A/N: Sorry it took me so long to get this out…Schnoogle's being slightly stupid, and my dad JUST fixed my computer, so I can actually post on ff.n!! Finally…after, what, six months?! Yah, I love you guys too…=)
Thanks tons to Jessakah and my wonderful beta reader…I don't know what I'd do without you.
As a note, chapter 7 is going to take a really, really long time to get out…there have been some…changes…okay, drastic changes in my social life (and since my friends are a large basis on said social life, you can guess that this has an effect on DML). I'm not sure how DML is going to turn out now that these…changes…have occurred, so please bear with me…chapter seven will get posted…eventually…
D/C: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
[Insert long list of names here that's posted in chapter five, which I can't (for some reason) access right now…] are based upon actual people, but their names have been changed to protect the actual persons from a life of fame and wealth (hah! You wish…).
"Talking inside of each other's heads" was made up by the real Kirsten and Inad. They came up with it last year. I have yet to figure out whether they actually do it or not.
The majority of the comments in this story actually came from the people that are said to have said them. A few were added by me, but I won't tell you which ones, 'cuz that would spoil the whole story. ~*sticks out tongue*~
//…\\ means that it's a memory…
Chapter Six-And Swim Some More!
"I have respect for those who are able to withstand sitting in between Kirsten and Inad during lunch.
"A lot of respect."
~Avon "Pyro" Archer
{Still JB…}
Jack picked up the phone from its cradle. "Hello?" she answered groggily. The mysterious caller had woken her up. If it's anyone I know, she thought to herself angrily, I'll make sure they suffer considerably for waking me up!
"Hey. It's me."
"Hello, me."
"Oh, sorry, did I wake you up?"
"No, Chris," Jack said sarcastically, recognizing the voice. "I didn't go to morning practice at 5:30 and swim for two hours either."
"Sorry! I just wanted to let you know that I need a ride to the meet this weekend."
"Dammit, Chris! You know I sleep after practice! And you woke me up! And right now, I really don't feel like I want to give you one."
"Then I guess I'll just not come."
"Fine. I'll be nice…" She sighed as she heard him sniggering. "Even though you aren't even swimming… do you know if Zack wants to come? 'Cuz I'll give him a ride, too," she told him.
"Hang on…" In the background, she could hear him yelling at the Brit to come talk to her. "I have to talk to mother dearest…but I won't be very long," he promised as Jack sighed in mock exasperation.
She heard the phone switching hands, and then being dropped. She winced as the loud sound reached her ear.
"Hullo? Jack?" Zack said into the phone, as though unsure of how to use it. Maybe he didn't have one wherever he lived, she speculated idly. That's ridiculous, she thought immediately afterwards.
"That would be me," she answered, slightly more awake now that her brain was moving. "Are you coming?"
"To what?"
"The swim meet! It's in Eugene…oh, wait…you have no idea where that is…it's in Oregon…but you probably have no idea where that is either…anyways, it's, like, two hours away from here. If you're coming, we're camping, so bring warm clothes…well, semi-warm…heh…it's August."
"I beg your pardon?"
Jack laughed. "I'm not awake yet," she said apologetically, then repeated her speech (without the babbling).
"Oh. Right then. Well, I might as well, as it seems I have nothing better to do." Then, as an afterthought, he added, "Who could be coming with us?"
"Dunno yet. Have to make the rounds."
"'The rounds'?" Zack repeated, sounding more than a little confused.
"Umm…I need to call everyone and find out whether they're coming or not."
"Oh…right…Chris is back. It was nice talking to you. Good bye." He said the last part with a little difficulty. Seems like he's trying to fit in, Jack thought with a grin.
"Sorry 'bout that," Chris' voice said over the phone. "Can you give us both a ride?"
"I'll take mom's van—if she lets me. We'll have enough room." She looked up at the sound of someone knocking on her door. "I gotta go, 'kay?"
