Against the Tide

by Meredith Taylor

  In the end, Darryn gritted his teeth and simply said, “It was my fault, Coach. I was careless and fell in.” He didn’t look at Coach Tyson as he spoke, and tried to hide the emotion he was feeling.

  Coach Tyson turned to Mario, who was standing with his mouth agape next to him, and said, “Go get him a towel. He’ll wet the entire clubhouse.” As Mario ran inside, Coach Tyson turned to JP: “Mr. Terreblanche, I trusted you with the keys to the clubhouse. You know this is a big responsibility. I thought that you all could handle it, that you deserved it after your performances today. And now I get called at home about noise complaints and come here to find alcohol spilled all over the clubhouse and Fredericks so drunk he’s falling into the pool. This is not what I expect from you all.”

  Darryn was ready to protest, but held back. He was shivering from being wet in the wind. He knew that if he showed JP or Peet how uncomfortable he was, they would have won, so he tried to maintain a stoic face and to stop himself from shivering too much.

  Mario came back with the towel and handed it to Darryn, who held it without moving. Coach Tyson spoke again, “Clear out of here within the next half hour. All of you. And JP, make sure that before you leave the place is spotless.”

  As Coach Tyson left the clubhouse, Peet let out an oafish giggle, and said, “Ooooh, Terreblanche, you’re such a disappointment.”

  JP slapped him behind his head: “Stop being a child. Let’s get this place cleaned up. Party’s over, everyone.”

  Darryn went to sit on one of the pool chairs and took off his wet shoes. His jeans and shirt clung to his body. He didn’t acknowledge anyone else; he simply wanted to dry off enough to leave as soon as possible.

  Mario came to help him with more towels, and said, “Darryn, they’re all idiots. Don’t worry about it. I’ll go and get you a change of clothes from the locker room at the pool, okay?”

  “I’m just sick of all of this,” Darryn said, fighting back emotion. “They think that they can do whatever they want to us. They think that they’re better than us.”

  Mario cocked his head and said, “Let’s just never come to these things again. We don’t need to come to their stupid parties anyway.” Mario’s beady eyes were filled with sympathy for his friend. He knew what it felt like to be an outsider.

  Out of the corner of his eye Darryn spotted JP, coming outside again to clean away beer bottles. JP was looking right at him, just standing there. Was he about to challenge him again?

  “What is he looking at?” Darryn asked Mario out of the side of his mouth. “If I knew it wouldn’t get me kicked off the team, I would go up to him right now and…”

  “No, Darryn. Please don’t do anything stupid. I need you to stick around here. What am I gonna do in this circus alone if you’re not around?” Mario tried to give one of his goofy smiles in an attempt to cheer Darryn up, but it didn’t work.

  “I won’t do anything. I won’t throw away everything for those idiots.”

  Just as he said this Darryn noticed JP walking towards him, his eyes looking uncertain but his walk still the same cocky gait that he usually moved with. Darryn steeled himself for the worst.

  “Darryn, I just wanted to say…” JP started.

  “What? Come to make sure I don’t come back to your parties? You don’t have to worry about that.” Darryn, indignant, dried his bare feet and stood up, facing JP.

  JP spoke again, clearly annoyed but still seeming sincere: “I wanted to apologize, okay? I didn’t mean to get so angry. I’m really sorry for shoving you. It’s just that you shouldn’t just assume that I have a perfect life. You don’t know me.”

  Darryn walked past JP towards the exit, and said to him, “No matter how angry you get or what kind of tantrums you throw, you’ll never be as good a swimmer as I am.” Mario walked out behind Darryn, giving a sly smile as he went, happy that Darryn was standing up to his tormentors.

  Darryn stopped in the bathroom before he left, waiting for Mario to bring him a change of clothes so that he didn’t wet the carpets in the clubhouse on his way out. He sat down on the edge of a stool in the bathroom and felt all of the strength leave his body. He had tried to be brave in front of JP, Peet and the others, but he hated feeling so weak around them. He hated feeling targeted every time they were alone together. He had to defend himself, he knew that, but he wished that it could be easier to be in the swim team. They all were close and had the same privileged, entitled attitude, and Darryn was left out.

