In Too Deep

by Laura Sieveking

  Fields of green; pools of blue

  Strength of spirit; hearts be true

  Respect and courage; eyes on the prize

  Through crushing lows and soaring highs

  This is our school, where we learn and we strive

  Strength in our bodies; spirits alive!

  The Academy fire burning bright in our hearts

  Focus in training; all taking part

  This is our school, where we learn and we strive;

  Strength in our bodies; spirits alive!

  If there’s one thing I’d learnt at the Academy so far, it was this: girls who are awesome at sport are not necessarily awesome at singing! But all the students sang with heart and gusto, including the teachers. As the track ended, we shuffled back down into their seats and awaited Mrs Brunette’s next announcement. It was so quiet you could hear a bubble pop.

  ‘Thank you, girls, nicely done.’ Mrs Brunette smiled. ‘Now, our school captain, Elise Goldburn, will give the morning announcements.’

  Elise stood at the podium. She was a swimmer like us, which made us proud. She was in her final year of school and also swimming qualifiers for the National junior team. She was pretty amazing.

  ‘Good morning, everyone. Congratulations to our senior gymnastics squad, who competed on the weekend in the state trials. Our senior team placed second overall and all eight gymnasts will move on to the second state trials. We wish them well.’

  We all applauded.

  ‘A reminder to Year 9 students – you will not have sports training for two weeks as you sit your half-yearly exams. Good luck!’ Elise smiled. ‘Swimmers – Coach Stuart has asked me to remind you to bring in your permission forms for your training camp next week. A note has been emailed home to your parents or to your boarding housemistress, if you are a boarder. It has a list of everything you need to bring on camp.’

  I turned to my friends and smiled. We were really excited about training camp. The camp was for students of four elite swim schools from around the country. There were about twenty of us going from the Academy. It was a great opportunity to spend more time racing against the Swim School girls and learning about their strengths and weaknesses. And the best bit was, there was going to be a big swimming carnival at the end – the perfect opportunity for the medley team to win back our title against the Swim School.

  Assembly finished with the national anthem and we bundled out of the hall in a stampede of chatter. Everyone raced back to their lockers to get their sports bags and the equipment they would need for training. I slung my swimming bag over my shoulder and joined my friends for the long walk down to the pool.

  The aquatic centre was at the south end of the school, just before the boarding houses, the stables and cross-country land where the equestrian girls could ride their horses. This part of the school was beautiful – you felt like you were in the countryside, not the middle of a city. We approached the entrance to the main foyer and walked through the big glass doors, making our way straight to the change rooms.

  Ava, Bec, Melissa and I pulled on our swimsuits. For training sessions we could wear what we wanted, I always trained in old and comfortable swimmers. For competitions, we wore special RASG racing skins – we all felt like Olympic swimmers when we put them on. I bundled my long, thick blonde hair up into a bun and stretched my swimming cap over my head with a snap.

  ‘Let’s go!’ I said impatiently as Melissa struggled with her cap.

  ‘Calm down, Delphie, we’re not even late!’ Bec laughed. ‘You’re such a keen bean!’ Bec was always a voice of reason. She quickly pulled on her swim cap and grabbed her goggles.

  ‘Okay, ready,’ Ava said, slinging her towel over her broad shoulders.

  The four of us walked in single file as we exited the change room and headed back through the foyer to the pool area. Or should I say, ‘pools’. There wasn’t just one pool at the Academy, but three. There was the long, fifty-metre competition and lap pool. It had eight lanes and starting blocks at the end. Above it was a huge flashing scoreboard and stop clock. On the other side of the pool was a deep diving pool. It had three heights of diving boards, including a ten-metre-high diving platform. I shuddered as I peered up at it. I was a pretty daring chick, but there was no way you would ever catch me jumping headfirst off that thing. Divers must be insane.

  ‘Delphie! Mel! Bec! Ava!’ a bright, deep voice called from the side of the pool. It was Coach Stuart. He was a tall guy with dark hair and massive, broad shoulders. He’d been a national rep swimmer in his day and had even qualified for the Commonwealth Games. Sadly, a shoulder injury hit him hard and he never fulfilled his Olympic dream. He always told us that he never regretted a day of his swimming career, even if he didn’t meet that final goal. I wasn’t so sure though. There was a sadness in his eyes that betrayed his jolly character.

