The Crazy Adventures of Aqua Girl

Chapter 4 - You Again

I rushed into the nearest stall, shoving my swim bag and skateboard onto the floor and slamming the door, before locking it. I collapsed onto the small wooden bench in the stall and let my breath return to normal. My heart was pounding, like a horse galloping, and I looked down at my hands. The itchiness vanished, but what did I do? What just happened? My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the changing room door opening.

"Yes, don't worry, I'll talk to her." Rachael's voice rang clear through the changing rooms, and I huddled myself into a ball on the bench, hoping she wouldn't see my feet. Luckily, there were other locked stalls of female swimmers, so I wasn't alone in here.

"Cass! Are you in here?" Rachael bellowed, the sounds of her pumps on the floor echoing. I watched in horror through the wide gap underneath my stall as the black pumps stopped in front of the door. "Cass, I know you're in there. I don't know anyone else with big feet like that." I rolled my eyes and unlocked the door, glaring at her as she entered my cramp stall.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Rachael said, plonking herself on the wooden bench and shoving her phone into her pocket.

"It was nothing. I just..splashed the twins. They were annoying me about dad.." I murmured, looking down at my hands again.

"They were going on about powers, or something?!"

"It's just 'cause I'm a great splasher, Rach" I said, forcing a smile on my face. Rachael smirked at me.

"They're brats anyway. But how did they find out about your father?" I paused once the words left Rachael's mouth.

"I...don't know."

"Ah, don't worry about it. After that scenario I'm sure they'll keep their mouths shut." Rachael said, standing up. "I'll wait outside. The practice is finishing soon anyways."

After I hastily changed into my clothes and squeezed my hair free of excess water, I grabbed my skateboard, swung my swim bag over my shoulder and exited the changing rooms, to find Rachael and the coach speaking in the reception. I gulped and approached them.

"Cascade. It's good to see you're okay now." The coach said, looking down at me. Coach Sterling was a large, well-built man of around 30, who probably worked out at the gym, but his face was ugly. A big nose. Small eyes. No offence, coach.

"Yes. It was nothing." I replied, looking over at Rachael.

"Would you like to tell me what exactly happened?" Coach Sterling said, staring down at me. C'mon Cass, stick to the original script.

"Lacey and Harriet Williams...they were getting in the way of me swimming and..bullying me. So I splashed them and they fought back..." I said, trying to keep my cool. The coach nodded in understanding. Phew. Good one, Cass.

"They've gone home now, but I'll have a word with their mother. They've been slacking off this week. You can go home now Cass, good work today." Rach and I sauntered out of the building, into the dark city. My shoulders drooped as I noticed the rain was still lashing down, and we huddled under the cover of the doorway.

"Can I get a lift home?" I asked Rachael, looking over at her as she tapped frantically at her phone's screen.

"Sorry, my mom's got a new car. It only has two seats." Rachael replied, tucking her phone into her pocket as a shiny but tiny red car pulled up to where we were standing. Sure enough, it was ridiculously small. "It's stupid."

"No worries."

"See ya tomorrow, Cass!" Rachael yelled as she raced towards her mom's car and scrambled inside. It pulled away into the city traffic, and I sighed and zipped my water-proof coat up. Mom had to pay me back for this. Preferably in ice cream and sherbet lemons. I took one last look at the cosy, warm reception of the swimming complex before rolling my skateboard onto the wet pavement and hopping on.

Luckily the pavements were quite empty, with only a few grumpy businessmen charging past with over-sized umbrellas, so I flew down the main streets of my city towards my apartment, taking any shortcuts and side lanes possible. I was zooming down one of the main shopping streets when out of the blue, my skateboard hit a large ridge on the uneven pavement and sent me flying into the air. I crashed down hard on the concrete, and my skateboard landed on top of me. Groaning, I slowly lifted myself off of the pavement, only to find a shadow over me. A red-gloved hand hooked itself around my arm, lifting me off of the pavement, and I came face to face with the superhero from earlier.

"You again..." I murmured, dumbfounded. The hero smirked and leaned down to pick up my skateboard.

"You're pretty clumsy, aren't ya?" The superhero murmured, handing me the skateboard. I frowned.

"Maybe. Sometimes."

"That's the second time I've saved you today." He said, stating the obvious. "You can repay me by inviting me for a hot chocolate or something." I snorted and watched in silent awe as he held a hand up and a small flame shot out of it.

"There's no way I'm letting an unknown dude in a mask into my house." I mused, watching his smile widen as he dropped his hand. "You could be a serial killer or something."

"Yeah, I'd save you and then murder you, huh?"

"Yup. It could happen." I replied, making the boy laugh. I watched as his black hair flopped over his mask. I looked down to find a blue B stitched on the chest of his red latex supersuit. "I didn't catch your name earlier."

"The name's Blaze Boy. And you?"

"Cascade. It's a stupid name, I know, but I'd prefer it if you called me Cass." I said, tightening my hood around my face. Blaze Boy's smile was practically infectious as he noted my name.

"Well then, Cass, I'll probably see you around." He drawled, before jumping and launching himself towards the stars with flames of fire behind him. I gazed up at the smokey trail he left in the dark sky.

Why was this mysterious Blaze Boy making me swoon?

In my bag, my phone began ringing with the catchy tune of a Twenty One Pilots song. I felt around in my bag and the phone screen read 'Mom', and I then realised it was 11:30 at night.

Uh oh.