Secrets of the Deep [Wattpad Featured Story]

Chapter Nine

My arms strained forward and my legs kicked furiously on overdrive. I cupped my hands and dug deep into the water. With every stroke, I drew closer to the wall and to finishing the race. As soon as I touched the tile, I jerked my head up and whipped off my goggles. I glanced at the lanes on either side of me and smiled when I realized no one else had reached the wall yet.

First place again!

Even though this had been a practice race, I was thrilled. The real test would come this weekend during the meet.

"Fantastic work, Rayne!" Coach Hansen congratulated me. He reached down and extended a hand to help me out of the pool.

"Thanks," I wheezed, climbing out onto the pool deck. I placed my hands on my hips, waiting for my pulse to go down to normal.

"You never fail to surprise me," he continued. "Keep up the phenomenal work. I have a feeling we're going to do great in the next meet, especially"—here he lowered his voice—"with you as our star swimmer."

I laughed nervously. "Thanks...I sure hope so."

Once Coach Hansen left to critique the other swimmers, Sage and Marley came up to me with huge smiles on their faces. "Teacher's pet!" Marley teased.

I rolled my eyes good-naturedly. "Yeah, right."

"Oh, come on. It's so obvious," Sage put in. "Coach is always saying good things about you, and he rarely ever critiques you unless he's in a nitpicky mood."

"Not true."

"It is so true," she argued. "You're his favorite swimmer. Everybody knows that."

"Yeah, including the Mad Hansen." Marley jerked a thumb towards the swimmer scowling at us from lane 3. "Apparently she doesn't like coming in second place."

"It was just a practice race." I shook my head. "She needs to cool her jets."

"She hates you with a passion. I don't think cooling her jets is an option," Marley chuckled.

"I don't see how that's funny." Sage crossed her arms over her chest. She leaned in and narrowed her eyes. "Last year," she murmured, "Madeleine had the guts to beat up a guy from the swim team. He gave her a rude comment, so she gave him two black eyes and a broken nose."

My eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. All I'm saying is, you better not do anything to get on her nerves," Sage warned. "She's a loose cannon if I ever saw one."

I swallowed nervously. "Yikes," I murmured, remembering our little confrontation in front of Mrs. Brown's class the other day.

"So do you guys have any plans for the weekend?" Marley asked, swiftly changing the subject. The three of us immediately forgot all about Madeleine and jumped right into a new conversation. We were talking at full volume as we entered the women's locker room.

"Hey, why don't you guys come over to my place after the swim meet?" I suggested.

"Sure," Marley said automatically.

"Of course! Let me just double-check with my parents first," Sage added.

"Great." I finished changing into my jeans and T-shirt before combing out my long black hair. I was about to wrap it up into another bun when Sage suddenly cried out.