I'm so sorry for the wait, but I had another really big exam and this one I had to pass or I don't graduate with my Masters. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Callie looked out the window as they drove to school that morning and as they sped by street after street of San Diego suburbia the trees all blurred together and Callie shut her eyes and focused on the music filtering through her earphones. Eventually, the car stopped moving and Brandon had to shake Callie's shoulder to get her to snap back into reality.

"Sorry to disturb you, but we're here and I figured you'd like to avoid being late." Callie sighed as she nodded her head and stepped out of the front seat of the car. She grabbed her backpack as well as her gym bag and stood for a moment, just looking at the school in front of her. After collecting herself she followed behind Brandon and Jude, the twins had gone to school with Lena early that morning so it was just the three of them. When they got inside Jude headed off towards his side of the school, leaving Brandon and Callie to walk to their lockers. Of course Callie's luck was always fickle because as they turned the corner they could see their principal walking toward them.

"Morning Brandon, Callie."

Callie nodded her head in a way that would give the illusion that she respected the woman in front of her, "morning ma'am."

"Well, I won't keep you from you classes. I'll see you both this afternoon I trust. Have a good day." With that she left and Callie walked away from Brandon, leaving him to jog after her.

"You ok?"

"That will be the last time I bow my head to her. This bullshit ends today." Callie walked away when the warning bell rang and Brandon smiled as he quickly made his way into his first class of the morning. To her credit, Callie did well in her classes that day. She paid attention, answered questioned and even suffered through a history test without letting what was happening later that day deter her. She wasn't about to put in all this hard work in the pool only to have the dragon lady say she slacked on her schoolwork. No, Callie was going to do it all and the middle aged woman who started this whole thing had no idea exactly how powerful of an opponent she had in Callie Foster, but she was about to find out.

When the final bell rang Callie all but ran to her locker and grabbed her gym bag out of it. She quickly went to the locker room and started to change into her swimsuit and when she looked at herself in the full-length mirror and she frowned slightly hoping that no one brought attention to the scars that littered her upper torso. It was the one thing she never considered when she agreed to this deal.

"Nobody is going to notice them." A voice behind her startled Callie and when she turned around there was a girl she had never met before.

"Pardon me?"

"The scars. If you swim fast enough they won't be able to see them. Trust me I know." Callie eyed the girl carefully, not able to see any scars. The teenager took off her hoodie and at that point Callie could see a scar that ran about six inches down her torso.

"I had heart problems when I was a baby and had surgeries for like three years to correct it. But that isn't what people will remember me for when I graduate in a few months." That's when it hit Callie; she hadn't met this girl before, but she most certainly knew who she was.

"You're Rachel." The girl smiled and held out her hand for Callie to shake. "And you're Callie. The coach told me about her deal with you and figured I needed to see it for myself."

"I'm sorry."

"For what, wanting to beat my time. Don't be, I hope you beat it." Callie looked at the girl confused so Rachel explained.

"Listen Callie, that time got me noticed by a college scout and if you beat it, they will be beating down your front door wanting you to sign a contract with them. Swimming changed my life and gave me a chance to really forge my own path and after today, it can do the same thing for you."

"Any advice?" Rachel put her jacket back on and smiled, "don't go out there and focus on my time because then I promise you, you'll be your own worst enemy and you'll miss you mark. Go out there and try, try hard, but don't do it because you just want to beat my score. Beat your own score so you can at least walk away from the pool with your head held high."

"But I kind of have to beat your score or…"

"Or Sanchez is going to be on your ass all of next year right?" Callie looked surprised and Rachel laughed.

