Swimming
"Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean."
- Christopher Reeve
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It was a boiling hot summer day in July, and I was stuck wearing a t-shirt and long nylon gloves with jeans. Not the sort of thing that's comfortable to wear when it's over thirty degree's Celsius. The sound of summer was surrounding me; children's laughter and shouting, lots of boisterous chatter, and of course the splashing of water from the mansion's outdoor pool. Bobby, Kitty, John, Jubilee, Poitr, and many others were swimming and enjoying the cool water.
I, Marie D'Ancanto, the untouchable girl, was sitting underneath a large sun umbrella on a white plastic lawn chair, reading a book that had been randomly selected for me by the Professor. I licked my thumb and flipped the page of my novel, continuing my reading from the last page. It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't amazing.
Anyway, I was about to finish off the last chapter of my book, when I heard giggling right behind me. I turned around in my chair just in time to see Jubilee and Bobby pour a particularly large bucket of water right over my head. I felt the cool yet refreshing water spill all over my head and down my shirt and even onto my jeans, soaking my entire body. I let out a scream, dropping my novel onto the sopping ground where it became as drenched as I was.
I was shocked for a couple of seconds, which gave Jubilee enough time to scurry back into the pool. Bobby was still standing there, doubled over in a laughing frenzy. I slowly stood up, feeling the water squelch and soak into any other dry part of my body, and pulled off my black sunglasses.
"BOBBY!" I screamed, lunging at him. I thought that seventeen-year olds were past this goofy prank pulling stage. He easily dodged me but tripped on his feet and fell into the pool, causing everyone else to laugh even harder. "Ugh, you bastard!" I cried out, brushing the wet strands of hair from my face. No one said anything. They just continued to laugh. I growled under my breath and turned on my heel, stalking back towards the mansion, muttering curses all the way.
I burst into the mansion, using the back door that lead into the kitchen, trying to squeeze as much water out of my clothing as I could. There were two younger kids sitting at the island, eating ice cream, and they looked up at me with wide eyes.
"What're you looking at?" I hissed, glaring at them. They quickly turned back to their cold food and ignored me. I huffed and stripped my sopping wet gloves off, storming through the hallways and up towards my room. I just turned the corner after I had climbed the stairs, when I almost collided with Logan.
"Whoa, kid—" He began, commenting on the fact that we almost flew right into each other. But then he saw that my gloves were off, so he shut his mouth. Or maybe he was just trying to figure out why I was sopping wet. I stepped back and hurriedly slipped my wet gloves back on for safety.
"Sorry…" I mumbled, looking down. And that's when I noticed I had a white t-shirt on. A white t-shirt that was sopping wet and perfectly see-through. It was clearly showing my white bra underneath. I blushed heavily and crossed my gloved arms in front of my chest. Maybe that's what he was looking at. I cleared my throat and looked up at him.
"Finally went for a swim?" He asked, quirking his eyebrow and smirking slightly.
I rolled my eyes, keeping my arms across my chest. "No. Bobby and Jubilee poured water on me. I have to go get changed. I'll stay inside the whole summer where it's not boiling hot and I don't have to watch all the damn kids run around in bathing suits and have fun." I spat out and stared at my feet.
His face softened and his smirk disappeared. Great. Now I was going to get even more sympathy. I mean, it's not like I didn't like his sympathy. Or company. Both were great. Sometimes, such as a time like this, when I was hotheaded and quite pissed, I really didn't need him around poking at my feelings.
He opened his mouth to say something but I quickly cut him off. "Sorry, I'm just overreacting. I'm not such a jolly person around summertime. See ya later, Logan." And off I went, walking past him towards my room. I thought he might call out to me, but when I reached my room and glanced down the hallway, he was nowhere in sight.
Probably going to go work on his bike, I thought to myself as I unlocked my room and stepped in. Logan had bought all these motorcycle parts with all his overflowing cash he had newly acquired from his new job as Self Defense teacher, and had been working on it mainly non-stop. I rarely saw him early in the morning but usually at night heading towards the Danger Room. I guess he was still pretty shaken up about Jean.
Ever since Jean had… well, died at Alkali Lake, Scott and Logan had been the most affected. Barely anyone had seen Scott out of his room; he sometimes went downstairs to get a glass of water, but it was mostly Storm who brought him food. I had gone to talk to him a few times, but after being ignored after hours of chatting, I just gave up. I had a life. If he didn't want to move on, that's his problem. Logan, on the other hand, was a little different.
