He hasn't replied.
God, he hasn't replied and it's been like what? A week now? Oh my god, I regret sending that text so much right now. He didn't like it, and I crossed a line I cannot come back from. Someone come kill me now.
I slap myself straight, come on Francena, don't focus on him right now. You have a literal swim meet in an hour and you're focused on a simple text to a boy? Really? Really?
I'm right; I shouldn't be focused on a boy. I have an important swim meet next where I'm supposed to be doing four heats, two of which doing the strokes I despise most — fly. However, my coach said I have a lot of potential in that stroke and wants me to test out my time during the event.
I sigh, giving myself a small slap on the cheek to keep myself awake as I throw my phone over on my mattress. I head over to my closet, switching into some easy clothes; shorts, a bra, loose shirts and some slides I would pick up at the front door. I didn't want to overdressed; getting into tight dry clothes are a nightmare after swim.
I put all my things into my Adidas duffle bag and stuffed all the needed necessities before receiving a text on my cell phone.
I almost dropped everything after hearing the ping on my phone, and jumped over to my bed in a quick dash to pick up my cellular device. To conclude, and much of my disappointment, it was Graham's name popping up on the black screen instead of Julian.
INSTA-GRAHAM 📱
4:59AM
Graham:
Ready? I'm outside.
Read at 4:59AM
Of course you are, you freakishly punctuated freak.
I texted back my reply and drop my phone back onto the bed and went over to my duffle bag to finish the rest of the stuffing before heading downstairs.
I grab my phone off the bed and stuff it into the side of the duffle bag, beginning to head downstairs to be greeted with my dad holding a cup of coffee in his hands. He takes a sip, "good luck, Reileen," I stopped at the second to last step on the stair and my dad gives me my lucky swim meet kiss on the forehead. I nod, smiling at my father as I bid him a goodbye. Not to mention, I did the same for my grandma since she's been awake since four am.
I exit out of the house, seeing the sky still sleeping. The dozing grey colour that tainted nature made the absolute love for sleep to overpower my body. However, I march over to the black BMW parked in the street of my neighbourhood. Graham honks the horn, forgetting to think about the neighbours that are still asleep.
I flipped him off, as I see him roll down the window in laughter. I walk towards the car, cutting through my perfectly cut grass and getting into the passenger's seat. I slam the door close loudly for the dramatic effect.
"You're an asshole," I declare as Graham's laughter continue to fill the air like music.
"Hey, you got to have some happy moments for waking up at 4am in the morning," he shrugs, gripping the gear lever and pull to drive.
"That was the most idiotic thing you've done this week!" I hear a muffled shout from behind, twisting to spot Iris laid across the red leather seats with a pillow tucked over her head in frustration. "I cannot believe I haven't killed you yet!"
"Iris?" I called out, surprised by the Indian's girl appearance. "I thought you said you weren't coming."
Iris removes the pillow off her head, revealing frizz of curly dark roots everywhere, "I wasn't. But this barnacle brain decided to honk his fudging horn in the front of my house for three minutes straight just before throwing rocks at my window."
I laugh, able to conjure the image like that. I turn to Graham, who plastered a sly smirk on his lips but his eyes remaining adamant on the road before him.
"I wanted to kill him, Francena, I really did, but my mother burst into my room at the minute I was plotting and declare me to go shut Graham up."
"I just wanted you to come support our best friend, is that too much to ask?"
"YES!" Iris practically screams, "BECAUSE THE SMART THING TO DO WAS TO ASK, NOT FREAKING GO RING THE DOORBELL UNTIL I COME DOWNSTAIRS YOU DENSE BRICK!"
Graham sticks a finger in his ear, probably recovering the lost hearing after Iris' scream. "Damn Rose, your screams are just getting louder — are you doing anything late at night we should be worried about?"
Iris fumes, picking up the pillow, to which cause my eyes to widen in fear and my quick hands snatched the soft material from her grip. She looks at me, processing the action I just taken and her finger jabs accusingly from me to Graham, "you're on his side?" Her voice dipped in betrayal.
"No, I'm on the side that doesn't get me killed in the middle of the road!"
"Whatever," Iris rolls back, crossing her arms against her chest as she leans back against the red leather seats. "I'm going to kill him one day... and I'm going to get away with it."
I scoff, dismissing her words as I wrap my arms around the pillow. However, I could've swore Graham took a gulp of big air after her statement.
—
The swim centre held most of the county's competitions and swim meets. It had three large pools, but the main one we'll be using is 3.5m. We tend to use the smaller pools which range at 1.5m to 2m during smaller meets such as against certain schools and teams.
The bleachers, where the audience would sit, were levelled off the ground and had a different pathway to access such. It was high enough to grasp the whole competition, seeing each swimmers and their speed.
My eyes focused on the glistering water as the stench of chlorine suffocated my nostrils. I breath in, telling myself to do some breathing methods before jumping into the pool for my heat, and breath out. One problem with my breathing is once my nose hit the water, it begins more clogged faster than a normal swimmer without asthma. I tend to lose breath fasters than my other competitors.
The whistle blown and I step onto the diving plate. My position pulled down to a dive, my hands touching the flat plate while my toes gripped onto the board, waiting for the next whistle to signal the start.
Whistle. I dive head in, beginning my fly stroke. Like I said, I always hated this one, as I always felt I had the least amount of time getting air, and coach decides to put me in a 200m.
Stroke. Stroke. Stroke.
My legs coming in and out, my arms flying up and down, as I pour my thoughts onto the competition. I touch base and did a flip, going another lap before returning fast.
My legs burning, as I touch the other end and flipped once more. Repeating another lap.
