|Institution|• Student/Teacher Relationship

|Chapter 15|

*Mature Content Ahead*

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Eyes Heavy.

Warm Air.

Chlorine Smell.

I blinked away the tiredness as I sat still in the Lifeguard chair. Why am I even here? No one swims this early besides the swim team, and they haven't started yet. Ugh. It's only for a few hours, hang in there.

I stretched my arms over my head before returning my hands to the Yale sweatshirt, caressing it slightly. It should be illegal for something to be this soft.

"Wilder!" I jumped at the loud voice, turning my attention to my boss.

"Good morning." I offered, trying to shoot him a forced smile.

"Where's your swimming paperwork?" He barked, ignoring my greeting. I blinked slowly at him, taking a deep breath. Not ready for this conversation, I shrugged.

"Are you really not signing up?" He scoffed, crossing his arms.

"I just don't think I'll have time this year." I explained. "I'm working as a TA now, a lot of the free time I had for practice is taken up now."

He was calm for a hot second before shaking his head. "Listen, I get it. It's your last year, you're finishing up school. But you made a commitment to this team-"

"But I'm not here on an athletic scholarship." I interrupted. "If sports interfere with my academics, I'm allowed to drop, encouraged to drop actually. I'm really sorry but I'm sure the team will do just fine without me."

He was quiet again. "Fine. Just remember that if anything interferes with your job, I'm obliged to let you go." With that, he turned on his heel and left the pool deck.

My jaw dropped slightly. Did he just threaten my job?

Chris Turner, swimming coach, and pool officiator. Also one of the most unpleasant people to ever grace my presence. His dirty blonde hair had grown out over the summer, and he was tall with the perfect example of a swimmers body. His broad chest and shoulders looked almost a little awkward on top of his small waist and slim legs. He was the youngest coach at the school, only thirty. But despite him being only five years older than me, he thrived on his power over the other swimmers.

I huffed, crossing my arms and turning my attention back to the still water. I stomped my leg against the chair in frustration, shifting around uncomfortably. Not only did Alex have me extremely sexually and emotionally frustrated, but I also had heaps of studying to do and now my boss on my ass about leaving the swim team.

Alex was coming back to the school around ten, all I had to do was ride out work for a few more hours. "Wilder!" I heard my name ring out again. I sighed, closing my eyes. "Put those lane ropes in!"

I was dumb to think Chris would make my life easy especially after I rejected my swimming application request. I got up, deciding to save my frustration for later.

__________

I tiredly walked through the hallway, my eyes heavy but still determined to make it to the science building. As I reached for the door I heard light murmuring and stopped. I leaned a little closer to the door to see if I could make out a voice, but I couldn't. Footsteps coming closer to the door made me panic, and I quickly hid behind the corner and prayed that whoever was leaving wouldn't bump into me.

I heard the door open and placed my back flat against the wall, holding my breath as to not make any sound.

Just my luck, someone quickly turned the corner, almost knocking into me?