Synchronized Swimming

Chapter 23: The Guessing Game

Kota

I stare in shock at Sang's face. Her nose is completely black and blue! Nathan stills beside me, his muscles tensing involuntarily. I know that he is gearing up to hurt whoever harmed Sang, and I'll be joining him.

Sang's eyes widen when we stare at her. Did she think we wouldn't notice her face? Gabe's going to have a rough time trying to hide the bruising with makeup.

"Why are you guys staring at Sang Baby like that?" North asks from the doorway while glaring at Nathan and me for having the gall to look at Sang. I try to signal to Nathan to keep calm- North is going to blow up anyway so we might as well try to mitigate the yelling- but for once he doesn't understand my silent communication.

"Look at Sang's face, North!" he shouts. Sang pales as North lunges to look at her. Instantly he turns crimson and his eyes take on a dangerous glint.

"Who did this to you, Sang Baby?" he asks in a scarily calm tone. Sang starts to shake as she looks at North. She opens up her mouth to speak, but no words come out.

This is bad.

"Sang, you can tell us if someone hurt you. We aren't mad at you, I promise." I say gently, trying to get her to relax. Sang's shaking becomes worse so I take her hand; my thumb traces an infinity design on her palm.

"It was one of you guys." she says. Instantly, her eyes show horror but it is nothing compared to the bolt of agony that pierces my heart. One of my brothers hurt Sang? Nathan and North besides me have a similar reaction.

North recovers the quickest. "Who was it?" he roars. Sang starts whipping her head back and forth in denial.

"No, you don't understand!" she cries out. I hear pounding in the hallway, followed by a banging noise as the door to the kitchen is pushed open roughly. My other six brothers come charging into the room to investigate all of the yelling. Five of them start when they see Sang, but Dr. Green just  looks exasperated.

Everyone starts talking, desperately seeking facts. My eyes narrow as I try to deduce who hurt Sang- the only person who doesn't look surprised and outraged is Dr. Green. He's gesturing widely and saying something to Mr. Blackbourne, who looks as angry as I've ever seen him, but Dr. Green remains calm. It has to be him!

I stalk over to my second eldest brother, fists clenched. Just as I'm getting ready to swing, Sang grabs my arm tight.

"Stop Kota! All of you, listen up because I'm only saying this once." she shouts. Once she has our attention, she continues in a softer voice, "Yesterday at practice someone hit me in the face while we were swimming team. It was an accident!"

Oh. "Did you tell anyone? What if it had been serious?" I ask worriedly.

"Sang told me last night and I checked to make sure that her nose was okay. She iced it and had some Tylenol before bed." Dr. Green says. That certainly would explain why he looked so calm.

"I don't care if it was an accident, I still want to know who hit you!" North spits out. A sudden thought occurs to me that'll shine light on this whole problem.

"Didn't you guys see the routine? Who hit Sang?" I ask Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green. They look at each other briefly before saying in unison, "The bee."

"So no one actually saw what happened?" I confirm. Eight heads nod around me. Great.

"Synchro is a contact sport- we'll have to get used to Sang getting the occasional bruise." Victor points out.

"Yeah, but this is worse than just a bruise!" Nathan says vehemently.

"Guys, I'm right here. I'm fine, don't worry about it." Sang says. Mr. Blackbourne uses this as his moment to gain control of the conversation.

"Ms. Sorenson is obviously okay, and Mr. Morgan is right that we'll need to get used to Sang getting a bruise or scrape since she is swimming with us on the team. Now, this has been quite enough yelling for one morning. Everybody needs to pack because we are leaving for Greensboro right after Ms. Sorenson's physical." he states. Recognizing the dismissal, I sit back down to finish my cereal. Even though it's soggy, I finish it robotically, lost in thought about the argument.

A gentle hand rests on my shoulder. I look up into Sang's green glass eyes and blink at the clear affection I see reflected in them. "I promise you Kota, I'm fine. Great, actually. If I have to repeat myself fifty-two times, I will."

"Why fifty-two?" I ask curiously. Besides being the atomic number of tellurium and the number of weeks in a year, I can't think of any significance to the number. To my surprise, Sang blushes and looks away.

"I'll tell you later." she mumbles. Before I can dig any further, Gabe envelopes Sang in a hug.

"Do you want any help packing?" he asks. Sang looks hesitant before accepting. The two wander off, leaving me alone with my empty cereal bowl. Everyone else has already left to start packing, so I mechanically load the dishwasher and wipe down the counter. I'm just trying to kill time- I already packed last night.

"Hey Kota!" Sang calls out from behind me. I start and whip around to face her.

"You need to make some noise when you walk!" I joke. Sang smiles before gesturing to her outfit.

"I match with you guys now!" she says happily. She put on some black shorts, a Charleston Synchro Sharks shirt, and her warmup jacket. To complete the athletic vibe, she pulled her hair back into a slick ponytail with a pretty blue elastic band. Gabe must have worked his makeup magic because while her nose is still a bit darker than normal, it no longer looks bruised.

"You look great Sang! I don't think I got a chance to tell you last night, but congrats on making the team." I tell her. Sang's smile grows into a full grin.

"Thank you! One thing that I've been dying to know is how you guys chose your name. Teams normally pick graceful names, and not to be rude or anything but the Sharks isn't very graceful at all. Besides, Mr. Blackbourne seems like he would want a more normal name." she says. I laugh as I remember our whole naming fiasco.

"We weren't supposed to be called the Charleston Synchro Sharks originally- our name at first was the Charleston Cherubfish. Luke, however, decided that he didn't like that name, so when he was tasked with turning in our official team paperwork, he changed the name without telling anyone. Mr. Blackbourne was lived!" I say. Sang giggles softly.

"Stop that giggling Pookie, we have to get going!" Dr. Green calls out as he walks into the kitchen.

"There's still two hours until my physical though!" Sang protests. Dr. Green winks at her before taking her hand.

"I know, but I have a special surprise for you beforehand. Are you ready to go now?" he asks. Sang nods and leaves the kitchen once again, only this time with Dr. Green instead of Gabe. I sigh- maybe at the clinic I'll manage to get a few uninterrupted minutes with her.

I head upstairs to talk with Mr. Blackbourne. There's still a lot of planning to be done, and I just thought of the perfect gift to get Sang as a welcome to the team present. I walk into the room Mr. Blackbourne is using as an office to see him looking rattled.

Worry shines through his calm façade as he faces me. "There's been a slight complication with the mission, Mr. Lee." he states gravely.