Synchronized Swimming

Chapter 48: The Escape Room

Sang

Light floods the room as someone yanks open the curtains. I reach for the covers to block out the horrendous light, but when I realize I kicked them off in the night I admit defeat and open up my eyes. I'm confronted with the sight of Luke cheerfully bouncing around the room. He pulls the blanket off of the other bed, much to Nathan's dismay.

"It's our break day, go back to sleep," Nathan mumbles. Luke wags his finger back and forth, his eyes alight with energy.

"Nope! Kota said if we leave in the next fifteen minutes we can get a treat on the way to the surprise, so hurry up! Silas has been up for hours so it's only you two sleepy heads holding us back," Luke says. With one last longing look at my pillow I pull myself out of bed. I grab a Synchro Sharks shirt and some shorts and change in the bathroom. By the time I'm finished, Nathan is still curled up in bed, despite both Luke and now Silas trying to cajole him out of it.

"It's only seven!" Nathan exclaims.

"But to us it feels like ten," Silas says reasonably, "And when was the last time you slept in until ten? Besides, our surprise starts at eight so we really do need to get going soon."

Nathan grumbles for the whole time he's getting ready, but by the time we're meeting the other two rooms in the hotel lobby everyone has woken up and is eager to see what the surprise is. When he sees Kota, Luke pulls out his phone and stops a timer, showing him the results smugly.

"Thirteen minutes and forty-six seconds! So, what's the treat?" he asks. I laugh as he practically bounces up and down with anticipation. Since we swam yesterday we couldn't have anything sweet, so I would imagine that Luke is having quite the withdrawals.

"We're going to have to get it to go, but I found a place that has biscuits that are literally as large as your face. I went ahead and called in an order for ten of them, so we can swing by on the way to the place," Kota says. Luke looks a bit disappointed that the treat isn't more sweet, but what did he expect- we are still at a meet afterall.

By this point I'm starting to get the vibe that everyone knows what the surprise activity is except for me. "What's 'the place'"? I ask. Kota looks at Mr. Blackbourne, who gives a minute shake of his head.

"Sorry Miss Sorenson, but you'll have to wait and see. Don't worry, Mr. Lee is the only other person besides Sean and me who knows since it was his idea," he says. With a meaningful glance at his watch, he prompts us to load up into the van. I end up in the back squished between Silas and North. Why in the world would they put the two largest guys in the back row? Their knees are squashed and there's hardly room for me to sit in the middle.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" North asks. My heart pangs at the thought of swimming again in less than twenty-four hours.

I smile to hide my anxious worries. "Yeah, I know we'll do great," I say. Some part of me knows that it's unreasonable to pin the placement of our team on my swim alone, but the memories of demands for perfection won't disappear. Sure, we're at a disadvantage compared to other teams because we've only been swimming together for months as opposed to years, but I can't use that as an excuse for failure.

Mr. Blackbourne pulls into the parking lot for the Black Bear Diner and Kota runs inside to grab our order. He emerges a few minutes later loaded down with ten huge boxes. Nathan gets out to help him carry all of them, and together they distribute a box to each of us. I gasp when I open mine and realize that the biscuit really is as large as my face.

"Okay, I was sad that we weren't getting cake for breakfast or something, but I take that back. This is awesome," Luke says with awe. North snorts at his words.