Arriana's Return

Arriana's Return - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Arianna was standing at her locker shoving books into her backpack when she looked at the clock on the wall and saw that she had six minutes to be on deck. She slammed the door shut and ran toward the locker room. Deacon and Zoe were standing near the stairs whispering to each other, which made Arianna slow a bit. Zoe's arms were waving in the air while Deacon shook his head vigourously. Arriana slowed a bit as she approached them. She walked down a few steps, just far enough to where she could still see them, but they would not see her.

What is Zoe doing talking to him? She always complained about how dorky and stupid Deacon is.

If there was ever a time Arianna wished that she could read lips or hear minds it was now. She stood there staring at them, trying to read their lips. She couldn't. As the two-people parted, Arianna hopped over the railing of the steps and landed on the floor below. She crept around the pillar and into the bathroom that was connected to the girls' locker room. As she stood there, she heard the main door open, it must have been Zoe. Arianna quickly grabbed her suit out of the bag, threw it on and headed to her locker. She smiled at her friend, trying to pretend she hadn't just been spying on her and walked to the deck chit chatting. The team was sitting around when Arianna and Zoe reached pool level but stopped once they saw her. She hated this one thing about being a captain. She did not get to enjoy the down time. Looking around she did not see Coach Doare anywhere, again, but knew she probably would not until practice was at least half way over. It was meet day. He was probably up in his office doing last minute preparations. She grabbed the workout book and opened it to the pre meet warm ups. Trying to concentrate she flipped through the pages. She just could not keep her mind on swimming. Finally deciding on an exercise for everybody she shouted out the orders. Not in the mood for anyone's lip, she was disappointed when one of the freshmen decided to be a jerk and push her buttons.

"Jeremy get in the pool and do the warm up. Please." Arianna said warily.

"Who died and left you coach?" Jeremy spit out nastily.

"You know when Coach Doare is in his office I am the one who is in charge. Now I won't repeat myself." Arianna was sterner in her command.

"Screw you Arianna," he yelled.

"That's it Jeremy! Get upstairs to Coaches office," she told him, beginning to lose her cool.

"Make me, you kiss ass." He shot back at her.

"Now or I will take you there myself if I have to," she said giving him her nastiest look.

"Then I guess you're going to have to." Jeremy sneered.

"You want to play that game with me little boy?" she asked through clenched teeth.

Arianna walked over to the barely four-foot five-inch boy and glared down at him.

"In the pool or you're going to that office. Do you understand me?"

He was now cowering but not backing down. She knew he was trying not to cry. Despite being five feet, six inches tall Arianna could be a very intimidating person when she wanted to be.

"I'm not doing it. I'm not taking orders from you." He declared.

She had no idea why he was acting this way, but she was not in the mood to put up with him. She reached out and snatched him by his shoulder, pushing him toward the boys' locker room.

"What are you doing?" Jeremy asked now terrified that Arianna would make good on her promise.

"I told you I was going to take you to the office. That is what I'm doing. Now, walk up those stairs because trust me you do not want me dragging you up them," she said shooting daggers at the boy with her eyes.

He made his walk of defeat up the stairs without the aid of Arianna. He grumbled all the way with his head down. Once they reached the landing, she grabbed his ear.

"Move it mister, to the office."

"Ouch. Come on! Le'go of my ear!" He yelped.

"I don't care if it hurts. You should have thought about that before you acted like a little jerk," she said smacking him in the back of the head.

"Okay, okay. I'll get in the pool," Jeremy said.

"Too late for that. To coach's office," Arianna said directing the boy through the locker room.

Walking past a row of lockers, she could see the light spilling out from beneath the door. She pushed it open a bit to see if Coach was busy but what she saw surprised her. Coach Doare was sitting there polishing an enormous sword. Arianna stood there in silence as Jeremy peaked around her, neither knew what to say or do. Coach Doare had not heard them push open the door so they slowly backed away. She grabbed Jeremy's hand and they ran through the locker room to the landing at the top of the stairs. As they stood there, Arianna spun Jeremy around to face her.

Holding onto his shoulders. "You did not see that, and you are not going to tell anyone, right?" Arianna asked the boy.

The frightened little boy just stared at her

"Jeremy. Focus. Okay."

"Wh-why did Coach have that?" He stammered.

"I'll talk to him, okay? Just get into the pool and do your warm up, understand?" Arianna asked him.

The boy nodded his head. Arianna turned and began walking back to the office when Jeremy grabbed her arm.

"Arianna, please don't go back! What if he, well, hurts you?" Jeremy whispered panic-stricken and looking around wild eyed.

Poor kid is freaked out. Of course, I am too. I really hope I'm doing the right thing.

"Jeremy, I'll be fine. I promise. Just go do your workout and don't say a word to anybody." She reassured him by giving his shoulders a final squeeze. "It's just a sword. It's probably for one of his classes."

Jeremy just nodded again and walked down the stairs. Looking over her shoulder just to make sure he did as he was told; Arianna began walking back through the darkened locker room. As she got closer to the office, she heard Coach Doare's footsteps. She ducked past a row of lockers and into the showers until she heard him walking away. Holding her breath for fear he would hear, she wished she could stop her heart from beating so hard. She remained hidden in the shadows of the showers well after the pool door slammed shut making sure she was truly alone. Arianna carefully peaked around the corner even though she knew nobody else was there. It seemed darker than ever and she could hardly see. Closing her eyes, she tried to slow her breathing and tried to concentrate. When she opened them, she could see a little better. Walking carefully, she made her way through the locker room. Her heart began racing again. She felt the artery in her neck throbbing. Her body began to feel hot and she was getting dizzy. Her head was spinning, and it seemed that no matter how much she walked she was no closer to the office. Her feet were like lead. Arianna had never dreamed of doing anything like this. The office started to get closer, slowly. So that meant she really was walking. Her hand was shaking as she reached for the knob. The door was shut, and Arianna was sure it was locked. She was hoping for a miracle as she took a deep breath, finally grasped the handle and began turning it slowly. The familiar clicking of an unlocked door made her smile. Pushing it open, she looked around the small office. She began breathing in and out through her mouth attempting to settle her heart again. She was sure if it were beating any harder it would explode. The small room looked like it usually did, messy. There was a desk looking out the large window to the right, a closet and personal bathroom were in front of her and to the left were a few filing cabinets.