That Was When He Saw Her Chapter 4, a 7th heaven fanfic

Coach Walker blew his whistle, meaning everyone was to get out of the pool. Slowly, they all climbed out of their lanes and congregated around him as they awaited further instruction.

"Listen up." The boys continued talking. "Be quiet or I'll make you swim a kilometer!" Their mouths quickly shut. "Thank you. We're going to set up your relay teams today. The only team that's set in stone is Richie, Scott, Tyler, and Wilson. Richie on breast, Scott on back, Tyler on fly, and Wilson on free."

They were all pleased with the choice, save Richie who was a little perturbed that he was stuck with two freshmen and a junior. The rest of the boys grouped themselves together, but they realized it was pretty fruitless; Richie's group was obviously going to be used for any important meets. They were pegged to win from the beginning.

"OK," Walker said. "Back in the pool and start working on your relay. Don't kill yourselves. Go through the motions for now and we'll see how it goes."
Wilson jumped in first, swam down and back, followed by Scott, then Tyler, and then Richie. Even doing a mediocre job, their team shined above all else. No matter how jealous they were, the rest of the team thought they were a shoe in for state's or even nationals.

When practice ended, Richie kept his group back for a second. "It's my senior year, and I really want to do well, rank nationally maybe, so we're going to have to put in a lot of work. You're all good, which makes it easier, but you're not great. Practice every Saturday morning from now until regionals." They all rolled their eyes at him. "Hey, shut up. I'm Captain of this team, and you'll listen to me or I'll tell Coach and he'll make your life hell."

"OK, OK," Tyler added. "Calm down. We'll practice."

"That's more like it."

A few meets came and went, and the relay quadruplets were able to test out their skills in front of an audience. Singularly, in their own strokes, they were amazing. Wilson and Richie always came in first, and Scott and Tyler only placed second twice. Everything was going perfectly. All four had great promise. As a team, however, things were a little less nice. Richie yelled at them all the time because he was a senior and Captain. He thought that seniority trumped all else in the equation, even though he wasn't the best swimmer of the bunch. The Saturday practices were a nightmare.

"You're not fast enough Wilson. You're fast, but not fast enough," Richie yelled one day as he looked at the stopwatch. "You have to step it up. You're swimming with the sharks now."

Wilson snapped. This had been going on for weeks now and he didn't understand the problem. He was fine, the rest of the guys were fine. They dominated most of the competition. "I'm going fast enough. Fifty-five seconds is amazing and you know it. You're just jealous that I'm better than you. I could swim breast easy if I didn't do free."

"Why don't you just do Becca while you're at it? You know you want her."

Wilson was quiet for a few moments, choosing his words carefully. He figured that might be it, his conversations he'd been having with Becca at least twice a week. "We're just friends. We're just talking. Nothing is going on."

"That's not what her friends tell me."

Wilson rolled his eyes. "What does Becca say?"

"Nothing. She never even mentioned you. That's why I know you have to be doing her."

"For the love of God I'm not! How can I prove that to you?"

"You can't, but she can. You know what, I'm going to go ask her right now." Richie glared at Wilson, and then looked to Scott and Tyler. "We're done here. You can go home."

The next four weeks, they all swam alone. Richie wouldn't even look Wilson in the eye. He began to wonder exactly what it was Becca had told him, but he didn't want to ask her. He was afraid to get in the middle again. Swimming meant way too much to him. He knew that one more fight with Richie would get him kicked off of their team, and any chance of glory would be up to him in the much more competitive freestyle races. He deserved recognition; he wasn't about to screw this up over something as stupid as a girl. However, Wilson should have known that Becca would call him eventually. There was no way that she would avoid him forever.

"Did, uh, did Richie say something to you?" Becca asked. The tone in her voice was different. It wasn't just because she was talking about Richie. She seemed scared in general. Something was up.

"Yeah, about a month ago. He almost took my head off."

"Yelling about us talking?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry. He's kind of hot headed. And I'm an idiot, because I know him, I know how he gets. I never should have been talking to you. I'm so stupid."

"You're not stupid. You should be allowed to talk to me. No guy should control you're life."

"I know…" she said forlornly.

"But, I don't think we should talk anymore. At least not until regionals are over. I don't want it to screw swim stuff up."

"That's in two weeks, right?"

"Yeah."

"OK."

"All right. Bye Becca."

"Bye. Oh, and Wilson?"

"Yeah?"

"Good luck- with regionals and Richie."

Richie's just a tad bit crazy. Just wait until he goes fully crazy. Review.