Wednesday:
Wednesdays were half days at Anchor Beach, which meant the final bell rang at 12:30 and most of the students went home. Lena had to attend the faculty meeting, which meant the most of her kids had to either wait for her to finish or they would catch a ride home with Brandon.
When this meeting finally let out Lena knew where she could find Callie. The same place she'd been finding her oldest daughter since Monday afternoon: at the school pool. She made it about half way to the pool before she heard a voice behind her calling for her. Lena paused, recognizing her boss' voice, knowing that running away wasn't the answer.
"Sorry to hold you up. I just wanted to make sure you got the finance report I sent you."
Lena kept walking and Sanchez followed her, "I got it this afternoon and my goal is to have it back to you by tomorrow at the final bell."
"Wonderful, you can have till the end of the week if you'd like." Lena shook her head no.
"It shouldn't take me long at all. I have all the numbers already set up. Besides, Friday is important to Callie and I want to me able to focus on my family that day."
"Ah yes, the swim meet. How is Callie doing?" Lena rolled her eyes as she turned a corner, hoping her boss didn't see.
"Nervous she might beat Rachel's time?" Lena challenged her boss.
"Actually, I'm hoping she beats Rachel's time." Lena turned to face her boss, now totally confused.
"Why, do you have money riding on this?" Sanchez smiled and shook her head.
"Hardly, I simply want to see Callie excel in something other than school. This would satisfy what I have been trying to get her to do all along and it would make that PO report much easier to fill out."
"Well, when she wins you will no longer be writing that report." Sanchez looked confused and Lena had to hide her smile.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that the report is supposed to be written by either an administrator or someone else that sees her every day and spends enough time with her to write the repot. When she makes the swim team, that person becomes her coach. Stef and I already cleared it with her PO."
"All the more reason for Callie to do well then I suppose." Lena could hear her boss trying to hide her feelings of being stripped of her power.
"Well I wouldn't worry about that Karin. The last few days Stef and I have more or less had to pull Callie out of my mother in law's pool and when she isn't in that one she is in the school's pool. Which is likely where she is now." Lena paused a few paces from the doors that led into the pool area and turned toward her boss.
"I'm glad to see her committing to this so much." Lena rubbed her forehead and tried not to speak with a bite in her voice.
"Is that what you think this is? Her committing to a sport because you finally broke through to her?" The silence between them told Lena what she needed to know. "Come with me."
Lena walked to the double doors and opened it just enough for both her and her boss to see inside without being seen. From their place, both women could see four of the five Foster children doing something around the pool. Callie was in the water and could be seen going back and forth. Jude was standing at the starting platforms with the stopwatch in his hand. Mariana was sitting off to the side changing the music that was being filtered through the room. And Jesus was waiting at the opposite end of the pool. Every time Callie would reach that end of the pool, she would get out of the water and Jesus would pace her as they ran through a set of sit ups or push ups before Callie would dive back into the water and swim back towards Jude.
"You didn't break through to her Karin, you just broke her. You didn't inspire her to finally rise to occasion; you scared her with the idea of going back to juvie. She hasn't been pushing herself to the brink every day and night for a week because she was inspired by your little power trip. She's terrified Karin. When Stef and I first got her and Jude into our house we knew it would take a while for them to trust that we would keep them safe, but it happened. When we adopted them we promised them that there would me no more wandering for them and in one moment you made us liars. The rest of my kids are in there right now because they would move heaven and earth to keep their sister here and if that means helping her train for this then that is what they are going to do. So before you break your arm patting yourself on the back, just remember, that child in that pool right now isn't doing this to please you, she's doing it to prove you wrong." Lena looked up to see Callie look at the stopwatch while she was still in the water and she clearly wanted to try another lap before they went home, but Jesus reached down and helped pull her out of the water totally.
"You'll have the report in your inbox tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Have a good night Karin." Lena walked into the pool area before her boss could say anything in reply. She helped the kids gather up their stuff and after they swung by Lena's office they headed toward the car.
"Can you drop me off at grandma's?" Callie was still dripping wet from the pool and had only pulled on shorts to cover her legs before getting into the car.
"What about your homework?"
"My book report is finished, I did my math homework in study hall. English is reading that I did at the end of class when we had some free time and we had a quiz in history today so we don't have homework." Lena sighed, knowing she didn't really have a reason not to let Callie go.
"You can hang out at grandma's until Brandon is done with his piano lesson and then I'm having him come get you. Ok?" Callie agreed and so Lena relented and dropped her off at Sharon's place, hoping that Callie knew when to draw the line and not push herself to exhaustion.
Thursday:
Brandon did his mothers a favor by dropping Callie off at their grand mother's condo after school let out on Thursday. Today however Callie knew she couldn't stay until it got dark. She knew she had to go home and actually sleep and rest or she had no hope of beating anyone in the water the next day.
Today it was just her at the pool. She didn't want any one else there, just her and the water. Of course Sharon sat off to the side and watched, timing each time her granddaughter would make a full rotation. After two hours of this and a few out of the water exercises she insisted that Callie get out of the water so that she could at least be dry by the time Stef came around to pick her up. Callie frowned as she got out of the water and wrapped a towel around herself before plopping down in the pool chair next to Sharron.
"I'm still off by 8 seconds."
"And you think killing yourself in the pool is the best way to make up those 8 seconds?" Callie rolled her eyes and smiled.
"No, but, it's not going to be enough."
"Honey you don't know that. Tomorrow, you are going to have all this adrenaline pumping through your body and you are going to be so focused on what it is that you want, that those 8 seconds will no longer matter."
"They'll matter to Sanchez if I don't beat that time."
"I see. So you're just going to let her win and give up before you start?"
"No, grandma it's not like that. I still have a whole other year with her on my ass and I need this to give me a reason to push her away. I swear though she hates me. If I win she'll think it's because she pushed me, if I lose it'll be because I'm some no good orphan than is tarnishing her school's name."
"Well then, we should probably just give up now, save you the trouble of trying." Sharon started to gather her stuff to head back into the condo and of course Callie had something to say.
"You don't get it, she's going to make the next year of my life hell no matter what I do tomorrow. I've spent half of my life fighting people like her and I'm tired of it grandma." Sharon sighed and stood in front of Callie and calmed said, "If you're going to let one stupid prick ruin your life... you're not the girl I thought you were."
"What is it with this family and stealing quotes from movies?" Callie smiled and Sharon held out her hand to help her up.
"I've got one more for you. 'Sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it." They walked back to the condo and Callie changed clothes and they patiently waited for Stef to arrive.
"You don't have to fight her forever honey. After tomorrow she'll realize not to come after you again. You know why?"
"Why?"
"Because she will be terrified of what you can do if she ever doubts you again. She has already counted you out in her head, so tomorrow, just by showing up, you will have already proven to her that you are stronger than she thinks you are." At that moment Stef's car pulled in out front and Callie grabbed her back and started to walk toward the door.
"Callie." Sharon called to her granddaughter and Callie turned. "Channel that fear and anger somewhere else. You'll swim a lot faster if you let go of that chip on your shoulder." Callie nodded her head and made her way to the car all the while trying to think of ways to make those 8 seconds disappear.
