The Ghost of the Lake

Chapter 25

"Rue, I'm fine," I said for the fifteenth time since we left the park. We were still inside the car. Rue was deciding whether he should take me home or take me to swimming practice.

"But you looked very pale," Rue insisted for the sixteenth time. "Maybe I should take you home. I will call the swimming coach."

"Rue, don't! I can't miss a day of practice. My first meet is coming up," I argue.

"Opal, you passed out. I think I should call Nelly."

"You will do no such thing. You will drive me to the pool and drop me off. Then you will come back to get me," I command him.

"Opal, look at yourself."

"Rue, I'm fine. I'm probably dehydrated, low on blood sugar, or just lack of air. You know all those reasons."

He looks at me for a while. He has a worried expression on his face. Then he sighs.

"I guess I can't change your mind," he says as he gets up.

He grabs his keys from his pocket and nods over to the door. Sort of like saying 'lets go'. I get up and we walk towards the exit.

***

I got to the pool without a minute to spare. I waved goodbye to Rue and rushed inside. I went into the girls locker room, took off my shirt and shorts, left them in the nearest locker, and went outside to the pool.

Everyone was already in the water. My heart created its own gymnastics act after noticing that Coach still hadn't showed up. I dove into the nearest lane. I noticed that Julia was in the lane next to mine.

"Hi, Opal. You were almost late," she points out.

"Yeah, Rue and I were coming back from the park," I reply.

"Oh did you have fun?" she asks me.

"Yeah. Rue got us ice-cream."

"Oh fun. I usually go there with my mom after school."

"During the school year, right?"

"Yeah during the school year."

"Well that's cool. Everyday after school I would walk or ride the bus home. Then I would do my homework, get a snack, watch some tv, maybe draw, and I would finally eat dinner," I say. Then, "I guess some people just have a more interesting life than others."

"Thats not really true. Everyone has an interesting life. By the way, Leo is here. Thought you might want to know."

She points towards a guy sitting on the bleachers. He was looking down at his phone writing something on it. I just nod.

Just then Coach walks in. "Hello everybody," she says.

"You're late," says Archie.

"Sorry everybody," she says. Then continues, "I had to get through traffic to get here. Did you stretch before entering the water?"

Whoops! I had totally forgotten about the stretches. I just hope I don't get any cramps while I'm swimming. That would be really bad.

No one else says that they haven't done their stretches. Coach nods and says, "Well I guess it should be obvious to do that before you get into the water. You can start on your warm ups now."

I kick off the wall and start with my breaststroke. I reach the other end of the wall and continue with my backstroke. I repeat with my butterfly stroke and my freestyle. I complete my warm ups and wait at the side of the wall. Everyone else finishes and we wait together for further instructions.