"This is high school Callie, no secret is sacred. I know what you wagered with on this bet and for what it's worth, I think you've got guts. Still, don't just do this to spite her. Do it for you. From what I hear you like to sacrifice for others and that's admirable quality Callie, but just this once, just for today, do something for yourself." Rachel pointed to the door, "I should go grab a seat. Good luck." Callie said her goodbyes to the young woman and went back to trying to get into the proper headspace to do this event in. In the pool area people were finding seats and even though it wasn't a full house, there were plenty of people in attendance to watch the final swim event of the season. Rachel knew who Callie's mother was and it was easy to spot Lena who was sitting on the bottom bleacher seat, watching as her family filled in the seats around her. The young woman went over and tapped Lena on the shoulder.

"Hi, Mrs. Foster, I'm pretty sure we never met face to face, I'm Rachel Gentry." Lena stood up and smiled, shaking the girl's hand as she did.

"I guess it's good you never ended up meeting face to face. Means you never got in enough trouble to be sent to my office."

"I did my best to stay out of trouble ma'am."

"Well, it shows, your swim record is rather impressive." At that moment Stef walked up and stood beside Lena.

"Sorry to interrupt, I haven't missed anything have I?" Lena shook her head, "they haven't started yet. Stef, this is Rachel, Rachel this is my wife Stef." Stef shook the teenagers hand and questioned.

"You wouldn't by any chance be the young lady who's score my daughter is trying to beat?"

Rachel smiled, "yes ma'am that would be me. Though I wouldn't worry too much, if any one can best my time it'd be Callie." Stef already liked the teenager in front of her, but she wondered why she seemed not to care about Callie's effort to best her time.

"You seem pretty calm at the idea of her beating your time." Rachel shrugged her shoulders.

"I told Callie and I'll tell you. I have a scholarship to college next year and I earned that because of what I did in that pool. She'll beat other people's scores and the same scouts that came after me will be beating each other up to get her to consider their offer. Then she'll graduate and someone will come after her and try to beat her scores. It's the circle of life in terms of school sports. Besides, I know what's at stake if she doesn't beat me so for her sake I hope she beats my time." Stef smiled and pointed behind her.

"Would you like to join us? Our family is a bit big, but we'd be happy to have you sit with us." Before Rachel could answer the principal made her way over to where she stood with Lena and Stef.

"Ms. Gentry, Lena, Stef, always a pleasure. This is quite the turn out for this event, it doesn't usually attract this many students." Before Stef or Lena could respond Rachel did it for them, "well, ma'am some of these kids have a lot riding on this event."

"Are you saying student are gambling Ms. Gentry?"

"No ma'am, we don't really have the money to do that and even if we did why would we waste it on this. No, they're here to see if the rumors are true: if Callie really is good enough to beat my time and win her little wager with you. I assure you ma'am no money is going to get lost here today, it's all about bragging rights with teenagers."

"I wasn't aware the discussion I had with Ms. Foster was common knowledge." Sanchez looked at Lena and again before Stef could get angry Rachel stepped in.

"Ma'am this is a high school not a convent. Gossip of any kind is what makes the day go by faster and this gossip just happens to be true and when it involves an administrator and the child of another administrator, well, ma'am you should've sold tickets to this event because the whole school would have shown up if they could have." Stef watched as Sanchez faltered before nodded toward the pool.

"I see. And who do you have your wager on Ms. Gentry?"

"There is not a doubt in my mind ma'am, Callie Foster will without question beat my time."

"You seem pretty sure about that Ms. Gentry." Rachel smiled at the woman and continued to try and pretend like she wasn't angry too. "My daddy grew up on a ranch in Montana ma'am, and you know what they have out there? Horses. Tons of them. And his family always had a horse in the local races. As I grew up, even in California, I learned about horses and I learned how to pick winners. So yes ma'am, I'm pretty sure Callie Foster is going to impress us all today. Now, I do believe that this event is about to get underway so perhaps we should both take our seats." Sanchez sat down quickly and Rachel took the seat beside her, sparing any of the Foster's from having to do so. Sharon sat behind Stef and Frank had taken his seat next to his ex-wife. Lena's parents had wanted to come, but both had gotten caught up with work, but there was no shortage of family support. From where Rachel sat all the way to the end of the bleacher, all the members of the Foster family managed to squeeze in.

