Mark, for all that he said he was the best because he was the last leg of the relay team, wasn't really the best. As Janine told us while reading articles during our lunch, he was the last leg because he was solid and didn't make mistakes like entering the water too early and stuff. Yes, he was a good swimmer, but he wasn't going to set a record. She also couldn't find any mention of him swimming in any 200m races. It didn't mean he hadn't, but he wasn't known for them. Neither was I of course, but that was by design. They just didn't interest me. I'd been swimming for the fun of swimming and to aid in my recovery, not the thrill of something that was over in a couple minutes. The longer races had always been better for my health, so that was what I always swam.
That was just fine with me.
When we got to the aquatic center, we went right to the changing room to get workout gear on. We spent an hour in the fitness room going over all of the things that Janine wanted Kit to start doing, and I was impressed. It was a total body fitness plan that would help no matter what kind of dive she wanted to do. With her ankle feeling better, we actually got some work in doing those, just enough to warm me up, when several members of the men's team came into the center to interrupt.
"Mark is ready when you are. I don't think a last minute workout is going to help you!" the first said.
"He must really be in a hurry to lose," I said as I stood up from doing leg presses. One of the guys had the decency to look impressed with the amount of weight I was using, but the other never even checked it out.
Kit quickly grabbed my right hand in both of hers, pulling me back to her. "Please win! I don't want you to be with him."
I pulled her into a hug, and yes, we were both sweaty and I didn't care. "I'm only available for you, Kit. Trust me." I heard her sigh happily, and gently kissed the top of her head. "Now come on, you have to cheer me on."
"I have to say, I'm with Kit on this," Janine stated. "I don't like this kind of wager."
"I know, and I don't like it either," I agreed. "But it was obvious that Coach McGinty has been spreading rumors about me, and this will be a good way to show them what I can do. Besides, that Mark asshole needs to be taken down a few pegs."
"You know, there are a lot of press outlets that are always asking for team interviews," Janine mentioned. "Maybe you should do one. Tell them the truth and get your story out there. You'd get a ton of fans out there. Overcoming cancer and succeeding at the highest level would be very inspirational to a lot of people going through that."
I thought about that as I walked down the stairs and into the locker room. She had a good point, though I was normally a private person, and it seemed like a big step. "What do you think?" I asked as I turned to Kit.
"I think you should do it," she quickly replied. "You're wonderful, and everyone should know that. I already know, and so does Janine, but she is right about it being inspirational to people that might need motivation to fight their own battles."
"Okay, I'll do it." I couldn't turn it down after Kit said that, and it made a lot of sense.
Janine quickly smiled, and then pulled her phone out to start typing while I started getting changed again. Kit gasped and turned away again, though I couldn't help but grin when I saw her sneak a few peeks when she thought it was safe to not be caught. Yeah, that made me feel good that she was allowing herself to look. Maybe she was beginning to accept us as being more than friends a little bit.
I put my swim cap on, and then grabbed my goggles and headed out to the pool with Janine and Kit by my sides. There was quite a crowd there, and a lot of catcalling heralded my entrance to the swimming lanes. Even all the divers stopped their practicing to watch, which was kind of surprising. Mark was already standing there, surrounded by admirers, including some women that glared at me like they thought I wanted to lose or something.
I jumped into the pool, getting my goggles wet and rinsing off the sweat on my body then climbing right back out. "Are you ready?" Mark asked with a big smirk.
"Whenever you are. I have a workout to get back to."
He barked out laughter. "The only workout you're gonna get is with my dick." He got a lot of high fives on that, and I just shook my head.
"By the look of your right arm, you've been doing that enough by yourself," I told him with a smirk of my own. "You better look out, or you might swim in a circle if you keep that up."
"Fuck you!" he snarled.
"That sure as hell won't be you."
"Come on, let's just get this over with!" he said, climbing up on one of the nearby starting blocks.
"I'm sure you hear that from your dates all the time." I know, I couldn't help myself. But all the laughter was certainly at his expense now.
I was about to climb onto the block too when Kit grabbed me and hugged me. "Kick his ass!" she whispered into my chest. "I need you!"
"I will, just for you," I promised. I shook out my arms and legs, then climbed up onto the starting block two lanes over from Mark. Looking over at him, I could see his red face as he was obviously fuming from the teasing, and I knew that the race was already over. He was probably going to start out fast and then burn out with that attitude.
"I guess if this is a race, I should time it, eh?" I heard the all too familiar voice of Coach McGinty say as she made her way through the crowd. "It would be a shame to not know how badly you were beaten, Middleton." Several other people had either their phone or stopwatch out to do the same thing, or in some cases record it.
And that just made my mind happy. She really had to open her mouth. "You do that."
