Teach Me How to Dive (A Tom Daley Fanfiction)

Chapter 1

“Lottie, hurry up already,” Gemma rolls her eyes as she stands in the showers of the swimming pool wetting herself down before getting into the pool. I unlock the door of the cubicle where I got changed, then placed my clothes and bag into my normal locker number 653, locking it shut once all my things are in there I join Gemma at the showers. I tie the bracelet-locker key around my wrist and wet my long brown wavy hair. Gemma stands beside me wetting her blonde bobbed hair and adjusts her strapless bikini top. We both are wearing matching bikinis, floral pink strapless bikini tops and white bikini bottoms. It is sort of our thing, we mix and match with all our bikinis and always wear the same ones.

I decide that the water has saturated me enough, and I walk from the running water to the edge of the pool and wait for Gemma to stand by my side. Once she is beside me, I take her hand and we both cannon bomb into the deep end. The life guard here, Steve I think his name is, always lets us do it; well to be honest I would say he is just fed up of telling us not too.

This is mine and Gemma's daily thing, to go to the pool, like daily exercise? Most people would go for a run or a walk or do yoga but ever since we were five, Gemma and I have always come to this swimming pool ever day. Now thirteen years on and nothing has changed, well everything has changed, we have jobs now, we aren’t in nursery, but one thing that has stayed strong in my mind every single I time my body feels the water, is the desire to dive. I want to be a professional diver, no one knows about it, not even Gemma, not my mum or my dad, no one. Watching the Olympics or just coming to the pool, I watch the people dive and my stomach always warms with envy that they get to do their dream.

The thing is, Gemma thinks that I come here once a day just like she does but I come here at night, the swimming pool here do night swims up until 11 at night, I tell my mum I'm going to see Gemma but instead I come here, and picture my dream of diving. I walk all the way up to the highest diving board, 10 metres, and just sit on the edge, sometimes I'll push myself from the edge and do huge cannon bombs, but I have never had the guts to actually dive in.

“Earth to Lottie!” Gemma calls, flicking water in my face, making it go in my eyes,

“Sorry,” I chuckle, “Handstands?” I offer, winking because both Gemma and I both know I'm the best at doing them.

“1, 2, 3... GO!” Gemma exclaims, we both take a deep breath and then push ourselves under the water. Gemma floats up within seconds of her hands hitting the ground. “Yeah, yeah ok show off,” I hear her chuckle, I come out of the handstand position and come back to surface and poke my tongue out at Gemma, and anyone would think we are 12 year olds.

“Come on lets swim,” I suggest, pushing myself through the water and doings side stroke, Gemma follow besides me like normal.

“You know, I still can’t believe Tom Daley dives here, and we have never seen him!” Gemma's sighs, we both reach the edge and then push off and swim down to the other end.

“I know,” I agree lying to her, truth is I have seen Tom dive, when I come here at night, sometimes he is already here when I came along, I would just sit on the edge of the pool on the other side of the building, out of sight from Tom and anyone else. And just study how he dives, his movements and his posture, taking it all down in my head.

“He is really fit though; I mean his abs, 6 pack, and his guns!” Gemma explains, looking like she is about to faint just the thought of him.

“I know,” I agree looking over at Gemma and smiling.

“Hey play truth or dare?” Gemma's asks me; we play this ever single day we come here.

“I'll start, truth or dare?” I ask her smirking because I know she will say dare.

“Dare,”

“Go over to Steve and kiss him,” I smirk, as Gemma's cheek flush red, she has liked him for ages.

“Fine,” she huffs, getting out of the pool and walks along the tiles to where Steve sits in his lifeguard chair, she climbs up the steps and places a peck on his lips then quickly gets back down from the chair and jumps into the pool swimming over to me.

“I hate you,” she scolded, throwing me a death stare, I chuckle to myself and shake my head as she gets back to where I am stood. “Truth or dare?” deciding it was only fair to do a dare.

“Dare.”

“Climb up to the highest diving board up there and dive in,” she chuckles, I felt myself go faint, I have always wanted to dive into the pull, but as a dare? I'm know as the dare queen, I will do any dare I'm asked to do.

“Fine,” I mumble, swimming over to the edge and pull myself out, then I walk over to the other side of the swimming pool where the stairs to the diving boards are. I climb the first flight of stairs and then the second and the lastly the third flight of stairs until I'm at the top. 10 metres in the air. I hesitantly walk up to the edge of the diving board, my toes hanging over the edge I can see Gemma from the other side of the pool smiling and waving. I smile and wave back, if only she knew just how big this is for me. Thinking back to what the divers do, Hannah Starling, Nick Robson –Baker, Tonia Crouch and Tom Daley, the divers for team GB. They hold their hands straight up and pointed and the same with their toes, and then them just jump and bend so they go head first. I remember how Tom dives; playing it through my head like it’s a video.

Moving my arms above my head in a pointed away, standing on my tiptoes I look over at Gemma who is grinning like mad, I smile at her. And then I just jump, well nut jump I just let myself tilt over the age until I starts to fall, then the next thing I know, my hands are breaking into the water and my whole body plunges in. I done it.... actually done it. Grinning to myself at the fact I actually done what I have always wanted to do I get out of the pool and over to Gemma. Then I put on the ‘it-doesn’t-mean-anything-to-me act’, we carry on with the truth or dare game until we get out, a massive smile plastered to face at the fact I have done what I have wanted to do in a long time.