Baseball Princess

Three: Swimming at the Lake

My mom picked me up from Taco Bell once everyone finished.

The ride home was silent. Thank god tomorrow's Saturday. I need a break.

By now, I know every varsity player and they know me. Coach has all sixteen of them on the team, and no one else.

I gave them my number before I left. They all texted me so I have their numbers. Now my phone is blowing up.

Every one of them texted me, so I told everyone to stop texting me so I could relax. The only person I kept talking to was Ben, the senior who payed for my meal at Taco Bell.

He told me a little more about the team trip, and what we do. He said that we take a bus up to the lake. Then, the varsity players throw the freshmen players in while the water's still cold.

After the water gets warmer, everyone goes in, and they swim until about 12 pm, when we have lunch. Then the varsity players take all the canoes and go to the middle of the lake and talk.

The bus leaves at 3:45, so we can get back to the school around 4. Then we have practice on Monday. Simple.

Around 9, I said goodnight to Ben, and got in the shower. Before I went to sleep, I set my swimsuit and other clothes for tomorrow in my bag. This is going to be so much fun!

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"Morning, Lins," Mark said as I got on the bus and followed him to the back. He sat down next to Ben. I sat next to Sam, and all the other boys sat around us.

Since the ride was only fifteen minutes, we only had small chat. Sam told me that the water was going to be really cold today. After all, it's only April.

My mom still couldn't believe it when I said we were going swimming. She thought it was going to be way too cold. I think she's right. Anyways, we're going canoeing, so we'll be fine.

The bus pulled in to the gravel driveway, and came to a stop. We all took out bags and set them on the beach surrounding the water. We all took off our shirts to our swimsuits underneath.

Mark led the way to the edge of the dock. Everyone followed, including me. Thanks to Ben, I know what's going to happen.

"Alright, we'd like to congratulate everyone who made the teams this year. Can we have JV go closer to the beach, Varsity at the end, and Freshmen in the middle?" Mark said, making it easier for them to get everyone in.

Varsity went to the end, then circled around Freshmen. "On the count of three. One, two, three!"

Every Freshmen went into the water. The Varsity players laughed and high fived each other. I laughed with them. It was pretty funny.

"Also, we'd like to congratulate our new manager, Lindsey!" Mark said. He came over and hugged me.

Suddenly, I was lifted off my feet and thrown into the freezing water. I resurfaced, shivering. The guys all shouted and jumped in around me.

We laughed, and swam. A little while after we got in, someone said we should do a chicken fight.

I ended up on Ben's shoulders against Sam, who was on Mark's shoulders. It's a good thing Mark was so huge.

It only took a minute for Sam to fall into the water. Celebrating, Tommy swam closer and challenged me. I beat him, too.

Next to come was Daniel. He was a lot harder to fight. Most of it was us pushing against each other's shoulders. Finally, after five minutes of brutal battle, I fell back.

"I win!" Daniel yelled. Mark shoved him off his shoulders, leaving Daniel in the water too.

I laughed and swam over to him. "Nice job," I said.

Eventually, we got lunch. I shivered after I got out of the water. The guys laughed and huddled around me to warm me up. It wasn't very effective, but it was really funny. We didn't take our towels yet, since we'd want them dry for the bus ride back.

I brought a lot of food. Maybe I would eat all of it, but I ended up sharing some. We all fit at two big tables.

"We should have like a buffet night or something, when everyone brings a bumch of food and we all just eat," one of the juniors, Dylan, said.

"Sounds great. Let's do it after practice next Wednesday. Who's bringing what?" Mark said.

"Lindsey should make cookies," Daniel said. He had my chocolate chip cookies once before, and maybe that's why he said it was his favorite food.

"Alright, I will. And maybe I'll make another dessert to go with it."

We spent the rest of the lunch time eating all of our food and figuring out what everyone's bringing.

We all left the lunch area to get the canoes. There was ten of them, and seventeen of us. Mark, Ben, and Josh, three seniors, each got their own. With the fourteen of us left and seven canoes, we did two to each one. I was with Daniel.

Since I was in the back, I didn't do much rowing. We were way behind everyone, since we were the last to get in the water.

Daniel stopped rowing, and looked back at me. "I'll bet the water feels great right now."

"You wouldn't."

"Actually, yes, I would."

Immeadietly, the canoe tipped, and we fell in. When I came back up, I was under the tipped canoe, and so was Daniel.

"This isn't funny," I said, pulling my hair out of my face.

"Yes it is," he replied laughing.

I started shivering again. Daniel wrapped his arms around me, and slowly, I got warmer.

"They're going to wonder what happened," I whispered.

"Yeah," Daniel said, looking down.

I swam under the sides of the canoe with him, and then we righted the canoe. Daniel climbed in, them helped me.

The rest of the trip the the middle was silent, and I could hear the water dripping from our bodies and onto the bottom of the canoe.

It was fine once we joined everyone else, because we just talked and laughed and joked along.

Then someone brought up secrets. My only thought was, Let's go.

*****Luke Benward as Ben Hanson🔝