Eventually Callie and a few other swimmers came out of the locker room and went and waited by the edge of the pool with the rest of the team, minus the graduating seniors. The coach got everyone's attention and explained what they were doing and how this event would help finalize the rosters for next years' teams. The JV team went first and once they were finished the Varsity contenders were up next. They had two lanes of swimmers, most of them competing for different positions. Some of them were veteran swimmers who wanted to move up in the rosters while others, like Callie were trying out for the team with no real experience. The two starting swimmers took their positions and with a final whistle they dove off the platform and hit the water. Callie watched the people in the water and she immediately wanted to panic. She looked up to see her family all smiling at her and eventually her gaze fell on Jude, as it always did. Stef watched as Jude waved his hands around in a very precise fashion and Callie did the same back. With a final nod of his head, Callie looked away from her brother and Stef questioned.

"What was that?"

"American Sign Language." Jude answered still looking at the water.

"I got that part, but I didn't know you and Callie knew ASL."

"We had a foster dad tell us he didn't want to hear us talk if we didn't have something good to say about him. Callie taught herself and then me. We didn't say an actual word in that house the rest of the time we were in it." Stef had to smile even though the story was sad. Callie never stopped amazing her with what she was able to do as a child and she hoped that today that would continue and Callie would be able to win this bet.

"Well, what did you tell her?" Jude smiled and watched as the second swimmer entered the water.

"I told her not to be afraid of her own shadow and to breathe." Stef sensed that Jude didn't want to talk anymore, we wanted to watch the water and while he wouldn't say it outright, he was sharing in his sister's anxiety. The third swimmer took their marks and a minute later they too were in the water. Jude reached into his pocket and pulled out the stopwatch they had been using, while Jesus, Mariana and Brandon all used an app on their phones to time the last lap. They all wanted to make sure that when Callie got her time that it was accurate. Rachel watched with them as Callie and the other anchor took their positions. Callie looked up one more time and caught Sanchez looking a bit panicked; she was afraid Callie would win and tarnish her authority in front of a large group of students. Callie smiled and secured her goggles to her eyes before lightly gripping the platform she was standing on. There was no more looking up at her family, no more pep talks, nothing left for her to do but wait for the girl in front of her to hit the wall and then go for it.

She didn't have to wait long before the girl in the water touched the wall and in the same moment Callie was off the platform and into the water. Everyone in her family leaned forward as Callie's body cut through the water. Jude and Sharon both noted that she made it farther than she did in her practices before she came up for air and they both hoped it would be enough to shave second off her time. With an alarming amount of speed Callie had hit the opposite wall and had pushed off. Stef didn't know what she was watching more, the clock or Callie, but she held her breath all the same. Callie was beating the other swimmer by a significant margin so everyone knew who was about to win the race, but that wasn't what mattered. Rachel knew her record time better than anyone, even down to the milliseconds and so as she watched Callie's arm come up and hit the wall she didn't even have to check the scoreboard's clock because she had the evidence on her own wrist. Her own watch told her what everyone else waited to hear: Callie had beaten her time by 2 tenths of a second. Rachel leaned over to where the principal sat waiting for the official time to be called.

"I told you ma'am, I know how to pick winners." Sanchez looked up as the official timer called out the final time and sure enough Callie had beaten Rachel's time and the entire family was already well into celebrating by the time Callie pushed herself up out of the water and realized what she had done. The coach shook her hand and said something to her before allowing her to go over to her family where Stef didn't care that her daughter was still dripping wet, she picked her up and hugged her. That seemed to be the general response, none of them caring that they were getting wet as well, they all just wanted to hug Callie and if his mother hadn't stopped him, Jesus would have put his sister on his shoulder and paraded her around in a sort of victory lap. Rachel went over to Callie and handed her a towel before shaking her hand.

