Shots

-Happiness?-

"You've done this all of your life. You need to stand up for yourself for once. Don't let anyone get in the way of you want to be."

My father's words echoed in my head as I pulled into a small parking lot. The end of August means the beginning of swim season, something no teenage athlete truly wants. I pull into a parking spot right in front of the natatorium's entrance, shutting off my car along with the 90's music I was listening to. After I undo my seat belt , I let my head fall against the head rest and close my eyes.

"It's just 2 hours a day, 4 days a week," I whisper to myself as regain myself and exit my car. As I take my Speedo backpack out of the back seat, I hear the sounds of cars pulling in and leaving the parking lot, just dropping off kids as if this was some kind of reverse drive-through. I find myself walking towards the door, followed by the fresh faces of incoming freshman.

A wave of nostalgia flowed over me as I walked through the narrow hallway, and I tried my best to ignore it. I pass my head coach on the way while he tries to unlock our storage room. He makes eye contact with me and mutters a small, "Hey Mae," and I nod in response.

As I enter the main area, I see that most of the team is actually here. Some kids are in the water, pulling lane lines across the pool. A couple of sophomores are huddled around our assistant coach, laughing at whatever he has to say. I even spot a couple of freshman sitting o the bleachers, scared out of their minds. Before I can finish the scan of the pool, I feel a hand grab my arm and pull me towards the locker room. I look and see it's my best friend, Jenny, still in her sleep clothes. I unwillingly follow her into the locker room, not ready for the couple of hours to come.

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"On the top, let's go!"

I hold the side of the wall, both feet planted and ready to push off. I stare at the large digital clock, waiting for it to change to "00:00". I count to myself as the numbers get closer and closer, anticipating the final moment. When it finally hits, I push myself off of the wall as if I were a torpedo. We were only doing a long distance set and my coach let me be in my own lane, but I wanted to exceed my limits early on.

I reach the other side of the pool and go into my flip turn, pushing off of the wall on my back. All I have now are my thoughts, the only thing that can keep me occupied during the last stretch of practice. After about 20 seconds I end up at the wall where I first started. I go into another flip turn, pushing off of my back. I stay on my back for a little longer before turning over for freestyle, appreciating the way that the flags look under the water.

I finish the set, leaning against the wall still in the water, trying to control my breathing. The rest of our team finishes, yet nobody has the energy to actually get out of the pool yet. Our coach starts talking about the start of school, so I take the time to gather all of my equipment that's laid out on the side of the pool. Out of the corner of my eye, I see my assistant coach glare at me, but I ignore him and continue cleaning up.

Eventually all of the equipment is put up thanks to me and another one of the juniors on JV. I walk into the girl's locker room, heading straight to my towel. As I dry myself off, I overhear some of the girls gossiping in the showers.

"There's going to be a new kid at school, he just moved into the house across the street."

"Oooh is he cute? What's his name?"

"He's so cute! He's going to be a junior and he plays soccer I think. His name is..."

Jenny grabs my attention and starts talking away before I can hear the name. I sigh and start undressing myself and then putting my regular clothes back on, which are some tempo shorts and an oversized t-shirt. It's not like I really cared about what his name is... I don't think he would be my type anyways. Most of the soccer players that I know are total jerks and don't care about anyone else.

I slip on my flip flops and put my speedo backpack on, walking towards the door. I quickly exit the loud locker room, suddenly hit with the silence of the main area. I peek my head into the coach's office and say my goodbyes before walking down the first narrow hallway again. Halfway through, I hear footsteps quickly making their way towards me. I turn around right before- BAM! - someone runs into me. There wasn't enough force to knock me down, but I did stumble backwards. I grab their arms and help them up, realizing who they are. I laugh to myself, letting go of his arms.

"Jose, what the hell are you doing?" He shrugs and walks next to me towards the exit. "I just slipped trying to catch up," he says, opening the door for me. I smile as we walk outside, the sun just barely rising into the sky. I stand for a moment, wondering if I'll ever be as happy as I am in this small moment.

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A/N

Yes I am back! This chapter took me 3 nights to write cause I couldn't come up with anything. Please Vote, Comment and share! I will se you all in the next chapter :)