In honor of the coming-out movie Horton Hears A Who, the quote for this chapter will be from the book/movie
In honor of the movie Horton Hears A Who, the quote for this chapter will be from the book/movie! Yay!
A little note: This is like your classic high school drama crap, only a little different…duh. Moving on!
"A person's a person, no matter how small."—Jim Carrey as Horton, Horton Hears A Who
Chapter 1: Water Lilies or The New Coach: She's Got The Look
"COWABUNGA!"
The girls laughed as Saila cannon-balled off the low dive and splashed everyone she could. The swim team was out in the pool for their morning swim time before classes started and they were taking turns on the diving boards.
"Ame!" yelled one of the girls, "Do your waterbending ball!"
"I don't know," said the waterbender, "I don't want to get in trouble…"
"Oh, come on!" said Saila as she swam over, "We love your waterbending ball!"
"We won't tell!" said two twins.
"Okay," Ame smiled, "but just this once!" Quick as she could, she made the water carry her up and out of the pool, shinnied up the ladder to the high dive, hopped a few times on the board, jumped, and curled into a fetal position with a big smile on her face screaming, "WATERBENDING BALL!"
The splash that resulted was like an exploding tidal wave and scattered the screaming swimmers in a wave of giggles and splashes. Ame was swirled around underwater in jet streams of tiny little bubbles like a rag doll tossed about in the washing machine. She laughed underwater and swam swiftly up to rejoin her friends, who were laughing their heads off.
"I always get a kick out of that!" piped Tincey, a girl with green hair.
FWEET! The girls all spun around to see two adults soaked to the skin—a man with a gray hoodie and a woman with a Chuck Norris T-shirt, a whistle in her mouth, and a stone look on her face.
"Holy crap," Ame muttered, then shouted, "Sorry, Coach!" She drew the water off the two adults.
"Thank you," said the lady coach drily, "All right, ladies! Float your little tushies down this way! I've got someone for you all to meet!"
They swam to where she and the man stood and leaned on the edge at their feet.
"Ladies," said Coach Lily, "this is our new Assistant Coach, Mr. Bevilaqua. He's from Rocky Island and he just moved here, so make him feel welcome!"
Ame grinned inwardly; Mr. Bevilaqua was one of the most fun names she'd ever heard. A sideways glance told her that Lini thought the same.
At her command, the water under them swelled and lifted them to the ground.
"Mr. Bevilaqua," Coach Lily chirped, "the Destiny High Ladies' Swim Team! Destiny High Ladies' Swim Team, Mr. Bevilaqua!"
"Welcome to Destiny High, Mr. Bevilaqua!" they said in unison.
"Pleased to meet you, ladies," he smiled, "Coach Lily told me she had a team of delightful water lilies, no joke intended. At ease."
"Go on, girls," Coach Lily waved off, "Show off your specialties for Mr. Bevilaqua!" She blew her whistle and the girls jumped back in with their own fancy moves.
"This way, Mr. Bevilaqua," said the coach as they walked along the pool, "You know, of course, that here at Destiny High, we take particular pride in our lady swimmers."
"I see why," he nodded as he watched the girls swimming, "especially that pink-haired angel."
"That's Saila," said the coach, "a freshman. She's our best speed swimmer because she's so small. A ray of sunshine, that one."
"And that purple beauty?" he pointed out Lini by the high dive.
"My daughter, Lini," she answered, swelling with pride, "The captain of the team as well as our best diver. She's a Junior and a genius with tactics. We've never lost a tournament of a meet with her as captain. And I see you've pretty much met Ame Megami."
"Megami?" he looked surprised at her, "Not as in Widow Megami?" Lily nodded.
"Her only grandchild," she answered, "Orphaned at 6 months, descended from the legendary Water Tribe on her father's side, raised and trained by a waterbending master. She's also a Junior and a real mermaid in the water, especially deep water. Very promising talent, Mr. Bevilaqua—a credit to any swim team."