  ‘Oooh, are we doing underwater cameras today?’ asked Bec.

  ‘Sure are!’ Coach Stuart laughed. He pressed a couple of buttons on his laptop, which was set up on a table at the side of the pool. Coach Stuart always laughed at how much training had changed since he was in the pool. In his day, it was all about swimming with a few aides and training tools, but now methods were really high-tech. The Academy had underwater cameras – little ones no bigger than a mobile phone – that linked up to a laptop by the side of the pool. The cameras filmed us from lots of different angles so we were able to scrutinise our starting dives, stroke technique and tumble turns. It was super fun.

  As the final few girls filed out of the change room, Coach Stuart gestured for us to sit down on the pool deck.

  ‘Now, before we begin training today, I have some info to give you about swim camp next week. As you know, camp runs for five days. Everyone must be here on time on Monday or else you will miss the bus. We will NOT wait for you. Second, I have met with the coaches from the other clubs coming on the training camp. We are excited to get you girls training with other people – it will be a really good experience. Remember, a lot of these girls will end up being on your team if you go to state or national titles one day. So be nice!’ Coach Stuart said with one eyebrow raised.

  We giggled slightly.

  ‘No, I’m serious. I don’t want any silliness with the other teams – particularly our biggest rivals at the National Swim School. I know some of you want revenge after the last meet, but this is not the time, got it?’

  ‘Yes, Coach,’ we all chorused.

  ‘Good. Now, enough of that. Everyone get up and let’s start training!’ he boomed.

  ‘Did you hear that, Delphie? Be nice to Annabel Ogilvy.’ Bec giggled.

  ‘I’m always nice!’ I said, pretending to be offended. ‘I’ll just be kicking their butts too!’ I smiled to myself. Sure, I was happy to ‘get along’ with everyone at camp … just as long as I could smash them at the same time!

  ‘Bye, Delphie, have an awesome time. And be good!’ Dad said in a warning tone.

  ‘What do you mean? I’m always good!’ I laughed as I slung my sleeping bag over my shoulder.

  ‘You know exactly what I mean, young lady. No mischief. And think before you act!’

  I winked at him as I slammed the car door and waved. ‘Bye, Dad!’

  I dropped my bag to the ground as Dad drove away, and pulled my jumper on over my head. It was a cold, clear morning and Dad had offered to drive me to school since we had to be there at seven o’clock ready for the camp bus. Butterflies fluttered about in my stomach in excitement.

  I walked up the path towards the front gate, where a long bus was parked. Its undercarriage storage door was open and bags were piled in mounds around the wheels. A portly driver wiped his reddened face with the back of his hand as he carelessly hauled the bags into the bowels of the bus, one by one.

  ‘Delphie!’

  I turned and saw Melissa running towards me, arms outstretched. I gave her a quick hug and walked over to the rest of the gang.

  ‘We are seriously going to freeze on this c
amp,’ Ava wailed. ‘My brother went there for rugby training a few weeks ago and he said the cabins were unbearably cold!’ For such a tall, strong-looking girl, Ava could be a real softie sometimes.

  Ava’s brother was a rugby player at the boy version of the Academy. It was called the Royal Academy of Sport for Boys and was our ‘brother school’.

  ‘I’m sure you’ll be fine, princess,’ Bec teased.

  We bundled ourselves onto the bus and raced for the back seat. The four of us stretched out along the long bench at the back window. The cool kids at the back. Yes, I’ll admit it, the four relay girls were the cool kids.

  The journey began with the usual bus antics – trying to get passing trucks to blast their horns, playing spot the beetle-car, hair braiding and singing 100 renditions of ‘The Ants Go Marching’. But after an hour or so the bus quietened. Some people fell asleep and others put on their headphones to listen to their own music. I gazed out the window in boredom at the passing cows – we were deep into farmland now.

  I startled as another big bus drove up beside us. On board, there was a group of girls, waving and taunting through the windows. Up the back of the bus, right in line with me, were two matching faces with long, dark hair. They both glared at me. One raised an eyebrow in a light smirk. The Ogilvy twins.

