Long time no see! Here, have some Free!
(Totally came up with that right on the spot, I'm pretty proud)
Apology in advance for EXTREMELY OOC MAKOTO
I shoved open the front door to my home, drenched from the rain.
"I'm home..." My voice barely choked out.
"Welcome home, sweetie. You're late." My mom came around the corner and dropped the broom in her hands in shock.
"What happened, Ren? Are you alright?" Her voice trembled with concern and she ran over to me. The tears that had stopped began to flow again.
"I o-overheard C-Coach Hisakawa say *hic* that h-he's going to k-kick me off the t-team..." I blubbered. "He s-said that I'm lying... about my s-shoulder..." I hung my head and my mom wrapped her arms around me.
"Ssshhh... it's alright. I'll figure this out." She stroked my head in an attempt to calm me down.
The next day I didn't go to school. I had caught a cold from being out in the rain last night. I've been in bed all day, and now it was nearing the time when swim practice would be starting. My mother had taken a note from my PT and was bringing it over to Hisakawa to see if he would change his mind, but I wasn't sure that I would be able to face him knowing how easily he tossed me aside. I heard the door open and I sat up, climbing out of bed to greet my mom.
"Welcome ho-" I started to say, but stopped at the look of fury in my mother's eyes.
"That does it. I will not allow you to go to that school any longer!" She tore up the doctor's note and stormed into the kitchen to make dinner. I simply stood there motionless. What now?
I stood outside the classroom door, hands trembling with nerves.
"We have a new student today! Let's see, their name is... Hamasaki Ren-kun!" The teacher said from inside the classroom. I slid open the door and walked over to stand beside the teacher.
"Oh! U-um, Ren-san, I mean..." The teacher stuttered nervously and the class giggled. I'm used to people mistaking me for a boy because of my name... "Ren-san, please introduce yourself to the class." I turned around and wrote my name on the board.
"Hamasaki Ren. Nice to meetcha." I averted their eyes. The teacher looked at me and sighed.
"Please take a seat next to Makoto-kun. Makoto-kun? Raise your hand so she knows who you are." A tall boy with dark green hair raised his hand and smiled. I walked down the aisle and silently took my seat. I stared fixated on the board until someone tapped my shoulder and I turned to see Makoto smiling at me.
"My name is Tachibana Makoto. Nice to meet you, Hamasaki-san!" I nodded and turned to look at the board once more.
"If you have any questions about the school, you can feel free to ask me!" He offered. I nodded once more and wrote down the problem that the teacher just explained.
"Have you joined a club yet, Hamasaki-san?" He persisted. I shook my head, my eyes not leaving my paper.
"Of course she hasn't, she just transferred." A voice sounded from the other side of Makoto.
"Haha, Haru you're scolding me?" He chuckled at the black-haired boy next to him before redirecting his attention to me again.
"Why don't you join the swimming club? We've only just founded it and we don't have any girls yet... but if you join then we will!" A sharp pang went through my stomach at the mention of the words 'swimming club' and the mechanical pencil in my hand snapped. I looked at it in shock.
"D-do you have a pencil I could borrow?" I asked him hurriedly. He looked at me strangely, but complied.
"Of course," He reached into his bag and handed me one and I thanked him. "But, you should really consider joining the swimming club."
Another pang and another broken pencil. I slammed my hands down on my desk.
"CAN YOU LEAVE ME ALONE FOR ONE SECOND?!" I screeched, all the tension I had been building up over the last week suddenly came out. "I'VE NEVER, EVER, GOING TO JOIN ANOTHER SWIMMING CLUB EVER AGAIN, SO JUST GIVE UP ON IT! ALSO, CAN I BORROW ANOTHER PENCIL?" He paled and handed me another one. I huffed and furiously scribbled down notes. The entire class had turned around and was staring at me, but I paid then no mind.
"I figured that since Nagisa was able to recruit someone I could too, but I guess I'm not good at it..." I heard Makoto whisper to the boy next to him. I sighed. This was going to be a long day.
