by Mia Archer
“No problem. I’m glad we could at least part friends,” I said.
Sarah grinned and very nearly tackled me wrapping me in a huge hug.
“Me too, Alyssa,” she whispered.
Eventually even that hug had to come to an end. We both pulled away from each other and sat there in an awkward silence for a moment. I almost thought Sarah wanted to say something more, but at the same time I worried that might be so much wishful thinking on my part. I wasn’t even sure what I was wishing for. All I knew was it felt really good to have her here next to me.
There was a set of confusing feelings I was going to have to work through.
Eventually the occasional roar from the sectional championships reached us and that more than anything brought me back to reality. I sighed.
“This has been fun, but I’m sure my parents are frantically searching for me right about now,” I said.
“Yeah, I sort of disappeared without telling anyone back there,” Sarah replied. “I’m sure there’s someone out there looking for me too.”
I stood and reached down to offer Sarah a hand. “Back to reality?”
She looked up at me and regarded my hand with an unreadable expression for a moment. Then a huge smile broke through that unreadable expression and she took my hand. I felt a spark where we made contact, but pushed down on that.
“Yup. Back to reality,” she said. “Though it was a lot more fun just hanging out down here.”
So we headed back to sectionals. Back to where my mom was no doubt looking for me and wondering where I’d disappeared to. I wasn’t going to hear the end of that, but it was worth it for this moment with Sarah. I wasn’t sure what the moment meant, but I did know that it was something I was going to cherish almost as much as winning and going on to state.
4: State
Sarah:
This was stupid. I wasn’t even sure what the hell I was doing here. I looked at the massive brick natatorium in front of me. At first I thought I was in the wrong place. The thing was easily twice the size of the gym at my school, and it was just the pool!
It was crazy. Everything down here in the city was bigger. Everything down here was nicer. As I put my car into park, wondering again why I’d made the drive down here in the first place, I thought about how unfair it was that the city schools could afford nice things like this while the smaller schools sitting in the middle of cornfields around the state came up blank.
It wasn’t fair. That was life, though.
I felt like a tourist in the big city as I stepped into the natatorium. The place looked big on the outside, but that was nothing compared to the experience of walking in and seeing a pool that stretched on for as far as the eye could see. The people on the other side of the thing looked like ants, and all up and down the length of that impossibly long pool people were hopping in the water and warming up.
I felt a stab of jealousy at that. Warming up. For the state championship. I should’ve been in there warming up with the rest of them. I should’ve had Coach Todd standing here beside me giving me advice on how to kick butt. Instead it was just me in a comfortable tank top and shorts. It might be freezing outside, but I wasn’t going to make the same mistake that parents coming to these things always seemed to make and sit in a sauna for hours in my winter coat.
Looking at this place, I’m not too proud to admit that my mouth might’ve been hanging open just a bit, I could understand why the big schools in the capital were always winning state titles. If they had these kinds of resources, not to mention a school this big, it was no wonder that State Central sat down here like a supermassive black hole gobbling up any competitors who came down to challenge them.
I looked down the length of the pool, but of course there were so many people out there that there wasn’t a chance I was going to spot Alyssa from this distance. She could be any of hundreds of girls down there walking around in one piece competition suits. The only way to know where she was for sure was to get down there and try to find her.
“You’re crazy, Sarah,” I muttered to myself as I went down to a table being guarded by a little old lady with her hair done up in curls.
She looked up at me with a polite smile and took in my tank top and shorts. Never once did that look betray any distrust, but I felt like she was suddenly on guard.
“I’m sorry dear, are you here to swim?”
“Um, no, not exactly,” I said, again with jealousy flaring inside me for all the girls down here who were getting the opportunity to swim in the state championships.
That kindly smile stayed plastered on her face. I wondered if it was the real deal or if that was a look she used to deal with everyone who was trying to sneak into the swimmers’ area. Something told me this nice old grandma was probably more effective than a beefy muscled bouncer.
“I’m sorry honey, but if you’re not with one of the teams then you aren’t allowed down here. You’ll have to sit up in the bleachers.”
The bleachers in this case was actually a raised area where people could sit in comfort and look down on the people competing. It wasn’t metal risers hastily erected along the side of a pool room that was too small to really fit them in. I bet they even had special air conditioning up there so that people watching the event didn’t get hot and sweaty. A couple of people up there were still in their winter coats like the heat wasn’t bothering them at all.
I sighed. This had been a stupid idea. I shouldn’t have come down here in the first place. I don’t know why that moment in the hall after our race made me think Alyssa would even want to see me in the first place. Clearly the fates, in the form of this little old lady, were telling me that this whole thing was stupid.
The smart thing to do would be to turn around and drive the two hours back home. To forget about this whole thing. To forget about Alyssa, though I wasn’t sure if that was possible since I couldn’t get her out of my mind ever since that day when I’d cried against her shoulder after losing the last race of my high school swimming career.
