"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...
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"Kailani!"
Hearing the muffled sound of their name from under the water, Kailani Hummel pushed off the bottom of the rough tile floor. They kicked their feet lightly as their body floated back to the surface of the deep end.
The moment their face broke the thick seal of the surface, fighting against the tight wall of cold water, Kailani inhaled deeply. Their lungs felt like they hadn't taken a breath in years, welcoming the all too familiar sound of exhaust fans buzzing from the ceilings, echoing through the large room. Blue eyes fluttered water of their lashes as they looked around the waking of water, finding their brother's impatient foot tapping on the poolside.
"I swear." Kurt rolled his eyes. "One of these days you're going to drown."
Kailani whisked their arms in front of them and grabbed onto the lane rope, looking around as their fuzzy memory kept them from recovering how they ended up in the pool. As Kurt continued to fuss at them, they took a few deep breaths to calm their heart rate and swam the rest of the way across the lanes, grabbing onto the side and ripping their goggles off.
"Do you even come up for air?" Kurt's tone laced with worry when he noticed his siblings' chest heaving and their eyes darting around the pool. "But, in all realness, are you okay?"
"What?" Kailani looked up at their brother. Their head shook one way, then bobbed the other. They tore off their swim cap to help relieve the tension squeezing on their temples. "I'm alright. Yeah. The water helps me think."
Did it? Kailani didn't even know what they were in the water thinking about. Beside a weird hazy vision of pink and green, even some blue, Kailani couldn't recall what made her get into the water.
"We've got thirty minutes till the bell. I'd get ready." Kurt suggested, checking the time on his phone. He bent down and held out his hand to his sibling. "Come on, Kai."
A wave of comfort washed over Kailani as their eyes met.
"Thanks, Kursty." They hummed.
Kailani took their brother's hand and accepted his help out of the pool. It would have been much easier to swim over to the ladder, but they had enough strength to help Kurt feel like he was strong enough to pull his twin out of the water. They ran their fingers through their hair and smiled to themself, feeling the short damp strands of ash brown between their fingers.
Kurt waited for Kailani as they grabbed their towel and covered the skin tight McKinley Guppy's swimsuit.
"Karofsky get you?" Kailani asked when they noticed a piece of lettuce stuck to the back of their brother's Marc Jacobs jacket. They brushed it off and pulled out a few wrinkles. "He got me this morning, too."
