The Deep End

September

Chapter Song: Oh Mexico- Jeremy Zucker 

Five more strokes.

If I could kick faster I might be able to do four, three if I was lucky. I pushed my already tired body more than usual. Holding my breath for a few more seconds closing my eyes I kicked as hard as I could. It was faster than my normal practice pace, but today I felt good. Better than good.

Normally I would stare at the deep blue tiles that formed waves on the bottom of the floor and let my mind wander. It was an escape from reality, that's how it always had been. Today though it was just me and the water. Like part friends finally seeing each other after years apart.

I knew this pool like the back of my hand. I probably could swim a whole race with my eyes shut if I really wanted. Maybe I would try it at tomorrow's practice if I felt up for the challenge.

3...2...

Shit!

I pulled my legs in fast to stand up just as I let out a cry in pain. I yanked off my swim cap pulling my goggles with it. In the process I felt the usual sharp tug of my hair probably indicating that I ripped out a few strands.

I didn't even want to look at my hand considering the sting I felt. I wasn't paying attention to my counts and ended up slamming my fingers into the wall, half a stroke short.

I looked up at the clock and noticed I still beat my time. It was something at least. Just not exactly what I wanted. It was great to get a better time don't get me wrong, but my now my counts were out of sync.

I threw my goggles and cap onto the pool deck just to slowly sink back underwater. I let out some air watching the bubbles slowly rise to the surface.

Silence.

It was almost my favorite part of the water. How you could hear the silence when you were alone below the surface. Even if it were for a brief second. Usually, when I was by myself I liked it the most. When I wasn't at least the water muffled the chaos of shouts during a race or the splashes of the other swimmers.

My favorite was the stillness of the water. When you sit under the water for a flickering moment there was stillness. Kind of like escaping the world. At least until you needed more air.

I heard the echos of splashing around me, but I stayed there a few seconds longer. Finally, when I couldn't take it I reached for the surface.

"Parker what were you doing?" Coach Tanner scolded me. He looked slightly more irritated than usual, better not test my luck.

"Just trying to improve my time coach." I nodded trying to avoid his harsh stare. I wasn't in the mood to deal with his moodiness today.

"Try not to break your fingers next time we can't have those not working now can we." He smirked returning to flip through his clipboard. He blew his whistle for the next group to leave the blocks as I rolled my eyes.

What a creep.

I hopped out of the pool and began stretching on the deck. In the process of stretching my arms, I checked out my hand. I only saw a few minor scrapes on my fingers, one of my nails looked a little bruised but other than that it wasn't serious.

Thank god. I didn't need anything else holding me back this school year.

I did a few final stretches ending it by pulling my arms behind me while I bent forward. Taking in a deep breath to bend deeper into the stretch I heard footsteps coming near. I ignored them to focus more on the stretch but was quickly interrupted.

"Damn Parker who are you trying to beat cus I know it's not me." Tyler winked at me.

"I'd smoke your ass any day Anderson." I fired back feeling my left eyebrow raise.