"You don't say," said Mr. Bevilaqua as he scratched his head curiously, watching the beautiful young lady swim like…well, like a mermaid, just as Lily had said!
"As a matter of fact," she continued, "Ame assisted Lini with her winning dive in the last meet. Lini is an elegant and perfect diver and Ame's little water tricks can add a little flair. Allow me. Hey, Lini! Ame!"
The two girls paused by the high dive. Lini was about to climb the ladder and Ame was sitting by it with her feet in the water, bending a little stream for fun.
"Yes, Coach?" said Ame as she let the stream fall back into the water.
"Why don't you two ladies show Mr. Bevilaqua that Grinch dive we won with last week?" she said.
"Sure!" Lini climbed up the ladder and Ame stood up by the pool to watch her. Lini stood at the end of the diving board with her arms stretched out at her sides.
"She's planning a double-twisted, interrupted, forward-flying two-and-a-half with a combo tuck and pike," she muttered, "High degree of difficulty." She squatted, then jumped and spun. Ame sent up two streams that rose when she jumped and flew around her when she spun and flipped twice, then fell beside her as she dove straight into the water.
"That's amazing!" said Mr. Bevilaqua, dumbfounded, "I've never seen anything like it!"
"Well, you've never seen a waterbender," said the voice of a young man. He turned his head to be greeted with long, blue-silver hair and bright blue eyes.
"Hi there, Riku," Coach Lily smiled, "You here for Ame?"
"If it's not terribly inconvenient," he nodded with a smile.
"Save that charm for the mermaids, Riku," Lily smirked, "I'm sure they'll surrender their princess."
"Thanks, Coach," said Riku as he walked to the pool.
"And that young man is…?" asked Mr. Bevilaqua.
"Riku Hakari," she answered, "Ame's boyfriend and fellow Junior."
"Riku," he mused, "Is he the one with the Keyblade I've heard about?"
"One of them," said Coach Lily, "He's Sora's best friend."
"Man…" Mr. Bevilaqua shook his head. "You've got your hands full with such great heroes and top-notch swimmers."
"Every day is an adventure here at Destiny High, Mr. Bevilaqua," she nodded as she watched Riku with the girls, "You'll get used to it after a while."
"I look forward to it, Coach," said Mr. Bevilaqua.
(Right before lunch…)
"Dang, man," said one guy to his friend, "Check out that hot chick!"
"Who?" his friend asked, "The purple-head?"
"No, no," he answered, "The one with the long hair next to her! See?"
"Oh, yeah," said the friend uncomfortably.
"I'm gonna go ask her out," said the first guy confidently.
"Dude!" his friend freaked, "Are you crazy? Don't you know who that is? That's Ame Megami, Granda's granddaughter!"
"So?"
"So, she's also Riku's girlfriend!"
He froze; Riku? He'd heard about Riku.
"Um…" he said, "Let's go have lunch."
"Ame, I want you to meet someone," said Lini, "He's really fun!"
"You know I'm taken, right?" said Ame.
"Oh, I don't mean that kind of meet," she waved off, "Here."
Lini led her over to a boy their age sitting on a bench against the wall wearing big headphones and shuffling through some CDs. He had shaggy ginger hair, bright green eyes, and a sweet, innocent-looking face that reminded Ame of the Child Spirit of the Wind.
He caught Lini in the corner of his eye and pushed his headphones down to his neck with a smile.
"Lini, what a pleasure!" he greeted, "Back for another following?"
"Hi, DJ," said Lini, "Actually, I wanted you to meet a friend of mine."
"Ah," he said, "One of your mermaids, is it?"
"Yep," she nodded, "DJ, this is Ame Megami. Ame, this is Daniel Jones—we call him DJ."
"Pleased to meet you, DJ," Ame said with a quick curtsey.
"Likewise, Ms. Ame," he stood and held her hand up politely, "This may not surprise you, but I know your grandma well. She sold a radio station to my dad, the mixed contemporary station; that was the break of his life."
"I'm so glad she did that," Ame smiled, "It sounds like your dad's doing well!"
