The Crazy Adventures of Aqua Girl

Chapter 18 - Some Kinda Swimming Superhero

"You're going to be late at this rate, Cass." Mom moaned, standing at the door with her car keys in her hand. It was 8:30PM, and we had only just discovered that there was a swim meet tonight, instead of normal swim practice. I rushed around my room, piling my swimming gear into my bag, throwing a towel over my shoulder and running down the hallway towards my impatient mother. Luckily, me being grounded excluded swimming, which was my favourite thing to do, so that worked out in my favor.

"Okay, let's go." I said, shoving a pair of Vans on my feet as Mom opened the front door and started descending the stairs. I locked the door and followed her, into the garage below our apartment block. Soon we were on our way through San Fran, heading to the outskirts, where the swimming complex was located. In about 15 minutes we arrived, and Mom wished me good luck before claiming she had 'stuff' to do. Yeah, right. I knew all she wanted to do was put a Rom-Com on and sit on the sofa, surrounded by tissues and wine.

As I opened the main doors of the complex, I was instantly hit by the strange mixture of chlorine and body odor. Lovely. The reception was packed full of hopeful swimmers and their adoring parents, holding Starbucks coffees in one hand and snapping photos of their nervous kids. Because this was my team's home pool, I signed in with Coach Sterling and headed straight into the changing rooms, only to find myself face-to-face with Lacey Williams. She glared at me and I glared back.

"I need to get past." I muttered, as Lacey stood in the way of the changing rooms.

"That's a real shame, freak." She spat, tucking her pink towel over her shoulder and putting her hands on her perfect hips. I didn't trust girls without a spot on their face or a bit of tummy fat.

"Oh well I'm sorry, I don't have time for your nonsense right now, I'll call you later." I retorted, barging past her and smirking at her shocked face. Yeah, this girl could fight back. Both physically and verbally. I strutting into a changing room and slammed the door, kicking off my slightly dirty Vans and beginning to get changed.

Sure, Lacey and Harriet got under my skin a little, but I didn't let dumb brats like them bother me too much.

I don't even know why they're on the team. Probably just to maintain their slim bodies. As I shuffled into my swimsuit, hoping that maybe Lacey would swallow loads of water and drown, I heard the coach calling us out to the poolside. I stuffed all of my clothes in my swim bag,, fastened my swimming cap over my head, grabbed my goggles, and headed for the pool, throwing my swim bag and towel into the locker on the way.

As I entered the main pool area, the seating area that was normally only occupied by Rachael and a few over-enthusiastic moms was now packed full of parents and spectators. I padded down the pool towards the San Francisco Lions, my swim team. The best swim team in San Fran.

I'm not biased or anything.

Coach Sterling pulled our team into a huddle and checked a list of our names, before launching into a pre-swim ritual. I called it the Sterling Bark.

"Now, this meet has over 10 different teams from our the local area, and we need to thrash them, like we do every time." The coach yelled, his voice muffled from outside of our huddle by the chattering of parents. The coach stopped in front of Harry Jenkins, a boy from my school. "What do we need to do, Jenkins?!"

"Thrash them!" Harry exclaimed, knowing what the coach wanted. Sterling nodded and carried on his pep talk.

"Use the blocks to get a great start, and no dilly-dallying! You know what happens with the nervous swimmers, they slow down and LOSE! We are not losers!" He continued, raising his voice to emphasize the word losers. "Now, let me check your personal targets." The coach examined his clipboard, before turning to each individual member of the team and barking orders at them. As he slowly made his way towards me, I looked behind me out of my team huddle towards the other teams, who were just standing around, looking both bored and excited.

There was a group of girls looking like they were on the brink of tears, clutching their goggles and picking their nails. They looked about 10. I've been swimming since the age of 3, and swim meets are no longer daunting for me.

Ha ha, suckers.

I turned back to my huddle as the coach reached me.

"Brown! Just keep doing what you're doing, and power through the water!" He barked, instantly moving on to the girl next to me.

That said it all.

I don't like to boast, but...

"FRONT-CRAWL, HEAT 1! SWIMMERS, HEAD TO YOUR LANES." The loudspeaker boomed and echoed around the hall, making some of the words inaudible. Our swim team put all of our hands in the center as the coach backed away, another pre-swim ritual. I cringed as my hand landed on top of Lacey's, but I didn't dare look her way. Harry Jenkins counted to three, and we all released our hands above our heads.

"San Fran Lions!"

I sauntered over to the blocks at the end of the pool, finding Lane 4 and strapping my goggles over my eyes. The referee blew his whistle, signifying to get ready on our blocks. I clambered on my block, fitted the back into my most comfortable position and placed my hands on the bar in front of me. I looked over to Lane 5 to see who my closest opponent was, and found a small girl with the words 'San Francisco Swimmers' on her swimsuit. I could tell she was anxious, from the way her arms were slightly shaking at she kept scanning the spectators for her parents. Cute.

"On your marks!"

C'mon, Cass. Let's do this thing.

"Get set."

I took a long, deep breath, taking in all the oxygen I could fit in my lungs.

A blank bullet was shot, and I dove into the cold, blue water, instantly relaxed. I began pushing my body upwards towards the surface, and as soon as the air and noise hit me again my arms automatically swung into place, and my body began surging through the water. Crisp and sharp, the chlorinated water glided over my body as I pushed myself forward, wrapping me in a blue cocoon. The water is practically alive with the moment, with me, and it slides and flow around me. As I face my head forwards, all my ears can hear is the constant thump, thump, thump of my heart, beating steadily and strongly inside my rib cage. When I lift my head up to take a quick breath, the sounds of the poolside hit my eardrums. Parents cheering, fellow swimmers chanting, and coaches hollering. My head dips back under and the serenity of the water takes over once more. At the end of the pool, I touched the side, flipped myself over, and began zooming back from where I came from, all in a few swift movements. Soon I was touching the finishing side of the pool, throwing my goggles off my face and looking up at the electrical scoreboard on the opposite end of the pool. Only then did I realize everyone else was still swimming, and I felt on top of the world.

Seriously.

I think I deserved some ice cream when I got home.

After the other swimmers finished, the scores were posted to the board, and I started grinning like The Joker when I noted my time was a personal best, and 10 seconds before the 2nd person finished. As I climbed out of the pool, the tiny girl in Lane 5 approached me, looking ecstatic. She was probably only about 9 or 10, and I wondered why she was even in my heat, to be honest. Maybe the San Fran Swimmers didn't have a great choice of swimmers or something.

"You're like some kinda swimming superhero!" She exclaimed, grinning up at me. For a split second, my heart lurched as she mentioned the word superhero, but I relaxed when I knew she was just giving me a compliment.

"Thanks." I replied, smiling at the girl as I padded my way back to our teams, creating a puddle of water with every step I took.

"I wanna be just like you when I get older!" The girl mused, before running off towards her team and getting told off by the lifeguard for running.

That comment made my day, even if I had been fighting Fairy Fly 9 hours ago.