(Non) Fictional Characters || Leo Valdez

Chapter 8

When lunch ended, everyone burst out of their seats and ran. Me being myself, ran into a chair and almost fell over. Thankfully I didn't. The cafeteria floors are gross. Anyways, I was walking to the pool with Tara, Veronica, and Jessica. For an antisocial person, I seem to have quite a few friends. The four of us waited outside the big metal doors to the pool as the rest of the class came over. Finally the teacher came down and unlocked the doors so we could all change. I changed into my swimsuit in two minutes flat, then quickly hopped in the shower to rinse off before I got into the pool. There were only five other girls in the pool already doing the warm-up. As soon as my goggles were secure around my eyes, I dived in. The cold water hit my face and I was surrounded by a familiar feeling. I pushed off the wall and began freestyling. I love swimming. It makes me feel like I'm the only one there. I love the way it feels when I slice through the water with my body. Also, I'm actually a really good swimmer. My family owns a little cottage right on Chautauqua Lake, and I've been going there since I was an infant. I guess that's why I'm a daughter of Poseidon.

I finished my warm-up and used the wall to push myself up and out of the pool. I went over and sat on the edge in between Tara and Veronica, waiting for the others to finish. Everything was fine until Leo walked out of the boys’ locker room. Why? Why, gods, why?! Why me of all people?! Just, calm down, calm down. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Okay, I'm better. I'm calm. Just focus on swim and everything will be fine. “Hey,” Veronica perked up, “isn’t that the new kid in our English class?” Dam. I can never get a break, can I? “Oh yeah, I think it is. Don’t you sit next to him, Thia?” Tara asked. “Um, yeah.” “Wow he’s really tan. Where’s he from again?” Jeez Tara, just ask him yourself. “Uh, Houston.” I hate myself. “Cool.”

Another few minutes go by as I swirl my feet around in the water. Seriously, how long does it take to get changed and do two laps of freestyle around the pool? I’m getting so bored. “Alrighty,” my gym teacher, Mrs. Eacker, shouts. Gods, I hate when people say that. “Today we’re gonna start the swim tests for front crawl (A/N: another name for freestyle, if you didn’t know). If you feel like you’re ready to be tested, line up in lanes 1 and 2, if you want to practice more then line up in lanes 3 and 4. Okay, let’s get started.” I stood up and sped over to lane 1. Veronica walked up to lane 2. Mrs. Eacker always said that the two of us were the best swimmers in the class. “Race ya,” she said. “Game on,” I respond, with a mischievous glint in my eyes. “Okay girls, whenever you're ready.” Veronica turns to Tara, who is right behind her. “Tara,” she says, “will you do the honors?” Tara smiles. “Ready…” I pull my goggles down. “Get set…” I get in a diving position. “GO!” As soon as my body hits the water, I start kicking. The pattern is so familiar to me it's like second nature. I block out everything else around me. Every four strokes, I take a breath. My eyes are glued to the bottom of the pool. At this moment, I feel as if I'm the only one in the world. The water flows around my body as I quicken my flutter kick. I can feel all the water I pull back with my cupped hands. I know that with each stroke I'm getting closer and closer to the other side of the pool. I see the ‘T’ at the end of the pool through my peripheral. Knowing that I'm this close, I pull forward my last bit of energy and push as hard as I can. The next thing I know, my hand slaps the edge and I'm at the end. I fly up and take in a deep breath. Veronica's hand hits the edge of the pool as I exhale. I won. I actually won! “Perfect scores girls! Eights! Both of you!” Mrs. Eacker exclaims. Cheering erupts from the other side of the pool. I turn my head and find that everyone was watching us. My eyes widen with fear. I hate being the center of attention. I quickly push up out of the pool and keep my head down the whole time. “You girls can go change. I wasn't planning on doing anything else today.” Wow. Twenty minutes to change? That's a first.

Veronica and I walk into the locker room and go straight to the showers. We both have blonde hair, so if we don't wash the chlorine out of it, it'll turn green. “Great job!” she says. “Thanks, you too!” After rinsing off, I grab my towel and stand under the dryer. I have to make sure my legs are completely dry because I made the mistake of wearing jeans today. While Veronica and I change, we talk about random nonsense. Grabbing my brush I look at the clock. 14 minutes left. We're making good time. A few other people have come in to change by now. I brush out my hair and since it isn't completely dry, I stand under one of the four dryers again for a few minutes. Once it's dry, I pull it back into a ponytail and retie the ribbon. 9 minutes to go. Veronica and I walk out of the locker room and sit on the bleachers as we wait for the period to end. Sitting there, I think about jaaaaaaaaaackfrost. The vague Tumblr user who possibly went through or is going through the same thing as me. I think about Leo Valdez. The fictional character come to life. I think about Kelli and the army of skanks. I'm still not 100% sure where it came from, but there was definitely a growling sound when they talked to me earlier. What's happening? I'm just so confused. Something suddenly snaps me back to reality. Someone's shaking my shoulder. I turn to look at Veronica. “Alethia, I've called your name at least ten times. We have a minute left of class.” “Oh sorry. I was just thinking.” She scoffs. “I know. Used to be annoying, but now I've just gotten used to it.” I smile shyly. The bell rings and everyone gets up to leave. Off to social studies. Yayyyyyyyy. Again, sarcasm.

A/N: OK so this isn't my best chapter and it's kind of like a filler. I've been pretty busy with school and final exams coming that it's getting hard to update. But I promise that by mid-June, I will try my best to update more frequently. Also thanks to everyone who's reading this story and actually continuing to read it. I thought I was kinda crappy at first but apparently not. So I just wanna say thanks. Also, I'm kinda in a lot of pain right now because I'm a asshole and didn't put sunblock on over the weekend. So now, my shoulders, arms, chest, and a few other places over my body are bright red. Go me. Ok I'm gonna stop ranting before I go on forever.

Thanks for reading, voting, and commenting! See ya next chapter!!

~Paige🖤🖤