Cutting Glass – ph0tocynthia
Prologue:
Rowing vocab:
Mixed 8+: A boat in which there are four male rowers and four female rowers, and each rower only has one oar (8 total oars) + a coxswain
Empacher: A brand of rowing boats—used by DI schools and Olympic rowers. Picture here; their boats are usually a distinctive neon yellow, but they have made hot pink & neon green boats too.
Stroke/Stern Pair: The "first" two rowers in a boat, seats 8 & 7. They lead and set the pace of the boat. Seated at the back of the boat, in the stern.
Middle Four/Engine Room: The middle four rowers in a boat made up of seats 6, 5, 4, & 3. Typically, the strongest and tallest rowers.
Bow Pair: The "last" two rowers in a boat in seats 2 & 1. They are critical elements in the boat's stabilization and steering. Usually the smallest rowers, but by no means as small as the coxswain.
DI/DII: Division I schools are highest level of intercollegiate athletics with the largest budgets and facilities; Division II schools have a less money and are more of an intersection where athletic students can compete at a high level, while maintaining much of a traditional collegiate experience.
When I imagine how the story of my life plays, I always start at the end. I'd like to imagine it happy, when I leave the world in the wake of my legacy. Beloved by many after a long life, my ending not tragic. The middling bits are a still a work in progress, but I can visualize their general shape. They don't worry me. It's how I get there, where it all starts. I can never get the hang of beginnings. I'm not quite sure where in my life to start my story—the absolute beginning isn't that great. Trust me, I lived it. We can skip past my lonely childhood and obnoxious pre-teen years. I swear I'll only bring up them if it's important. But really, do you want to hear about me being a snot-nosed brat after my mom disappeared? No, you don't, I didn't really like living it, so you shouldn't have to subjected hear it. I figure, that the best spot to begin is just when things get interesting, right at the end of my second year of college.
Oh yeah, an introduction would be good. My name is Gunther Breech, a 21-year-old pre-law economics major at Kippernia University. I took a gap year after high school to intern for in father's company only to discover that, wow, shockingly I hate business. So, if I couldn't lead what my father had built, I was resigned by my father to the second-best option, defending it. Law school it is, or rather, will be, in two years. Thank God I tolerate that work well enough or else I'd be shipped off to med school. (No thanks.)
Enough about school though, more about me. I'm tall, dark, handsome, and like long walks on the … okay I'll stop. (But these are true facts, mostly.) I'm 6'2", with tanned olive skin and dark hair. My tinder is never empty, so I'd like to think I'm attractive. Liking long walks on the beach is almost true. I just prefer to sit on the dock and look at the water for hours. I always find myself drawn to the water like a bird is to the sky. I'm not perfect, that much is obvious. I can be a bit conceited and extremely grumpy if I don't get my 9 hours of sleep, but I'm one of the best rowers on the KippU crew team. And damn proud of that fact too. It's the only thing my father put into my life that I have come to love. There is something so beautiful about the water at 6am, when it is calm and glassy. It looks so soft as the sunrise lazily dapples the gentle peaks. The best part is when our oars cut through the glass as we glide down the channel—a show of beautiful power. Those mornings make it worth the 5am wake up call.
But, for as much as this story is about me, you see just as much about Jane Turnkey.
You see, I never felt like an active participant in my life before. I did what I was told and never really wanted anything. But Jane has spent her whole life endless wanting more and shooting past other's expectations of her. For the last two years, I have held 7 seat in Mixed 8+ boat—a boat that singlehandedly is moving our university's fleet up in the rowing community. We race in a sleek neon green Empacher called The Cleva, with Dragon and I making up the stern pair. We are followed by Smithy, Rake, Imari, Talia in the middle four, and Lavinia and Jester as the bow pair. We all fought hard for these seats and metaled consistently in the fall races with this lineup. Now, just beginning the spring sprint races, we are ready to sweep the competition and move from a DIII to a DII school. To take our rightful place in status.
Just as I am. Not that I hate rowing as 7 seat, but why would I follow when I could lead? This is Dragon's last spring season before he graduates and it's no secret that I am the prospective pick to replace him. No other rower has yet to match my records besides him. And when I'm stroke seat, all I need to do is become Captain to finally get approval from my father. My progress is never good enough for him. As long as I'm 7 seat, he will always see it as not good enough. So, I'm more than just determined to move our school's ranking and my own up, I am unwaveringly, unquestioningly deadest on it.
And then Jane happened.
Maggots.
Crossed posted on my Ao3!
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