Powering Through: A Sequel to Learning To Swim For Real

Chapter 27: All For One

After the holidays, things settled in a dull blur of gloomy weather and work for both Jack and Kelsey. Zach's friend Turk, the one one who had been conveniently away for the holidays, decided to stay in Mexico through May, thus extending the convenient circumstances for Jack. He, Zach, Jeff and Toby spent the morning of the second moving Jack out of Kelsey's house. He had very little stuff, and only the futon sofa in the way of furniture, so it only took two trips. Thankfully, Kelsey wasn't around.

Jack had seen the picture of her leaving Phoenix's house with him on New Year's Day, hand in hand with Phoenix, and it had been like a punch in the gut. To know that she was moving on was one thing, but to have pictorial proof that she'd spent the night with another man was another.

Jack went through his days with his head down, powering grimly through the frigid, dark morning swim practices, the long days of classes, the afternoons and evenings of studying and homework, and the lonely, sleepless nights without Kelsey. He could only wonder how he'd endured such a life before he'd known her. 

Other than his friends on the swim team and Marian, he really only talked to the girls in his study group. Rain, Teresa and Nadine were equal parts sorrowful and furious to find out he'd broken up with Kelsey.

"What? You what?" This was Teresa, always the most outspoken of the three. "Why? Oh, Jack, no!" She stared at him, brown eyes shocked. On either side of her, Rain and Nadine were also looking at him, wide-eyed in disbelief. They were sitting in class before it began.

He explained, very briefly, about Marian and trust and what relationships were based on.

"Jack, please," Teresa responded flatly, brushing aside his opinion on trust and what relationships were based on. 

"That's such a load of crap," Rain put in.

Nadine just nodded, blonde curls bouncing.

Jack looked at the three girls in surprise. "What, you think I was wrong?"

"Of course you were wrong, you idiot," Rain said. "Oh my goodness, how can such a smart guy be so stupid?" She gestured down the line at herself and her two friends. "You could've had any of us at any time, but we knew, as soon as we talked to you, that you were in it for the long haul with Kelsey Carlisle."

Jack blinked and leaned his head back in shock at her words.

"What, like you didn't know all three of us were into you?" Nadine asked, speaking for the first time. She shook her head. "You're a grade-A fool for sure, Jack."

"And even if you hadn't said anything, we knew for certain sure as soon as we saw you two together," Teresa said, emphasizing her words by poking Jack, rather hard, in the chest with her finger. "You could practically see the steam when you looked at each other."

"And now you're telling us that we held back, just so you could break up with your OTP and get with that swimmer chick?" Rain asked.

"Held back?" Jack repeated, embarrassed by how squeaky his voice was. The classroom was filling up, and a few people turned to look at him. And what was OTP?

This conversation was making him dizzy. And uncomfortable. And confused.

"Of course we held back," Teresa informed him, continuing to poke him with her finger. "We all recognize prime man meat when we see it, but we're not going to get between an OTP, am I right?" She looked back and forth at her two friends, who were both nodding vigorously. "I mean, Jack, we're women, but we have manners, we have standards, you know what I'm saying?"

Jack shook his head violently. "NO," he said desperately. "I have no idea what you're talking about. And what in the world is an 'OTP'?"