Chris' sigh was loud in her ear. "I guess. Oh; what time?"
"To pick you up?"
"Yeah."
"Uh, let's see here…" Jack looked around her room, trying to find her alarm clock under the mess of junk on her nightstand. "What time is it now? Clock…clock…ah, 11:40…I hadn't planned on going to practice this afternoon…I'll pick you up at three-ish. Today. That way we'll get there in time for dinner, and set up 'camp'," she told him.
"When are we coming back home?"
"Sunday night or Monday morning…whichever I feel like, because, hey, I'm driving. So bye," Jack said.
"Bye. And I'll see you three-ish." The phone beeped, letting her know that he'd hung up.
Reaching over to press the button on the cradle to hang up the phone, she yelled, "Who is it?" to her door.
"'Tis your dearest mother who wishes to speak with her daughter, the great swimmer who is planning a road trip without consulting her parents first," a voice said. Jack wrinkled her nose at her mother's attempt at an English accent.
"Can I borrow the van?"
"Don't crash it."
Jack shuddered as memories of the all-too-near crash in Seattle surfaced in her mind. "I don't plan on it, Mom."
"Continue your calls, J," her mother said. Jack could hear the smile that was crawling on her mother's face.
Lifting her finger, Jack quickly dialed Daniel's number and listened to it ring.
"O'Connor residence," his mother's voice said into the phone.
"Is Daniel there?" Jack asked.
"Oh, good morning, Jack!" she said in an all too cheerful voice that was inappropriate happy for the hour.
Within a matter of seconds, Daniel was picking up the phone and yelling, "I got it!" to his mother. "Hey, how are you?" he asked.
"Okay. You?"
"Not bad. So…what's up?"
"Do you need a ride to the meet?"
"Uh, yeah, sure. What time?"
"Um, be here by two-thirty today," Jack answered. It surprised all their friends, and Jack herself, that she could be so calm around him. Inside, she knew, she was totally crazy about him.
"Okay, great. Where are we staying?"
"We're camping at the school."
"Okay. Are you driving?" Jack thought that he sounded concerned.
"Yeah. Mom's van, 'cuz I'm taking Chris and Zack so far. I don't know who else, though. Probably Pyro and Lia, though Lia may drive up on her own…if her parents even let her out of her bedroom…" She laughed easily, as though not remembering the car accident for the second time that morning.
"I'll be there by two. Promise."
"Okay. See you then."
"Bye J," he told her, managing to not be mushy.
"Bye D." They hung up and Jack sighed heavily. I like him so much, she thought.
Too much.
~&~
[AVM/VWW is back…for the meantime…JB's got another part further down the page…]
Zack sat peacefully on the bed, tossing a Koosh ball from hand to hand. Chris seemed to be in a state of panic as he tossed clothes out of his dresser and onto the floor. Why he had waited until an hour before Jack was supposed to show up to pack was beyond Zack's imagining. The things that Chris had loaned him to wear were packed up and waiting by the door, and had been since he learned that he was going. Even though the clothes were almost all too tall for him [Nova: Chris is really, really tall compared to tiny Zack!], it seemed normal, for some reason. As though he had worn clothes that were too big for him for all his life…
//He was dressed in a sweatshirt so large for him that he had to roll back the sleeves five times so as to be able to use his hands, and which fell past the knees of his extremely baggy jeans. As he stared into his bedroom mirror, he noticed how thin he looked. It's the clothes, he thought resignedly, sighing and lifting his arms. The sleeves were so heavy that he could feel the muscles in his arms straining. If only that stupid cousin of mine weren't so fat…\\
Zack frowned and put the Koosh down on the bed.
"What?" Chris huffed, dragging his bad leg around the room.
"Nothing," he said. Chris picked up the Koosh, sat down beside him on the bed. He began to toss it as well.
"I know you've never been to a meet before. Or maybe you have, and you don't remember. Anyways, they're incredibly boring. Even for the swimmers."