  He remembered how Peet had initiated him into swim team, what they had called a ‘playful prank’, by taking his clothes out of the locker room while he was in the shower and throwing them on the roof of the clubhouse. Darryn was mortified, as he had only been on the swimming team for a week at that point, and the sound of Peet’s idiotic laughter rang in his ears. He had to wait in the locker room naked until Mario could help him retrieve his clothes. Since that day he knew that he couldn’t trust the other guys on the swim team. He had to keep his defenses up at all times.

  But he had to stick with it. The swim scholarship was the only way he could help his father and his brother. Even when he had days like that, he had to remind himself why he was doing this; he had a real talent for swimming, and he could put that talent to use to make life better for his family. He finished drying himself and he heard Mario knock at the door. Darryn unlocked the door for Mario and took the dry clothes that he had brought. Mario was clearly deeply concerned about him, but none of his attempts to comfort Darryn would work.

  Mario started, “Don’t worry, Darryn. You’ll show them when you win the finals at the end of the semester. You’ll show them when Coach makes you team captain, when you get recruited for nationals. Whatever they do to you now won’t matter then. Just hold on to that picture of yourself.” Mario plastered a huge smile on his face then, got up onto one of the stools in the bathroom, and held his hands above his head in a victory pose. “Mr. Darryn Fredericks, representing Ridgemont University at the South African national swimming championships, has just won first place in the 400 meter freestyle. And the crowd goes wild!” Mario waved his arms above his head as he made a sound of wild applause. Darryn smiled at his antics.

  “Okay, okay, get down from there before you break your neck. You’re right. And don’t worry, I can handle them,” Darryn said, determinedly.

  “Oh, I know you can. Did you see JP’s face as you told him off just now? He’s scared of you, for sure. He knows you’ll kick his butt in the finals.” Both of them laughed at this, and Darryn was determined to make it so. He would show JP and Peet who was better in the pool.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here,” Darryn said. “I still have to do a shift at Best Burger tonight. I need to get home to change.”

  “Midnight shift again? How do you handle class in the mornings?” Mario asked.

  “I have no choice. It’s only a few hours, and the money really helps. Don’t worry. One day I’ll be rich enough to buy that place.”

  “Yeah, then hopefully you pay your workers more than the peanuts you guys are getting. No offence.”

  Darryn was happy that he had Mario to be there for him on the swim team. He didn’t know how he would have survived if he had to face the rest of the guys without Mario’s calming influence. Even though it was difficult at the time, Mario was always there to remind him that things would get better eventually if they kept on working hard. Darryn believed that completely; it was the only thing that kept him going. He believed that if he sacrificed now and did the best job he could at everything, that life would become easier for him and for the people he cared about. No matter how much trouble people like JP would be along the way.

  Chapter 5

  Darryn stood flipping burgers over the hot stove, wearing his bright yellow and red apron and hat with the words “Best Burger” written in playful font across the front. He enjoyed the ritual of doing the same action over and over for hours, even if it meant that he was left smelling like fried meat and feeling fil
thy. It felt soothing to be free from the worry about everyone and everything else for the few hours that he spent at the job, and it helped him to make extra money so that he could help to pay for Billy’s therapy and medication. It also felt good to be away from the pretense of Ridgemont for a while. Even though the fast food restaurant where he worked was only about half an hour from campus, it still felt good to escape the regular Ridgemont students that often made him feel like an outsider. He had a silly tune playing on repeat in his head, and allowed himself to mindlessly settle into the routine that he was so used to.

  The main problem he had with his job was his obnoxious boss, Monty. Monty was in his mid-fifties, heavyset and with a gruff, sleazy attitude. He seemed like someone who was dissatisfied with how his life had turned out, and he was taking it out on the workers that he managed. Monty came into the kitchen often during the night and would find fault with ridiculous things simply because he wanted to give Darryn more work. Darryn had decided to limit his interactions with Monty as far as possible, and to just comply when he was asked to do something. It wouldn’t do any good to get on Monty’s bad side.

