I texted Mum, letting her know I would be catching the bus to diving training seeing as it was only 20 minutes away. I didn’t really want to be in the same car as her because I was scared that she would either break down and cry all over me, or I would be the one breaking down. She texted back saying it was fine, so thank you lord! I was excited but scared about seeing James in the afternoon. What if it was awkward between us? Or what if he was nervous about seeing me again? I guess I’d just have to find out.
As soon as I got to school, I shed James’s jumper immediately, so I wasn’t given any more questions about it. I made sure it was dried out from the rain, which had (unfortunately) cleared up. Walking down to the bus stop, I wondered if James caught the early bus to school every day. Hardly ever caught the bus, and last time was 3 months ago, maybe he was only recently catching it? Oh well, I thought, maybe I could ask him this afternoon. I felt the familiar sensation of butterflies swooping around in my stomach as I pictured his perfect face in my head. I was lucky to even be friends with me and I definitely didn’t deserve someone as good as him. I felt tears prick my eyes, and I angrily blinked them away as I hopped on the bus.
20 minutes later, my palms were sweaty, I felt like throwing up, and there were huge mutant butterflies in my stomach doing backflips… if this is love, then the feeling sucks, I thought to myself as I walked up to the pool. There was a very narrow hallway walking into the pool and I had to walk sideways to fit me and my big bag in. It wasn’t even wide enough for me to stretch my arms out! Of course, me having the best luck in the world, James walked in and I groaned loudly as I realised this was going to be awkward. He smirked at me and chuckled lightly, the sounds echoing off the walls around us. He was still in his school uniform as well, and his eyes sparkled with amusement and if I’m not mistaken, a bit of concern too. I frowned wondering what on earth he could be worried about, but brushed it off as he started walking towards me.
“Hi,” he said cautiously, he was only a few feet away from me and he didn’t look like he was going to come any closer. What? It’s not like I’m an injured animal or anything right? Am I contagious with a disease or something? I noticed him looking at me funny and I realised I hadn’t said hi yet. “Hey,” I said confidently. I saw him smiling a little and I looked down, my long eyelashes brushing my cheeks. I took a few steps forward and placed my bag down behind me. He looked up at me in surprise as I walked forward slowly, still looking down at my feet. When I was just in front of him, I reached up and hugged him. He was still for a few seconds, and then started to hug me back. I looked up at him and met his eyes.
“Thank you for being there for me this morning,” I said blushing a little. I grabbed his jumper out of my bag and walked back up to him, handing the jumper to him with my bag on my shoulder. He smiled at me, “That’s ok Rayne, I’m here for you ok?” I nodded happily. This was the perfect moment! I finally felt like we understood each other, that is until a very pretty tall blonde walked into the hallway and reached out for James’s hand. She practically glowed! She had bright blue eyes that glittered and long blonde hair that framed her face, highlighting the light freckles spattered across her nose lightly.
“Um, James? Who’s this?” she asked in a soft voice looking at me with disgust in her eyes. James’s eyes snapped back up from me in surprise, only just noticing that she was holding his hand.
“Oh right well Rayne, this is Jess, my um girlfriend,” James said looking at me carefully. I felt something inside me snap, how could he have a girlfriend? And to think I actually thought he liked me? My life is just not looking up at the moment, but I refused to show how much he had hurt me, so I put on a brave face and a fake smile. “Hi,” I said, sticking my hand out for her to shake. She looked at my hand then at my face and stuck her chin out. “Fantastic to meet you,” Jess said, sarcasm dripping off her words. She ignored my hand and instead clung to James tightly. James was looking at me with a blank expression on his face, and I stared back, careful not to let any emotion show on my face. “So are you new here Jess?” I asked not taking my eyes of James. She snorted with laughter, “Nuh duh! State champion diver, are you anything special?” she asked me sneering. I was about to reply when James cleared his throat and Jess looked at him. “Well, I’m gonna go get changed, hate to be late,” I said looking down at the ground frowning. And with that, I pushed past Jess and James, furious that he just introduced me to his girlfriend and didn’t even have the guts to say anything.
I didn’t look back and walked straight into the change rooms to get changed into my togs. When I came out and walked into the pool area, I saw Jess doing 4 perfect flips into the air off the 5 metre diving board, and landing in the water smoothly with no splash at all. I heard applauding and looked over to see James clapping like mad. Jess resurfaced, her blonde hair floating around her head like a halo in the water. She was grinning from ear to ear waving at James. I rolled my eyes and walked over behind James who was about to dive next. He didn’t notice me and I was trying to blend into the background as much as possible. Jess hopped out of the water and walked over behind me.
“So, Storm,” she said sneering at me.
I rolled my eyes, “it’s Rayne,” I replied wearily.
“Whatever, you ever made it to states?” she asked me. James turned around and finally noticed me, I ignored him and looked away. “Actually Jess, I don’t compete,” I replied shrugging my shoulders, “I don’t find the need to show off in front of other people about how fantastic I am,” I said looking out into the water. She started laughing hysterically, just about rolling on the floor, and I felt tears spring to my eyes as I looked down again. I could feel James looking at me, and I didn’t want him to see me break down again. Jess had finally stopped laughing and was wiping away a few stray tears, “You’re just not good enough for anyone,” she said, “Second best for James and too chicken to even compete in diving huh? Well don’t worry, no one would notice you anyway.”
My tears were just about to spill over and I wasn’t going to give her or James the satisfaction of seeing me upset, so I ran. I ran out of the pool area with Jess’s laughter ringing in my ears. I looked up now and the tears started spilling over. My vision was blurry but I just kept running and didn’t stop until I was in the bathrooms. I was running so fast, that I couldn’t stop, and I frantically grasped out into the air trying to grab onto something before I fell. I let out a loud scream that echoed throughout the bathrooms before I felt a shooting pain in my leg. Then everything went black.
“Oh my gosh! Is she ok!? You have to let me come in the ambulance with her! I’m her friend please!!” I heard a frantic voice say. I groaned in pain and everything went silent.
“Is she awake?!” I heard the same voice say. My whole body was aching form pain, and opening my eyes felt like lifting weights! Finally they snapped open, and I saw James and a man in a paramedics outfit looking down at me. I looked around frantically, trying to figure out what was going on, then I remembered my fall. I closed my eyes again and groaned loudly.
“Are you in pain?” James asked frantically, his eyes scanning my face anxiously. I nodded, which hurt my neck a lot and I started crying because the pain was so bad. My left leg and my back was aching and soon I was sobbing uncontrollably. I’m not sure if I was just sobbing from the pain, or seeing James here trying to help me when he rejected me only just before. His face was twisted in pain and the paramedic started wheeling me away on a stretcher. Wait!? When did I get on a stretcher? He wheeled me into the ambulance, and James followed behind like a loyal puppy. The paramedic sighed, “Is it ok if he comes in the ambulance with you? He says he’s your friend?” I closed my eyes and nodded gently trying to hold in the sobs. I felt someone grab my hands and I opened my eyes to see James standing there staring at me with so much care and pain in his eyes. I closed my eyes again and fell asleep with him by my side and holding my hands still.
