"The next swim meet will be on Monday." I heard the overhead speaker
say. My heart raced as I thought about it, I loved to swim, not to mention
I was good at it. I had been undefeated all my life, I've never lost a
single race and I've broken all the records by atleast 3 seconds.
"Jess! Jess!" My friend called to me.
"Oh, hey Amanda! What's up?"
"I want to invite you to my birthday party!" She handed me a pink envelope decorated with balloons and confetti.
"Thanks 'Manda! I'll see if I can come."
"Places everyone! Places!" Mrs. Musica yelled over the classes murmur of talk. It got quiet immediately as Choir began. Did I mention I was the best singer in Choir class? Well I am. I was also considered one of the hottest girls in school, not that I enjoyed that part much. So many guys fawned over me every day asking if they could buy me an ice cream and what not, it's enough to drive someone mad. I can't imagine anyone enjoying a bunch of guys following you around everywhere you went trying to impress you with their mad stunts.
We sang our songs for the upcoming concert in which I had 3 solos.
Choir was soon over, "I wish I could sing as well as you could!" Amanda said to me as we left.
"Thanks, but it does have its downfalls." I replied.
"What could possibly be a downfall of being the best singer in class?"
"You get all the solos, you have to practice twice as hard as any other person in class. And everyone's watching you, if you get a single note wrong it wrecks your reputation."
"Oh, I never thought about that. Well, see ya!"
"Bye." We both turned and went down separate halls to get to our next class.
The rest of the classes went by dull and boring. Everything I heard wasn't comprehended as I sat there staring blankly at the white boards of each class. Until I got to the gym for swim practice. I got down to the gym and stretched with the other girls on the team.
"Alright, today we're just going to do some laps, do as many as you can before we have to leave today!" The coach told us, with that she blew her whistle and we all dove into the water to start our laps. I started in the lead, like always, but something was wrong. I couldn't tell what it was; I kept on swimming to try to shake it off.
"Race you a lap!" Amanda called to me and we were off. I decided to go easy on her, I went her pace and stayed tied with her. All of a sudden my lungs filled with water. I started to cough and sputter but kept swimming. I tried to breathe in air, but it just made it worse. I started to slow down, the coughing went away and I caught back up with Amanda. She looked over to me. Her eyes widened in horror, "Jess! You're breathing out water!" I grew horrified too as I realized I wasn't breathing in air, I was breathing in water. When my head came out of the water, I was just breathing it back out! I tried to breathe in the air again, I started choking and suffocating again. Amanda left me completely and started yelling for the coach. I stuck my head underwater and started breathing normally.
"What's happening to me?" I thought to myself, horrified. Other swimmers stopped and stared at me sitting there under the water.
"She's drowning herself!" I could hear a mumbled voice say above the water. I could hear the coach blow her whistle for the others to move out of the way.
"She can't pull me out of the water, I'll die!" I thought to myself, I bolted from the place I was at, I swam as fast as I could to the other side of the pool.
"She really is drowning herself!" I could hear the coach yell as she started her way over to me. I sat there, I looked down at my arms, and they looked fine. I looked down at my legs, "Those are not fine!" I said aloud, no bubbles coming out of my mouth. My legs were green! If they weren't that color they would be fine though, but still, they were GREEN! I started to panic, the coach drew nearer to me, I tried to swim around her but she grabbed me by the hair and yanked my head out of the water. I started to gag and choke, I fought with her to make her let go but she wouldn't. She was determined to not let me 'drown'. She didn't see my legs though, she didn't see that anything was wrong with me. I clawed at her face, she had to let me go! I drew my hand back and then slapped her as hard as I could. She let go, her face in her hands, I ducked my head down under the water and swam to a different side of the pool.
Everyone had completely forgotten about their laps and was watching intently on what would happen next.
"Go get the principal Amanda!" The coach shouted to her, I didn't hear anything. It was quiet after that, nobody spoke. I sat there underwater, waiting for what was going to happen next. My heart slowed, I looked at my legs, and they were going back to my natural color. I took another inhale of breath and choked, I couldn't breathe underwater! I came back to the surface, coughing out the water I just inhaled and got out of the pool. I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around me and sat down on a bench. As I sat, the principal ran through the open doors, held by Amanda. The principal's face was red, from what, I didn't know. The coach and the principal walked over to me, I put my face in my hands as I started to cry. What went wrong with me?
