Christina Albright knew she wasn't anything special, not the prettiest or the smartest or the fastest but she was OK with that. After all if everyone were special, no one would be right? At Spenser Academy, she was often looked down on by other students since her father was a mechanic and her mother was a secretary. She'd gotten a full scholarship that paid all her tuition and living costs but she had to work hard to keep her place unlike the legacy students who coasted through doing the minimum possible and had their parents buy them into the Ivy League of their choice. But she was OK with that too. After all every school had slackers, it was just that here they were mostly snobby rich kids too.
She sat in her chair, barely listening to her captain as she watched Tyler retreat into the male locker room. His golden skin rippled over his muscled shoulders as he walked. Christina didn't mean to but her gaze slowly started to drop taking in his toned back, noting the curve of each vertebrate and the tensing of each muscle. Lower and lower her gaze moved until she was looking straight as his amazingly cute butt. God he had a good butt, she could stare at it all day. She wondered what it felt like: soft as it looked or firm from all of his training. But all too soon Olivia called her attention back.
"Chrissie, did you hear what I said? Hey, I'm talking to you"
The brunette shook her head lightly, snapping back into the present instead of her little perverted fantasy.
"Sorry, just lost my focus. What were you saying?" she replied, keeping her gaze 50:50 between Olivia and the pool.
The captain sighed, she knew Christina was a good swimmer but she could be so much better if she just learnt to concentrate. In one practiced move, Olivia twisted her blonde hair into her standard issue black swimming cap and looked at the younger student.
"I was inviting you to Nicky's after practice tomorrow" Olivia sighed, "You know, for a little team building like Coach suggested. I think if we can come together a bit more, we'll be able to go to state with the guys. Lord knows some of them need taking down a peg or two".
Christina felt a smile cross her lips, she knew Olivia was referring to a certain Reid Garwin who seemed to have made it his personal mission to hook up with every girl on the team, including Olivia. Reid constantly teased her about it too, finding it hilarious that the inhumanly driven swim team captain slipped up so spectacularly and slept with the schools man whore, a title he seemed a little too proud of, behind the dumpsters at Nicky's.
Chrissie pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear, looking out at the pool. It was free swim and a couple of freshmen were messing about in the deep end, nothing serious but she kept an eye out just in case.
"Sure, I'll come but only if you can guarantee me Lily Swope won't bring her boyfriend. I'd like to enjoy my food thanks"
The girls laughed, Lily and her boyfriend were just about the sickliest sweet couple, complete with nicknames like 'cupcake' and 'bunny'.
Olivia nodded, taking a couple of steps closer to the edge tiles, "I will try my hardest"
Christina turned her attention fully to the pool as Olivia entered the water, her years of self-criticism making her dive seem effortless and perfectly efficient.
The rest of the evening passed uneventfully, unsurprising since only students and teachers used the pool and most students were in one of the many swim or diving teams. Spenser made joining a sports team a mandatory extra-curricular and since swimming was an indoor, heated sport, most kids picked it.
As she pulled on her sweats and gathered her stuff she heard James, her co-worker for the night, yell to her.
"You almost done in there? I got places to go, people to see, baby"
She opened the door and smiled sweetly, "hoping for a bit of action are we Jamie? Because I think there's as much chance of that happening as there is of Bloom giving me an extension on my modern politics assignment".
She walked past him towards the exit and James automatically fell in step beside her.
"Oh contraire, mon ami" he grinned, "I happen to know a certain fiery haired junior has been asking after me".
Christina burst into laughter, "You are not referring to Jessica Alcott are you? The buck toothed, lacrosse player in our Bio class?"
James' grin faltered slightly but he replied with bravado "The very one"
They walked into the cool November air, the doors swinging soundlessly behind them.
Christina rethought her earlier judgment. Usually James only went for the classically pretty, well-endowed variety of Spenser girls but maybe he wasn't as shallow as she'd once thought. Maybe he was growing up and Jessica was really sweet. They'd been lab partners last year and she'd always covered for Christina when she slipped up on their shared assignments or mucked up an experiment.
"Good for you" she now smiled, nudging her friend lightly with her shoulder.
"Don't patronize me Albright"
"I wasn't, I…"
She was cut off as someone knocked into her shoulder, sending her flying into James. Her bag flew from her grasp, spraying its contents across the tarmac. Immediately, she bent down, quickly stuffing her things back into her beaten up sports bag.
"Sorry", her knocker exclaimed, immediately bending to help pick up her stuff.
She rolled her towel back into the bag, "It's OK, I wasn't watching were I was going".
Everything was off the floor and as she stood up, two tan hands held out her hairbrush and battered flip-flops. She recognized those hands, she'd stared longingly at them and the rest of the body they were attached to for almost three years now.
He smiled that breathtaking smile she loved, "No, it was entirely my fault, I should have been paying better attention".
Shock quickly took over her body and she stood frozen for a moment, eyes wide, mouth opening and closing like a fish. Her brain refused to function although her body wouldn't have responded to it anyway.
She noted James looking between her and Tyler, urging her silently to move.
"Thanks" James smiled, taking her things from Tyler, "Have a nice night"
Tyler smiled again, "You too"
She knew her brain wasn't working right at that moment but she could have sworn he was looking at her the entire time, barely registering James. Except that was silly of course, he was Tyler Simms who dated exclusively from the pool of Spenser elite.
He turned and continued to the swim centre and she watched him go, kicking herself for her complete meltdown.
James knocked her from her freeze, "What was THAT about?"
She shook her head, banishing the confused befuddlement.
"Nothing, come on lets go"
James shook his head, obviously not believing her but he let the subject drop.
They walked in silence the rest of the way back to the dorms.
