Let Me Live

Chapter Ten

My eyes squint at one item in particular. "Alcohol?" I mutter to myself. "Gianna, I'm not even legal!" I yell at her back, watching her walk into the kitchen.

Gianna waves a hand in the air, her stride not slowing. "Figure it out."

My eyes scan the rest of the list and I groan, calling out loudly, "Why am I on catfight duty?" The question is met with silence.

Helpful. With hellos and short conversations with the girls sitting around eating their breakfast, I grab a ham and cheese croissant and make my way out the door.

Campus is quiet, with most morning classes already in progress. This leaves the rest of us with enough time to sleep in a little longer. Only a few stragglers wander the pathways, reading books or drinking coffee.

Chesley's Aquatic Center sits right next to the Ice Hockey Rink. They share a large parking lot that stretches far enough to connect to the Football Stadiums parking lot further down the street. What I'm gathering from this is that most of this section of the campus is a parking lot.

I've been a student for almost three years and have not once visited these places.

Wait. That's a lie. My professor made us sit on the football field for class once in freshmen year. Twenty minutes into that class, he quickly realized how sitting in direct sunlight while wearing an all-black suit was probably not his smartest idea. Safe to say we never ventured outdoors again for the rest of the semester.

Banners decorate the surrounding lampposts along the pathway the closer we get to the Aquatics Center. They're decorated in our school colors with the school's mascot, followed by the sport and year that championships were won.

Hmm, looks like the football team won something last year.

In high school I didn't have much of a school spirit nor did I do much supporting, especially after Homecoming sophomore year. I shudder thinking about it. So it's safe to assume that just because I'm a student at Chesley University, doesn't automatically mean that was going to change my lack of school spirit.

That's not to say that I hate athletes, I disliked athletes that were assholes. As I did regular assholes too, athletic assholes are just on another level in my opinion.

I have to ring a buzzer to get into the Aquatics Center. Apparently, these places are heavily protected and athletes need special IDs to enter from what Levi briefly explained in our text messages.

Leaning my head closer to the door, I peek inside, surveying the empty lobby. I press the button again, hearing the faint buzzing from inside, and watch a woman with a clipboard jog into view to the lone desk. She gives me a thumbs up and a click echoes.

Pulling open the double doors, the pungent smell of chemicals assaults my nose, causing the back of my throat to burn. My nose scrunches at the smell as I pass through the air-conditioned lobby.

"Can I help you?" She asks politely, scanning my attire, quickly realizing from just a short glance that I am not one of their swimmers.

Brushing my hands together anxiously I give her an awkward smile. "I'm here to drop something off for Levi Saints?" I say but the way it comes out sounds more like a question.

She nods slowly, her eyes running over me again before she purses her lips. "Sure, he's right through those doors. He's just about finished his practice."

With a quiet thank you, I shuffle over to the doors she gestured and yank them open, letting a waft of humid air, that immediately clings to my skin, hit me. I can almost feel my hair start to frizz in this space.