Arranged with Prince Charming

Arranged with Prince Charming [1]

My eyes sparkled when I saw the sign; Swimming Carnival. I breathed in, taking with me the smell of chlorine. I'm included in that swim meet, I thought, breathing in and out. I scanned the sheet in front of me, searching for my name.

"Calm yourself Emma!" Clair yelled, slapping my shoulder. I yelped in surprise, my hand going to my now red shoulder. I glared her way and she smiled. Her eyes were crazy, her smile sadistic. She had had enough sugar, but I knew, keeping her from the sweet goodness, we would all end up in hospital.

"That hurts Claire!" I hissed, rubbing my sore arm. My eyes narrowed at her and she grinned a toothy grin.

"Yeah, well, I heard there was popcorn. I must find my love. Good luck with your swim meet, Emma!" Claire cried, running off in the direction of the canteen, leaving me alone to fend for myself. I looked around, my eyes meeting a pair of storm grey ones, his eyes widening before he looked away. I shook my head, blond hair flying everywhere until I saw the information booth. I made my way over and ran into my long-time friend Dannika. Some may consider her a bitch, but if you got to know her like we did, than you would know, she was an amazing diver.

"What are you competing in?" Dan asked her smile wide and her blue eyes twinkling. I took out the information sheet and read through it, finding my name four times throughout my search: 100m Backstroke, 200m Relay, 100m Butterfly and 200m Breaststroke. I relayed what I had found to Dannika and she smiled. Searching the sheet again, I found her name under the 25m dives and shuddered.

"And you are competing in the under 18s 25m dives," I said smiling. Dannika smirked and flipped her black hair forward and pulled it into a tight bun at the top of her head, some stray bits falling around her face.

"Well yeah, since you know I'm a good diver and all," Dan smirked, wincing at me. I rolled my eyes and smiled, Dannika will always be Dannika. An announcement filled the grassed off areas of our local pool, our home advantage, that we were going to start warm-ups soon and all swimmers must participate.

Dannika grabbed my hand in a tight hold and dragged me towards the sun shelter my dad was putting up for us, all our bags place underneath. She started to breathe heavily and was nearly shaking.

"What are you doing?" You never get nervous, was what I was going to say but didn't with the look in her eyes telling me to shut up before she made me.

"Shh!" Dan hissed, still breathing deeply. My throat felt dry and I tried grasped the cold drink bottle that was supposed to be in my bag, but only came up with my goggles, a cap and one towel. Then I remembered; Claire had it, the sneaky little thing.

I walked towards a small cooler and opened it, taking in the cool air steam that arose when the lid was opened. I pulled out two bottles of water and handed one to Dannika as Chet, our other best friend, showed up with a sugar hungry Claire, being held up by Destin.

"Now tell me why you left her alone while there was sugar within 10 metres?" Chet asked his signature smirk plastered across his blemish free face. I rolled my eyes and took a swig of the sweating water, savouring the ice cold water as it ran down my throat. Then Chet flicked me.

"Hey, what was that for!" I all but yelled in his direction. He smirked again and I crossed my arms over my chest as another announcement came over the speakers.

"Please could all swimmers line up in their groups? All swimmers please line up in your groups!" I shook my head and flipped it over, quickly pulling my blond hair into a bun and slipping my white cap over it. I pulled my goggles over my head and took off my t-shirt and shorts. Chet did the same thing and smirked down at his abs.

We walked over to our lines and waited for one another to dive in. I started off with a slow freestyle like everyone else and then tumble-turned into breaststroke.