For a while he disappeared in his room, maybe for a week, but after that… things got strange. He was always going into the Danger Room, as much as he could. No one knew what he was doing in there, and Jubilee kept prodding me to go watch him. But I always said no or chickened out; I was afraid of what he was doing in there. Or what he'd say to me. Just a couple of weeks ago, that's when he got his bike parts, and fortunately that's been taking up some of his Danger Room time.
The Professor was worried about him, so that's when he assigned Logan the Self Defense teacher position. Logan obviously turned it down the first time, but I think Xavier threatened him with something and made him do it. No one really knows.
The past few days have been pretty good between us, though. We've spoken together more often and I've even squeezed a few smiles out of him. I'm still worried about Scott, and I still miss Jean, but my life is slowly being pieced back together.
I closed my door behind me and began to strip out of my wet clothing, pulling on my favourite dark green t-shirt this time and some jeans. I sifted through my assortment of gloves and picked out some black silk opera ones and slipped those on. I walked into my bathroom and ran a brush through my hair, wincing when I hit tangled spots. Finally it was combed, so I began to blow dry it.
After that, I sat down at my desk and turned on my computer. I was glad that I didn't' have a roommate anymore. I used to share it with Kitty, but after a few close encounters with my deadly skin, I persuaded the Professor to let me have my own room. It was great, actually. I didn't have to worry about hurting anyone, I had the whole thing to myself, and I didn't have to put up with endless snoring all night. Yes, Kitty snored. I still had to ask Jubilee if she liked that her new roommate made all that noise in the middle of the night.
I checked my email quickly, but found nothing. Why was I expecting anything? Besides junk mail, I never got anything. Some days I wanted to see something from my parents. Hah. Like that would ever happen. When I ran away, I was hoping they would try to contact me or hunt me down to bring me back, to tell me that they were wrong in what they said. But they never called, never found me, never cared. It was like they were glad that I was gone. Sure, they told me they still loved me, but I could tell from the look in their eyes that they thought I was a freak.
But although they shunned me, I still felt connected to them. I guess I still loved them. I just wish I could talk to them, just once. And not just send an email or letter, either. They could easily just delete it or burn it or something. If I could hear there voice, just once… It would make me feel so much better.
I sighed and shut off my computer, glancing across my room to my digital clock. I was surprised by how much time had passed, seeing how it was already 6:00. Dinner would be served soon, so I got up and made my way downstairs.
I found my usual group of friends sitting at a table, chatting excitedly to each other. I grabbed a spot beside my boyfriend and listened in to the wild conversation.
"—and we can ransack all the cupboards!"
"Yeah! And Kitty can phase into the liquor cabinet!"
"Hey, no I won't!"
"Aw, you're such a party pooper, Kit."
"What's goin' on, guys?" I asked, frowning at the confusion.
"Storm and the Professor are taking all the younger grades out to the museum tomorrow." John said with a sigh.
"And…?" I asked, not seeing the point.
"That means we'll have the whole mansion to ourselves, for the whole day!" Bobby said, turning to face me.
"Scott will still be here. And Logan. You know that, right guys?" Poitr reminded us.
"Yeah, yeah, like they'll be watching us." Jubilee waved off the comment.
Dinner continued like that, chattering and trying to decide what we'd do first. It sounded fun, so I decided I would play along.
That night, after everyone had gone to bed, I lay in my bed, staring up at my ceiling, unable to fall asleep. I wasn't tired, and my mind was filled with many thoughts.
I feel like swimming.
The thought randomly popped up in my head. I hadn't been swimming in years. I just sat by the school's pool and watched people swim, which wasn't fun at all. I closed my eyes once again and tried to tell myself to go to sleep.
Swimming.
There it was again; a stupid little voice in the back of my head, whispering at me like a mosquito. I sighed angrily and flopped onto my side.
Swimming.
ARGH! I swiftly sat up in my bed and threw off the covers. I didn't have a bathing suit (for obvious reasons) but I decided that a dark coloured bra and underwear would work perfectly. And it's not like anyone else would be swimming out there. I glanced over to my clock. It was about 1:00 in the morning. Yup, definitely no swimmers for me to maim.
I hastily changed into my black bra and some dark blue panties, then wrapped myself up in a large fluffy white robe I received from Kitty as a birthday present last year. I grabbed a towel just incase, and silently tiptoed down the stairs and out into the balmy summer air. It felt so weird to walk around mostly naked at night with no one around you. It felt… invigorating.
