"Cascade! Get in the pool and stop chatting!" Coach Sterling barked from the other side of the water. I turned back to Rachael as I adjusted my goggles.
"Yeah, that sounds great." Rachael said, unlocking her phone with her fingerprint and yawning. It was early morning swim practice, which I knew Rachael despised, but she still managed to crawl out of bed in time. As a compromise, we had just arranged to go shopping later that afternoon, much to my disgust. But Rachael said she would allow me to buy band merch, and go to the Converse store. I was happy with that. "Now go, before the coach chops your head of and leaves it dangling from the diving board."
I shot a disgusted look at my best friend as I padded quickly around the side of the pool to the blocks, where my fellow teammates were plunging into the water, one-by-one. Lacey and Harriet Williams were absent, again. Good riddance.
"Cascade! It's good to have you back. What were your reasons for the absences?" Coach Sterling asked, clutching his clipboard. Uh oh.
The real reason was that I was too tied up in zooming around the city trying to defeat villains, but I was sure my coach wouldn't believe that. I stuck with the obvious one.
"I had the flu, coach. I didn't want to strain my body too hard." I muttered, looking up at the burly figure. He simply nodded, obviously satisfied with my answer.
"Now get in the pool! We have another meet next weekend! Let's get some new personal bests!"
Unable to stop myself, I began grinning like a maniac once I was on top of the block, positioning myself to launch into the water. With one last glance at Rachael, who was sat, tapping away at her phone, I held my hands together in front of me and leaped from the block, smashing into the water at a great force.
And boy, let me tell you, there is no better feeling than that.
I was so glad to be back in the water, where I belonged. Where my worries, and alter ego were banished.
I wiggled my way back up to the surface and broke out into front crawl, racing through the water effortlessly. Soon, I had completed the coach's requirement of 10 laps of the pool for warm-up, and I climbed out of the water to be met with a nod from the coach.
"First one out, Cascade. Great work."
Turning back to the pool, I realized that even my teammates that had jumped in before me were still in the pool, swimming their way through warm-ups. From a young age, people could see I had a specific talent in the pool. At the tender age of 5, I was racing alongside 14-year-olds in meet-ups, and my bedroom was packed full of swimming trophies and medals. I don't know why, but I find swimming just so...easy. I zoom through the water effortlessly, and climb out breathing normally, while my teammates are panting for oxygen. Mom always said that I would be in the next Olympics, but I'm not sure whether I'd want a career in swimming or not. I mean, I know it could always be a backup.
After the rest of my team had climbed out of the pool and stocked up on their oxygen supplies by breathing loudly, the coach started our main practice regime. An hour later, once the clock struck 9am, we were dismissed and trotted back to the changing rooms. I grinned at Rachael as I walked past the spectator's bleachers, and stuck my tongue out as she aimed her phone camera in my direction.
Quickly changing and moving around the changing rooms to grab my clothes and shoes, I found myself sat next to Kylie Victoria, a girl in my grade at school. Curious as to what my school thought about the recent events in our cafeteria, I struck up casual conversation with her.
"Hey Kylie!" I exclaimed, whilst tying the laces of my Vans.
"Hi Cascade, how's it going?" She replied, squeezing her hair of water. Kylie was a petite, blonde-haired girl, who was pretty, and happened to be dating one of the footballer's on our school's team, but she was one of the crowd. Always following what every else was doing. I knew I would get the whole school's opinion on the events out of her.
"I'm good. So, what did you think of that superhero thing in the cafeteria last week?" I asked, looking over at her.
"Oh, that. That new superhero? What is it..Aqua Girl? She's pretty cool. I managed to catch a glimpse of her up close, and I was like OMG!"
Ugh, I hate it when people say OMG.
"Really? What did she look like?" I inquired, acting as if I was none-the-obvious. I was so good at this. I could be the next Sherlock Holmes.
"When I come to think of it...she looks a lot like you, Cascade!"
Shoot.
The plan had backfired.
