Mermaid

The Legend

  Josie propelled herself through the water, gliding effortlessly from one side of the pool to the other. Her lungs burn, begging her to come up and take a breath, but there's no stopping Josie now. She feels weightless, surrounded by the clear blue of the chlorinated water. She passes Lizzie, feeling the drag of the water that her sister's body is creating. She stretched out her hand, turning in the water to bounce off the edge of the pool. She pops up to the surface for a split second, takes a breath, then pushes forward to finish what she had started.
To Josie, there was no feeling better than being in the pool. She had loved swimming for as long as she could remember- her mother often joked that it was because she had had a water birth with Josie and her twin sister, Lizzie. She had been competing since she was in preschool, her sister following her into lessons a year later. While it had taken Lizzie some time to combat her fear of the deep end of the pool, Josie had braved it headfirst. While Lizzie had refused to jump off the diving board when they were eleven years old, Josie had leaped off with an impressive form. Swimming was one of the very few things that Josie was better than her sister in, and it was something she never had to prove to anyone that she was "good enough" at. Josie was used to letting her sister be better at pretty much everything- Lizzie had the best grades, the best grade point average, and even the best attendance. Swim competitions, however, that was Josie's time to shine.

  As she popped up out of the water, she heard the eruption of cheers from her teammates. Her best friend, Hope, handed her a towel after she heaved herself out of the water, a knowing smile on her face. "Damn, Saltzman, you beat your best time by seven seconds", she exclaimed, causing Josie to grin proudly. She had been putting a lot of effort into reducing her time, and it was beginning to pay off. Each time she shaved down a few seconds from her time, it made the endless hours of practice seem worth it. "I hope you have some energy like that next week.", Hope reminded her, causing Josie to groan. It wasn't as if she could forget that the welcome meet was in just a few short days, but she was trying her hardest to. The welcome meet was the first meet of the swim season, and it was time to show the other teams what exactly the Salvatore school was made of. Especially her long time rival, Penelope Park.
Bellmont Academy, a school located on the north end of mystic falls, was and always had been their biggest competition. They had yet to beat the elusive team, even individually. While Josie could take on most of the Bellmont girls without breaking a sweat, even she was no match against their captain, Penelope. The raven-haired swimmer was someone that no other girl wanted to be up against. It was always guaranteed that Penelope would come out victorious, leaving her opponent weeping in the sidelines. It was no wonder why Penelope was such a powerhouse; She was the daughter of swimming legends. Both her mother and father had been Olympic gold medalists, and her sister Paisley had gone on to Standford after high school, earning a full paid athletic scholarship. Everyone, even Penelope's teammates, were jealous of the snarky youngest Park legend. This naturally led to the circulation of plenty of outlandish rumors about her.

  "I heard Penelope eats nothing but crackers and water", Mia Salvatore whispered, wringing out her wet hair. "That's how she has, like, zero percent body fat." "Well, I heard that she laces her coffee with steroids.", Katalina Pierce chimed in. "I believe it. There's no way in hell she got those muscles naturally." Josie rolled her eyes, snapping to catch the girls' attention. The two of them looked up, embarrassed to have been caught red-handed. "If you have the energy to gossip, you have the energy to swim extra laps. If you keep focusing on some petty drama you're going to cost us the meet." The two girls groaned, trying to negotiate with their captain; Josie, however, was not in the forgiving type of mood. "Five laps- now.", she ordered. The two girls walked away, grumbling.

  "God, talk about nosy", Lizzie quipped, still catching her breath from the race. "I wish they would stop talking about her like that. She's not even here to defend herself.", Josie said with a frown. Hope shrugged. "Still, do you think any of it is true?", she asked curiously. "c'mon, you've got to be curious, Jo." Josie sighed, wrapping her towel around her torso. "I don't know and I don't care", she stated firmly. "All I'm worried about is being prepared for next Wednesday. If we put enough blood, sweat, and tears into this, then maybe- just maybe- we can finally beat those Bellmont snobs and wipe that annoying smirk off Penelope Park's face."

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  Josie opened her locker, smiling as the piece of paper stuck in her door fluttered to the ground. She bent down and picked it up, excited hands unfolding the paper gently. On it was the same messy handwriting she had grown to love over the last few months, and she traced the letters fondly. Unlike most of the notes her secret penpal left for her, this one was relatively short: "Happy Wednesday, Jojo. Have a wonderful day, and good luck at your meet tonight. I'll be watching." As always, the note was signed off with a small doodle of a heart and her penpal's moniker- mermaid. Josie sighed, leaning against her locker. The thought that her anonymous penpal would be in the crowd was exciting, but Josie wished desperately that she knew who she was. She never asked, in fear of upsetting the girl or scare her away. It was unfair that she knew exactly who Josie was, and yet Josie didn't even know her first name. Still, Josie would take what her mermaid friend would offer to her. She didn't know why, but their secret conversations had become a highlight of her day, and she wasn't ready to give that up.

  "What are you doing?", Lizzie asked, startling Josie from her thoughts. She quickly slipped the paper into her binder, slamming the locker door shut. "Nothing.", Josie responded, slinging her bag higher up her shoulder. "C'mon", she urged, distracting her sister. "We can't leave Hope with Landon for too long. Poor girl will pass out from embarrassment, and I don't want a repeat of tenth-grade Swim camp today." With Lizzie's attention away from her and onto Hope, Josie slipped the note into her pocket, smiling. She would eventually find out who her mermaid was; At that moment, however, she was just happy to go with the flow.