Yeah, the smart thing to do would be to get the heck out of here. I had no intention of doing the smart thing, though. I wanted to see Alyssa again. I had the feeling that if I didn’t see her now then we might never see each other again. This was the last time I’d know exactly where she was. Sure I could stalk her online or something, but this seemed better somehow. More real.
So I came up with a lie.
“Actually I’m with one of the teams,” I said. “Oliver West?”
The little old lady regarded me for a moment as though she knew I was trying to pull one over on her. I wondered how many people that look worked on. How many people folded under her disappointed gaze that clearly communicated that she knew you were up to something and it would be better if you just came clean right now rather than continuing the charade.
I held strong, though. Finally she sighed and pulled out a pair of glasses as she flipped through some tables on the folding table in front of her.
“Name of the swimmer at Oliver West?” she asked, looking up at me sharply again.
If she thought she was going to catch me that easily then she had another thing coming.
“Alyssa Thompson,” I rattled off without hesitation. Funny how this whole lying thing got easier the more you did it.
The lady glanced down again. Her lips pursed together so tightly that they disappeared almost entirely. Her wrinkles wiggled as she shook her head and regarded me one last time.
“Right. She’s going to be down by lane forty. I’d encourage you to get down there and out as quickly as you can,” she said.
“Thanks,” I said with a huge smile. I figured if she was going to look at me like she knew I was trying to pull one over on her then the least I could do is grin at her now that I’d pulled one over on her.
The crippling self-doubt hit me again as I moved down the edge of the pool. This thing really was huge. It felt weird walking along a pool like this with my shoes on. I’d been walking in flip f
lops or my bare feet for so long that wearing shoes seemed almost like a sacrilege.
This was crazy. This was stupid. Alyssa had no way of knowing I was coming. She’d probably be annoyed that I even showed up. We had that moment, but having a moment off in a quiet corner of some school and showing up uninvited to the state meet when she was trying to concentrate on winning were two very different things thank you very much.
I fought the urge to turn around. I’d come this far. I was not going to back down now. Sure I might be on the verge of really embarrassing myself, but if that’s what happened then that’s what happened. If I did embarrass myself then the fact that I’d never get to see her again would become a comfort rather than a bad thing.
The crowd was pretty sparse, so I could see her from a distance as I made my way about halfway down the length of the pool. She sat on a bench smiling up at her coach and beside her was another guy and a woman who I could only assume were her parents. I didn’t see many parents down here, but it seemed that the rules about that sort of thing were more lax here where they had more space than back at sectionals where there wasn’t any extra room for anyone but swimmers sitting with the teams.
As soon as I saw her I knew I’d made the right decision. That overwhelming feeling that Alyssa needed me here, the feeling that got me to make this crazy drive in the first place, came back full force. I took in a deep breath and let it out. Plunged forward as I moved through a world that I’d always dreamed about but would never get to participate in directly.
I could lend support to my new friend, though. At least I thought she was a friend. Maybe she was more than that. The jury was still out. It was all still a little confusing. Best not to think about that sort of thing.
Alyssa looked up and past me. For a moment I thought she might not even recognize me as I got closer. Then her eyes returned to me and her face brightened in a smile that made me want to melt into the tile right there. Damn that smile was beautiful. It went straight to the core of my soul.
“Sarah!” she shouted. She stood and jogged the short amount of space between us then wrapped me in a huge hug. “What the heck are you doing here?”
The hug ended all too soon. I grinned right back at her.
“I don’t know. I can’t really explain it, but I felt like I should come down here and show my support,” I said. “I thought I’d stop by and say hi to you before I went up to the bleachers to watch.”
That wasn’t exactly what I’d planned when I came down here, but I figured it would be a good idea to give her an out if she didn’t want me down here. I could go up there, watch the race, and kick myself all the way home for being an idiot and thinking there was something here when there clearly wasn’t.
Only that didn’t happen.
“Nonsense!” Alyssa said. “You’ll come and sit with me. I can’t believe you came! This is so great!”
She took my hand and pulled me down to her spot. This part of the pool seemed to be reserved for the smaller schools that didn’t have many people competing. Down at the other end I could see a massive swarm of girls in matching blue and black suits. That was probably stupid State Central with their stupid high school that had like six thousand students so they could have two hundred people on their team and brag about how they’d been the state champions for like thirty years or something.
Considering all the advantages they had that didn’t seem like something worth bragging about, but that didn’t stop them. The jerks.
“Who is this honey?” the woman said as we approached.
She looked at me and I immediately felt the urge to take a step back. The look she gave me wasn’t exactly hostile, but it wasn’t exactly friendly either. It was pretty obvious she wasn’t rolling out the welcome wagon or anything like that.
“This is my friend Sarah,” Alyssa said. “I’ve told you about her before.”