I got myself ready and heard McGinty behind us. "On your mark! Get set!" I settled into my track start position, and then launched as soon as I heard her next word. "Go!"
Every time I first enter the water, it is a glorious time. It's like my body is coming home and it just makes me feel alive. You have the chance to do what many people call dolphin kicks, though I've seen my mom swim and I think they look more like seal kicks, and then get right into your strokes. In this case, we were doing a freestyle, which pretty much meant I could just go as fast as I wanted and with whatever stroke I wanted. I entered the water with my back flat and pumped my legs to get momentum before breaching the surface and starting my arms and legs stroking.
The pool was set up with a 50m width, and I finished the first length, flipping and kicking off the wall. While doing another seal kick, I glanced to my left underwater and saw Mark about half a body length behind me. The poor guy had already lost and probably hadn't even realized it. I could hear the crowd every time I took a breath, but I somehow still heard Kit's voice above the rest. This was the first time I'd ever swum for anyone other than my mother, and it gave me a renewed sense of urgency. It was also the first time she'd seen me swim, and I wanted to make her proud. My body responded by kicking even harder, and when I flipped off the wall the second time, I could see Mark had fallen even further behind.
A part of me wondered if he thought I'd run out of steam, which was foolish as I had the endurance and he didn't, or if he was planning some sudden burst of speed. The best part was when I kicked off the wall for the last time, I came up for my first breath, and the only voice I heard was Kit. I was so used to her whispering and talking softly that I was smiling like a fool in the water, and I couldn't wait to pull her into me again.
Normally at the end of the race, you touch the timer pad underwater to signal a finish, but I just slapped it with my knee as I hauled myself out of the water to sit on the edge, where Kit jumped into my lap and hugged me. Mark finished a few seconds later, looking like he'd given up when he saw how futile it was.
"What the fuck was that, Middleton?" Coach McGinty screamed as she stood next to me.
"A race? Isn't that what you wanted to see?"
"You just swam a 1:44! That is an unofficial woman's world record by almost eight seconds! Why the hell aren't you swimming in that event in the Olympics?" She continued to scream, and I really didn't want to hear her.
I stood up, keeping Kit in my arms as I looked down at the coach. "Maybe if the women's team had a good coach, instead of one who kicked me off the last team for going to my dad's funeral, I would be swimming more races. But I guess we'll never know, huh?"
Her mouth dropped open, with the sudden realization that all the bystanders, my fellow swim team members, heard that. But she never said anything, and just stormed off instead. Even Mark came over to congratulate me after the race, and all the girls that were glaring at me were now no doubt ready to console him. Hell, he would probably enjoy losing way too much. There were several pats on the back and a lot of muttering among the other onlookers, but I didn't care.
I carried Kit back to the locker room with Janine by our side. Kit had her arms around my neck in a death grip, and had her face buried in my chest. From the heat on my skin, I could tell she was crying, and I sat down and pulled her into a hug to calm her down. "It's okay, Kit, it's okay. It's all over, and nothing bad happened."
"I know, but I was so scared," she whispered through her tears. "Everyone wanted him to win, and I hated it."
"But he didn't win. Now he'll stop bugging us, and Coach McGinty got to look like a fool."
"And I got all that on video," Janine snickered. "I also might have accidentally sent it to one of the reporters that had been asking for someone to interview. Do you feel like talking to them after dinner?"
I looked down at Kit, and she was looking up with a smile as she nodded. "Can Kit come to keep me company?"
"I'm pretty sure she would be welcome," Janine replied. "But she doesn't have to be a part of it if she doesn't want to."
Now it was my turn to look down at Kit. My worry was that they would ask us about our relationship and make her feel scared to answer. "They might ask us about you getting into my lap after the race, and if we're dating. Would you be okay with questions like that?"
"What would we say?" She looked nervous, and I wanted her to smile again.
"We could say that we're best friends and roommates, and that your dad asked me to look after you, which is kind of what the race was about. You were scared for me, and then happy after the race. And if they ask if we're dating, we can say no, because we don't know what we're going to do yet," I explained.
"You can say that," Janine said skeptically. "But anyone who sees you two interact is going to assume you're dating, and probably deeply in love. No offence, but anyone with eyes can tell how strongly you feel about each other."
Which would be fine with me, though I wasn't sure about the love part just yet. But would it be okay with Kit?
"If they want to ask, I'm okay with it," Kit finally said.
That could be interesting!
***
A/N - You made it to Chapter 13! Well, there is a lot more to come on this one, and if you arrived while it is still in progress, but need more gxg books to read, why not check out some of my other works? I have a lot of them on my profile (the 20th will be dropping soon!). In any case, enjoy this one, I'll keep the chapters coming!