  I took in a sharp breath as their bus overtook us, much to the delight of all the Swim School girls. They waved out the back windows with their fingers raised in a ‘number one’ sign, as if their bus was beating ours in a race to the camp site. So much for ‘nice’.

  We followed the National Swim School’s bus into a driveway with a sign marked ‘Camp Birubi’. This was no ordinary school camp site. It was a training facility used by some of the top sporting teams in the country. It had topnotch facilities, including an Olympic-sized pool. Even some of the National Olympic teams had come to this site for team bonding and training sessions.

  We trundled off the bus, stretching out our cramped limbs, and gathered in an outdoor undercover area. Slowly, the other swim schools arrived and more nervous girls sat down quietly. There was an air of awkwardness as we sat side by side with those we usually swam against. Some offered friendly smiles and others avoided eye contact altogether.

  ‘Welcome!’ a voice boomed from up the front. It was Coach Stuart. He stood before us, flanked by the coaching staff from the other swim schools. It was a pretty impressive line-up of coaches. A lot of them had swum in National teams themselves and others had coached girls who had gone on to Olympic glory.

  I smiled in nervous excitement.

  ‘This week is going to be fun but also hard work for you girls,’ said Coach Stuart. ‘We’ll be starting training at 6.30 am each morning.’

  There were a lot of muffled groans from the crowd.

  ‘This means breakfast is at 5.30 am. Yes, you heard me, 5.30 sharp! The coaching staff are going to be pretty strict about you girls getting proper rest. We want you to eat properly – no skipping breakfast – and getting to bed on time. We will have lights out at eight o’clock.’

  There were gasps from the girls. Eight o’clock? That’s a kiddy bedtime!

  The National Swim School coach, Vanessa Hartwell, stepped forwards. ‘This means there will be NO shenanigans in the night. No getting up. No midnight feasts. No sneaking around. If we catch anyone out of their cabins after lights out, you will be banned from the final carnival on day five.’

  ‘Speaking of the final carnival,’ Coach Stuart added, ‘I want you all to train hard so we can have some really good races on the day. The winners will not only get bragging rights, but they will also receive one of these beautiful medals.’

  The coaches stepped aside to reveal a large table with an array of gold, silver and bronze medals. Everyone knelt up, craning to see the sparkling medals attached to long, smooth ribbons.

  ‘I want gold’, I breathed.

  ‘Now, logistics,’ Coach Vanessa said, flipping open her clipboard. ‘I’ll leave the list of cabin numbers here on the front table. Come up and find your name and cabin number and take a printed map of the camp site. The cabins are located in the southern area of the camp site, not too far from the aquatic centre, which is right next to the dining hall. We’ll also be using the gym labelled ‘Gymnasium Four’. We’ll have fitness training sessions as well as our group meetings in there. You’ll see on the map that behind the southern cabins there is a lake. That area is out of bounds. Understand?’

  ‘Yes, Coach Vanessa,’ we chorused.

  Another coach from one of the other swim clubs stepped forwards. ‘I’m Coach Matt, for those of you who don’t know me yet. I just wanted to add that if you are all very well behaved, we have a fun surprise planned for you on Wednesday night!’

  An excited chatter rose among the girls. Whispers of disco or night swimming flittered about in the air.

  ‘Okay, find your bags and get settled into your cabins!’ Coach Stuart beamed. ‘We’ll meet in the dining hall for lunch in one hour. And then training begins!’

  We jumped to our feet and crowded around the list of cabins. My eyes scanned down the page until my name jumped out at me.

  Cabin Two:

  Delphine Attkinson

  Melissa Wong

  Rebecca Tonelli

  Ava Cooper

  I turned to my friends and squealed. ‘We’re together!’ But then my eyes scanned back up the list, where two names jumped off the page.

  Cabin One:

  Ashley Ogilvy

  Annabel Ogilvy

  Rachel Peterson

  Amanda Leong

  ‘Oh, great,’ I moaned as I walked with my friends to get our bags. ‘The Ogilvy twins are right next door!’

  We made our way down to our cabin and opened the door. Inside, there were two sets of unmade bunk beds. The room had a clean, cream carpet and crisp white walls. Adjoining the room was a small bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet.

