The following day
I slapped my hand against the tile and lifted my head up, taking deep breaths.
In preparation for regionals, I'd been training my butt off to improve my time for all my strokes, especially breaststroke. What happened during the last meet could not happen again.
Tired, I pulled myself out of the pool to take a break, when the doors flew open.
"Aha! Figured you'd be here." A bubbly Princess jogged over, holding her sports bag. "I've been looking everywhere for you."
Ignoring her, I picked up a towel to dry my hair, then her arms clumped round my waist from behind. "What the--Princess, let go!"
"Oh c'mon, it's just a hug," she giggled, nuzzling her face into my back.
I wriggled some more and she finally let go to settle on a nearby bleacher. "Aahh, last night was amazing," the corners of her lips twitched up.
"Guess that means you and Ethan are back together?"
"Well... he told me he hasn't completely forgiven me for cheating on him." she shrugged. "But I think he has. He just wants to play hard to get. Anyway, I didn't come here to talk about that. I came here to give you...this." She rummaged through her sports bag. "Tadaa!" She pulled out an ash gift bag and shoved it into my hands.
The bag contained a grey scented box which I pulled out and opened. My eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. "A... a Rolex watch?" And it was the latest model too.
"Mhmm." Princess beamed. "It's a little something something to say thank you for being there for me. Honestly, if you hadn't come to get me out of my gunk, I'd probably still be in my room, living off Gulder beer and coke."
At this point, I struggled to find words. "I...I... I appreciate the thought behind this but...I can't accept this."
"Arrgh, c'mon. Don't be like that," she groaned.
"No, no seriously. It must've cost you a fortune to buy this."
"Well, it was expensive, but it doesn't matter cuz all of it was Ethan's money, plus you deserve it, Akwasi." She pushed the gift closer to my chest. "You're the whole reason Ethan and I are trying to fix our relationship. It's because of you. So please, don't turn my appreciation down."
Speechless, I gaped at the gift in my hands. "I..."
The doors swung open again and this time Seth and a number of our teammates walked in. I quickly shoved the rolex into my sports bag.
"Yo Akwasi, Princess, wassup?" The broad-shouldered guy gave us the usual bro handshake.
"Good, just sneaking in some extra training," I said.
"I'm surprised to see you here, Seth." Princess crossed her arms. "Considering how much you drank last night, it's a miracle you're not suffering from a massive hangover."
"I owe it all to Dr. Nana Kwame's wonderful prescriptions. I swear, the dude has pills for everything, including pills for fucking. Can you believe that?" He chuckled.
"Hey guys, listen up!" Ethan called out, announcing his presence. "Coach is gonna run a little late, but she left strict orders for us to follow this practice outline." He lifted a sheet of paper for all of us to see. "So let's all change and start warming up!"
Grabbing her sports bag, Princess began walking in the direction of the locker rooms, followed closely by Seth.
"Wow, your captain sure likes to bark out instructions." My roommate walked up to me; hands tucked in his khaki pockets.
My eyebrows flew up in surprise. "Akunna, what are you doing here? I thought you hated this place."
"I still do, I hate sports and this entire building," He replied, giving the pool a disapproving glance. "But I stopped by to give you this." Taking off his green backpack, he dug a hand into it and pulled out a white rectangular envelope.
"What is it?"
"Why don't you find out?" A mischievous grin touched his lips.
Cautiously taking the envelope from him, I slid a finger under the flap and opened it, pulling out a card with a message inscribed on the front. A message in Akunna's scrawny handwriting.
When you two finally become a couple, please don't forget the people who helped you get there.
"A couple?" I shot him an incredulous look. "Dude, what are you talking about?"
"That's not all, flip it over."
Doing that rendered me breathless. Right before me was a picture of Shola and I slow dancing; eyes closed, foreheads touching and lost in our own reverie. Amidst all the silhouettes dancing in the background, the two of us were like bright stars, lighting up the night sky.
"I paid the photographer to take a picture so this enthralling moment would last longer." Akunna crossed his arms.
A grateful smile crawled up my face. "A-Akunna...I... I don't know what to say."
"Good cuz I don't want any of your sappy thank yous," he snorted. "I just hope this is enough to convince you to actually make a move on Shola so you can drop the 'she's-not-in-my-league speech'."
I chuckled, "Don't worry, you're not going to hear that speech ever again."
"Thank God," he huffed.
"Yo, Akwasi!"
We both turned to find Ethan moving towards. I put the picture back in its envelope and into my sports bag.
"I should get going." Akunna pulled his backpack on. "I have an Animal Biology class at 4:30."
"Oh ok. I'll see you this evening then?"
