The entire atmosphere reverberated with amicable cheers, chatter and laughter. It only intensified the pinch of worry swirling around in my gut as I made my appearance on the deck.
A 200 meter breaststroke race. My least favourite stroke was the only thing preventing me from securing a spot in day two's events.
"There's my cute bestie!"
"I'm not your bestie," I quipped, turning around to face her.
Princess gazed at me with a smug smile, "That's what you think." She'd just won the women's 200 meter breaststroke with a whopping 2 minutes 30 seconds, breaking last year's record of 2 minutes 35 seconds.
"How are you feeling?" Princess asked, adjusting the towel on her shoulders.
I sighed, "A bit nervous."
"What? I thought we were past this, Akwasi. Did you forget yours truly," she took on a dramatic pose, "who helped you improve your strokes and time."
"The fact that you won the women's 200 meter breaststroke doesn't mean it's going to rub off on me," I said then huffed, "Breaststroke is your thing, you've been swimming it for years. I on the other, have barely a year's worth of experience in it."
"Hey, hey." Her hand clasped around mine. "Don't look down on yourself ok. I believe in you. You're going to win this thing and you're going to win it better than you ever have in your life. You've got this, you've even got your nerdy friends to cheer you on."
"Nerdy friends?" I quirked up a confused eyebrow and Princess gestured to the left section of the audience. My eyes scanned the crowd for a minute until it landed on a couple of familiar figures. Akunna, Deon and a few others from the engineering club had painted blue horizontal stripes on their cheeks and were white t-shirts that boldly displayed the words "Go Akwasi!" in blue ink.
"If they're here to support you," Princess crossed her arms, "it means they believe that you can win. So go out there and win!"
"Thanks." A warm smile crept up my face. "...a lot."
"Swimmers, please take your positions!"
Heeding the instruction, I pulled off my jacket and adjusted the goggles on my forehead before moving towards the starting block. Amidst the incessant chatter, the sound of my name touched my ears and I immediately turned to my friends.
The cheers Felix and Deladem sent my way expanded the smile on my face. I couldn't hear what Akunna was saying, but I returned the thumbs up he gave me and laughed when Deon blew that loud plastic horn of his.
It felt good having all of them here like this. Though part of me still wished that one extra person was here to support me.
Don't go there, mister! My subconscious warned, this is not the time to mope over Shola. We have a race to win.
Right. After rolling my shoulders, I climbed up block 3, ready to conquer the huge task ahead.
"Take your marks!" The voice echoed out from the speakers.
I bent low, gripping the starting block like my life depended on it. 200 meters. 4 times the length of the pool. You can do this, Akwasi. You can do this.
Beep!
Casting all fears away, I threw myself into the pool, drowning out all the cheers as I streamlined forward then broke the surface to begin my strokes. Extending my arms, I cut through the layers of the water and pushed myself forward with my legs.
Cut! Push! Cut! Push! Cut! Push! Cut! Push!
The mantra kept me going through till the first 100meters. Now it was time to pick up the pace. Two swimmers were currently ahead of me and if I wanted to win this race, I had to let them eat my dust...or in this case, eat my waves.
I propelled myself forward with rapid kicks, eager to pull myself in line with the second swimmer. But my efforts took me a step further, slotting me in second place. Only one person stood in front of me now.
The moment I hit the last turn; the final one for this race, the cheers soared past the sound of splashing water. The wall was just a few meters in front of me. In the next couple of seconds, I would be there to hit that cold wet tile. The anticipation kept building up inside me, to the extent that I even lost track of the other swimmers. I didn't even notice when I slipped past the swimmer ahead of me. All I wanted was the win and I was going for it.
One last kick was all it took for me to touch the wall and...
Peeep!
"We have a winner!"
Desperate to see how well I did, I yanked off my goggles and sent my eyes to the scoreboard.
"Yes!" A neat 2 minutes, 29 seconds! I'd exceeded Princess' record and I couldn't have been prouder of myself. Happiness flooded every core of my bloodstream. This was what I wanted my life to be out; having the courage to overcome fears and challenges.
I climbed out of the pool, receiving a loud set of cheers for my victory. All of a sudden, Princess clobbered me in hug, nearly pushing me back into the pool.
"You see! What did I tell you? You won! You fricking won!" She yelled and twirled us around.
Laughing, I quickly pulled us to a stop before we both found our butts on the floor. My eyes then flew back to the crowd, eager to find my friends jubilating. Instead, I locked eyes with someone I wasn't expecting to see, someone who wasn't here when the race began. My arms fell from Princess' side.
Through her thick framed glasses, Shola stared at me with a flat expression. I wished I could run up to her and talk to her, to explain the hug with Princess. But a minute after our eyes met, she broke the link and turned to Felix, feigning interest in whatever he was blabbering about.
She was hurt. She didn't say anything, but I knew deep down that she was hurt.
On the lower seat, Akunna and Deon, who seemed to have witnessed that brief scene between Shola and I, both looked disappointed. Akunna just shook his and plopped back down on his seat, whilst Deon threw me nervous shrug.
My eyes flickered back to Shola, smiling at something Felix had said. In less than a minute, she had taken away my reason to celebrate. Though my teammates surrounded me with cheers and congratulatory messages, I didn't want any of them.
What I wanted was Shola...and her forgiveness.
"Hey!" Princess swatted me hard on the chest. "You ok?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm...I'm fine." I pushed her hand away without taking my eyes of Shola and that seemed to have pissed her off because she swatted me again.
"Arrgh, Akwasi! You need to get a grip on yourself. Staring at your crush in the middle of a public gathering is not cool! C'mon, we have a win to celebrate." Without giving me a choice, she grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the locker rooms.