Oh, I Don't Love You; I'm In Love With Your Car. Or Is It The Other Way Round?

Oh, I don't love you; I'm in love with your car. Or is it the other way round? 4

Chapter 4  

I met Fiona on the second floor going down, and we talked for about ten minutes before she realised she had to rush to get to her swimming practice. I continued up, and by the time I got to the sixth floor, I was sweating and exhausted.

 I collapsed on the steps. There was no one taking the stairs, and I realised it was a bad idea. It was so lonely, and the stairs were in one isolated column, with colourless walls. I wheezed and grabbed my sides, fighting stitches. I gasped in pain and exhaustion. After a few minutes, I got up and climbed slowly up to the seventh floor, my head drenched and face red, sweat pouring from my forehead.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps approaching quickly, but before I could move, something hard crashed into me. I fell and would’ve gone crashing down seven sets of stairs but something grabbed onto my hand. My hair fell behind me, a waterfall of chocolate streaming in the direction of the ground. I clutched the person’s hand with both hands, scared to death that I was going to fall.

Plus, I felt a strange, but great, feeling whilst touching them, and when they yanked me up, I stumbled into their chest, where I could feel their muscles through their t-shirt. I blushed, but I don’t think it showed because I was red anyway. I wish I wasn’t smelling of sweat and drenched in perspiration like this.

I looked up at my saviour and gasped. “What are you doing here?”

Joe smirked, and wrapped his arms around my waist. I struggled but he was too strong, and I couldn’t get free. “I just saved you. I was running down the stairs to get to swimming practice, but I crashed into you. I think you owe me a thank you after saving you from falling to your death.” His smirk grew while I scowled.

“Sorry.” I muttered, but I was thinking of what he said. “What do you mean, swimming practice?”

“Do you like swimming? There’s a team, and we need another person. You wouldn’t believe how little people are interested in swimming anymore.” I was quite comfortable where I was, but no way in hell was I going to admit this to anyone- except maybe Fiona and Molly.

“Yeah- can I try out for the team? Because I am a girl, no one picked me for the school team.” I cried enthusiastically.

“That’s fine. I’m sure Miss Golding will want you on the team. There’s me for front crawl, Shawn for backstroke and Fiona Harling for butterfly. Are you any good at breaststroke?” he asked, walking with me up the stairs.

“Yeah, it’s my best one. That’s great that Fiona's on the team, and Shawn!” I imagined what it would be like to win, and grinned. Somehow, I felt a new kind of energy when I was talking to Joe, and walking up with him. When we reached dorm 12, he unlocked the door and led me inside. I was now drenched completely in sweat, but still managed a small smile at the boys, who were staring at me, shocked.

“Taylor?” Ben frowned at me, looking at me over the top of his car magazine.

Michael was watching a car programme on TV with the rest of the boys, and Ben seemed to be checking information with the magazine he was holding. I told them about trying out for the swimming team, before I bounded into my room and closed the door.

I took a five-minute shower, changed into my Speedo swimsuit (navy blue with pink and white stripes), grabbed my goggles, shoved on a plain lilac t-shirt and deep purple tracksuit bottoms, and slipped on white flats. Then, I brushed my long hair into a high ponytail, leaving my fringe out. I looked great, if I could say so myself.

I chucked clean underwear, a red towel, my ‘swimming’ brush and shampoo into my pink plastic swimming bag and headed out the door. Joe was waiting, with his swimming bag already slung over his shoulder.