Zack just looked blankly at him.
"Of course," Chris continued, "you wouldn't want to be stuck here with Matt. That would be worse than boring. That would be cruel and unusual punishment."
"Is he really that bad?"
Chris pulled out a rather dusty Bill Clinton Halloween mask and put it on. "That depends on what your definition of 'is' is."
At Zack's confused expression, he sighed, removed the mask, and said, "Never mind. Yes, he's really that bad."
"Jack said something about us camping," he said, ignoring the surprised look on Chris' face.
"Uh…yeah…" Chris got up again and continued to pack, explaining all the while about their past camping experiences, and what the one later that day would be.
~&~
As promised, Daniel showed up at Jack's house at 2:00. When he rang the doorbell, Jack's mother answered the door, although Jack wasn't far behind. Jack pushed her out of the way and gave her boyfriend a hug. "Come in. I need to finish packing, so you can come up to my room." She ignored the look her mother shot her and pecked him on the cheek. "Hungry?"
"No, but thanks anyway," he answered politely.
Jack watched her mother glance from Daniel to her and back again. Finally, she waved her hands. "Alright. Go upstairs. Have fun," she told them. She had finally given up on trying to keep them apart.
Jack smiled. "Thanks Mom," she said, and turned to walk up the stairs. She heard her mother's surprised, "Oof!" and turned, and smiled even broader, seeing Daniel giving her a hug. He grinned at her from over Melinda's shoulder and then followed her up the stairs.
"I don't know what to bring," Jack told Daniel as he closed the door behind them. She already had her swim gear set out on the bed, along with what looked like a blue bikini that was daringly cut. Jack grinned inwardly at the double take that Daniel did as he glanced at it. Then, looking at the clothes that were scattered everywhere, he held up a light blue Old Navy tank top and tossed it into her bag.
"You look good in it," he said with a shrug. "Hell, you look good in everything!"
Jack turned around and dug in her jeans drawer to hide the fact that she was blushing. "You always know exactly what to say to get a girl to like you. Don't you?"
"It's a gift, I guess." Jack turned and saw that he was rubbing his fingernails against his leather jacket.
"Shut up," Jack told him as she grabbed another shirt that he had picked up. She threw it at him.
"Hey!" Daniel exclaimed. He picked up the shirt off of the ground, folded it neatly, and set it in her bag. He then wrapped his arms around Jack's waist.
Thoughts whirled through her mind. "I have to pack," she told him, pulling his arms off.
"You know you like it," he whispered into her ear.
Jack brushed the hair that tickled her ear. "Yes," she admitted. "But I still have to pack!" She pulled away from him and walked to her closet, and then began to pull things out, examining them. "Should we stay there Sunday night?"
"Sure. We could go out to dinner."
"Like a real date?"
"I wouldn't go that far." Jack tried to hide her disappointment, but Daniel was too keen. "Yes, like a real date."
Jack smiled, and then grabbed a very cute (and low cut) red dress. [Jack: AS if I had anything to show!] [Nova: Hey! Be optimistic!] "Good. It'll give me the chance to wear this." She placed the dress in the bag, grabbed "unmentionables" from the open dresser drawer that Daniel had been trying hard (and not succeeding) not to look into, and put them in the bag too. "Be right back," she said to him as she opened the door and walked into the bathroom. She grinned to herself. He's even cuter when he's trying to be good!
When she walked back into the room, Daniel exclaimed, "Holy cow! Do you really need all this stuff? It's just a weekend!" Jack shrugged and shoved it into her bag. "That's amazing. I've never seen so much stuff in a bag that small!"
"This is nothing. You should have seen my bag for Newport. And I still have stuff to add. Grab some p-jams for me, please," she said to him. He turned and began looking through the open underwear drawer. [AVM/VWW: Hah. I knew he couldn't resist…even though I wrote that…~*cackle*~] "Next drawer, D."
