to change. A few people were starting to trickle out, clutching goggles and swim caps and crossing their arms over their chests. Rotxo nudged Ao'nung. "Come on, we should go say hi," he whispered. Ao'nung sighed, nodding reluctantly. The two of them made their way over, Rotxo smiling kindly and Ao'nung trying his hardest not to cringe. "Hi guys," Rotxo said, shaking everyone's hands. "I'm Rotxo, this is Ao'nung," he said, gesturing over his shoulder. "We're the captains," Ao'nung said, forcing a smile. The group was quiet. Ao'nung recognized a few of them, the ones that were in Reya's grade. The rest must be underclassmen, he thought. He  "Excuse him," Rotxo laughed. "He's the better swimmer, but I'm the better coach." He patted Ao'nung on the back. "He'll warm up to everyone eventually," he assured the group. A girl laughed softly. At that time, the remaining people filed out of the lockers. Ao'nung counted 18 boys and 26 girls. He knew they wouldn't have enough lanes for everyone, not even close. He glanced over at Rotxo, watching his eyes move around the crowd as he counted. "Okay, so, what we're going to do is," Ao'nung paused. "Okay. How many of you have swam before?" A handful of people raised their hands. "Okay. If you've swam before, go with Ao'nung," Rotxo finished. Ao'nung nodded, backing away from the group and beckoning them to follow.

"Oh, hell no," Ao'nung said immediately, locking eyes with Lyle. He saw curious heads turn at his outburst. "I'm sorry?" Lyle asked, tilting his head to the side. "I told you not to even bother showing up," Ao'nung hissed, taking a step towards him. "I don't think you can do that," Lyle laughed. "You're not even a coach." Ao'nung gestured around them. "Do you see a coach here? No. This is a student lead sport. By me. And Rotxo. And we both-" "Ao, we can't stop him from trying out," he heard Rotxo whisper from behind him. Ao'nung clenched his jaw. "Why not?" he whispered back, glancing at his friend. "Because, it's not fair." Ao'nung sighed, rubbing his face with both hands. "Okay, fine," he muttered. "Go with the rest of them," he snapped at Lyle. "But I've swam before," he argued, brow furrowing. "Yeah, and you're ass at it," Ao'nung retorted. "And because Rotxo is a lot nicer than I am. It's for the best," he finished, gesturing dramatically over his shoulder. Lyle groaned and went, shouldering his way past Ao'nung. Ao'nung felt his blood pressure spike and closed his eyes, counting to ten. "Don't," Tsireya hissed. "I won't," Ao'nung snapped, glaring at her. He grinned and looked at the group of people in front of him, mostly familiar faces. "Hi guys," he said, voice filled with false positivity. "Let's start over. My name is Ao'nung Kogoya, and I will be one of your two captains for this season. Tsireya here," he said, gesturing, "Is my sister. She'll help with the girl's team when we do gender-based practices. We split you guys in two because we clearly have two pools, but they only have ten lanes." He paused, thinking of what to say next. "Because of the amount of people we have here today, these try-outs will be competitive. Rotxo's helping with the newer people, because he's a lot more patient than I am." He heard soft laughter echo around the crowd. Ao'nung did a quick headcount. Four girls and five boys. "Wow, only nine of you. Great, nothing wrong with a younger team," he said sarcastically, laughing to himself. Spider scoffed softly from the crowd. He stood by Ninat, hands on his hips. Ao'nung grinned at him, rolling his eyes. "Okay, let's get warm and get wet," he said, clapping his hands once. Another echo of giggles from the group. Ao'nung nodded as they sat down in a circle, preparing to stretch.

Ao'nung glanced over and saw Rotxo leading the remaining people through the same stretches. Neteyam's back was to him. With his hair up, Ao'nung could see the turn of his neck and the strength of his shoulders, complimented by the slim line of his waist. He swallowed deeply and returned his attention to his group, aware of Tsireya's eyes on him from across the circle. He glanced over at her, seeing a small smile spread across her face. 'What?' he mouthed, shrugging. She shook her head, smiling to herself.

When they were finished with stretching, he watched the group carefully as they started water warm-ups. Rotxo came up to him, a question written on his face. "Can we switch?" he whispered, glancing up at Ao'nung. "That bad, huh?" Ao'nung asked, trying not to laugh. Rotxo nodded. "I don't have the heart to tell them they suck, but other people need to use the lanes," he whispered. Ao'nung grinned. "Yeah, okay. Have fun," he said, turning and jogging over to the other pool. Ten swimmers were in the water now. Two of them were doing considerably well. The other eight were lagging behind significantly. Ao'nung stood away from the group of people waiting for a turn. He whistled loudly when the two proficient swimmers reached the wall. The rest of them froze and came up for air, treading water and looking at Ao'nung. "Okay, you eight, step out please," he called, beckoning with his hand. He was relieved to see that none of the Sully family was in that group. Kiri was one of the two he approved of, however. Kiri and some other girl with red hair. Ao'nung didn't get a good look at her before he sent them off to Rotxo's group. He selected ten people randomly, accidentally including both Sully boys. Neteyam smiled at him as he walked by, eyes darting up into Ao'nung's before returning to the ground. He'd taken off his bracelets as well, Ao'nung noticed. He almost didn't want to watch the two Sullys', in case he had to tell them they weren't good enough. However, to his relief, they were surprisingly good. Neteyam had a very good natural rhythm. He didn't even bother watching Lo'ak, but the two of them finished at the same time, so Ao'nung assumed he was just as good. Neteyam's rhythm truly was impressive. He swam like he was barely even trying, like it was second nature. In truth, Ao'nung was too distracted to focus on the rest of them. He felt his face redden as the remaining swimmers looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to dictate their next move.