On Horseback
Chapter 9: Swimmer Winner
The kiss. The kiss. The kiss. The kiss. I kept repeating those words in my head until the day of the Swimming Festival. All the males, even Jack and Cliff, began to practice for the competition. At this point and time, they'd all wanted to win. The prize was going to be something called a pig figurine of some sort. Yes, I forgot its name.
Finally, the Swimming Festival date arrived. I woke up at 6:00 a.m. and quickly rushed into the shop. I wanted to eat and be out of the house as fast as possible. I knew that Gray would be leaving early too, as he was one of the competitors.
"Do you think that you'll win?" I asked my brother as we munched on our breakfast, consisting of my father's special egg recipe and some of our cow's fresh milk. Gray played with his food for a moment, and then answered, "I ain't gonna beat Kai." My brother had quite the low self-esteem. He probably was going to lose, but I didn't want him to be discouraged, and told him to do his sidestroke. That was the only move that he could quickly do in the water.
Gray nodded and wolfed down a huge egg, with the yolk dripping from it. "EW!" I shouted. My brother just ignored the dripping goo and continued to eat his breakfast. I finished my plate first and quickly put it into the sink. I was so anxious about getting out of the house that I forgot to get changed.
"Ann! I'm sure that you want to get there ASAP, but I'm not letting you leave the house clothed in your pajamas," my father told me, while giggling. I looked down and recognized my dinosaur nightgown. I gave my Dad an evil smirk saying, "Why, thank you. How stupid of me," and walking back into my room, where I quickly changed. I put on jeans and a red tank top with a pink lily on it. Then, I ran to the beach.
The Mayor was the first person to arrive at the beach. Maria was always there, helping her father set things up for the big race! I decided to be nice to her for once, and walked over to the bookworm.
"Hello, lovely weather today, eh, Maria?" I asked the shy tramp. Maria adjusted her glasses and said, "Um, why are you being so nice to me today? It's not my birthday, you know." I wanted to shout, "Am I not even allowed to be nice to you for once? Golly!" but instead, I said, "No, your birthday is in the winter, right?" Maria nodded. "And how do you know that?"
I looked at her in the eyes and was ready to call her a tramp again, but I felt Karen's gentle touch on my shoulder. "No communicating with stupid tramps! Come on, Ann!" Karen exclaimed. Maria rolled her eyes and said, "For a twenty and a twenty-one-year-old, you both act as if you're fourteen-year-olds in high school. Please, get away from me and go get a life."
The two of us laughed. "Maria, why do you wear glasses?" Karen asked the librarian. Maria hesitated, but answered, "I need them." Karen laughed again and said, "You'd look a lot better if you got rid of them! Not that it'd do much good for you, though!" The two of us burst into laughter, until Maria said, "It's not like a mirror has ever broken before. What about you, Karen?"
Karen looked stunned. Even though that wasn't much of an insult, Maria gave us a grin and said, "Smarten up, both of you." Then, she walked off.
I looked at my best friend and she said, "I can't believe it. She knew about the mirror breaking." My eyes nearly popped out of my head. How could I have forgotten about the day when - err, anyway. I promised Karen that I'd never tell anyone. But I'd never told Maria, how did she know about it?
Just as Karen was about to bring up another topic about Maria, Kai appeared next to the two of us. I hadn't seen him in a long time. He was wearing the purple bandana that he almost always wore. "I'm ready to win!" Karen leaned over to him and said, "Shut up, Kai. Ann and myself are discussing some very important talk at the moment."
My brother arrived a few minutes later, Cliff quickly running in behind him and finally, Jack. The farmer looked around before he spotted me and walked over.
"I heard that you kissed Cliff," were his first words. I laughed. "Sure did! I couldn't help myself! We'd went out on our first date! After our moment to remember, we went fishing at the base of Moon Mountain. Ah, I love moments like those that are memorable to remember. After that, he walked me back home, and was gone...anyways, who told you?"
Jack pointed at Karen who blushed. "You never told me that I couldn't tell anyone else! Cliff doesn't really seem to mind!" My ex-vagabond friend came over a second later and said, "Okay, so, if I win, I'll take you out to dinner!" Jack gave me a toothy smile and said, "5000G for you if I win!"
If Jack or Cliff won, at least I'd get some kind of reward. Cliff's surely was better than Jack's...
"Swimmers, take your positions!" the Mayor called out.
I quickly scanned the beach. It looked like the whole town came down for the competition, but that would never happen. I saw a lot of people that I knew, some I didn't but seen before, and some that I'd never even met! And I thought that our village was small! Strange.
