On Purpose

Chapter 1: Early Bird

———James———

Monday, August 19th, 2019

"Fuck, it's early," Donovan said as he opened the locker next to me, looking about as exhausted as I felt. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his dark, shaggy hair looked uncombed.

"You better get used to it. It's only the second week of the semester," Ryan said, sounding equally tired. Ryan had picked up some ridiculous tan lines over the summer, but everyone was still too sleepy to properly tease him, aside from a few mumbled snickers as our other teammates passed by on the way out to the pool.

Ryan and Donovan were humans on the swim team. Both were Junior science majors, so we had no classes together. We didn't hang out much outside of team events, but they were pretty cool.

I tried to say something in agreement, but I only managed to yawn instead. It was a miracle I hadn't quit or gotten kicked off the swim team with how often I was late to or missed early morning practices. Honestly, My continued participation probably had more to do with Anthony's frustration at my series of alarms than with my dedication. I would definitely struggle with being on time this season now that we weren't sharing a room.

While the rest of the team was grumbling sleepily or changing in exhausted silence, the locker room door burst open with a bang, causing me to jump. A short blonde guy walked in with a huge smile. He had a few leaves in his hair, and his scent was earthy, so I felt pretty safe assuming he was a druid.

"Good morning!" He chirped, seemingly to no one in particular. He had dimples when he smiled, and his eyes practically sparkled. I honestly wouldn't have been surprised if he'd emitted literal rainbows. The rest of the team grumbled in response, but it didn't seem to phase him.

"Hi!" He said brightly as he dropped his bag on the bench next to me. "Do we just pick a locker?"

"Uh, yeah," I said as I tried to blink the sleep out of my eyes. "I'm James, one of the seniors on the team. I take it you're a freshman, uh..."

"Oh, I'm Lark! Nice to meet you!" he said as he stuck out a hand to shake mine. "I missed the first team meeting, but I'm really excited for our first official practice!" He gave it a stronger grip than I expected when I put my hand in his.

"Oh, you're a— you're a wolf?" Lark asked as he dropped his voice to a whisper, confirming my assumption. Druids had an uncanny ability to recognize anything they touched. I wasn't sure if it was heightened senses or a magical sort of intuition, but it was always spot-on. 

"Yeah, but most of the guys on the team are human, so don't be too loud about it," I said softly.

"Of course," he replied with earnest seriousness.

"You also probably want to get rid of these," I said as I plucked a leaf from his hair. I had always thought druids covered themselves with leaves on purpose, but I had a feeling Lark probably didn't even know they were there.

"Oh, shit, I forgot," Lark said as he ducked behind his open locker door and shook the handful of leaves out of his hair. "I was so excited about practice this morning that I didn't even notice. Thanks, James."

A few of the guys were already making their way out to the pool. Most were still too sleepy to pay us attention, but a few shot Lark annoyed glances. Despite his unreasonable amount of enthusiasm at 5:30 in the morning, I couldn't find it in me to be annoyed with how earnest he seemed.

"No problem, Birdie," I said, clapping him on the shoulder with a smile. "You probably want to hurry, though. Coach Miller hates it when we're late getting in the water."