V O I C E

1.6 S W I M

The next morning I walked into the main room to see Seokmin and Jangmi packing a small duffel each. "What's going on?" I asked, rubbing my eyes to clear up the delirium of the morning.

"Ah, Y/n, didn't you hear what day it is?" Jangmi asked. I shook my head no and she nodded, making her way over to me. "So basically every other day we have an 'extracurricular day'. Everyone goes to different buildings for different sports-related activities. It's like the core classes, but with sports."

I nodded slowly, still processing all the information. "It should be on your schedule with all your classes! Let me take a look." Seokmin said, holding her arm out. I went back to my room and found the crumpled paper with my other school stuff. I brought it out to her and she smoothed it down on the counter like a pirate with a map. "Aha, it says here your first block is swimming." I looked over her shoulder but immediately stepped back after getting confused by it all.

"Oh my gosh! I have that first too! This is so exciting!" Jangmi exclaimed, clapping her hands together, and then grabbing my schedule. "Let's keep a hold on this for a bit, just until everything is memorized."

"Alright." I started to turn to get my things, but then I stopped. "What all do I need?" I asked them. They smiled and offered to help.

In the end, I packed a spare swimsuit Seokmin had, some toiletries like soap and deodorant, Jangmi put in a swim cap "just in case", and some other things for my other classes.

I followed the two girls across the street to the ominous building scattered in perfect symmetry. A half-empty parking lot was cutting through the middle of them all, presumably for the teachers and other staff. We went into a large building in the middle of them all with a large sign outside that said, "CA 0325: POOL."

Most of this trip was quiet. I was absorbing a bunch of new information, and we had all just woken up.

We filed into the different locker rooms and began to change. Once we walked in, there were faint whispers and girls were rushing to cover up. "Grow up you-" Seokmin was cut off by Jangmi covering her mouth.

"We don't need to start a fight. It's like this all the time." She whispered. Once she was finished, she made her way to a secluded corner to start changing. I noticed everyone glancing, or straight up staring, at her and whispering about her.

Obviously, if I noticed this, then so did Seokmin and Jangmi. Seokmin huffed and stormed over to Jangmi and began changing as well. I furrowed my brow and hid in the showers, waiting until everyone had left.

"Y/n? Are you coming out soon?" I heard someone ask behind the curtain. I stuck my hand out with a thumbs up and then motioned for them to go on without me. "Of course... um... if you need anything... we'll be out there!" And I heard their footsteps leave. Once I was sure everyone had gone, I quickly changed and decided to stick up for my friend, without saying a word.

♢◆♢

I sat at the edge of the pool with my friends. We had done some basic warm-ups and breathwork, but we were waiting for some students to join us so we could start diving. The other students were doing other exercises in the pool, but their instructor was taking extra time with them.

Finally, they finished and we were all sent to the diving boards. A handsome guy walked in front of the group and smiled wide. As soon as I started thinking of where I saw this guy before, he started talking, "Hello everyone! I know you all know me, but for the sake of formality, my name is Chris, Christopher, or Chan, but today I'm Mr. B. Any questions before we start?" He looked around for a second before clapping his hands together. "Shall we get started then?"