After School

1.8 Carter

September 5, 1946: After school

Carter and Yuta walked into the changing rooms outside the swimming pool. They were getting ready for their second swim meet of the new school year. Yesterday was their first official practice, and Carter noted that Yuta was an excellent swimmer. There were some things that the new kid still needed to improve on, so Carter was planning on working on it today.

"So..." Carter began, pulling his shirt over his head. Yuta stood next to him, taking off his bag and placing it on the bench in front of them. "Today I was thinking of working on your backstrokes since you seem to be having trouble," Carter explained, pulling his grey sweatpants down to reveal his black swim shorts underneath.

Yuta nodded his head, his black eyes wide. "Okay... but I hope I'm not slowing the team down," he said, his eyes filled with worry.

As he spoke, Carter watched him take off his black shirt, to reveal his ghostly pale skin that was etched with the silk of white rose petals. Carter widened his grey eyes and turned to face the other way, a slight blush appearing on his cheek. His heart churned as outlandish emotions flooded his heart. Carter gulped as he began to form a response, trying his best to appear as nonchalant as possible.

"N-No. You're not slowing the team down," Carter replied, stuttering as his heart raced. Carter was glad that Yuta seemed to be oblivious to this sort of thing.

"I'm relieved," Yuta said, pulling down his black trousers to reveal his black swim shorts.

Carter gulped, his heart beating loudly in his chest. What the hell? he frenziedly thought to himself, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. Why am I like this? Why am I so weird? Carter inhaled deeply and shook his head, controlling his nerves.

"Let's go," he declared to Yuta and the other boys in the locker room.

Once they arrived outside, Carter assigned the team of eleven boys a set of drills to follow. They all lined up at the edge of the pool, and jumped in, beginning their drills. Carter instructed each one of them what to do and what they needed to improve on in time for the annual regional swim competition. Carter walked around the edge of the pool, blowing his whistle like he owned the place. Carter, as a general rule, hid his emotions. He figured they were intel he'd rather not hand over and so at all times his face was stoic and serious.

Carter was also quite the authoritarian. He follows the book and plays by the rules, making sure everyone does their part properly. He is considered a great captain by his teammates and the staff supervisor, however, the rest of the school doesn't think that. The rest of the school doesn't even think much about the swim team in general, to be completely honest. They'd much rather watch the football boys over some wimpy kids swimming in a terrible pool.

That angered Carter. What's the big difference anyway? he would say to himself. They're both simply school sports. However, at Willesden, it seemed sports meant a lot, at least according to the couple hundred students that played competitively.

Suddenly, Yuta waved to him from the pool. "Come in, Carter!" he giddily exclaimed, his goggles perched on top of his head. "Once you're finished blowing that whistle, of course," Yuta remarked, a teasing smirk spread across his face.

Carter rolled his eyes and scanned the checklist clipped onto the clipboard in his hand. Well, everyone's prepared and doing their drills... Carter took off the whistle that was hanging around his neck and put on his goggles. Then, he jumped into the pool, with perfect form.

"Wow!" Yuta exclaimed, clapping his hands adorably. "That was killer-diller! You're quite the ace!"

Carter splashed into the water and lifted his head above the surface. His silver hair became damp and was plastered against his forehead. He turned his head around and gave Yuta a quick glare. "Do your drills!" he shouted, in a light-hearted but slightly scolding tone.