Sailfish Swimming Academy

Chapter One

"Are you sure you want to do this? You'll be gone all summer to do what? Have no fun at all! You should stay with me, lying in the sun on the beach in our bikinis scoping out potential homecoming dates." My best friend Ember shut her locker with a bang. "Besides, this is our last summer to actually have fun since next year we'll be working a lot more to pay for college." She leaned against my locker, looking up at me with puppy dog eyes. "Can't you just stay here with me?"

"You already know the answer to that question, Em." Ember huffed and flipped her hair out of her eyes. "I know, but I keep hoping that if I bother you enough, you'll change your mind." Raising an eyebrow, I look down at her as she laughs. "Okay, okay. I'll stop. Just know that I'm going to miss you a lot when you have to leave, Alex." "I'll miss you too, Em." I gave her a hug as the warning bell rang through the halls. The multitude of people milling about in the halls started trudging towards the classrooms for the final day of the school year. I hooked arms with Em as we started down the hall. "Besides, we still have the rest of the day to hang out before I leave. Right now, however, we are going to be late for class so let's run!" She laughed as we both took off down the hall to get to English class.

* * * * * * * * * *

I rushed into Mr. Adams' calculus class and practically fell into my seat just as the final bell finished ringing. "Cutting it close, Ms. Vann, are we not?" Mr. Adams' voice came from behind me as I retrieved my books from my bag. I looked up at his smiling face and shrugged, beaming back up at him. Mr. Adams was one of the best teachers in the school and not just because he taught my favorite subject. Yes, I'm a geek; I like math. Get over it. He was also the head coach for the high school swim team where I have been one of the captains for the past two years. That made him the best teacher in the school in my book.

"Are you ready to leave tomorrow?" Mr. Adams asked me as he returned our finals. "Yes, sir!" I replied with a salute and a smile. "That's enough cheek Ms. Vann," Mr Adams reprimanded. His voice dropped to a whisper as he returned my exam. "And congratulations on getting the top score again." He smiled and returned to the front of the classroom as I flipped over the corner of my exam to look at the score. A perfect one hundred...again. I smiled as Mr. Adams began his end of the year lecture about being safe over the summer.

"Psst," a pencil jabbed into the back of my neck. "Lex!" This time the pencil jabbed into my side. "Lex, what'd you get on the exam?" The pencil poked me again in the side. I turn to glare at my other best friend and co-captain Caleb who was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Tell me, what did you get on the final Lex?" Caleb asked brandishing his pencil like a sword. "Tell me, or prepare to poked!" I shrugged and turned around. "You forced my hand, Lex. Hiiiiy-" Caleb stopped as Mr. Adams snatched the pencil out of his hand. "Mr. D'Orsay, would you please stop pestering my star pupil?" Mr. Adams asked, twirling the pencil between his fingers. "Aww, come on Mr. Adams," Caleb whined. "She's not the best at everything! There's no way she could have beat my score this time!" He waved his exam with a bright red 99.5 at the top of the page in the air. Mr. Adams snatched my exam off my desk with its header marked with a 100 and shoved it towards Caleb's face. "Look at this Mr. D'Orsay," Mr. Adams smugly remarked as Caleb's face turned a cherry red. Caleb looked down at his test with a sad expression and I heard him mumble "lousy plus c." Then, in an instant, his face cleared and he got a determined expression on his face. Caleb stood up, adopting the pose of a conquering soldier, and pointed down at me. "This is only a minor setback in my final plan. I will beat you this summer in the pool!"

Caleb was the only person who rivaled me in school and in the pool. Although I always won, he wanted to compete against only me. Caleb always said he was going to challenge me until the day he won, but seeing as he hasn't even gotten close until today, I think he will be challenging me for a long time to come. Because of his competitive streak, Caleb also made it a point to get into Sailfish Swimming Academy too, for which I was glad. We were the only two swimmers in our state to get in, so I was quite happy when I found out that it was someone I knew and liked versus someone from one of our rival teams. Unfortunately for me, it seemed all Caleb wanted to do was compete while I was just going for fun.

