just another SENIOR year

JASY (4 part 2)

I looked down at my plate and decided that if I ate it I would most likely throw it up at practice, which would be a complete waste of perfectly good fettuccini alfredo.  I looked at my mom and told I would need a box. She smiled at me knowingly and called to the waitress. We got the check and the box and started to put on our coats. I looked at the clock and froze.

“Shit.” I said hastily.

“What?” my mom asked looking at me like I’m crazy.

“Oh nothing... I’m just running a little late…”

“Are you sure you’re not reading the clock wrong again?” she said glancing at the clock. When she read the time she froze too. We grabbed the food and rushed out of the restaurant.

“Call Blake” she said.

“One step ahead of you” I said with the phone already plastered to my ear ringing.

“Where are you?” Blake asked.

“Headed your way…”

“Em you know what today is… you’re not setting a good example for the girls.”

“I know. I’m only ten minutes late Blake. Just have them do stretches I’ll be there in a minute.”

“All right. See you soon.”

I hung up and realized that I was outside of the pool. I ran into the building and then walked onto the deck to see Nadine and Jaime sitting there in their suits stretching.

“NAYNAY!!!! JAY!!!” I yelled to them. When they heard this they got up and almost tackled me into the water.

Blake was sitting there laughing. He knew how close I was with these girls.

“Hey girly!!” Naynay said.

“Running a bit late girl?” said Jay.

“Shut up.” I said smiling. They knew I had a problem with time.

Blake stopped laughing and came over to tell me to go get changed and then to do my warm ups and stretches.

After I ran through my stretches I jumped in the water and did a 100 yard warm up. As soon as my body landed in the water I felt the familiar shattering of my body as the icy water invaded my bubble of dryness. The icy fingers surrounded me and pushed me faster. With the water gliding over my body it was easier to kick and push faster. My arms cut the water and propelled me faster still in the water. In what seemed a blink of an eye, I was done with my warm up and hefted myself out of the water onto the deck.

“Nice warm up. You’re getting stronger. Now look at the board.”

I glanced at the white board we used for practice and saw what we were working on.

“302?? No! Blake I can’t d Satan’s spawn. It’s just not something I can do.”

“Em, can I talk to you in the hallway? Grab your towel.”

I grabbed my towel and followed him into the hallway.

“Blake doesn’t even start to yell at me. I’m not ready for it yet.”

“Em do you trust me?” he began.

“Blake you know that I do.” I said

“Good. Because you know that to be able to do what you do, you have to trust your coach. And know that he knows when you’re ready to do a dive or not. I know you are ready for this dive.”

“Blake no I’m not.”

“Dammit Em. Yes you are. The only reason you can’t go in there and do it is because you are mentally stopping yourself. Stop. It’s not a game. This is to prove to Aaron that you can do this regardless of what happened three years ago. Understand?”