Skaia High, Part Three
[Continuous Series]
John surfaced for air with a gasp, panting and grinning up at Dave, who was smirking.
"Nice job, fishboy," he said, clicking the stopwatch. "A few hairs faster than your last time."
"Yes!" John cheered, pulling himself up out of the school pool and splashing Dave.
"Whoa man, seriously? You're gonna get water on the shades?" Dave pouted, shoving John back in with his foot. John laughed as he fell in, bobbing back up and yanking his goggles off. "Seriously man, not cool."
"You're just so naturally warm, I've gotta cool you down," John beamed and clambered back up on land, catching the towel Dave whipped at him and using it to dry off. "Besides, you ought to try swimming too. It's good for you!"
"Yeah good for me my ass. All that chlorine's gonna dry out my naturally smooth and beautiful skin, John. Do you know how much I moisturize to get this smooth?" he asked, flexing his freckled arms.
"I'm… not sure if you're being ironic or serious," John admitted.
"Yeah, me either." There was a light splash at the other end of the pool and the two turned to see one of the troll students beaming at them with sharp teeth.
"Oh, hi!" she giggled. "Sorry, is this a private pool?"
"No, no, go right ahead," John replied. "It's public. I'm just practicing because I'm on the swim team."
"Swim team?" the girl frowned.
"Yeah, you try to be the fastest to touch the other side of the pool and come back. It's a sport."
"Yeah the same way flag spinning is a sport," Dave snorted and John slugged him, making the troll girl giggle once more.
"Could you time me?" she asked sweetly, cocking her head and pulling down her fuchsia goggles and licking her lips lightly. "I think I'm pretty fast."
"Sure," John grinned as Dave fished the stopwatch out of his pocket and readied the timer. "Ready? Go!" The girl shot off of the wall and through the water, bubbles forming alongside her as she flew like a missile to the other side, touching the wall and curling her body around, kicking off and shooting back, surfacing with a broad grin.
"How'd I do?" she asked the two boys, mouths agape.
"Uh," Dave snapped the button down. "Holy fuck, she beat your time by four whole seconds, Egbert. Better step up your game."
"Haha, hey, that's not bad," John said, cheeks red. "You ARE really fast!"
"I do have a bit of an advantage," she giggled, fins popping away from her skin at the neck, causing Dave to cough violently on the drink he was drinking and John to kneel down on the side of the pool to observe.
"Whoa! Are they fins?"
"Yeah! And gills too, see?" she said, moving her head so he could see the little slits. "Though they're kind of irritated right now. This is treated water, isn't it?"
"Yeah, chlorine," John nodded and Feferi huffed.
"Yuck. It mucks up my gills a storm, but it's still nice to be able to swim."
"So did you LIVE in water back on Alternia?" John asked, letting his feet hang down in the water.
"Yo, Egg-dip, I gotta go to my club," Dave said, thumbing toward the door.
"Oh, right! You're fine, just leave the stopwatch on one of the chairs." Dave gave a two-finger salute and headed out of the pool area. "So, yeah, are you like… aquatic?"
"Mhm! I'm what they call a seadweller," she said, fins wiggling enthusiastically. "See, there are different castes based on blood type. The higher the blood type, the more they get in society, and the highest two are seadwellers, and we're considered natural royalty, though I don't much care for the whole caste system," she frowned.
"Caste system? Wait, natural royalty? So you're, like…"
"The princess!" she giggled. "Yes! I'm hoping to one day be the ruler of Alternia, so I can end this whole caste system and let trolls go back down to Alternia. It's actually kind of a mess right now."
"Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that. But yeah! That'd be so cool if you were the ruler! You seem like a super sweet troll girl and I'm sure you'd make a great ruler."
"Thanks!" she giggled.
"Also, I kind of haven't got your name yet. I'm John!"
"Feferi," she said, beaming and shaking his hand. "It's very nice to meet you John."
"You too!" he said, holding her hand and turning it over. "Oh wow, they're webbed! This is so cool. Do you mind?" She shook her head and he happily inspected her hand further, running his fingers along the webbing between her fingers and she shuddered. "Is that okay?"
"Mhm! Just a bit… sensitive," she smiled.
"Oh! Sorry!"
"No, no, you're fine." She leaned her head on her arm, watching him play with her fingers and giggling on occasion. "Would you like to swim? We don't need to compete or anything, just float around?"
