Synchronized Swimming

Chapter 28: Meeting the Guppies

Sang

"So where are the Guppies?" I ask, looking around the parking lot. The others mimic my movement.

"I don't know- I hope they're not late." Gabriel says. Just as he finishes speaking, six people walk out from the pool area. Five of them look like swimmers, so I'm guessing that the last person is their coach. All of them have matching green and black warmups.

The coach steps forwards before speaking. "Hello everyone, my name is Laura Davis. I'm the head coach of the Greensboro Guppies, and I would like to officially thank you for coming here today."

Mr. Blackbourne shakes her hand and introduces himself, Sean, and Raven as coaches. They step away to discuss the agenda, leaving us swimmers to become acquainted with each other. Kota immediately takes charge with the introductions. "My name is Kota- I'm the team captain for the Charleston Synchro Sharks. This is Silas, North, Victor, Gabriel, Sang, Luke, and Nathan. We're all sophomores. We're super excited to teach you guys some synchro!" he says animatedly.

The Guppies wave at us. One girl with long brown hair starts talking. "I'm the team captain of the Guppies. My name is Tasia, and I moved here from Greece awhile back. I'm also a sophomore" she says. All of the boys perk up when she says her name is Tasia, which I find a bit weird. Tasia seems to fit the classical definition of beauty, and she exudes confidence and self-assurance.

"Hi my name is Addie! I'm a junior. I've been looking forward to this ever since Coach Laura told us about it!" the girl next to Tasia gushes. She has long blonde hair separated into two braids that lend her a playful air. I can already tell that she has an incredibly bubbly personality.

The next girl introduces herself. "My name is Madeleine. I'm a sophomore, and I moved here from France five years ago." she says. While her introduction was friendly enough, her attitude seems kind of... cold. Maybe she just doesn't like strangers.

Gabriel seems excited when she mentions that she's French. "I speak French!" he exclaims. Madeleine looks at him and visible softens. She tucks a lock of hair delicately behind her ear. A weird anger starts to burn in my stomach. Where did that come from?

"My name is Grace! I'm in eighth grade. I've been swimming since I was seven!" the next girl says. She's shorter than the others and almost painfully thin. Big black glasses obscure her eyes. I look over at Kota and giggle- their glasses are almost the exact same type!

"My name is Jenna- I'm the co-captain for the Guppies. Grace and I are twins." the last girl introduces herself. I look between Grace and Jenna, trying to find any evidence that they are twins and failing miserably. Maybe their noses are the same shape? Jenna seems a lot more serious that Grace, which I guess is good if she's the co-captain.

The coaches walk up to us. "Who's ready to get started?" Sean asks. The Guppies and us cheer, with Addie contributing the loudest squeal.

We swim a decent warmup before getting to work. Since there are so many coaches, they decided to set up stations to work on different skills. The boys and I will rotate through them with the Guppies, offering assistance as needed but for the most part taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge that different coaches bring.

"Okay everyone, since we have four different coaches we'll have four different groups. Group one will be with Sean and includes Silas, Tasia, and North. Group two will work with Raven and includes Kota, Sang, Jenna, and Grace." Mr. Blackbourne starts to say. The boys darken when he says that I'll be in Raven's group, and I'm betting from Raven's smirk that he was the one who suggested it.

"Group three will be with me and have Gabriel, Madeleine, and Nathan. Finally, group four will work with Coach Laura and have Addie, Luke, and Victor." Mr. Blackbourne finishes. Gabriel groans when he hears his group, but quickly composes himself.

Kota and I wander over to Raven. Jenna and Grace follow right behind us, talking quietly. "Whiby dibo wibe hibave tibo hibave thibe scibariby ribussiban dibude?" Grace asks. I shake my head, wondering if I just completely zoned out or if she was speaking gibberish.

"Ibat libeast wibe dibo nibot hibave thibe stibern ciboach." Jenna responds. Definitely gibberish!

"What are you guys speaking?" Kota asks curiously. Jenna and Grace look at each other and shrug.

"It's our secret twin language." they say together. Kota thinks hard for a second, mouthing words to himself.

"Would you mind saying something else?" he asks. Jenna looks cautious but agrees to it anyway.

"Ibi wibant tibo ibeat sibome chibocibolibate ribight nibow." she says.

Kota stares at the ground for a second before suddenly exclaiming, "Ibi fibigibured ibit ibout!"

Jenna and Grace look at him with shock and dismay. "How'd you figure it out? No one on our team has gotten it and we've been speaking it around them for years!" Grace asks. I'm still clueless as to this twin language- I don't know how Kota got something from that gibberish.

Kota shrugs modestly. "Well, I figured that there was probably a pattern to it because it would be too much of a pain to actually learn a whole new language that only two people know. So, I listened carefully and discovered that you're just putting 'ib' at each syllable." he explains. I can't believe that Kota found the pattern after only listening to it three times!

I mentally try to figure out how to say Sang. Would it be Ibsang? Sangib? Sibang? How did Kota get this?

Raven finally seems to tire of our conversation and waves his hand to get our attention. "Okay Group two, let's get to work. First, we should come up with a better name for ourselves than Group Two. Any ideas?" he says. While Kota and the twins are figuring out names, Raven moves closer to me. "So Zayka, did you see the little Blackbournes when Mr. Blackbourne said you're in my group? They looked like they would implode." he says conversationally.

He's calling me Zayka? It means bunny in Russian, so I guess it's not the worst nickname ever, but it is a bit weird.

"Sang, what do you think of Synchro Squared for our group name?" Kota asks me.

"Because there are four of us, and two different teams, and two people from each team!" Grace explains.

"Sounds good to me." I don't really care one way or the other, but the alliteration does sound nice.

Raven looks at us seriously before exclaiming, "Now that we have a name, let's swim!"