  Darryn’s best friend at work, Allison, came into the kitchen then with her regular dreamy air. Her hair was tied into a bun and pushed through the back of her cap, and her eyes were always more droopy than usual on the night shift. Allison and Darryn had spent many of their days at Best Burger discussing their dreams, and Allison had many of them: she wanted to be an actress, and she had concocted all manner of fantasies about how she would make her way to Hollywood. Darryn had never seen her act before, but Allison’s enthusiasm was so contagious that he believed that she could do whatever she wanted to in life. “Ah, Darryn, another night working for The Man, trying to while away the hours. Don’t you wish we could be on a cruise somewhere tropical right now?” Allison said, theatrically swinging her arms in the air to show the lavishness of her fantasy.

  “You’d better not let Monty see you idling away, Allison. He’ll put you at the window again.”

  “I don’t mind the window. Sometimes the cute Ridgemont boys come through there and I can flirt a bit.” She winked conspiratorially at Darryn, and he smiled.

  Darryn gave her a mock-stern look, and spoke in a fatherly voice: “You know how those boys are. They might seem nice for a few minutes, but they’re all spoiled brats who will toss you aside like yesterday’s newspaper.”

  “Don’t ruin a girl’s dreams, Darryn. Maybe one of them has connections in Hollywood and he’ll whisk me away on his private jet. Anything’s possible, you know.” This was Allison’s favorite expression, and Darryn always rolled his eyes when she said it.

  “You know what makes things possible? Working hard. Not getting fired. At least pretend to be working in case Monty comes in here.” Darryn adopted a stern, fatherly posture to reinforce his point.

  “You worry too much, Darryn. Way too much. I know you have dreams just like me. You can see yourself reaching swimming glory, being world famous, changing bedfellows like you change your underwear.”

  “Who says I change my underwear,” Darryn joked. He nudged her in her side as she grimaced.

  “Seriously though, you know we’re two of the most talented people in this godforsaken town. We’ll make it out of here someday. You’re already on your way, studying at Ridgemont. I wish I could afford drama classes, but at least I have the community theatre group. We’ll make our dreams come true.”

  Darryn valued these conversations with Allison. When things seemed especially hard, she had a way of making everything feel achievable and his load feel just a little bit lighter. He was glad that he had Allison to talk to at Best Burger. They had known each other in high school, but not really spoken much, but once they had started working together they become very close. Allison’s parents couldn’t afford to send her to college, and she was working at Best Burger to try to get enough money together to take some acting classes.

  Suddenly Allison’s chatter was interrupted by Monty’s voice as he stormed into the room: “Do I pay you to chit chat? Why are you working at dirty workstations?” Monty wiped his hands across the tables in the kitchen, pretending to find dirt. “I don’t like the two of you together in the kitchen like this. You young people and all your hormones. You’ll waste most of your time being inappropriate and not doing your jobs.” Darryn watched Monty go on his tirade and hoped that it would end soon. Allison looked guilty as she stood next to him. “Allison, go and work the counter for the rest of the night. Tell Lee-Roy to come back here. And Darryn, go work the window tonight. You’re getting it too easy just standing there flipping burgers.”

  Darryn tried to hide how upset he was at this. He hated working the window of the drive-through. He was not very social in general, and service with a smile was definitely not his strength. He gritted his teeth as he nodded and walked to the window. Monty was not done with them yet, and let out some more rebukes as they walked away. Darryn noticed Allison pull a mocking face behind Monty’s back, and it made him smile. She was always pushing the boundaries, and Darryn liked that about her.

  He resigned himself to working the window, taking orders for the next hour and getting increasingly irritated with the people he had to serve. Overall, it wasn’t the worst night at the window, at least until Darryn saw a familiar car.