"Oh, really?" I tried to sound surprised as I stood up and swung my backpack over my shoulder.
"Oh yeah, same colour eyes and everything!" Kylie continued, grabbing a compact mirror and mascara from her bag. Time to scram.
"Well, that's cool! See you next week!" I said, rushing out of the changing rooms and into the lobby. Phew. Good escape. Rachael was waiting for me, still tapping at her phone like her life depended on it. I coughed and her eyes darted up at me, before she tucked her phone into her pocket. I raised an eyebrow as I approached her.
"What were you up to on your phone then?" I asked, as we began making our way out of the building.
"Nothing." She murmured in reply, looking straight ahead. Yeah, right.
"Have you got a boyfriend or something? Is it Caleb?" I teased, stopping in front of her outside the sports complex. Caleb was a sports captain at her school, who I knew Rachael had a blooming crush on. She was always stalking his Instagram, and whenever he passed her in the hallway, she would curl her hair around her fingers. It was funny to watch.
"No! God, Cass, leave me alone."
"I'm not letting this one go, Rach. Tell me all." I stated, smirking at her. Rachael was about to speak when she looked behind me and froze, eyes widening.
"What is it?" I asked, turning to face where she was looking.
Oh, crap. Why here?
"Cascade Brown, I've been looking for you." Blaze Boy drawled, as he landed on the sidewalk. No no no, not here. Please let me be dreaming. I pinched myself, but alas, no luck. I was still stood between Rachael and Blaze Boy, who were both looking at me.
"Cass? You know a superhero?" Rachael asked, looking shocked. I gulped and turned to Blaze Boy, trying to shoot lasers out of my eyes at him, so he would go away and die. That didn't work either. I weighed up my options, like I do in most difficult situations.
1. Tell Rachael everything, about my powers, ElectroNite, Blaze Boy, and my alter ego. (Not advised)
2. Run back home and crawl into bed. (Most preferable option, but not advised.)
3. Pretend Blaze Boy is a stranger and ignore him. (Could work, but he would hate my guts after that.)
4. Pretend that Blaze Boy simply saved me in that bus crash ages ago, and act as if everything is normal. (Probably the most advisable one.)
I ended up with option 4, but option 2 was still nagging at me. Oh well.
"Er..yeah! This is Blaze Boy. He saved me in that bus crash a few weeks ago, but I only know him from there." I explained, glancing over at Blaze Boy and mentally willing him to go along with it. I think he must've received my telepathic messages.
"Yes, that's right." He said, gazing between me and Rachael.
"Awesome! Let's take a selfie!" Rachael cried, obviously beginning to fangirl already. Shoot. I wasn't in the mood for a selfie with my best friend and secret ally. I started walking away.
"Nah, I need to get home and feed Rufus!" I called, striding quickly down the pavement. Out of the blue, a hand grabbed me by the collar and yanked me back.
"We are getting a selfie with this superhero, whether you like it or not!" Rachael hissed in my ear. Crap. If it wasn't for the fact she had known me for countless years, I would've made a runner. Instead, I sighed and squeezed next to Rachael as she held her phone in front of the three of us. I grimaced and put a fake smile on my face as Rachael tapped the camera button. She was grinning from ear to ear, and Blaze Boy was smirking, like always. He was probably finding this hilarious. Idiot.
"Thank you so much!" Rachael cried, examining the photo as Blaze Boy and I took a step back.
"Yeah, well, let's get going now!" I exclaimed, glaring at Blaze Boy over my shoulder as I dragged a very enthuastic Rachael down the sidewalk. I heard the familiar roar of flames as Blaze Boy took off, and Rachael gave an excited 'ooh' as he shot out of sight. As Rachael began blubbering to me about how cool that was, I felt a slight tickle on the back of my neck. Curious, I reached over and my fingers touched a tiny slip of paper. I clutched it and brought it to my face to I could read it.
Your window. 9pm tonight. Urgent.
This boy wouldn't leave me alone.