"GO, FRANCENA!" I hear my best friends, scream. Primarily Iris' loud volume, with a hint of Graham being overpowered by Iris'. I didn't want to look up and lose concentration, knowing I could lose a couple of seconds trying to spare a second to my best friends.
I shake my best friends out of my head, as my breathing getting harder to maintain and my kicks getting weaker, I remind myself, breathing technique.
One inhale, one exhale. One inhale, one exhale.
My fingertips grasp the end of the wall, and once more, a flip ensures another lap. One more to go. I reminded myself as my eyes focused on what's before me; my strokes coming in faster, stronger.
"GO FRANCENA, YOU CAN DO THIS!" That wasn't Iris' voice as the tone was too masculine. Nor was it Graham, since it was a bit deeper. I look up, grabbing the appearance of Julian in the mist of the audience, standing from his seat as his hands cupped around his mouth, screaming. He's here.
My stomach churned, causing me to pause for a split second from surprise. I regain consciousness, and reminding myself that a meet is currently going on and no matter my personal life, my team was first.
I swam, and another swimmer caught up. To the side, my eyes spot a girl who wasn't previously in my vision. She was beating me by a slight couple centimetres. I knew the cause of why—and how—so my stroke intensify.
I hit the wall, and flipped, kicking myself off the wall as I make another attempt to reclaim my crown. I noticed the girl next to me, she was dressed in a grey swim cap and a small piece of red hair sticking from under. Silver googles and her eyes focused on the ceiling.
Come on, Francena.
I hit the wall, and claimed time at the push of a button. I look up, seeing my name lined up as second just a millisecond away from the girl's. I frown, knowing I could've won knowing the reason.
Francena, you tried. You tried.
I pick myself out of the water, flopping onto the ground like fish as my breathing caught stuck in my throat, I claim the air around me greedily. I slowly pick myself off the floor, trying to become steady as I straighten myself up. I found the girl who beat me, removing her swim cap, "nice job," I congratulated. Her poker face switched and she smiles in return.
"Thank you, you too."
Could've done better.
Shut up stupid voice.
I nod, and left the conversation as I made my way back to my teammates across the other side. I see them still cheering and notice Jaycee closing in the distance in her own pink swim cap. She told me she wanted to make a statement and be bright and bold out on the pool. She definitely did that.
"You did great," Jaycee comes in and pats me on the shoulder, "better than I would've."
"Thanks," I nod, not feeling too proud about my result but reminded myself that I had to keep a constant face, knowing at least I made a score for the team. "I know I could've gotten first had I not gotten—"
"Distracted?" She finishes, the corner of her lips perked up; I nod, "don't worry, everyone goes through it eventually."
I sigh, nodding along as I agreed, "especially for a boy." She added.
—
As the swim team waits anxiously at the board, we waited to see the final reveals of the final seven schools. Each holding onto the hand of the next person, we waited to see who was placed first and who was last. My hand was tangled in with Jaycee's, as her grip was deadly tight on mine. She placed first in the 200m freestyle and she's just anxious that it wasn't enough to push up our mark.
The judges chatted with one another, and our anxiety begins to build up. This swim meet dictates if we make it to semi-final round of regionals or not. Come on, please don't let me be the one that messed up.
"...and the scores are sent!" A referee declares, just as names begins to spills into the scoreboard. Allegheny High starring in first place.
We cheered, jumping up and down as our excitement plumps our blood. I pulled Jaycee into a hug, my excitement killing every ounce of anxiety built up moments ago.
"We're going to the semi-finals!" Jaycee declares, breaking off our hug.
"We're going to the semi-final!" I repeated, happily repeating the information.
Moments passed of going around and repeating the same announcement over and over again, our excitement spilled over the rest of our teammates as we congratulates each other on our matches and our heats.
Once the announcement finished, the audience begins to march their way down to the meet pool and huddle up to their teams, as support systems or just as dedicated followers.
Iris pulls me into a hug first, "you did it!" She quickly dissolves the hug once realising I'm still covered in chlorine water, "sorry, but I'm not getting that near my makeup today."
I laugh, shaking my head as I turn around to face Graham. He pulls me into a side hug, his muscular arm wrapped around my shoulders in congratulations. "I knew my best friend could've done anything."
"You don't know how nervous I was in my backstroke," I said, breaking off the hug and the scent of his cologne disappearing under my nose. "I could've sworn I was in last place."
"Hey," Iris knocks my head, "no negativity speaking; your swim team just gotten first place. I don't want to hear anything negative about it, okay?"
I laugh, nodding my head. I turn to see Graham handing me a cold water bottle as I thanked him, I opened the bottle before downing all the content in mere seconds. I never realise how thirsty I get until I'm out of the water.
"Francena," Iris points behind me and I turn around to see Julian awkwardly standing on the side. I turn back to my friends, shooing them off with my eyes as one rolled their eyes and complied, Iris shared me a look between the two of us before making her exit. I walk up to the tall boy after my friends' exit, with the empty bottle in my hands.
"Hey, Julian," I greet. The text sent the other day came back to my mind and my smile slightly faltered knowing Julian didn't text me back. "I've never seen you at a swim meet before."
"Jaycee made me come to this one, saying it was a big deal and whatnot," he stops himself for a second as his eyes found his fidgeting hands, "I have something to ask you."
My mind instantly jumped into the bad stuff. Why did I have a feeling he was going to tell me he was kidding with the whole Tasha thing and I should drop it and never see him again.
"Can we hang out?" He said quickly, his words seem stuck together. A nervous smile on his lips as he asks, "like this week?"
That brought a smile to my face wider than I could muster and I answer his question with a nod, "of course. This week. My treat."