God, I hate the smell of chlorine. It literally feels like the chemistry lab living in your nostrils, it's disgusting.
No matter, I'd still shown up to swim tryouts. I had been on the swim team ever since freshmen year, but I never made the competitive team. And for good reason too, and not the sort of reason you probably have predicted.
It's because you suck, Juvia!
Actually, no. Not to brag, but I'm easily the fastest swimmer here. Years and years of dreading the pool and raw determination to conquer my paralyzing fear of water had drilled pure swimming instincts into my brain. I could move faster and more fluidly than our so called 'champion swimmer' could in her dreams.
Evergreen.
Just thinking her name leaves an awful taste in my mouth, like after my dad cooked year old potatoes, claiming that the 'little green sprouts' made them taste better.
The dumbass dad of the year award goes to…
God, her big fat boobs are probably the reason she's so god damn slow. Too much damn weight.
Not that my boobs made it any easier for me, just…I knew how to keep them in my suit, not hanging out like two oversized bowling balls that never seemed to be fully clothed.
Don't get me wrong – I don't have an issue with girls showing some skin, but when you leave your boobs hanging out to the point where they physically slow you down while swimming, it becomes more of a team problem than a you problem.
Sure, Evergreen was fast, but not…really fast. I probably sound like a total condescending bitch right now, but god she just thought she was hot stuff and it kinda made me want to set her on fire. Then she really would be hot stuff.
I stretched my lean arms over my head, taking my time in observing the coach. Each year during tryouts, the varsity team members would be selected by time on each of the four main strokes. The top seven swimmers were taken, and I had a habit of 'slipping up' on try out days and not even making it to twelfth.
Oops.
A few years back, when I first started swimming, I met Evergreen. Although she's a dumb bitch, she's also a smart bitch. If you know what I mean.
She probably saw that I was most definitely better than her, and she sort of…talked to me about it, and long story short, I tend to sort of on purpose flunk tryouts every year.
Double oops.
Dipping my feet into the pool slowly, I made sure to send Evergreen a nasty glare while her back was turned. She has a very manly back. Especially with her swimsuit on.
I slipped into the water silently, just as unnoticeable as I was in class. I really don't think anybody even knows I'm on the swim team, besides dumbnut Evergreen, anyways.
Ha. Dumbnut.
Even though my fear of water is still very evident, the pool just wasn't…real water.
Real water is churning, blackened depths that grab a hold of your legs and drag you down to the depths, where it will watch you slowly suffocate to death, and laugh. Not this chlorine-infested drinking water.
Yes, I feel very strongly on the whole anti-water debate that sort of takes place in my brain.
But I took off anyways, cutting through the water easily and listening to it gurgle past me, with the thin strands of my ponytail sticking to my exposed cheekbones.
I hated swim caps. Just thought I should throw that out there as well.
It's pretty evident that I'm hella faster than Evergreen, she knows it, her friends know it, and especially the coach knows it. You should see him every year, right after tryouts.
"God dammit Juvia, what the hell was that garbage! A bloody outrage, you were like a fucking ballerina out there, taking your goddamn time. No, don't laugh at me! I should be stringing up what's left of you across the bloody auditorium, if that's what you call a butterfly!"
He's literally like the Gordan Ramsey of high school swimming.
"Juvia! Get your ass out of the water!"
Just returning from my practice loop, I flew out of the water to see what the coach wanted. Probably prepping me for tryouts, with his 'don't bloody screw this up again Lockser'.
"Yeh?" I said unintelligently, clumps of water still residing in my ears.
"Don't bloody screw this up again Lockser-"
Yup. Like I said, same old spiel.
"-and if you think for a goddamn bloody shit assed second that you slacking off is going to stop me from-"
Blah, blah, blah. Kicking my ass from here to the Thymes, yadda, yadda, yadda.
"Coach!"
And now it's time for, gag me with a fucking laptop!
"Coach, I shaved a whole second of my front! And also-"
"Can't you see I'm fuckin' busy Ever! We'll talk after tryouts!" He barked, making Evergreen huff in frustration and send me a withering glare and good lord I'm pretty sure she actually turned me to stone.
"-Got that missy?" He asked me, a pointed look on his sharpish face. Kinda reminded me of a vulture, in a way, I guess…
"Uh…yes coach." I clarified, saluting him and walking back to my lane.
Unfortunately, someone was waiting for me there.
"Ahem. Juvia, do you remember what we talked about?" Evergreen asked, tapping her foot on the slippery floor.
"Actually, we're not technically supposed to talk about fight club." I said, a warning in my mind that she totally wouldn't get my hilarious reference.
Aaand I was right. But her stupid face was enough to show that she didn't really get much of anything.
"Whatever. Just know that if you even touch the varsity squad, I will make it so you will never be able to show your face at school again."
Wow, I'm so scared, Regina-fucking-George. What are you going to do, put my name in the burn book?
