Chapter 7: Ocean - Battle Against St. Reece's Part 1

Ocean

It was Saturday morning, the twenty-fifth of September. Just over six weeks into the new school year. Today was the first major swim meet with our rival team. Not to mention it was the first meet that the new pretty boy, Makai Rivers, was going to be competing with us.

Not to mention it was just over a month before my eighteenth birthday. Not that it was important right now but it's major to me even if it isn't important to anyone else. This was a major time in my life right now and everything was just going to shit.

Still, I was going to fight as hard as I could. Today Jasper High and St. Reece's were going to be meeting on the battlefield. The trouble was, Jasper High had two opposing generals that they needed to overcome. I just hoped that I could successfully ignore that asshole until it was all over with.

I did my best to force myself to eat the breakfast that my mom had made for me. Mom and Dad were both there and they were cheering me on but it didn't seem to help me feel any better.

Mom, with her long mahogany hair and warm brown eyes. The cinnamon and caramel color of her soft skin. She was so beautiful and so sweet. She always encouraged me to do what I wanted and to have fun. She was the best mom ever.

Dad, with his bright blue eyes and blonde hair that went perfectly with his alabaster complexion. He was a hard working man that said he provided for us because he knew what it was like to struggle. He never raised his voice or got angry. If my parents were ever mad they talked it out with each other or us. What better parents could I have asked for besides them?

Once I left the house I felt like the food I had eaten was sitting uncomfortably in my stomach. I knew that I couldn't hold it down and therefore I needed to pull the car over to the side of the road before I got to where I was going.

Hell with the way that I am feeling right now, I was glad that my mom and dad weren't going to be at the meet today. Thank you Aunt Linda for having surgery and requiring them to visit you.

After a few minutes my stomach was settled and I was able to get back in the car. It was almost time for the pre match warm ups. Thankfully I was feeling a little better. It was probably just nerves. I never usually get nervous but I guess it could happen. This was a big day after all.

After ten more minutes or so I finally made it to the community pool, where we held all meets between Jasper High and St. Reece's. With the community pool no one had a home court advantage so to speak. However, we were all used to swimming here so it didn't really matter.

I hurried to the locker rooms and got changed into my blue and green regulation speedo shorts. They were like a regular speedo but they covered just a little more and looked more like small tight shorts than the underwear that a regular speedo would cover. I didn't mind either one and would go between them when practicing but for meets we had to wear the shorts.

Same as always, Makai was at the locker next to mine when we were getting ready. I really didn't want to be anywhere near him but it was like I didn't have a choice at all. I could even feel him looking at me while I was getting dressed which creeped me out. What was it he wanted from me?

"Hey, Ocean, nice tattoo." I heard Makai's voice and confirmed that I was right, he had been staring at me.

"It's not a tattoo." I ground the words out through my teeth. "It's a birthmark." I knew what he was referring to even without looking at it.

The mark in question was a small brown three pronged fork. It was odd but it was basically an oddly shaped mole. I had dealt with people asking me about it my entire life. I was not going to go into details about my body with him.

"Huh, that's cool." That was all that he had to say about it, thank God, I didn't want to hear anymore from him at all.

I slammed my locker shut and walked out to the pool. Makai did the same, following close behind me like he usually did. Was he trying to wear me down or something? Did he think if he was persistent he could get me to be his friend? Why did he chase after me so hard? There were plenty of other people willing to be his friend.

I felt sick and weak but I was still strong enough to give this meet my all. I was first up with Ryan, Ben, and Justin in the 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay. I was last on deck, the one meant to clinch the win with my fast swimming as long as the others didn't do too terribly bad.

Thankfully, the others did no worse than they usually did, coming in around fifty-one seconds each. I leapt into the water and swam as fast as I could. I came in at just over forty-eight seconds, a new record for me. And of course we won. St. Reece's couldn't hold a candle to us.

Makai and I were put together in my next match up. It was the one hundred meter backstroke. I had been practicing this one a lot more since it had been my worst, even though I was still faster than my teammates. I managed to finish the race with a time of just over fifty-four seconds. Makai finished it one second quicker than I did.

When I got out of the water I saw that Brittney was in the stands watching. Something I didn't think she was going to do today. She had seen me lose to Makai. If I didn't pull this around I would lose her to him as well.

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