  ‘Hey, this is actually really nice!’ Melissa said in surprise.

  ‘Yeah, nothing like the cabins we had at my old school’s camp.’ Ava said, scrunching up her nose. ‘Man, they were gross. The mattresses were dusty and brown and there were boogers stuck to the wall.’

  ‘Eeeeeew!’ we all screamed in unison.

  ‘Bags the top bunk!’ Melissa yelled as she threw her sleeping bag onto one of the higher bunks. I put my bag on the bed below hers and Ava also put her bag on a lower bunk.

  ‘There’s no way I’m going top bunk.’ Ava laughed. ‘I’ll smack my head on the roof every time I sit up since I’m so tall!’

  Bec happily threw her bag on the bed above Ava’s.

  We all looked up when we heard giggling from someone passing our open door. It was the Ogilvy twins, walking along with linked arms. One of them glanced into our room. ‘Isn’t it funny how you are cabin number two?’ she asked, smiling at us through the doorway. ‘And we are cabin number ONE. It’s just like the last swimming meet, isn’t it?’

  The other twin laughed loudly at her sister’s joke. I frowned. Melissa mouthed silently ‘be nice’.

  ‘Looking forward to training with you guys,’ I offered.

  The twins glanced at each other. ‘If you can keep up,’ one of them retorted. The second twin laughed loudly again as they walked into their cabin and slammed the door.

  ‘They are so arrogant!’ Bec scoffed.

  ‘Well, wouldn’t you be if you were an Ogilvy?’ Melissa laughed. ‘I mean, their mum won Olympic gold for Australia and their dad swam in the gold medal relay team for the USA. They have some serious champion heritage going on there.’

  ‘Who cares who their parents are?’ Ava said, shaking her head. ‘We’ll beat them where it matters – in the pool. Nobody cares who your parents are at the end of the race, when you are standing on that first-place podium.’

  We unpacked our gear and chatted in excitement about the days ahead. When we noticed it was almost time for lunch, we put our shoes back on and started for the door. Mu
ch to our surprise, one of the twins was in the doorway.

  ‘Are you guys heading up to lunch?’ she asked.

  ‘Sorry, are you Ashley or Annabel?’ Bec asked. The Ogilvy girls were identical and there was no way of telling them apart without their help.

  The twin paused, as if thinking about it. Melissa and I exchanged confused glances.

  ‘Annabel,’ she said coolly. ‘I’ve forgotten where they said the dining room is – do you mind if I walk with you?’

  ‘Sure,’ Melissa said, shrugging. ‘Where’s Ashley?’

  ‘Oh, she’s gone ahead, I think,’ Annabel answered quickly.

  We exited the cabin in single file with Annabel at the back. My friends walked ahead, forming a group, and Annabel joined them, making polite small talk.

  As I walked behind them, I heard the door of the twins’ cabin quietly close behind us.

  Strange, if Ashley had gone ahead, who was that? Maybe it’s one of their other cabin buddies.

  I shrugged and jogged to catch up with my group. But a peculiar feeling in my chest told me that something fishy was going on.

  ‘Lights out in ten minutes,’ Coach Vanessa said, peeping around our door. ‘When you hear my whistle blow, it’s time for bed.’ She shut the door and we began to change into our pyjamas.

  ‘How are we expected to go to sleep now? I’m wide awake!’ Bec moaned.

  ‘Tell me about it, I’m way too excited about training and the carnival. Sleep is the last thing on my mind,’ Ava sighed. ‘Olympic champions have trained here, how cool is that!’

  ‘Do you reckon any of us will … you know … make it all the way? To the Olympics?’ Melissa asked hopefully.

  ‘Ava will!’ I laughed. She was the strongest swimmer at the Academy and had Olympic gold written all over her.

  ‘Man, I would love to,’ Bec whispered. ‘Imagine if competitive swimming was your whole job. It would be amazing.’

  ‘We need to be able to beat those Ogilvy girls first,’ Ava said.

  ‘Don’t you reckon it was weird how Annabel was being strangely nice to us on the way up to the dining hall?’ I asked. ‘She seemed – I dunno – like she was up to something.’