"Um…right…" He closed the drawer with reluctance and opened the next one, pulling out the green striped pants with a green tank top that sat on top.
"Okay, now I'm done. Let's go pack the car. Woo hoo!" She zipped her bag, picked it up off her bed and told Daniel to grab a pillow. They walked down the stairs, into the garage and set the stuff on the ground. Jack opened the garage door, got the keys from where they were hanging on the inside of the mud room, next to the door to the garage, and then pulled the van out to the driveway. She got out and put her stuff in the trunk. "Where's your stuff?"
Daniel nodded to his car and walked to it, opening the door of his '82 Mercedes. [Daniel: Don't let the name fool you!] He grabbed a small black bag and carried it back to the van.
"That's it?!" Jack exclaimed as he tossed it in.
"Yeah. I'm a guy. I don't need seven bags."
"Blah, blah, blah. Put it on top of my stuff." He complied, and then they walked up to the house. "Mom, we're leaving soon. I promise I'll call when we get there, and keep you updated. And I promise I'll be the only one driving."
"Good, 'cuz if you wreck it, you're payin' for it!" Melinda replied.
"'Kay. I love you, and I'll see you Monday morning." She gave her mom a hug.
"Here's a fifty. I want the change. I love you, too. Oh, and Daniel—watch her carefully."
"Yes ma'am," he replied politely.
They walked back to the car. "By Mom! Love you!"
"By Sweetie." Jack got behind the wheel and watched Daniel as he slid the passenger seat back a few inches, so as to give his long legs some room.
"Jack?" Daniel asked her as she started the van.
"Hmm?"
"Are you okay?"
Jack frowned and turned to face him. "Yeah…why?"
"You've seemed a little…distanced lately."
"Don't be silly…it's just your imagination." Three minutes later, they pulled up to Pyro's house.
"Hop out and get Pyro, would you?" she told him. Without questions, Daniel hopped out of the car and walked to the door.
Jack sighed and leaned back in the seat. I'm not fine, she said to herself. She was on edge about the whole trip. After what had happened two weeks ago, she didn't want to be anywhere near the driver's seat. She was dreadfully afraid of being in another wreck, and somebody dying this time. It had completely surprised her when her mother had agreed to letting her go to the Eugene meet, and even more so when she let her drive.
Daniel and Pyro came out to the van, the latter holding two bags with her good hand. After sticking her stuff in the back, she got into the middle row of seats. Ten minutes later, they were pulling up to Lia's house, and another twenty after that, they had picked up Chris and Zack and were rolling down the highway, straight on course for Eugene.
~&~
[This is AVM/VWW again…relax…Jack's not going to write the whole thing…]
Zack leaned back into the seat, amazed at how comfortable the van was, even though the seats were cramped together. Chris had opted to sit with his leg stretched out, as he complained that it was feeling funny.
"It's like there's a million splinters in it," he had told Zack as they were loading their things into the back of the van. "My wrist didn't feel like this when I broke it, so I'm going to have it checked when we get back."
Glancing from person to person, Zack realized that it was all too quiet in the van. Jack had the radio on, although it was playing softly. Daniel kept looking at her worriedly, and Zack didn't realize why until he saw that her knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel so hard.
Lia and Pyro were passing notes back and forth, and when Pyro would read them, she looked behind her at Chris when she thought no one was looking. Chris was ignoring everyone and drawing something on a drawing pad that he had gotten out of the side pocket of Lia's bag, along with a pencil.
This is mad, Zack thought. They normally all talk so much that I can't get a word in edgewise… Finally, he spoke up. "Er…is something wrong?"
Everyone jumped. The steering wheel slipped in Jack's grasp and the car wavered. Everyone except for him and Daniel grabbed onto the sides on their seats, and he thought he heard Lia whimper.
When Jack had control of the van again, they all rounded on him, shouting. Zack winced and tried to edge away from the loudness.