"Gotcha." I said, pointing my fingers at her in recognition.
"Freak." She muttered before turning around to her boyfriend, and surprise surprise her entire little fucking posse.
Great. Just what I needed, to show off my non-existent sort of existent swimming skills to Gray, who was, by the way, still in his hockey clothes.
No boy can make sweatpants look good.
Except him.
He looked at me. I looked away from him.
Wow, that is one nice banner. What a great banner. I am really enjoying looking at this nice, multi-colored banner, in fact, I might just-
I felt a small tap on the back of my shoulder, and I whirled around, successfully whipping pool water all over Gray's dark blue shirt from my ponytail.
"Euh…sorry." I apologized, grabbing my ponytail in shame. You betrayed me!
"S'ok. Hey, don't freeze up out there. I kind of want to see someone actually beat Evergreen." He said with a grin. And at that moment, I wanted to. I really wanted to.
But I couldn't.
"Eh…I'll try." I said, although I think even he could tell by my tone of voice that that was the opposite of the truth.
He frowned, and looked like he had something else to say, but the loudspeakers came on, telling us and bystanders that trials were about to start.
First up; front crawl. Easily my best stroke, could win in a heartbeat.
But…I wasn't going to.
The shot went off and I literally just swam through leisurely, like I was getting from pontoon to pontoon. I could hear coach tearing out his ears in frustration (because he had no hair) and slamming his clipboard against the wall, probably frightening all onlookers greatly.
"God, dammit! Lockser, your ass, is mine when this is over!" He screeched, drawing far too much attention than I would've hoped. But I do suppose last place was a bit dramatic, even for me.
His comment probably sounded like the pervert Olympics to anybody else, but to me, it simply meant fuck you, you useless whore.
Next: backstroke. Easy. But, not so for me.
I picked it up a little bit, snagging 8th place out of ten girls, but still, you could fry an egg on my coach's head, if you were in the mood for some sunny-side up.
Breaststroke: my worst stroke. You can probably guess why.
But Evergreen was just plain awful at breaststroke, those boulders pretty much dragged her to the bottom of the pool.
I got seventh, much to my horror. Again, seven spots on the varsity team, I didn't want any chance of being considered for a position.
So for the butterfly, the final stroke for trials, I got dead last. Just ensuring me and my friend's social safety folks.
When I hopped out of the pool, coach was a bout ready to tear my boobs off and glue them to his hummer because we have not made it to a state tournament in the last four years and somehow he believes that I'm the key to his winning drought, or whatever.
"Lockser! That was complete bullshit! Do I look like a dumb fucking wanker to you?! I bloody hope not, because losing on god damn purpose is not what I call 'not screwing this up'. If you think for one moment, that I-"
Beep. Tuned out. My eyes subtly traipsed over Gray's form, bustled around Evergreen who had secured her top swimmer's spot.
He seemed completely unfazed by her winning, in fact, it looked like he was looking for-
"Are you even bloody listening?! I said, I'm not taking no for an answer. This is your last year here, and I fucking need-"
Boop. Sorry coach, don't care.
Gray, on the other hand…
"Putting you on varsity whether you like it or not."
WHAT?!
I looked up at him, completely and utterly horrified.
"What? No, you can't do that! I didn't make it!" I protested, but he had already started walking away.
"Don't bloody care, practice is next Tuesday. Be there if you want to continue breathing for the near future."
Ah, thinly veiled threats, my favorite things from teachers.
Asshole.
Completely pissed off, and frankly, screwed so hard not even a mega ton drill bit could get me unstuck, I stormed off towards the locker room with murderous intention.
"What the hell was that."
I turned around to face an angry looking Gray, and I matched his facial expression.
"What do you mean?" I sniffed, like the events corresponding were completely natural.
"I mean you sucked. It was blatantly obvious you were trying to lose." He deadpanned.
"I told you already, I don't like competition." I flatlined, squeezing excess water out of my ponytail in preparation to enter the locker room.
"Bullshit." He called. Damn him. Damn his sexy attractive intuitiveness.
I scowled and took a step forward, getting directly into his face.
"What do you want from me, Gray?"
He folded his arms, retaliating to my forwardness. "I want the truth."
"I want the truth. Tough shit batman, that's for me to know." I said, imitating his voice horribly and turning around and storming back to the locker room.
He made me so angry. First of all, it wasn't fair for someone to be that attractive. Heh heh, fuck you buddy. Second of all, I literally met him three days ago and already he's stuck his damn nose so far into my business he might just have to get it surgically removed, and third of all…
"Yeah. I can't believe coach put her on varsity, she sucks. She literally got last, is he trying to make this team a joke?"
Well, looks like I was wrong to be under the assumption that everybody knew that I was better than Evergreen.
"I know! He's just pissed we didn't make it to state last year, and he's taking it out on us! It's bullshit."
