I think my heart just stopped, I can’t breathe anymore. My blood runs cold and I see my dad. He walks with confidence, his hair gelled to perfection and his suit ironed to a clean finish.
Everything happens in slow motion. For just a second he smirks and the next every swimmer is in the water, except me. Me. The one who should be in the water winning this damn thing and my father just stands there with a look of disgust and satisfaction.
So what do I do in that moment? Well I can tell you what I don’t do; I don’t dive in. I don’t start swimming. I don’t win the race. And I definitely don’t win the bet. Instead I throw up right there for everyone to see.
The yearbook kid takes this opportunity to take a “few” pictures of me, and so do most of my classmates in the crowd. You can literally hear every snap shot they take. After I’m done with my… situation, everyone just stares and laughs. No one comes to help me, not even my coach. I just run to the locker room in shame, and lock myself in a bathroom stall.
All of my dreams vanish in thin air. What happened in that moment? Was the shock of seeing my father there so horrifying that I just couldn’t finish the race? Was my lunch really that bad? I think of all of the disappointments and embarrassments I’ve had in my lifetime, and yet none of them combined could be as horrible as what just happened out there.
I sink down to the floor, and cry.
I wait until the lights shut off to I get out of the locker room. It’s amazing what you overhear when you’re stuck in the bathroom stall for 3 hours.
First off, I didn’t do that whole conundrum for just a show. Apparently my swim team thinks so and they are planning on kicking my butt the next time they see me. Great.
Second of all, when I leave the locker room my coach is talking to yearbook boy by the pool. They look busy and somehow they don’t notice me. Third, my dad was serious about the bet. Because when I step out onto the parking lot, my car is gone. And not only that, but I left my freaking phone in there too! Gosh, could this day get any worse? And just to emphasize that yes, this could get worse, I hear thunder and it starts to pour.
I mutter some choice words, and run. I don’t know really where I’m going since everything’s deserted and anything past my school is pitch black. I struggle to find somewhere to wait out, but there’s nowhere to go. I open the front doors to school, and they’re locked. I run around the building and go back to the pool entrance, and I’ve lucked out. I still have the key to the pool doors and I walk right in. Coach and the boy are gone, so it’s just the pool and me.
Without a thought I take off my clothes and jump right in. The water feels soothing, and I just lay there in a back float. I don’t understand how just a few hours ago I simply hated being here, but now I feel like there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
I feel like I belong.