"Shut up!" Daniel yelled over the din. He grabbed Jack by the shoulder and turned her towards the road. "As for the rest of you, that's exactly what I want to know. I have never been in Lia's presence and had her not talking. Jack, you're gripping the steering wheel as though it's going to jump off and smack you in the face. Pyro—damn, I don't even know what your problem is."
Zack glanced at Lia and saw that she was about to explode. He stuffed his fingers in his ears as she did so. "Dammit, Daniel, we're scared of getting in another wreck!"
Zack saw rather than heard Daniel sigh, and slowly pulled his fingers out of his ears. "J, pull over."
"But—"
"Jack, pull over." She complied, checking very carefully that another car wasn't going to come up and smash them as she switched lanes.
Daniel unbuckled his seatbelt and turned around so that they could all see him clearly. "Listen up. We are not going to get in another accident. If' you don't all calm down—"
"I distinctly recall you getting into an accident last year," Lia interrupted, "and then being terrified of it happening again."
"Yes, but I didn't let it impair my skills."
"You call talking—"
"Lia, shut up." If the situation hadn't been so serious, Zack would have laughed at the stunned expression on Lia's face. "For the remainder of this trip, I will be driving. Jack, move over."
"Daniel, I promised my mother that I would be the only one driving."
"I realize that. Your mother also told me that I was to watch you carefully, and I'm doing just that. Now move over."
~&~
In Daniel's eyes [Nova: ears! Hahahaha!], the remainder of the drive was too quiet. Lia and Pyro had continued to pass notes back and forth, much to Jack and Chris' annoyance (Chris attempted to capture the notes in passing but to no avail. Pyro and Lia were too quick and knew him too well), and Zack continued to stare off into space.
He's probably trying to remember something, Daniel supposed, looking into the rearview mirror at the dark-haired Brit. Zack's eyes flitted up to the mirror, looked into his for a moment, and then resumed their distant look.
When they finally pulled into the parking lot of the school just across from the pool, Daniel couldn't help but grin; signs had been erected everywhere, showing the various teams. Their coach and another one (is that Sandy? PAL? he thought) cooing over a baby that looked no older than eight months.
Daniel slowed the car down and pulled into a spot. He grinned as he and the rest of the teens scrambled for the doors, anxious to be out of the car and to see the cute baby, as everyone (with the exception of Zack) had realized that it was indeed Sandy and the seven-month-old Kaylee.
Before Jack could scramble off with her friends, though, Daniel grabbed her arm and kept her back. She glanced at him, and the anger that she was trying to hide from him showed clearly in her eyes.
"Okay, listen," Daniel told her, now holding her by the shoulders. "You were in no condition to drive."
"Daniel, I wasn't drunk!" she hissed.
"You were drunk on fear [Nova: and high on life!!!]. If the car in front of us had stopped too quickly, you would have…" he raked his hand through his hair. "In any case, you should never drive scared."
"But—"
"Jack, I don't want to hear it. Your mother told me to take care of you, and I'm doing just that. When you're scared of something, I'm scared for you. I love you. I don't want you to be scared."
Jack looked down at her feet. Daniel pulled her chin up and kissed her gently on the lips. "Come on. Let's catch up with the others before they think we're taking a 'detour'."
Jack grinned at him. "What do you call it, then?"
"A detour." He kissed her again, reveling in the warmth of her lips, before leading her along towards the others, who were speaking in baby talk to a confused Kaylee.
~&~
Zack rolled over from his back onto his stomach as he heard the tent flap zip open after everyone had gone to bed. He pretended to still be asleep, even though he was really listening to the voice that called out. "Daniel!"
Daniel lifted his head up, obviously alert, and slithered out of his sleeping bag. He crawled on his hands and knees, past Zack, past Chris, and to the door. Holding back the flap to crawl out, the moonlight illuminated Daniel, and the person who had called his name: Jack. Zack smiled, stifled the urge to laugh, and rolled over again.
"How did you get out?"
"I told Lia to mind her own business and go back to sleep."
