See You Again

II

I jumped into the water; the cold hit my skin and my muscles hardened with the contact.

We weren't the only ones in the pool, but it felt like it. We had been waiting for this rematch for a long time now, but it didn't feel real. I swam as fast as I had ever swum, focusing on nothing but the water, feeling the adrenaline in my veins, barely breathing. 

I wasn't giving my best because it was him; I was giving my best because I believed what I said in the lockers room. We could win.

It all happened too fast. When it was over, I was sitting on the benches again, a towel over my shoulders as I watched the others compete.

Vanessa sat next to me, avoiding getting her uniform wet, and patted my back through the towel with a small smile. "Congratulations, Will. It was a good race."

I smiled forcefully and leaned back, running my fingers through my dripping hair.

"He looks pissed." I noticed, looking at Theo as he yelled at no one in particular, twisting the green and yellow towel on his hands. FHS's colours.

"It's hard to be a loser." A wicked smile laced through her lips. She wouldn't know. "It's Ezra's time now?"

I nodded. The third race started with Ezra in position beside all the others. I won a race, FHS won the second, and this was the last and decisive round. I focused only on Ezra throughout the entire race, forgetting about my other colleagues swimming. That's probably why I had in mind that we had lost.

All the students besides me erupted in clapping and yelling and I realised West had won the race for us.

"We won," I whispered to myself and then looked at Vanessa, who was clapping in a very disciplined way, knees bent to avoid touching the water-filled floor with her Louboutin. I restrained myself from hugging her out of excitement. I didn't need her mad at me for ruining her clothes.

"You won." She smiled back at me and then did something I didn't think she could do. She kissed me on the cheek.

I think I stayed frozen for a long time. She had disappeared almost immediately and I couldn't focus on anything but her lips brushing against my cheek.

"We are the champions, my friend!" They chanted on top of their lungs.

I was only awakened from my trance by West being thrown over me. We both fell to the floor but smiled as we got back to our feet and joined the chanting.

I was again pulled from my mates by a furious Theo.

"What was that?" He demanded.

"What was what? Me crushing you like a bug? Don't feel bad. It happens to the best." I shrugged, smirking.

He pushed me against the wall and all my teammates surrounded and restrained him as if he had just pointed a gun at me.

"You know what you did!" He yelled. "There's no way you could have beaten me! Are you on steroids? Get the arbiter to test you right now!"

I was taken aback for a second. That was a really serious accusation. I can't believe he thought about it. We grew up together, trained together. How does he not know I wouldn't do that?

The commotion was enough to bring the attention of the arbiter, and I couldn't believe it when he said they were going to test both teams.

"What?" Theo complained. "No, not us. Will is the one who cheated!"

Why is he doing such a big deal out of it? Is he the one on steroids?

We were all forced to pee on cups, to my dismay.

The party was delayed due to all the procedures and bureaucracies. When I finally got out of the lockers room in a simple pair of jeans and my team jacket. The entire school had had time to make their own conclusions out of Theo's accusation and some of them were looking at us weirdly.

If the team was already going down, there's no way we'll survive after this.

My sister was on the bleachers when everything happened and came to me right after, asking me if I was okay.

"They believe it." She explained. "They say the team was going to shut down if you kept losing like that and this was your way to save it."

"Figures. Don't worry about that now. They'll find nothing. Go home with Nate." I instructed.

She made a face. "About that... Can I go to the party with you or something?"

"No. Go home."

She pouted at me but I didn't change my mind and she had no other option but to grab her brother and go.

I met with my friends at the school's parking lot, all of them talking about what happened.

"Are you okay, Will?" Peter asked as soon as I got there.

"Yeah, I'm fine. There's nothing to worry about." I told them. "Let's go to the party."

"Are you sure you want to go to a party after this? You and Ezra... Where is he?" Walt asked.

Then we saw him running towards us with his arms full of stuff from the vending machine. Then he tripped and fell on top of all of it.

"NO! " He cried over the food in a crouch, ignoring the wounds all over the back of his hands and burst lip. "MY FOOD!"

"Yeah, I think he can go," I said. "Leave it, Ezra, there's more food at the party."

He got up, wiped the blood out of his lip, and got in his car without another word. Walter followed him and I was going to do the same, but then Vanessa grabbed me by the arm.

"Will you be my date for tonight, captain?" She asked, fingers running up and down the dark fabric of my jacket.

I could be all flustered if it wasn't because I was so used to the way she acted around me.

"I'd love to."

"Good." She smiled and pushed me inside Peter's car. "Let's go."