"Rolling in dough is more like it," said the boy, "and someday I'll inherit the station in his place. But enough about me! What can I do for you ladies?"
"I'd like to buy Ame a following," said Lini as she rummaged in her bag for her wallet, "She's going upstairs to Ms. Blair's for Theatre Arts. How much?"
"Well, normally it's about five dollars," he said, "But for Granda's kin, I'll knock it down to 3.50."
"Thanks!" said Lini. Ame had no idea what was going on.
"What's a following?" she asked.
"Oh," said Lini, "People pay DJ to follow them around the school playing music for them, like a theme song. You know how in the movies they have theme music, or like one of those baditude moments when the tough girl steps out of her car? DJ gives us theme music like that for real life. I'll show you. DJ, give her a strut—a Roxette strut, if you know what I mean."
"You got it!" DJ pulled out a CD and stuck it in his boombox. After putting all his CDs back in his bag, he lifted the boombox in his arms, facing it forward.
"Now start walking," Lini instructed Ame, "And be cool."
"Uh…okay." Ame walked next to Lini with DJ following behind as Roxette's "She's Got The Look" started up. Ame blushed a bit; a music lover herself, Ame knew this was one of those "strut your stuff" girl-songs.
"Come on, girl! Strut!" Lini grinned.
"Lini, do you really think I need this kind of attention right now?" she mumbled, "I mean, guys have been hitting on me lately, and I don't want to make any female enemies…"
"Oh, Ame!" said Lini, "Quit worrying about it! Live a little! Whatever happens, you'll deal with it! Besides, every girl here's done this at least twice! Go on, girlfriend!"
Ame couldn't help but grin; she did like this song, after all, and soon found herself feeling like a movie star (out of an 80's flick, pfft!). After she met up with Kairi and Riku, DJ just followed Lini the rest of the way to her class.
Author's Review:
LOL! I've always wanted to do that: Hire some guy to follow me down the street playing "She's Got The Look" on a boombox! That would be so rad! DJ's a little cutie guy, slightly modeled after 7-year-old Eichi Sakurai from "Full Moon." (love-love!) I hope you like him!
I also hope you like Mr. Bevilaqua, whose name is derived from "Seinfeld," the episode "The Big Race." When Jerry was in high school, Mr. Bevilaqua was the gym teacher; it's a great episode! Now, then: MY Mr. Bevilaqua is a kind of in-and-out character in this story with a bit of an agenda of his own, but don't worry—he's a good guy. I just don't know what he's gonna do yet…actually I do know what he'll do in a couple of later chapters, since I'm handwriting it first, but I don't know what his ultimate value in the story will be. Just help me keep an eye on him, okay? ;)
Okay, movie references: The way Coach Lily described the swimmers is a reference to the new version of "Phantom of the Opera," when Madame Giry is talking about her ballerinas. Madame Giry ROCKS! If you watch it carefully enough in the beginning, when Mr. Lefevre is calling the meeting to tell them he's retiring, and he calls for Madame Giry, SHE'S STRETCHING HER LEG ON THE POLE! She's like in her 50's and can still stretch her legs like that!! And the way she does it is all like "I'm cool," 'CAUSE SHE IS! (…) Ahem, moving on…
The Grinch dive is precisely that—the Grinch dive that the Grinch does in the Grinch movie!
Oh, and a little note: I SAW HORTON HEARS A WHO DURING SPRING BREAK!! Whoever else has seen it, review and tell me so we can compare notes! ;D
Oh, and one more thing…this is actually kinda sad…
I have to go on a temporary hiatus for about a month; I'm about to undergo a medical procedure that will leave me doped up on pain killers and on bedrest for a while, so this might possibly be the last chapter of any story you get from me for a bit. BUT I PROMISE I WILL BE BACK BECAUSE YOU GUYS ROCK MY SOCKS!!
So don't panic, okay? And tell me if you've seen the before-mentioned movie, 'cause I'm on a Horton High!!
'Til Next Time,
-samuraistar
