People, Places and Swimming Pools

Chapter 1

She felt the water splashing up around her as she furiously dug her hands and arms into it. She wasn't ordinarily a ridiculously fast swimmer, but she was currently leading her lane. She didn't want to be there, not just at that swim practice, but in that city, in that state, and she was taking it all out on the water. Her legs had a mind of their own, they were kicking furiously, paying no regard to what the rest of her body was doing. For all the pounding she was doing, energy she was expelling and people she was passing, she barely felt like she was moving.

She wasn't thinking about what she was doing, swimming freestyle came naturally to her at this point. She was thinking about how much she didn't want to be there, and about how the coach was going to think she was so much faster than she actually was, and about how on earth she was going to deal with learning something in math class that she'd learned a month ago back home. She was also thinking about how badly the girl behind her was annoying her, swimming on her tail and most likely all-out sprinting to keep up with her. Some people were much too competitive. They were only warming up.

Her hand hit the wall with almost as much vigor as it would have had she been swimming in a race. She'd finished the two hundred yard warm-up her coach had asked them all to do. She was breathing heavily, but in a way it felt good. She'd needed to take her anger out on something, and the water had proved a good target. The girl that had been swimming behind her touched the wall a few seconds after she did. When the girl stood up, she recognized her as the girl the coach had introduced her to as Casey Brimhaven. She was breathing heavily as well, but she smiled.

"You're an okay swimmer then?" she half-asked.

"Not really," April replied, still panting a little. "I mean, I'm okay, but I don't swim that fast usually… ever, at practice."

Casey looked a little confused, but then appeared to understand. "Trying to get an idea of how fast everyone else here is? Me too, but I already know how fast everyone is except for you. That's why I was swimming right behind you. I figured if I kept pace with you I'd be able to gauge how good you are. I have to say, I was fairly impressed. That's almost as fast as I normally take my warm-up. But if you don't normally swim that fast at practice, my idea isn't quite accurate, is it? How perfect is that that you were doing the same thing I was? I think it's pretty funny."

"Actually, I wasn't. I just… I guess…" What did she say? This girl clearly wasn't someone she cared to get to know very well, considering the fact that she was already driving her insane. But she didn't want to start off on the wrong foot with a team member, even if they weren't going to be best friends. "Uh, yea. Just trying to figure out how everyone swims," she lied through her teeth.

"Heh, yea. Cool. You think you'll be in this lane all practice?"

"Oh, I don't know," April said. "Depends what we do, I guess."

"I see. What's your stroke?"

"I don't really know. My team back home wasn't that good, so I did a little of everything."

"Well, I'm sure Jamie can help you figure it out," Casey said, gesturing at the coach. "She's pretty good."

"Great," April said. She looked around and noticed that everyone seemed to be done with the warm-up.

The coach came over and pointed to a chalkboard on wheels that was set up near the pool. "That's your set," she said, indicating what was written on the board, "Twelve fifties free on fifty-five, all lanes, drill down swim back, then six one hundreds, odds free, evens stroke, then three two hundreds free. The times for the hundreds and the two hundreds are on the board." April saw that what time they were on depended on which lane you were in. Jamie came over to April's lane and squatted down to talk to her. "How you doing, April?" she asked.

"Okay," April said.

"Based on the warm-up, you're probably in the right lane, but if you think you want to switch, it's your call. Go wherever you think the times are right for you."

"Great, thanks," April said. She noticed that she was in the lane that was on the fastest time. Seeing this, she told the coach, "You know, I think I'll switch to lane five."

"Fine with me. We'll probably move you around a bit before we figure out which lane you'll be in normally, okay?"

"Yep. Thanks."

"Sure thing." Jamie changed her tone of voice to speak to the entire team. "Leave on the top!" she said.

April ducked under the lane rope to lane five. "Hey," she said, addressing the whole lane, or whoever was paying attention.

"Hi," the leading girl said not a second before pushing off to start the set.

April backed up to get in the back of the lane. "Let me know if you need to pass me," the girl in front of her said good-naturedly.

"Thanks, I will," April said. Seconds later she was swimming again. Fifty-five wasn't a bad time for fifties at all, and she seemed to be in the right lane. She was fairly relaxed, and keeping about the right distance between her and the girl in front of her.

When they finished the set, the girl that had been swimming in front of April turned to her. "Argh, I hate two hundreds. They take forever," she said.