I walked down the hallway, heading towards the shoe lockers so I could go home. I saw Makoto standing in the hallway with the black-haired boy from my class, and a blond boy I didn't recognize. I kept my gaze fixated forward, but I was surprised when the blond bounced in front of me.
"Are you Ren-chan?" He beamed. I recoiled and took a step back.
"Y-yes. Do I know you?" He shook his head.
"Nope!" He pointed at me with a finger. "But I know YOU!"
"What do you want?" I said curtly.
"I want you to join the swimming club, of course!" Pang. I shook my head furiously.
"Never! Besides, I... can't swim." It wasn't a lie. Sure, I knew how to, but with my shoulder I can't.
"We can teach you! We already taught Rei-chan how to swim and now he's great at butterfly!" His eyes beamed with excitement.
"Why do you want me to join so badly? There are plenty of other girls at this school that you can terrorize."
"I guess... because you have a boyish name?" He said as if it was obvious. Makoto smacked his palm to his forehead. I roughly shoved him aside.
"I told you already, I CAN'T swim, so would you stop and just LEAVE ME ALONE." My voice shook with pain. The blond boy didn't falter and jumped in front of me.
"At least come watch our practice. Maybe you'll change your mind." His pink eyes shone with hope as he pleaded. I cringed.
"NO." I whirled around and walked away, ignoring his pleas as he called after me.
I walked into the school building the next morning and dropped off my umbrella into the basket by the entrance. Classes went by uneventfully. Makoto understood that I didn't want to make friends, so he left me alone as well. I saw the boy named Nagisa in the hallway after school, and he grinned and waved at me. I turned away. After I changed my shoes I stopped in front of the door. It's still raining... I wonder if the swimming club will still be having practice...
I must be crazy... I silently tiptoed into the pool building, listening carefully to see if anyone else was there. I walked through the building until I saw the door leading to the pool. I peered through the window and sure enough, the pool was empty. I sighed with relief and took off my school uniform. I reached into my bag and pulled out my suit, cap, and goggles. I looked around to make sure no one was there before taking off my undergarments and putting on my suit. I tied my hair into a bun and put on my cap and goggles before opening the door and stepping outside. The rain was pouring, making little ripples in the surface of the pool. I walked over to the starting block and stepped up, looking out over the water. Even though it had only been a couple of weeks, it felt like forever. I reached down to take my mark. Take your mark... GO!
I surged forward and entered the water, pumping out a few butterfly kicks while in streamline. As I came up I began to swim freestyle. Not long after my shoulder began to protest, but I didn't care. I wanted to swim. I reached the end of the 25 and executed a speedy flip turn as I began to sprint another 25. I pushed the pain out of my mind and just focused. Another flip turn. And another. And another. I switched to breaststroke.
I lifted my chest out of the water, face parallel to the surface, and I shoved my arms in front of me as if I was reaching for the wall, throwing my head back into the water and kicking right after. After the open turn I did a pullout, pushing off in streamline and pulling my arms down by my side. One quick butterfly kick and I was up again. At the wall I turned onto my back and sprinted backstroke.
My arms moved like windmills while my head did not budge. My hands bent to catch the water easier during my underwater recovery. White water sprayed all around, some of in landing in my mouth along with the raindrops as I panted. I reached the flags and counted 4 strokes before flipping over onto my stomach and doing a flip turn. I streamlined out past the flags and at the wall I perform a bucket turn to transition to butterfly.
My face stayed parallel to the water as I sweeped my arms up and over the surface, plunging them down in front of me. I kick as a bring my arms up, and again as they enter. I do an open turn and stay in streamline until I reach the flags at the other side of the pool, and at last I stop. I stood there, out of breath and my shoulder screaming. I had never felt so free. I froze when I heard someone clapping. I looked around wildly to see someone emerge from the pool building.
Ta-da! Yay for a cliffhanger! Who will this mysterious person be...?
You'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out!
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