The Watterson building was a massive piece of construction with a dome-shaped top. I wouldn't be skeptical on why it was so huge. It housed the pool, for one thing, and that was ought to be quite immense itself. I gulped nervously. What if I'm forced to swim all of the meters of the pool? I don't think I will be able to do that. It's been a while since I have exercised or did any kind of physical labor. I heaved a sigh and walked up to the entrance. The doors were automatic and slid open to my presence.
I stepped into an air-conditioned room with a connecting hallway that leads deeper into the building. There was a middle-aged woman with glasses sitting behind an oval front desk. As I made myself noticeable, the woman looked up from the computer that she was typing at.
"Hello, miss. Are you here for the swim tryouts?" she asks with an impassive voice.
"Yes, ma'am." I say and walk up to the desk, placing a hand on the cool and smooth surface.
"Okay. The pool is down the hallway," she points with a pen toward the long stretch of marble tiles and aqua-painted walls. "And when you pass through the double-doors, go to the right, where the women's locker room is, and the entrance to the pool should be in there."
"Thank you." I say politely to the woman and trudge down the hallway. My knees were wobbly and my legs felt like jelly. I was anxious, of course, but I tried to overcome my odd nervousness. I have never tried out for anything before – well – I have for clubs and classes, but those are different than the swim team. Swimming requires physical endurance and effort, which I'm not sure I can provide. I push the double-doors open and there are two intersections from where I stand: the Men's locker room and Women's. I turn on the balls of my feet to the right and vanish into the Women's locker room.
The locker room was roomy and very luxurious. Shining black and white tiles cover the floor and the walls were painted a plain cream color. There are gleaming lockers the color of the deep ocean lining every part of the walls. They are stacked on top of each other and split in half. I walk further through the room and there is another smaller room connected. I peer inside and there were bathroom stalls, showers, and a row of porcelain sinks. The curtains lining the showers are teal and have pictures of sea-life decorating them.
A wooden door stands in my way and I place a hand on it, not putting any force just yet.
Well, I guess this is it. Let's do this.
I push the door open and I am suddenly greeted with dense, humidity-reeking air. It embraces my face with its uncomfortably warm tendrils and it feels as if I just landed in an Amazon jungle. My eyes look around the place and I'm astonished at the arrangement of everything. The pool takes up most of the space in the wide room, obviously, and it's the most magnificent thing that I have ever seen. It is in the shape of a rectangle with plastic lane dividers that split it into about eight long strips. The bottom of the pool is made up of sandy concrete and bands of black tile. There are blocks sitting at each lane on one side of the pool, and I'm puzzled at what they are for.
Thankfully, I'm not too late, and there is no one in the water yet. A large crowd of swimwear-cladded people stand behind the blocks; it's a mixture of boys and girls, but I spot mostly girls. A young woman stands before them, speaking in a loud voice that echoes throughout the place. She wears a white t-shirt, black shorts, and flip-flops. Her long red hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and I recognized her immediately as Ariel. I walked over and blended into the crowd, ducking my gaze in embarrassment as a few straggling gazes stared at me.
"Okay, everyone!" Ariel clapped her hands together. "I would like to thank each and every single one of you for coming. I assure you, tryouts will be easy and painless. I just want to get an overview of your capability to swim more than a lap. Now, I would like to ask the more experienced swimmers to stand in line behind lane five," she points to a lane and a portion of the group divides and files into a long line. I am impressed at how many people already know the skills of swimming.
"And the rookies," her gaze flickers to the rest of us. "You will go in lane four." The rest walk off to stand in line, leaving me alone.
"Ah, Elsa!" Ariel moves over to me, a gleaming smile set upon her face. "I'm glad you made it."
"Yeah, I'm glad too," I rubbed the back of my neck, which is beginning to bead with sweat.
"Do you have a swimsuit?" Ariel asks, her eyes skimming over me.
"Well, about that… That's what I came to you for. I actually don't," I say.
"That's okay! C'mere, I believe I have an extra one for you to wear." She walks over to a bench resting against the wall and rummages through a black and white bag. There's a picture of a yellow fish and a crab stitched onto the flap of the bag.
"Here you go!" She pulls out a black one-piece swimsuit and a pair of fluorescent goggles. I take them from her and murmur a thank you. "Now, you just quickly get dressed and meet back here."
I nod and race to the locker rooms, my hand clutching the handle to my tote bag. Cool air collides with my face as I re-enter the locker rooms, and I sigh in relief. The back of my neck is now slick with sweat and I try to ignore the sticky feeling. I set my bag on a long, wooden bench and begin to strip my clothing, and then eventually slip off my undergarments. There was currently nobody in the room, giving me enough privacy to quickly change.
I slide the swimsuit through my legs and pull it over my hips. In the middle of drawing the swimwear over my stomach, the door swings open and I turn away from whoever is entering, trying frantically to hide my exposed chest. I yank the rest of the suit on and adjust the straps that sling vertically down my shoulders. The swimsuit is a bit loose, but I guess it will do.
"Elsa?" I perk up at the high-pitched shrill of a young woman calling my name. I shift around and I recognize the dark-skinned, rainbow-colored hair girl that I met a few days ago.
"Tooth?" I say and come closer. It definitely was her. She wore bright red sweatpants, a gray hoodie, and black Keds. Her short, black hair was combed back and looked as colorful as ever with the pink, blue, and green strips standing out radiantly.
"Oh my God, it really is you!" She bounces up to me, a bright smile positioned on her face. "And hey, you look good in a swimsuit."