April smiled and let out a puff of air in a little half-laugh. "Yea, they really do. Oh well, maybe we won't do any more today."

"I hope not. What's your name again?"

"April. And you're…?"

"Jess. And this is Alyssa and Jamie," she said, indicating the other two girls in the lane, who both waved pleasantly.

"Hi," April said.

"Did you just move here?" Alyssa asked.

"Yea, I moved in yesterday, actually. So my house is still basically a wreck. Boxes everywhere… it's beautiful." She smiled a little sarcastically.

"Lovely. Where'd you move from?"

"Connecticut. My grandma lives here and my mom wanted to be closer to her."

"Do you like it here?" Jess asked.

"Not so far," April said honestly. "It's winter, and it's not snowing. Plus my dad and my friends are still at home… moving was just an annoyance if you ask me."

"Mmm. Are your parents divorced?" Alyssa wanted to know.

"No…" just then April saw her coach walking to the chalkboard again to explain their next set. "Later."

"Okay."

The rest of practice went by fairly quickly. Before she knew it, April was in the locker room trying to synonymously brush her hair and talk to the girls that were in her lane.

"No, they never got married," she was saying of her parents. "I actually never met my dad until a little over a year ago. It was a science fair project actually, there were three men that could have been my father, and I took hair samples and found out that the guy that turned out to be him was the only one that showed up at the fair to find out the results… He was really nice, and he owns a diner… We're pretty close now."

"That's cool."

"My mom wasn't going to let me see him anymore, they fought over something, I don't even know or care what, but he had to fight for custody in court… He got it actually, partial, I get to go home on holidays and some weekends."

"That's good," Jamie said.

With her glasses on, April could see the girls a lot better than she could while they were swimming. Alyssa was pretty, even with wet hair. It was blonde and fairly long, and her features were delicate. She was thin, and the kind of person that it seemed like anything would look good on, yet she was wearing a green oversized hoodie and shapeless jeans.

Jess had shoulder-length medium brown hair that was layered around her face. She didn't immediately strike you as stereotypically pretty, but she was if you looked at her in the right way. Her forehead was a little acne-covered, not terribly, but enough that it could be noticed. If you could look past that, you saw that her eyes were bright green and stood out against the rest of her face. She was the sort of person that, even at first glance, looked like someone you could get to know. She looked like she cared about what she wore a little more than Alyssa did, and was wearing a purple zip-up hoodie over a pink tight-fitting t-shirt and jeans with multicolored embroidered designs on the pockets.

Jamie had light brown hair and was the most difficult out of the three of them to describe. You didn't think of much when you looked at her, in all honesty. She wasn't particularly pretty, but she certainly wasn't ugly. She had braces, but they didn't look unnatural on her. It looked almost like she wouldn't look right without them. She was a little shorter than April and a little heavier-set. She wore a plain green sweater and light blue jeans.

The girls almost looked the way they acted. Jess was as friendly as the first impression told you, Jamie tended not to say much and blended into the background, and Alyssa seemed ridiculously down-to-earth.

"So what team are you on?" Alyssa asked. Their junior high was set up so that each grade was split into three teams, and certain teams had certain teachers and could only have certain classes together. It wasn't nearly as confusing as it had sounded when it had first been explained to April.

"B," April said.

"Oh, Jamie's on B," Jess said. "Alyssa and I are on C."

"I think I'm in a few classes with you," April said to Jamie. She'd thought she had looked familiar while they were swimming, but she hadn't been sure until just a moment ago.
"Yea, I think we are," Jamie said. Her voice came out more loudly than one would expect, and it was apparent that she was confident when she spoke, although she might not have spoken as often as her friends.

April finished getting dressed and grabbed her bag. "I'll see you guys tomorrow," she said quickly to the three girls.

"Bye," Jess said, "Hey, when do you have lunch?"

"Fifth," April said.

"So do we. What do you have fourth?"

"English."

"Me too," Jamie said. "Walk down to lunch with me tomorrow and I'll show you where we sit."

"Sure. Thanks. See you tomorrow."

"Bye," everyone said. April walked out of the locker room quickly, not wanting to come out with the other three girls. Although she liked them and wouldn't mind being friends with them, she wanted her mother to think she was as unhappy as she was firmly convinced she'd be. Her mother had tried in vain to persuade her that living in New Mexico would be good, and the last thing April wanted to do was prove her right.