"In those words? How unlike you, J. I would have thought—"
"Oh, hush, you," Jack said, annoyed, but Zack could hear the smile on her face. The sound of kissing met Zack's ears, and then footsteps leading away from the tent. I hope they don't get caught, Zack thought, remembering the way that Coach blew up at all of them at ten-thirty.
"They're swimming tomorrow!" she had hissed at them, gesturing at Jack, Daniel, and Pyro. "They need their rest!"
Still smirking, Zack drifted off to sleep.
~&~
Using the word hectic for the events of the next morning was an understatement. Lia watched with amusement as her friends rushed around their makeshift campsite, into the tents, out of the tents, to the van and back, to the bathrooms and back, and all the while, chewing on a piece of toast (Jack), or swallowing an egg (Daniel), or gulping down coffee (much to everyone's dismay and horror, Pyro).
Amidst much giggling, scolding, and all around mayhem, Coach managed to herd everyone across the street to the pool.
"You three have permission to be on deck," Coach told Lia, Chris, and Zack as everyone else separated to the changing rooms. "As long as you don't start any problems, that is." She rounded on Zack, and his green eyes widened in surprise. "Are you going to be joining the team?"
"N-no," he stammered, glancing at Chris and Lia, who gave him curious looks. "I don't think I ever learned how to swim."
"You don't think?" Coach asked, confused. "How can you not know? You either have or—"
Lia smothered a grin as Chris whispered something into her ear.
"Oh." She smiled sympathetically and patted him on the shoulder. "I didn't know."
Bewildered, Zack just nodded. Coach's smile widened and she walked off to chat with some of the other swimmers.
Lia was turning red trying not to laugh.
~&~
"Goo normig, wafies nd gemtmen!" a slurred voice roared over the PA, reaching everybody's ears and yet no one's. The majority of the people in VSC were busy yelling to each other, grinning, or joking around. Daniel's hat had walked off of his head again, and he was busy trying to recapture it from Jack's hands. Pyro was walking around with a permanent marker, drawing all over everyone and herself. Chris and Mike were trying to get Lia to stop singing along to a CD player.
Zack watched all of it from the secluded safety of a picnic blanket that Lia had spread out ten minutes before. The meet was about to begin—warm-ups had ended fifteen minutes before—and he couldn't help but think that this was one of the most boring things in existence.
Chris gingerly lowered himself down beside Zack. "Why doesn't she stop?" he groaned.
"I beg your pardon?" Zack said, confused.
"Singing. She never stops singing."
Zack looked over at Lia and noticed that Jack had joined her. She was still managing—somehow—to keep Daniel's hat away from him with the help of Pyro, Lia, and a few of the teammates that he had met but couldn't remember the names of, and was now singing along to a song that had just started. Zack grinned as he watched Jack dance to it, while Lia just kept singing along.
"Is there something wrong with her singing?" Zack asked, curious.
"No, except that this happens at every meet. She'll have the music on, singing along, and people who aren't as vocally gifted as she is will sing along as well." He grinned. "Let's just say that Jack couldn't carry a note in a bucket."
A note in a bucket? Zack thought, bewildered. What's that supposed to mean? But he continued to listen, and realized what the tall boy had meant.
"Just don't tell her that I said that," Chris added quickly. "She gets violent for some reason every time someone mentions it."
Zack grinned. Maybe the meet wouldn't be so bad after all.
~&~
"Go…go…go…go, Jack, go!" a group of four or five teens yelled at their friend in the water, currently swimming the breaststroke portion of a 200 IM* and getting a pretty good time. Of course, she noted as she pushed off the wall into the freestyle portion, Pyro and Chris knew to be at the starting end of the pool at the finish with her inhaler and a towel, just in case.
Stroke stroke stroke stroke stroke stroke stroke stroke gasp!! she thought as she flew towards the end where the majority of her friends were cheering. Stroke, puuuuuuuuull, flip!