"If you can beat my time with a week of training then you will have scouts begging on hands and knees to get you to go to their schools. Looks like I'm leaving my team in very capable hands. Congratulations." Callie smiled and shook Rachel's hand before the older girl walked away. Now only Sanchez stood between her and her family leaving and Callie was in too good of a mood to hear anything this woman had to say. She wrapped the towel around her body and headed toward the locker room, pausing only for a moment in front of her principal.

"I'm waiting ma'am." Sanchez seemed to swallow hard before finally looking at Callie and saying, "congratulations Ms. Foster." Callie looked the older woman in the eye and then turned and walked away without another word said between them. Callie went to go change before going home and while she was gone the coach approached Stef and Lena.

"You have quite the swimmer there Lena, kid looks like she was born for it. And you must be Stef, Lena's spoken about you in staff meetings before, but I never had the pleasure. I'm Kate Stevens, the head coach for the girls' team."

"Stef Foster, nice to finally meet you. So, this is really happening then, Callie made the team?"

"I never make a promise I can't keep Mrs. Foster and she earned that spot. Truth be told, I was going to put her on the team regardless, but beating Rachel's score means I need her in that anchor position. I reward hard work and dedication when I see it and your girl has been in this pool everyday for a week."

"You should've seen her at home."

"I'm sure she was just as dedicated. I know she'll do well on the team and I think the team could be good for her, everyone wins."

"I do have one concern." Stef began and the coach nodded her head for her to continue. "Callie has scars…I'm sure you saw them just now."

"I did."

"Is that going to be a problem?"

"I don't see a reason why it would be. Look Mrs. Foster…" Stef stopped the younger woman, "please call me Stef."

"Stef. I've had girls with surgery scars, scars from car accidents and just about everything out there and I don't judge them for it."

"Yes, but Callie's scars are….different." The young woman nodded her head.

"Stef, I try my very best not to listen to gossip especially when it comes form the mouth of teenagers, but Callie's past, the origins of those scars are fairly well known to most members of the staff." Stef looked at Lena and then back at the coach.

"I see, and how would that have come up in discussion." The young woman realized she had said too much and that Lena never told Stef about this.

"When a student is known to be hurting themselves like Callie, the staff is asked to keep a closer eye on her, or at least that's what Sanchez said." Stef's jaw clinched as she spoke.

"So you know about the cutting, but tell me, the scars you've seen on your other students, ever seen ones left by a beating so severe it broke skin. Or scars from being pushed downstairs? Because those are the scars my daughter has all over her back, her legs and her arms so if that is going to be a problem, you tell me now."

"Mrs. Foster, I know you don't trust me yet and that you are trying to spare a child that has been hurt by just about everyone, but I promise you, in this arena, your daughter is safe with me. My girls won't judge her and if they do, they'll have to deal with real consequences. I don't abide bullying in my pool. Callie is safe here, I promise you that. And as far as the scars, as long as I don't see any new ones pop up then I see no reason to worry about them." Stef relaxed a little and nodded.

"Wonderful. I'll give Lena all the paper work for you both to sign and you'll get an email from me by the end of the week. Enjoy you evening ladies." The young woman walked away and Stef turned around only to see that Sanchez was now long gone.

"I should kick her ass Lena, I really should."

"And what would that do? We won this battle Stef, let's celebrate that before we go charging into another one." Stef knew she had to cool down before Callie got back from the locker room, so she took a deep breath and tried to shake off the anger.

"At least Callie only has to put up with her for one more year." Lena offered and Stef nodded before point at her other kids. "Yes and maybe if Callie scares her enough, she'll lay off the remaining three kids."

"Or maybe she'll quit." Lena suggested it as a joke and Stef finally smiled and just as Callie was walking toward them.

"All right everyone, let's go home a celebrate our brand new swimmer. Grandma made a cake so last one home gets the end piece."

Sorry, again for the wait everyone. School has been nuts with my licensing exams and I've had some really bad bouts of depression and even writing my stories seemed too much for me. So tell me what you thought and maybe what you'd like to see.