  He immediately panicked: The car belonged to Peet, one of the most oafish and confrontational guys on the swimming team, and one of JP’s best friends. Peet seemed to take pleasure in making Darryn feel unwelcome in the swim team, and even though Coach Tyson had disciplined him after his biggest prank, stealing Darryn’s clothes, this did nothing but fuel Peet’s mocking of Darryn.

  Darryn considered simply walking away from the window, and asking someone to cover for him for the one order, but Monty had walked into the window area again to check on him and he knew that he would not be able to get away. The car pulled up to the window and Darryn noticed that Peet was accompanied by a girl and two of the other guys on the swim team. They were laughing with each other and blaring a song, and didn’t initially notice Darryn as they didn’t even turn to look at him when they placed their order. But Peet turned his head, finally, and saw Darryn.

  “Oh, what do we have here? Guys, look who it is!” Peet laughed boisterously, and when his friends from the swim team noticed Darry, they followed suit. “If it isn’t Coach’s favorite little boy toy. Tell me, what do you do for Coach to make him like you so much, anyway?” The guys on the back seat found this joke side-splittingly funny, and Darryn tried to maintain his composure as he asked if he could take their order.

  Peet feigned indignation with his friends, “No, wait guys, be quiet. Fredericks wants to take our order. Okay, I’ll have a pizza and a beer.” The other guys laughed again at Peet’s idiotic joke. Darryn waited for their laughter to subside without saying anything. “Well,” Peet eventually started, “aren’t you going to bring me my order?”

  Darryn tried to remain calm, “I can get you anything on the menu. It’s all up on the board over there,” Darryn pointed to show them the menu. “What can I get you?”

  “Hmmm, anything on the menu, you say?” Peet said again, sarcastically. Darryn was overwhelmed. He didn’t know how to deal with them. “Why don’t you get me some caviar and champagne?” Again, the guys on the back seat found this hilarious.

  Darryn decided on a new tactic, perhaps a way to get out of having to deal with them, and he said, “I can get my manager to come and speak with you if you want to make a special order. Just wait a second.”

  He turned to leave the window, but Peet shouted, “No! I don’t want a special order! I want you to help me.” His voice had turned from playful and mocking to menacing. The anger was clearly audible. He was going to embarrass Darryn, one way or another.

  Darryn waited silently again, unsure of how to deal with the situation. The driver of the next car in line honked her horn in frustration. Darryn knew that Monty would come and check on him soon. “Is
there any way that I can just get you guys to leave?” he said, frustrated.

  “You can give us each burgers for free. I’ll have a deluxe please, with extra-large fries and a coke.” The girl next to Peet was sniggering, but the guys at the back had become quiet and had equally as menacing looks as Peet. Darryn wrestled with his options, but eventually just walked to collect the food and gave it to them. Peet smiled when he received the food from Darryn. “Thank you for such speedy, efficient service. But watch out, next time we won’t be so nice if you can’t give us what we want.”

  They drove off, and Monty came in to find out why cars had been honking. Darryn said that the previous order had just taken a bit long, but he would speed it up. He seethed at the thought of what Peet and the other guys had done to him. He also knew that he would have to take the money for their food out of his own meagre paycheck. He had the sense of foreboding that they would try and do it again, that they would keep trying to humiliate him for as long as he let them. He resolved that next time Peet tried anything like what he had done that night, Darryn would stand up to him. It was the only way to stop them from treating him like he was inferior to them.

  Chapter 6

  JP lay down at the edge of the pool, breathing deeply, relishing the cold night air against his bare chest. He had pushed himself to his limit again, practising his swimming technique and speed in the pool at his parents’ home. He enjoyed the rush of pushing himself to the limit, feeling his body go as fast as it could through the water. He knew that he was improving at his speed, and he wanted to finally be the best on the swim team. He especially wanted to be faster than Darryn, who had just started on the swim team a few months before but had already beaten JP’s personal record. JP knew that he was jealous of Darryn’s speed, and he wanted to make sure that he was not left behind when the intervarsity team was chosen.