"Dude, you're like the best swimmer on the team. Stop being so nervous."
Percy just nodded, drumming his fingers absentmindedly on his leg. It's just a 100 free. You got this. He repeated the mantra in his head over and over, until it was stuck there.
He glanced at his wrist again, and then at the board that displayed what event and heat he was. Annabeth had written it there with her sharpie, that she never failed to bring to meets. Once she had forgotten, and Percy almost missed his event both times he was supposed to swim.
One more look at the board told him he should be going up to the block. His event was three heats away.
Leaning his head against the wall, Percy resolved to close his eyes. The darkness had no effect of calm on him though, displaying scenes of Alaska, and drowning in the mud. It was all he had been seeing recently since re-joining the swim team.
He hadn't noticed it, but the heats in front of him were gone. It was his turn to swim. Percy climbed up on the ledge of the block (a/n what are those even called?) and waited for the announcement to step up.
"Swimmers, step up." He heard someone call. It was far away though, barely reaching his ears.
Percy stepped up to the block, curling his toes on the edge.
"Take your mark."
His arms bent down to meet his legs.
"Go."
Percy swiftly dived into the water, kicking as hard as he could and swinging his arms around as fast as he could. He couldn't see the other swimmers, so he supposed he was in the lead. Reaching the wall, he quickly did his flip turn and started his commute to the other wall.
He could feel the mud filling up his lungs, restricting his breath and swallowing him whole. He was back in Alaska, back in the mud. He was going to drown.
I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe.
Annabeth watched in horror as Percy stopped swimming suddenly and wrapped his hands around his throat, flailing in panic. She knew exactly what was happening. He was back in Alaska. He was dying.
"Someone get him out!" she screamed, frantically trying to get his coaches attention.
Too immersed in the hectic events to notice Percy, his coach simply glanced at a frantic Annabeth in confusion. Turning his gaze back to the water gave him an answer for her sporadicness. Quickly, he blew his whistle and motioned for one of Percy's teammates to pull him out of the water. Jake, as Annabeth recognized him, jumped into the water and pulled a thrashing Percy out.
Percy was clutching his throat, white fingers no doubt contributing to his shortage of breath.
Annabeth rushed down the bleachers, hugging Percy tight and rocking him back and forth. His fingers started to loosen slowly, regaining their natural color. She was still whispering in his ear when he regained full consciousness and began to cry into her now soaking wet jacket.
"I couldn't breathe" he mumbled, his voice concealed by the thick material of her sweatshirt.
"I know." Annabeth whispered back.
_
Vocab (because I know not all of you are on a swim team):
100 free - This means 100 yard freestyle, which is four laps across the pool. (one lap is from the block to the wall.)
The "block" - The diving stand the swimmers dive off of.
looks like this
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Event - So when you get to a meet they give the coaches and sometimes the swimmers something called a "Heat Sheet". the sheet lists swimmers in groups they will swim in, which are called heats, and there can be multiple heats per event.
Why Percy wrote his event and heat down on his wrist - I have no idea if this is a universal thing, but at my swim meets we write out our events and heats on our wrists, so we can keep up with where we're supposed to be. You walk up to the block a couple of heats early so you don't miss your start.
Flip Turn: When you reach the wall you quickly flip in the water and come out on your back, pushing the wall against your feet and turning around to your stomach in the water.
_
This was fun to write, especially lounging in my sweats (what my coach calls sweatshirts and sweatpants) after one of my swim meets. - lizzy :)