The cheers were getting louder.
So were the yells of, "Dammit, she's gaining!!"
For the last eight strokes, Jack pushed herself and didn't breathe once. Her hand collided with the wall, and she felt exultation. She had done it! She looked at her time on the scoreboard, which was reading second place. Omigod! She thought. She had received a 2:13.42! Without a throat attack, or asthma!
Jack pulled herself from the pool, exhausted, and had just enough time to brace herself before three people hurtled into her, obviously not caring if they got wet.
"Good job!"
"2:48.62!"
"Yay!"
Jack smiled even wider and left to go talk to her coach.
~&~
Zack sat in the corner of the pool deck on the same blanket as he had been for the past hour. Everywhere he looked within a five-meter radius there were crushed goldfish, swim bags, towels, abandoned goggles, caps, mutilated water bottles, people, people, and more people. The noise was deafening, and the routine was crazy. A person would swim one race, have an hour and a half break, and do it all again. The people who weren't swimming at that moment were crunched in at both ends of the pool, cheering on their teammates. Chris and Lia had attempted to drag him up there, but eventually gave up when Jack had gone to swim her 200 IM—whatever that was.
They had told him then that the meet probably wouldn't be over for another three hours. Wonderful.
"Bored?" Daniel plopped down beside him, his arm around a very tired—and drippy—Jack.
"No, I'm having fun!" He attempted a smile, but it didn't really work. They both rolled their eyes.
"And pigs can fly," Jack said sarcastically.
"Actually, they're working on genetically enhancing pigs with chicken DNA—"
"Okay, shut up!"
Chris jumped in. "Yeah. And then it would be like chicken and pork. And then you wouldn't be able to eat chicken anymore. So you'd basically be vegetari—aaah!!" He was cut off when Jack hit his cast, jarring his leg.
"And I still don't see how your reasoning works," Lia added, "as it would be a pig with chicken DNA, not vice versa."
"Final call for Event sixty-eight, heat three," a voice interrupted over the PA.
"Gotta go," Daniel said quickly, jumping to his feet. He half ran, half walked off in the direction of the blocks.
Jack grinned lopsidedly. "I hope they let him in," she said thoughtfully.
Zack was confused. "How do you know that it's your event?" he asked.
Jack held up her arm and twisted it so that he could see the paler skin of her forearm, where black permanent marker had inked out a grid with numbers in it. "We write down our events, heats, and lanes before the meet begins so that we know what we're doing." She tapped the first column. "This one is for the event, this one for the heat, and this one for the lane."
"'Heat'?" Zack asked, confused.
"Yeah." Lia had returned her attention to the conversation at hand. "It's when you swim. There're too many swimmers here for there to just be one race per event, so we break it up into multiple races called heats. The slowest swimmers swim in the first heat, and the fastest in the last."
"Oh. So Daniel would be—"
"I'm not really sure why he's swimming the 200 IM," Jack interrupted. "But he is, and I'm going to go watch. Who's with me?!" There was a chorus of "Me!"s, and the group filed over to the end of the pool.
Zack, Lia, and Chris remained, the latter trying to figure out how to get back up again.
"Okay, that's it," Lia said, sounding a bit annoyed, after spending a few moments watching Chris struggle. She pulled him ungracefully to his good foot (while trying not to overbalance), and then tugged Zack up after her. "If you're just going to sit there, you might as well do something."
"Lia, he's not sitting any more."
"Exactly."
As the strange teen pulled the two boys after her, Zack watched as Chris shot him a confused—and slightly worried—look. After all, he was half hopping along to keep up with the fast-paced girl.
"Swimmers, take your marks," the monotone voice called out. Glancing over, Zack noticed that every single one of the male swimmers had grabbed the front of the starting blocks. Every muscle was tensed, waiting to be released.
The buzzer went off, and the men sprang, flying out over the water. The race was on.