"Definitely!" he said, slipping into the pool beside her. "We only have until it starts to get dark, though."
"Really?" she pouted. "But night swimming is my favorite."
"Weeeeell…" he frowned, squinting at the windows. "It's gonna be dark in about an hour, so maybe we could sneak in after it gets dark?"
"Alright!" she grinned and he studied her face for a moment. She was dotted with freckles, like Dave, but her eyes were a sharp fuchsia and her teeth were sharp points, all fangs and no blunt, straight teeth. "You alright?"
"Oh! Sorry, haha, yeah. Let's swim!" The two darted around the pool for a while, tagging each other and playing small games while they floated around, finally resting on the surface of the pool and floating along silently. "You're pretty fun," John said with a grin.
"You are too! This is so much fun," she sighed. "I'm glad I decided to come down here."
"Me too!" they bumped into each other and giggled as the janitor came in.
"Hey, kids, I'm closin' up, time to get out."
"Alright!" they chimed simultaneously, crawling out of the pool and gathering up their things. "Hey, I'm going out the back, alright?" John called to the janitor, who grunted in response. John took a piece of duct tape and stuck it over the door's latch as they left, waiting outside, peeking in the windows.
"Think we're gonna get in trouble?" Feferi asked.
"If we're caught," John winked. The sun's last rays shimmered on their wet skin before finally setting and leaving them in the darkness as the janitor left the pool area and flipped the lights off. "Alright, let's go!" John tried the door and found that his plan had worked and the two slipped inside, the dark pool lit by only a few auxiliary lights on the ceiling. "Man, it's gonna be dark in the pool."
"C'mon!" Feferi tugged him, her tooth grin bright white in the darkness, her goggles reflecting the light with a sinister gleam. She dove into the pool and he followed in after, searching the bottom of the dark pool for her. Suddenly, there was a small light, like a tiny LED at the bottom of the pool. Then another, and another, until a whole human sized figure was lit up with light purple lights. The two broke the surface at the same time, panting for breath.
"Whoa," John said, swimming over to her. "You glow?"
"Yeah! When it's dark, I can turn on my little lights," she giggled. "I don't have trouble in the dark because we're used to it on Alternia."
"That's so cool," he grinned, running his fingers along her arms, watching the little lights go out as his fingers covered them up, like stars in a sea of black.
"You're pretty cool too," she grinned, moving closer to him, pressing him against the pool wall.
"Oh, uhh-" She moved in close, looking over his face.
"Is this okay?" she asked, tugging her goggles off for the first time and looking into his eyes with seriousness and concern in her deep purple eyes, reflecting the glowing of her lights along her face, the freckles across her nose now bright with light.
"Y-yeah," he stammered. "It's okay." She nodded and closed the gap, pressing her lips to his, hot breath washing over each other, her lips moving down his neck and nibbling softly as his fingers threaded through her hair. She smiled and pushed away from him suddenly.
"I can show you something fun," she said softly as she floated to the middle of the pool.
"What?" She winked, curling her finger in a "come hither" motion before dropping into the water. He held his breath and followed her, following the lights own into the pool to the bottom where she was settled and grabbed his hips, pulling him into another kiss, tongue parting his lips. His eyes parted when suddenly he felt that he could breathe again. He cocked an eyebrow and she wiggled her fins.
They kissed for a while, tongues exploring each others mouths, his tongue running over each of her sharp teeth and hers exploring the varying landscape of sharp and dull teeth as well as the inside of his cheeks before she finally slowly pulled away and they swam back to the surface.
"Wow, Feferi," John panted softly, smiling. "That's… wow."
"You're pretty wow," she said, nibbling his lip and back down his neck.
"How long are you trolls staying here, again?" he said, eyes closed, running his fingers along her shoulders.
"At least a good few months, if not a full school year," she murmured against his skin.
"Do you want to go out with me?" he asked suddenly. She frowned, looking up at him.
"Go out where?"
"No, like…. Do you want to date me?"
"So you want to be matesprits?"
"Haha, maybe. What does that mean?"
"It's like… two people that are together like we are now, but in a romantic way."
"Yeah, exactly!" She feigned a frown, as if she was thinking.
"Hmm, I dunno, John," she winked and he kissed her before giving her a playful shove. She giggled, pressing back up against him. "I'd love to." She kissed him softly and they kicked off, floating hand in hand across the surface of the pool.