I blush slightly and look down at my body. My arms come to wrap around my torso as the insecurity sets in. I've always been unsure about how my body looks no matter how many times Anna and my parents tell me otherwise.
"Thanks," I murmur and turn around to grab the gleaming goggles that rest next to my tote bag.
"Well, I'm going to get dressed. See you out at the pool!" She waves to me and races to the bathroom stalls. I smile as she disappears around the corner and start making my way out to the pool. I push the door open and I am once again reacquainted with the warm air. Swimmers, both experienced and novice, have already jumped into the water. I watch in wonder as a girl propels herself through the water with much ease and precision. The water cascades over her head as she breaks the surface to breathe.
I walk over to lane four, as Ariel has instructed me to do so. My gaze wanders around and I spot the red-haired team captain observing a swimmer from afar. I step in front of the block and strap the goggles around my head. My vision turns a light gold as the colored-goggles slip over my eyes. I see Ariel making her way toward me and I stay in place, my foot resting on the protruding step of the block.
"Does the suit fit well?" she asks, her hands settling on her hips.
"Yeah," I nod and fix the straps on my shoulders as they twist out of place.
"Okay, good!" She beams at me. "What I want you to do is to just do a few laps of freestyle. Are you familiar with that stroke?"
"Yeah, it's the crawl one, right?" I say and demonstrate with my arms in midair.
"Yes! That's it. Now, if you do that successfully, I will tell what to do afterwards," she says. As I tightened the goggles and prepared myself to dive in, I feel Ariel's soft hand on my arm. "Wait, Elsa. I think you should wear this," she pulls something out from the back of her shorts pocket and hands it to me. It's a dark latex cap with FAST imprinted in white bold letters across it. There is a yellow lightning bolt splitting behind the acronym. "You just slip this over your hair. It should make you go faster."
I smile and thank her as I take the cap. It feels smooth and rubbery under my fingertips and has that odd smell of latex wafting from it. I pull my goggles off and quickly style my hair into a tight bun so that any strands of hair don't get in the way. I forcefully tug the cap over my head and softly groan at how tight it is. How do swimmers wear these things without getting a massive headache? I draw my goggles back on and stand on the gutter of the pool. The water violently shifted in waves as a swimmer in the other lane did a flip underwater and pushed back out.
What? I have to do a flip underwater? Oh God, help me…
I hesitantly stared at the transparent water that had a bluish sparkle to it. My eyes stretched out and I saw a novice swimmer gliding my way. Their arms clumsily splashed the water in huge currents. As they reached the gutter that I stood on, their hands gripped the edge and they rested their head upon it. Heavy breaths assaulted their body as they floated there in a slump position. I took a deep breath and dived into the water as best as I could. The water rushed over my skin in cold surges; the sudden chill brought shivers down my spine, but at the same time it was exhilarating. I began propelling my arms forward, taking a breath at each third stroke I did.
One, two, three, breath, one, two, three, breath… I chanted the mantra in my head as I swam at a steady pace down the lane. I looked up for a brief second; I was already halfway across. The end of the lane was approaching and I had a panic attack inside of my mind. Do I flip or just grab the wall and push off? I knew Ariel was watching and I wanted to make the best impression on her. The concrete wall was nearly inches from me and I quickly swung my head down with my knees tucked closely to my chest. I correctly did a flip, but my nose stung with chlorinated water as I forgot to blow out the entire time.
The chlorine felt like tiny needles pricking the inside of my nasal passage, but I kept on going and ignored the watering of my eyes. I blinked the blurriness away and continued driving my arms onward. The water swept aside with each stroke and bubbles accumulated around my feet as I kicked constantly. I felt free, as if I was one with the water. I never imagined swimming would feel so calming and thrilling at the same time. I reach the other end and do another flip, projecting myself further out into the pool. The second lap went by much quicker than the first and I arrived back at where I started with much content.
I emerge from underwater and slide my goggles up onto my forehead. Ariel is looming above me, her pink lips fixated into a smile.
"Wow! That was incredible, Elsa!" She reaches down to give me a high five and I smack my wet hand onto hers. "You're a natural,"
I'm breathless from the exercise and I just shoot her a grin. A few other swimmers complete their laps and tread water next to me. One of them, a young girl about my age, yanks off her goggles and hangs them around her neck. Her eyes dart around and they spot something off in the distance. She cuffs the arm of another girl next to her.
"Hey, look at him,"
Being the eavesdropping and nosy person I am, I discreetly turn my head and look at who they spotted from afar. My eyes widen as I recognize who it is.
"Jack?" I murmur as I stare at him. He's sitting on a bench that is propped against the wall, his legs spread apart and elbows resting on his knees. He straightens up in posture as he catches sight of me gazing at him. He waves, a wide smile plastered on his face. I nervously bring my hand out of the water and returned his friendly gesture. Part of me wonders why he is here, but the other half screams in delight. He actually came to watch me tryout? How sweet of him.
"You know him?" The girl now stares at me, her dark blue eyes watery and reflective.
"Yeah," I utter the word in a soft voice. I'm so distracted by Jack's presence that I could barely speak normally.
"Is he your boyfriend?" The other girl asks. I tear my eyes from Jack and focus on her. My hand grips the gutter of the pool tightly.
"Uh, no, we're just friends," I unwillingly admit.
"Oh okay. You're lucky you at least know him. I'm so bad at even approaching cute boys," she says.
"I know right?! Isn't he a hottie?" The other girl fans herself as if she might faint and redirects her gaze to Jack.
I smile and look at Jack, who is now running a hand through his perfectly ruffled hair. I practically hear the two girls swoon, and I do too. I guess I do consider myself lucky.