"Mr.D'Orsay!" Mr. Adams' shout brought me back from my reverie. "Please sit down!" Caleb sat down amid the snickers of the class. "Seriously, it's not summer yet people," Mr. Adams said as he wiped his forehead. Just then, the bell rang to end the last class of school for the year and a cry of joy rang rose from the students. "Well, now it is...have a great summer everyone!" Scraping of chairs accompanied the rush of students trying to leave and go to the nearby beach. "Mr. D'Orsay, Ms. Vann, please wait a moment," Mr. Adams asked as we stood to leave. Caleb and I sat back down as the rest of our class left the room to start their summer vacation. Once everyone had left, Mr. Adams loosened his tie and slumped into his chair. "You two want to come up here?" Mr. Adams beckoned us to the front of the classroom. We walked up to the front, Caleb taking a seat on the stool behind the teacher's podium while I sat on top of one of the desks in the front row.

"First, I wanted to congratulate you both for receiving the top two scores in this class. Second, I also wanted to convey how proud I am of the both of you for being accepted into Sailfish." Mr. Adams started to tear up and quickly grabbed a tissue to dab at his eyes as Caleb and I shared a smile. "I'm sorry," he blubbered. "It's just that this is the first time in the history of the school that we've had such exceptional students as well as swimmers and I'm just so happy!" Mr. Adams smiled up at me. "Especially you, Ms. Vann. With your excellent grades and speed through the water, you are absolutely amazing. I couldn't be prouder if you were my own daughter." "Enough with the Alex love-fest," Caleb said, obviously irritated with the amount of praise I was receiving. "Anything else?" "Yes," Mr. Adams said as he rummaged through his desk drawers. He pulled out two ID cards on lanyards and handed them to Caleb and I. "These badges will let you onto the Sailfish campus as well as identify you as a student there." Mr. Adams stood as we put our badges away. He gave me a hug as we stood to leave. "Good luck, you two, and have a great summer!" I waved as Caleb pulled me out of the classroom and down the hall to where Emer was waiting for us.

"What took you guys so long?" she griped. "Mr. Adams wanted to talk with us about Sailfish," I replied, hooking arms with her as we continued down the hallway. "Sailfish, Sailfish, Sailfish! That seems to be all you and Caleb can talk about now." "Of course!" Caleb retorted. "Sailfish Swimming Academy is the most prestigious swimming academy in the world! They've produced almost all of the Olympic medalists for the past twenty years and some of those swimmers return to teach the students. Not to mention they also have the best training facility money can buy!" "Okay, okay I get it," Ember huffed. "You two are going to a resort for the entire summer and I'm going to be stuck here wishing I was with you two." "Em, you have no idea how hard they are going to work us. Besides, weren't you going to help your mom out with the opening of her new restaurant?" Ember sighed. "Yeah, I just wish the school was closer to here than in England so I could visit." "Well, I won't have any time to visit with anyone since I am going to be training as hard as I can in order to beat her!" Caleb flipped his hair out of his eyes as he turned to point at me. "Caleb, how many times do I have to tell you before you get it into your thick skull? I don't care to compete, I just want to swim..." I replied having had this same conversation many times. "Em," I said turning to look at my best friend, "I already invited you to the closing meet." "But that's not until August!" Ember exclaimed, looking back up at me with eyes full of tears. "What am I going to do without you until then?" "You'll have fun," I replied voice trembling, "but I'm going to miss you!" "Me too!" Ember cried coming in for a hug. Caleb scoffed. "Ugh, crying girls. Alex hasn't left yet so stop blubbering like a fool." Caleb swung his long arms over our shoulders and led us down the deserted hallway towards the exit. "I know!" he exclaimed. "Let's go to the boardwalk tonight! We ought to have one night of fun here before we leave for the summer." "Sounds good to me," Ember said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Me too," I replied as Caleb paused to tie his shoelaces. "Race you to the car!" I yelled, taking off with Ember on my heels. "No fair!" Caleb whined as he raced to catch up to us as we burst out of the doors of the school into the bright sunlight.

A/N: Hey guys! Whatcha think of the start of this story? I can't wait til we start to meet the guys. :) It's something I've wanted to work on for a while now so don't diss. Don't forget to comment and vote!
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