“I’m sorry, but do you go to Alyssa’s school?” she asked. “I’m afraid I don’t recognize you from any of the practices or meets.”
I looked down and shuffled my feet. There was something about this woman that had me on guard. That left me wanting to make a good impression. “Well I’m actually…”
“She’s the girl who goes to Morton High,” Alyssa said. “The one who swims the butterfly?”
Wow. If I thought Alyssa’s mom was cold before she got downright annoyed when she really realized who I was.
“I see. And you thought you’d come down here and distract my little girl on her big day? We don’t need that kind of help.”
Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Back off mom. She’s a friend and she came here to show her support. She’s the reason I pushed myself so hard this year. I had to make sure I could…”
Alyssa stopped and looked over at me with a sheepish grin. Her cheeks colored in the cutest little blush. Cute blush? Huh? Now there was a funny thought. A good thought, but a funny thought.
“It’s okay,” I said. I reached out to pat her on the shoulder and that earned another suspicious look from her mom. Damn. What was with this lady? “Alyssa’s right. We were pushing each other all year and we didn’t even realize it. I beat her at our regular season meat and she beat me when…”
I choked up for a moment. It was still hard for me to admit that I’d gotten my ass handed to me at sectionals. Still, it was a fact of life and something I was going to have to get used to saying.
“When she beat me at the sectionals,” I finally managed to choke out.
“Yeah,” Alyssa said. “We were helping each other out and now she’s here to show her support and we’re going to be nice to her, mother.”
Alyssa’s mom settled back in her seat. She crossed her arms with a glower and I thought I heard her muttering something about security not doing its job keeping people out of this area, but otherwise she didn’t say anything. I wondered what I’d ever done to her, but at the same time I didn’t care all that much. She didn’t look like she was about to call security or anything. I figured that was a good sign.
I wasn’t sure what to do, so I sat next to Alyssa and looked out over the huge natatorium. I’d made it. I was down here sitting next to her and no one was telling me to leave and so I figured that was one heck of a victory. Might as well sit back and enjoy it. Enjoy sitting next to Alyssa. At least until they called her up for her event.
She was going to be swimming for both of us today, and I’d be right there cheering her on!
5: Prep
Sarah:
“This place is incredible,” I said.
“Yeah,” Alyssa replied. “It has to be at least ten times the size of the pool back home. I can’t believe people actually swim in this thing every day.”
“Tell me about it,” I said. “Even the pool at the state college wasn’t this big, and I thought that was probably the nicest pool I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Alyssa gave me a funny look. “You’re going to state next year?”
I laughed. “Well yeah. It’s just far enough away from home that you don’t have to worry about meddling parents and close enough that you can go home to get your laundry done if you need it. Plus they gave me a full ride swimming scholarship, and you can’t argue with that.”
“Funny,” Alyssa said.
“What’s so funny about that?”
She turned to me and grinned. “They gave me a full ride scholarship too. Looks like we’re going to be on the same team next year!”
Damn. Now that was a surprise. Here I’d been so worried about never seeing Alyssa again and it turned out the entire time I’d been worrying she was on track to be swimming on the same team as me at the university next year.
Crazy how things worked out sometimes.
“We’re going to be on the same team,” I said, still a little stunned.
“Kinda funny, isn’t it? We spend so much time competing against each other and now we’re going to be on the same team! Wild!”
“Yeah, wild,” I said.
I tried to
wrap my head around that. I suppose it was something I should get used to, though. It’s not like there were going to be many people that I’d competed against on that team anyways. Alyssa and I were the best of the best, but even if we weren’t our conference wasn’t the greatest. I doubted much of the competition would be swimming in college, let alone getting full rides.
My mind wandered and I looked up at the record board. They did it a little differently here at this pool. At our pool we had records for our team and just our team, but it looked like here they had records that their team had set as well as records that had been set at the pool. Anyone who came here could set a new record even if it was better than what their team did.
I guess that was motivation. Not that it mattered. This was State Central, after all, so most of those pool records were one and the same as their team records. Still, glancing at the pool record for the 100 yard butterfly it was pretty obvious that I’d be setting a new record in the pool today if I’d actually made it here to the big dance.
I nudged Alyssa in the shoulder. “Look up there. Think you’ll be setting some new records today?”
Alyssa followed my gaze and her eyes went wide for a moment. Then her face lit up as she realized exactly what was going to happen today if she was anywhere close to her usual time. It was a time I knew well because I’d been following the results of various meets that Coach Todd got in an email every couple of days.
“I’m going to set a new record here!” she squealed, clapping as the realization hit her.
“You are! You set that for both of us. Let these jerks down here know that someone from a small town can come down here and give them a run for their money!”
I leaned back and shook my head. I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t going to be the one setting any records, but at the same time I figured if it was Alyssa doing it then it would be almost as good as if I was the one swimming and kicking butt.