I breathed in and smiled. The moonlight of an almost-full moon was casting a beautiful shadow across the yard, and the water sparkled like a rare diamond. I slipped out of my robe and placed them on a plastic chair, then walked into the warm pool.
I couldn't suppress a slight gasp as I felt the water rise from my calves to my thighs, then to my hips and stomach. I've had baths before, but swimming in a pool is different. Instead of hot water in a small, private area, you have a large amount of water in a very open place. Like I mentioned before, I hadn't been swimming in forever, so I thought that I should really make the best of it.
I dunked under the warm water and swam into the deep end, practicing to hold my breath for as long as I could. After I was content about my underwater diving skills, I then began to practice my front crawl and backstroke. I couldn't stop smiling as I splashed about in the water. I guess I hadn't noticed how much I missed swimming.
After quite a long time (I wasn't sure what the exact time was. It could have been fifteen minutes, it could have been two hours), I slowed down and noticed my breathing was laboured. I turned over so that I was floating on my back. This was so calming, I felt like I could have slept. I think I did, for a while.
"Marie?" A husky voice sounded.
I yelped and lost balance, sinking under the water for a quick moment before swimming to the surface. Once I focused on the darkened figure standing at the doorway, I saw who it was: Logan. My hands hastily wrapped themselves around my half-clad body while I tried desperately to keep my head above water with only my legs pumping.
"What the hell are you doin' out here at this time a night?" He asked me.
"I-I just… wanted to go for uh, a swim." I spluttered, continuing to cover my body.
"It's almost four o'clock in the morning, Marie." He said, sounding slightly concerned. He was wearing grey sweatpants and one of his usual white wife-beaters. Logan looked almost… wet.
"Y-Yeah, I know." I was stuttering because I was nervous. I had never been this exposed to anybody, much less a guy. Much less Logan. The guy everyone knew I had a crush on. "Y'know, I could ask you the same thing, sugar." I retorted quickly.
He sighed and tossed what looked like a small white towel over his shoulder. "I just came back from the Danger Room. I'd like to hear your excuse." Ah. So the wet stuff was sweat. Ew. Then this image of Logan without a shirt kicking bad-guy asses flashed through my head. I blushed and almost forgot that he wanted me to explain to him why I was out here.
"Well, I, uh, felt like swimming." I said, sinking into the water until it reached my neck.
He just raised his eyebrow. He was waiting to hear the whole story, and I knew he wasn't going to budge until I spilled the beans.
I sighed and continued. "Well, I can't go swimming during the day with all those kids around, 'cause of my skin. And I was just dyin' to go and since no one was out here, I thought it'd be safe." I looked up at him innocently.
He stared at me for a few moments before sighing and nodding his head back towards the mansion. "C'mon. It's late. If the Professor caught'cha out here you'd probably be in a lot'a trouble, darlin'." He said, grabbing my robe and towel, holding it towards me. Aw, he called me 'darlin'. I loved it when he did that. Was I being immaturely in love at that moment? Yeah, I so was.
I swam to the steps and stepped out, hurrying over to where Logan was standing with my stuff. Blushing heavily and very aware that my very dangerous skin was very close to him, I grabbed the robe and rapidly put it on, tying it up. I look up at Logan and I can't seem to help it but see his gaze shift ever so slightly. Was he staring at my chest? Again?
"Let's go." He said quietly, turning into the mansion. I follow silently behind him, all the way up the stairs and down the hallway towards my room. Logan's room is only a few doors down, at the very end of the hallway. All the surrounding rooms are empty; there aren't that many students and I guessed that the Professor thinks it's a bit safer like that. I felt proud to be the closest student to Logan's room. I felt mature.
But back to my room: We stopped in front of my door while I tried to jiggle it open with my key. I finally unlocked it and I was about to step in when Logan grabbed my robe-covered arm.
"Kid, you gonna keep goin' out at night to swim?" He asked me, frowning slightly.
I shrugged. "Maybe."
"You shouldn't go by yourself. What if something happened and you drowned?" Logan asked. I shrugged and he sighed. "Well, meet me tomorrow night at the boathouse beside the Lake, twelve o'clock." He said, turning away.
"Why?" I asked. It was my turn to frown now.
He was at his door and he opened it. "You wanted to swim, didn't you?" He smirked and closed the door after him.