Cheers roared up suddenly, and though each was loud for the other teams, it seemed that Daniel's name was projected louder than anyone else's. He grinned, thinking that if it were he swimming at that moment, he would be laughing.
Zack realized with a jolt that Lia had managed to snake away from him, and he half jogged, half limped to catch up.
Nudging his way past a group of wet teenagers, he managed to bump into one, and Zack was sent tumbling to the ground, as the girl was much taller than he.
"Oh, jeez, I'm so sorry," she said, helping him up. Her hair had been let down from her cap to cascade around her body in dark, wet curls. Her eyes were a bright blue color, and angled slightly, so as to appear almond shaped. Zack felt as though he had been hit in the stomach with a frying pan.
It was the girl from the black void.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*A 200 IM, by Nova: It's a medley of all four strokes. First Butterfly, then backstroke, followed by breaststroke, and finally freestyle (except for medley relays, where it goes back breast fly free, but we won't get into that unless someone wants us to.)
So…that's chapter six! In chapter seven, we find out the identity of this person, a little romance/fluff leaks through, the gang goes to Burgerville, and Zack gets his first introduction to Skyview High School.
Thank you for all your wonderful reviews!
Pyra: Pyro hasn't lit anything on fire for a while, anyway…she spent most of today [that would be Jan. 8th] giggling…
I've been watching your reviews on my stories…the coffee one was too much like Pyro for my liking…let me tell you this: never mix a swim meet, a permanent marker (preferably Sharpie brand), and a 12 oz. coffee with Nova. It has disastrous affects, including people coming home with interesting pictures on their backs…or shoulders…arms…hands…legs…feet…face…
tringle: I noticed! Lol…against your will? I'm sorry. My parents drag me everywhere, and threaten much more interesting places (Blaine, Minnesnowta [aka: Minnesota], Rome, Arizona…).
Three months? Do you really think I need that many? I'll try…finals are coming up, so I need to study and do lots of homework to prepare for them…and after that is the dreaded WASL testing, which I'm know you'll have to do too…if you're a sophomore, that is…
Oh, and I figured out where Yelm is…hehehe…
HERMIONE POTTER 5000: I'm glad that it helped you. It certainly helped a few of my friends, and even more certainly confused a good deal more!
Lucy-Liza: Yay, a long review! I'm glad that you understand everything now. Things will start to move along at a faster pace now that almost all the characters have been introduced (hehehe…). No, the one who has the creepy blue eyes is Nik, although Daniel does have blue eyes. I chose the name Lia with no intentions of it being similar to Princess Lia (although I don't think that's spelled right—I always thought it was Leaha or something like that—I'll look it up later); I simply chose it because it's similar to my own nick-name (which I'm not going to tell) and altered a few of the letters of her full name: Lianne. And yes, Pyro really is fire happy…
The boys of the group will start having more parts, which means more Zack/Harry sections. They're so much fun to write…
hermione_granger: Yes, the chapter did take a bit, but at least it's out. And hopefully the rest of the chapters won't end up quite so long…
Makenzie: Something bad will happen. You just have to be patient.
Yours are already done? No fair! Ours are at the end of January…~*pouts*~
I have the feeling that your friends might (might) be freakier than mine…
MorgynMerlin: I'm so happy that my story strikes you as amusing…I was hoping that it would! After all, it is categorized (yes, that's a made up word) under humor.
Athena02: It's Nik, not Niko, and no, he's not based on Legolas.
The whole my friends writing sections of it is fun for me. It allows me to use my creativity to write my story around the stuff that they've written. For example: we had an English assignment in which we had to write a short story using something (I won't tell you what, as it's a HUGE spoiler) that we'd written a while ago. I annoyed my friends to death with the ending (as it's perhaps the worst cliffy that I've ever written! Well, worst/best…you get the point), but anyway…the only case that I wouldn't put something in is if I don't like the way that it's written/it doesn't appertain to what I want to do with DML. So…yah…
Thanks to anyone I missed!