𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒: 𝐌𝐈𝐗 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐗 ✅

───※ ·42· ※───

───※ ·DAMIAN· ※───

I pulled my head above the water as I gasped for air and helped myself up to sit at the edge of the pool. The past few days were peaceful at school. It would've been better if my mother's health didn't get me anxious every time. I glanced at my other teammates still swimming in the pool while trying to come in second place. We were having a competition soon with the neighbouring school, Blossom High School, in a few days, and that was the reason we made the tryout in the past. The coach wasn't present, but I'd held a practice time and posted it in the group chat.

The second person to reach the edge of the pool was Hymn. He kept gasping for air as he adjusted himself to sit beside me. "Dropping out of the team once your set leaves. I can't handle this much."

"At least don't damage your shoulder while you're still on the team," I said to him, which earned me a confused look from him. I pointed at his left shoulder. "You kept tensing this shoulder when swimming. It will cause much damage in the future if you keep swimming that way."

He might be fast, but he was doing it dangerously. "You keep having a strong put when swimming. Are things going fine with you?"

Hymn kept quiet. I was the captain. My job was to make my teammates fit, both physically and mentally. "What do you enjoy doing?"

"Playing the guitar, writing songs," he answered. I nodded at that.

"Keep thinking about that when you're in the pool, and it might help." I said to him: "Your mind always seems to be clouded with negative thoughts when swimming."

"Noted," Hymn nodded. By this time, everyone was out of the pool.

I stood up, and Hymn followed. I looked at my teammates while giving the announcement. "That will be all for today's practice."

It felt like a heavy load got lifted off of their shoulders as most ran to the changing room. They should be lucky. If it were the coach, he would've done the worst drills.

───※ ·❆· ※───

I moved into the classroom once I was done changing into my uniform. My eyes naturally moved to Nsikan's seat. She waved warmly at me, and I couldn't help but smile. I was proud when I saw her results two days ago and the praise Mr. Akan showered on her during class. Plus, she was being nice to Elue, who was currently sitting on Nsikan's desk, irrespective of Stella's muted disapproval.

I got to my seat and sat down. Thompson had his hands around Muller's shoulder as they kept looking at something on Muller's phone. On Monday evening, Thompson had the most incredulous news. His dad had proposed to Nsikan's mum. Talk about bombshells.

"What are you both looking at?" I asked, bringing out my phone from my backpack.

"Suits to wear during Thompson's father's wedding," Muller responded, which earned him a smack at the back of his head.

"Don't mind him," Thompson said to me. "We were looking for a suit for our send-off party. You know it's around the corner."

Though we've got like weeks before that, Thompson was right. It was around the corner.

"The ceremony is always boring, but the party is the real deal, you know." Muller continued, handing his phone to Thompson, who kept looking for a nice suit.

"Yes," Thompson answered, turning to Muller. "So you can dance with all the girls from our class."

"Not all," Muller said in his defense. "If I dance with Nsikan, Damian will have my head cut off."

I laughed a little at his words. "I'm not possessive. I'm fine as long as you do not cross the line. She's your friend; you can dance with her if you want."