My day started as usual as it could for my mixed up life.
It was the last day of my seventh grade school in New York City, three thousand freaking miles from home. The day was devoted entirely to the school's annual swim meet championship.
I walked into the university-size aquatic center, and my 'schoolmates' (who usually hate my guts) roared with cheering as I entered door. As crazy as it was, swimming was the biggest sport at the wretched school, and I was the best on the team, and the only one who placed high enough overall to move on to the championship. My coach came over and told me what races I was in. I wrote them on my arm in purple sharpie and got ready for the first race.
Five hundred yards of freestyle later, I touched the wall, locking in my first place time on the scoreboard. Amazingly, I wasn't even tired. I tried to decipher my time, but the red fluorescent numbers were killing my dyslexic eyes. Lane one, first place, four minutes and forty-five seconds! Two whole minutes less than my record time that got me here in the first place! Tweet! The whistle blew from somewhere in the vicinity of the announcer's stand. The swimmers in the next race climbed onto the diving blocks.
"Swimmers, take your mark!" The announcer proclaimed, "Ready, go!"
With a huge splash, the swimmers dove in the water and started swimming.
I climbed out of the water and immediately felt bone tired. If it wasn't for my coach coming up and giving me one of her signature 'victory hugs', I would have passed out right there on the spot. After she finished breaking my ribs, I went and rested up for the next race.
I must have fallen asleep, because what felt like a couple of seconds later, my best (and only) friend, Dawn, was shaking me to wake me up.
"Tara! Tara! Wake up! Your next race is in five minutes! Hurry!" She said with a subtle bleat. Wait, bleat?
I hopped out of my chair and went to the block, got my goggles on, and dove in the water. Three hundred yards of butterfly later, I got first place, again, I swam the rest of the day and then, at the end of the day, I was coming out of the locker room, when I saw...