Haphephobia

Chapter 11

I began to grow steadily more tired and irritated as the tour wore on. It had been a half an hour since I left the Hero Room with Ava, and she was still yakking on about capybaras and swimming. Every now and again she'd vaguely motion towards a door, say what was behind it, and move on. Quite frankly, I know she was doing it on purpose.

"Ava... can we please get a move on here? I'm sweating so much the back of my shirt is sticking to me. Plus I probably stink. A lot," I added, hoping this would catch her attention. She turned around, her nose wrinkled in disgust. Both her eyebrows were raised.

"Uh, ew? I was just seeing how long it would take before you admit you've had enough. The pool's outside, just around the corner. We've been going around in circles- now come along, Benedict," Ava winked, shuffling along quickly as my mouth hung open. I followed her, dumbstruck.

"Voila, the pool," I blinked my eyes as Ava opened a door into the fresh, outdoor air. The light of the sun was oddly blinding compared to the apparently dim, fluorescent lights inside the building. I followed Ava as she traipsed through the door and towards the pool.

It was gigantic. 

It stood in the ground, at least fifty by forty feet in length and width. It went from four to thirty feet deep, and contained what looked like at least thirty people. They were all splashing around and playing games, looking like they didn't have a cr in the world.

"Nice, isn't it?" Ava asked, and I nodded my head. My eyes were still busy scanning the courtyard. Beyond the pool was a tennis court, basketball court, football field, soccer field, and just a plain field to be used for anything else. A few scattered people were having picnic lunches on the grass. Never before- not even in a public school with a student body of two thousand kids- had I seen such a huge outside area. I could do whatever I wanted.

"As long as whatever you want lay within the ground rules, of course. Don't get too crazy. Now hurry up, I need to put sunscreen on you," Ava said. My vision returned to her, and I saw the spray-able sunscreen bottle in her hand. Without warning, a cloud of gaseous poison attacked my body, chilling me as it went. 

"You couldn't have waited three seconds to warn me before you sprayed this nasty crap all over my body?" I whined, and Ava chuckled before she sprayed herself and gracefully lowered herself into the water. Not having any of this, I dove into the deep end before her hair disappeared under the waterline. 

Once I surfaced, I broke into a loud chuckle. "Beat you this time, didn't I?" I mocked, and Ava sneered.

"Sure, by a literal hair," She grumbled, and disappeared into the water. Rolling my eyes, I held a breath and followed her. 

I could only wish at that moment that I knew how to automatically turn into an animal. The floor of the pool at the thirty-foot mark was decorated to look as though it were the bottom of an ocean- and only then did I realize it was a saltwater pool. I couldn't wait to turn into a shark and scare the living daylights out of people.

No need to be rude. I'm sure we would way rather you become a manatee or some other harmless creature of that nature. Ava spoke, and I laughed without thinking. Water entered my mouth, and as I spluttered I knew it was probably a good time to return to the surface. Practically choking on my way up, I hit fresh air and took a deep breath.

"Close call. But I needed you up here so I could tell you that Aaron contacted me- he wanted you back earlier than expected. He said we need to grab our stuff, and he recommended you bring a snack, because we could be there for a very long time. By the way-- first day's always the hardest." Ava finished. I groaned, treading the cool water and very much not wanting to leave it. Especially not for sweaty training exercises.