I so desperately wanted to prove those two shallow puddles wrong, I wanted to win, to make it to state…but it wasn't worth it. Three months left, just three months of high school, I don't need it to be anymore hellish than it already is.
I just didn't quite know how I was going to handle this yet…
"You!"
Well, as if today couldn't get any shittier…
"You! What did I tell you!? You bitch! I'll make you pay for this!"
"I didn't do it! It was coach, if you have a problem, take it up with him!" Shit. The words flew out before I could swallow them up.
"Shut up! You're gonna regret this, so much. I'll screw up your social life so bad-"
"What social life?" God damn it Juvia just stop fucking talking for the love of god, please just stop talking!
"You just dissed yourself, and I hope you're prepared to suffer." She snapped. God, she is so fake. I don't even understand how this is happening.
"Ok." I mumbled. Honestly, these three months couldn't stretch on any longer.
I put on my after swimming clothes, or as my mom calls them, my 'hobo' clothes. Hey, if you were sopping wet and didn't feel like trying, you'd look pretty homeless too.
It consisted of light gray sweatpants with the words Holy Angels written up my right leg. The name of my college, in case you're wondering. I won't accept going to any other colleges, and I'm hoping to go to the nursing school on their campus. The partner piece to my outfit was an old red T-shirt with the word lifeguard on it.
Yup. I all I needed was an old tin can and I was fit to sit in front of 7-11 and do my thing.
I grabbed my drawstring swim bag and headed outside, texting my dad to come pick me up. He thought I sucked at swimming. Although he'd never said it, I knew he thought so.
If only he knew.
So my basic after swimming schedule was waiting an hour and a half for my dad to come because the 'game was on' or he was 'robbed by some teenagers'. I loved my dad, but he sure was a flake.
So typically I would pass the time by sitting on the curb and watching netflix off my laptop, but I didn't bring my lifeblood today so I got to sit on the curb and do my absolute favorite thing- doing absolutely nothing!
I trudged over to the curb, my ponytail still dripping on the sidewalk, and sometimes trailing down the back of my neck in a creeping cold unpleasantness.
I flopped down onto the sidewalk, dipping my chin into my hands as I watched each girl hop into their cars while whispering most likely unpleasant things about me into their friend's ears.
Damn. Guess Evergreen's curse was starting early.
Soon enough, I was completely alone. Sitting on the curb, like a loser, my hair partially frozen and my ass numb.
"Heya."
You really should've seen this one coming.
Gray sat next to me slowly and looked at me with an indiscernible look on his face.
"Hi." I said softly, tracing the fabric on my shirt. There was still paint on it from a volunteer project Levy made me do two summers ago.
"So…this might seem like weird timing, but you know how I said that there was a hockey game on Friday?" Gray asked, scratching the back of his head, a nervous habit he had. (don't look at me like that, I know things, ok?).
"Yuh." I said tiredly, not really sure where he was going with this.
"Can you like…go? Like watch me play? I mean, it's only fair, I saw you compete, so…"
Ohmygod. I'm actually going to cry, he literally sounds so nervous he's the cutest thing ever ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod…
"Uh, yeah…sure. I suppose I should see at least one before graduation…" I reasoned, wanting to see his reaction to my nonchalance.
"Oh, ok. Cool, I mean. I'm number thirteen. If you wanted to watch me." He stumbled through his sentences awkwardly. I wonder if he was like this with all girls.
"Gray? The hell are you doin'?"
Gray turned around with quite possibly the most annoyed expression I've ever seen. And I've seen Erza during calculus.
"Who the hell asked you?" He shot back, before turning back around and leaning forward into his hands like me.
"Get yer ass up. We're goin' to the rink." The same guy from detention said, walking up to us and glaring down at Gray from above.
"What? Why? I don't have practice." Gray answered, his head shaking.
"Doesn't matter. You suck, ya gotta get better." The guy said stubbornly. Gray scowled.
"Shaddup Lyon. I don't care." Gray mumbled, leaning down and dipping his head between his knees.
"You should go." I whispered unconsciously. He looked up at me curiously, and almost accusatory, like he was expecting me to be on his side.
"Why?" He asked, like a small child busted for taking extra cookies.
"Because, I don't want to watch a hockey game with you stinking it up." I said simply, not able to contain my grin.
Apparently, it was contagious. "Ha-ha,so funny, why don't you become a comedian when you grow up? You jut wait and see, maybe I'm the star player." He said, jumping up from the sidewalk with gusto. Lyon rolled his eyes and punched Gray in the back.
"C'mon, if you spend all your time trying to get laid you shouldn't have picked hockey, the NBA's where that sort of shit happens." Lyon added, pulling Gray's arm towards the desolate parking lot.
"Hey, uh, I'll see you at school, you know…tomorrow." Gray called back, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
"Who was that chick?" I heard Lyon ask when he thought he was out of my hearing range.
"She's my friend." My face instantly caught fire like a loaf of white bread left in the oven for too long.
Dammit Gray, just…dammit.