All the males approached the starting line and threw their shirts off in different directions around the beach. "Swimmers, we have a new rule this year! Instead of having just one race to the finish, the first four to make it out to the buoy will advance to the next round! I will explain the rules to the second competition after our first! Okay, swimmers ready!"
I took my sandals off and stepped into the water, just as the mayor got a red-white-and-green flag and shouted, "GOOOOO!" The men took off.
Kai, as I'd figured, acquired a quick lead, with Gray not too far behind him. Harris was quite far behind Gray, which meant all of the other guys were behind him, but all neck-in-neck. I liked the idea of making a second round this year. All the previous competitions were done so quickly, and I'd always go home and go right back to bed, since the festival would already be over.
Jack was in fourth. He was doing the butterfly stroke, which didn't seem to suit him too well, and was struggling to get any further. Jeff was in last place, which didn't bother me too much. He only came to my birthday party because of my father. They were best friends, basically.
Kai hit the buoy first, which I'd figured. Once he did, Karen had a fit and ran around the beach screaming, "YES! WOOHOO, KAI!" After that, I saw Gray hit the buoy and it was my turn to jump around and celebrate.
Harris hit the buoy third, which meant that either Jack or Cliff were out. From the looks of how things were going, Jack was probably going to be fourth. By now, Jeff had just given up completely, and had swam back to shore.
As I'd expected, Jack hit the buoy fourth. That meant that Cliff was out.
Cliff didn't seem to really mind, except that he kept shouting, "Sorry that I can't take you out to dinner, Ann!" as he swam back to shore. I didn't really care, now the only other prize that was up for grabs was Jack's 5000G.
The four competitors swam back to shore. The Mayor explained the rules for the second round. "You must swim around the buoy once you reach, it, and then come back here, touching the rope that I will lay on the ground once you guys take off. The first two back will move into the final round."
Harris, Kai, Jack and Gray got ready for their second take-off. "Okay, men, get ready, get steady, get ready and steady, and GO!" screamed the Mayor as he lowered the flag.
Kai stumbled as he ran into the water, giving the other three a big advantage at getting into the top two. Gray swam with all of his might, doing the sidestroke, like I'd told him too. Harris was just swimming like mad and Jack was doing his butterfly stoke again, but it was working this time. He was leading the four of the guys!
Jack swam around the buoy first, Kai seconding that. Gray was in third, but pushed forward. He wasn't going to give up, and I wasn't going to let him give up, or he'd have to deal with me afterwards!
Jack, amazingly, crossed the finish line first, Gray and Kai neck-in-neck. It was truly going to be a close race, and...it looked like Kai was going to win it. But, at the last second, Kai breathed in and took with him a large doze of water, freezing him where he was in the water. Karen gasped, but I screamed as Gray crossed the finish line second!
I ran down to where the two guys were standing and gave Gray the biggest kiss I'd ever given anyone. He had to shoo me away to stop. I embraced Jack and told the Mayor to start the final race.
"Actually, there's a twist. The person who came in last place in the first race will race with the final two." Everyone perked up and began conversing. That meant Jeff was going to race, but he wasn't really going to win, was he? "Prizes will now be handed out. Third place" -the Mayor looked at Jeff who was blushing- "will receive a free membership to the restaurant on top of Moon Mountain. Second place will win a tour of my house. Yes, the Mayor's house. First place will receive two tickets to the city."
Everyone was interested in all the prizes. Third place sucked, though, as no one was able to get to the top of the mountain, due to the bridge that recently collapsed. Jeff was most likely going to win it. Everyone was really interested in the two tickets to the city.
"Men, get ready!" the mayor shouted. "And GO!"
The three competitors raced out to the buoy. Gray pulled a quick lead, but Jack was determined to win those tickets. They both did backstrokes to the buoy, and then butterfly stokes on the way back. Jeff quickly gave up, and was rewarded with the Moon Mountain restaurant free memberships. He had three of them: One for himself, one for Elli and one that he gave to Kai, for some reason that I was oblivious to.
Gray crossed the finish line by one centimetre. I screamed, I was so damn happy! My brother had never won the Swimming Festival before, and now he finally does! I gave him another smooch on the cheek and he shook my hand, trying to get me off of him.
I embraced Jack again, who smiled and then pecked me. Heehee. After that, Gray was awarded the tickets and he held them in the air, not saying a word.
But, was he really going to use those tickets to the city? Probably not, he'd give them away to another person in the village. I didn't know who that would be, though. But for now, I was content. Gray won and Kai didn't. Jeff came third! Oh, my! Harris came fourth! I was happy for him the most, as he was unable to compete in last years competition. But...
...Unfortunately, Jack didn't win. Coming in second meant...
...No 5000G for me. Dammit.