"Jessica, come with me to my office!" The principal almost yelled at me. She grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me to my feet.
"Jess! Jess!" My friend called to me.
"Oh, hey Amanda! What's up?"
"I want to invite you to my birthday party!" She handed me a pink envelope decorated with balloons and confetti.
"Thanks 'Manda! I'll see if I can come."
"Places everyone! Places!" Mrs. Musica yelled over the classes murmur of talk. It got quiet immediately as Choir began. Did I mention I was the best singer in Choir class? Well I am. I was also considered one of the hottest girls in school, not that I enjoyed that part much. So many guys fawned over me every day asking if they could buy me an ice cream and what not, it's enough to drive someone mad. I can't imagine anyone enjoying a bunch of guys following you around everywhere you went trying to impress you with their mad stunts.
We sang our songs for the upcoming concert in which I had 3 solos.
Choir was soon over, "I wish I could sing as well as you could!" Amanda said to me as we left.
"Thanks, but it does have its downfalls." I replied.
"What could possibly be a downfall of being the best singer in class?"
"You get all the solos, you have to practice twice as hard as any other person in class. And everyone's watching you, if you get a single note wrong it wrecks your reputation."
"Oh, I never thought about that. Well, see ya!"
"Bye." We both turned and went down separate halls to get to our next class.
The rest of the classes went by dull and boring. Everything I heard wasn't comprehended as I sat there staring blankly at the white boards of each class. Until I got to the gym for swim practice. I got down to the gym and stretched with the other girls on the team.
"Alright, today we're just going to do some laps, do as many as you can before we have to leave today!" The coach told us, with that she blew her whistle and we all dove into the water to start our laps. I started in the lead, like always, but something was wrong. I couldn't tell what it was; I kept on swimming to try to shake it off.
"Race you a lap!" Amanda called to me and we were off. I decided to go easy on her, I went her pace and stayed tied with her. All of a sudden my lungs filled with water. I started to cough and sputter but kept swimming. I tried to breathe in air, but it just made it worse. I started to slow down, the coughing went away and I caught back up with Amanda. She looked over to me. Her eyes widened in horror, "Jess! You're breathing out water!" I grew horrified too as I realized I wasn't breathing in air, I was breathing in water. When my head came out of the water, I was just breathing it back out! I tried to breathe in the air again, I started choking and suffocating again. Amanda left me completely and started yelling for the coach. I stuck my head underwater and started breathing normally.
"What's happening to me?" I thought to myself, horrified. Other swimmers stopped and stared at me sitting there under the water.
"She's drowning herself!" I could hear a mumbled voice say above the water. I could hear the coach blow her whistle for the others to move out of the way.
"She can't pull me out of the water, I'll die!" I thought to myself, I bolted from the place I was at, I swam as fast as I could to the other side of the pool.
"She really is drowning herself!" I could hear the coach yell as she started her way over to me. I sat there, I looked down at my arms, and they looked fine. I looked down at my legs, "Those are not fine!" I said aloud, no bubbles coming out of my mouth. My legs were green! If they weren't that color they would be fine though, but still, they were GREEN! I started to panic, the coach drew nearer to me, I tried to swim around her but she grabbed me by the hair and yanked my head out of the water. I started to gag and choke, I fought with her to make her let go but she wouldn't. She was determined to not let me 'drown'. She didn't see my legs though, she didn't see that anything was wrong with me. I clawed at her face, she had to let me go! I drew my hand back and then slapped her as hard as I could. She let go, her face in her hands, I ducked my head down under the water and swam to a different side of the pool.
Everyone had completely forgotten about their laps and was watching intently on what would happen next.
"Go get the principal Amanda!" The coach shouted to her, I didn't hear anything. It was quiet after that, nobody spoke. I sat there underwater, waiting for what was going to happen next. My heart slowed, I looked at my legs, and they were going back to my natural color. I took another inhale of breath and choked, I couldn't breathe underwater! I came back to the surface, coughing out the water I just inhaled and got out of the pool. I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around me and sat down on a bench. As I sat, the principal ran through the open doors, held by Amanda. The principal's face was red, from what, I didn't know. The coach and the principal walked over to me, I put my face in my hands as I started to cry. What went wrong with me?
"Jessica, come with me to my office!" The principal almost yelled at me. She grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me to my feet.