"Yeah sure."
By the time Ethan made it over, Akunna had just slipped past the doors. "Hey, was that your roommate?"
"Uh yeah, he just stopped by to give me something."
"Huh." Ethan nodded. "I see you came earlier than usual for practice."
"Yeah, I've been working really hard on my strokes. I just...don't want what happened during the last meet to happen again."
"Oh ok." He hitched his bag higher. "Wanna see if the extra training paid off with a quick race?"
"Sure." I folded my arms. "I'm down for a 100meter freestyle race."
"How about we try something else, something different from what we normally do?"
My eyebrows dipped in curiosity. "Ok...what did you have in mind?"
An impish smirk touched his lips. "Individual medley. All four strokes in one race, the loser gives the winner 100cedis. You game or not?"
A warning bell started blaring in my head, mostly because this was unexplored territory. I had zero experience swimming all four strokes in one race. But there was always a first time for everything, and this moment was one of those first times. If I wanted to develop myself in Penfield's world of swimming, then I needed to accept and overcome challenges like these. It was with that thought in mind that I gave Ethan a solid nod. "I'm game."
"Great." His smirk expanded. "Lemme go change first."
"Sure."
A quick dash to the locker rooms and the captain of the swim team was back, joining me at the starting blocks. He had asked Seth to be the timer so he walked up to us with a stopwatch in his hands.
"Ok guys, this is a 200meter individual medley and I want a clean race," Seth instructed. "You're going four times across the length of the pool, starting with butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and then freestyle. The loser has to give the winner 100cedis. Are we good?"
"Yeah." We both nodded and he gestured for us to mount a block.
I settled my weight on block 5 whilst Ethan took block 4.
"May the best swimmer win," I said, pulling on my goggles.
"Thanks," his grin lengthened. "I will."
Pi! "Gentlemen, on your marks."
I stooped low, gripping the block. Everyone on the team was watching us. From the corner of my eye, I spotted Princess standing over with the girls.
Dude focus! My subconscious snapped. This is your first race against Ethan, you gotta win this!
Right! I brought my attention back to the layers of water in front of me.
"Get set!"
My grip tightened. You've got this, Akwasi.
Pii!
Immediately the whistle went off, a loud splash followed with Ethan and I zipping through the water and emerging at the surface to begin our strokes.
Extending my arms, I paved way through my lane with butterfly, kicking my legs as hard as I could. Ethan, however, dashed past me with ease and hit the wall before I could.
Shit!
Flipping onto my back, my arms went counter-clockwise, splashing through water like my life depended on it. C'mon, c'mon. I swung faster, propelling myself forward.
The cheers blew up as we touched the wall a second time for the third stroke: Breaststroke. As if some unspeakable force was behind me, I began picking up the pace, going faster and faster till I touched the tile a third time and flipped.
The last stroke was one that didn't require much force. Freestyle was my stroke. It was the stroke that made me fall in love with swimming and as I propelled myself forward, that same stroke did not fail to secure my victory.
The moment my hand slapped the cold tile, Seth blew the whistle hard. "Finishing in first place with 2 minutes, 5 seconds is the one and only, Akwasi Appiah!"
Cheers and applause erupted as Seth extended a hand to help me out of the pool. "Congrats bro!" He swatted me on the back, startling me a bit.
"Yeah." Princess drew closer. "You managed to do something no one on the team has been able to do, and that's to kick Ethan's ass."
Ethan shot her a look before turning to me with a smile. "It seems the extra training paid off, and as promised..." He slapped a crispy 100 cedi note in my hand. "Congratulations."
"Thanks," I grinned.
Others from the team came over to share their thoughts on the race when a sudden set of applause cut through all the noise.
Coach Sarah stood a few meters away from the door, clapping. "What happened to following the practice outline?"
The entire court fell silent, except for a few shuffles.
"S-sorry Coach." Ethan stepped forward. "This one's on-"
"I don't want excuses, Ethan!" She yelled. "When I give instructions, I expect them to be followed! I am responsible for this team and I will not tolerate any form of disobedience, especially from the team captain!"
Nodding, Ethan stepped back, lips pressed into a firm line.
"With Regionals starting on Friday, we cannot afford to waste any more time with your silly games! You all know how important this is to Penfield." Coach heaved out a sigh. "As your punishment, practice will end at seven instead of the usual six. Now let me see some training! 50 laps in the pool, hop to it!"
"Aw man," Seth groaned, mixing with a cloud of similar grumbles from the others. Nonetheless, we all started getting ready.
I pulled my cap back on, still beaming. No matter how many laps Coach made us take, it could never wipe away this satisfying victory.