My hand cupped my cheek.
Shola kissed me!
Shola frigging kissed me!
I could still feel it. The imprint of her puckered lips on my face had me floating on cloud nine instead of walking back to my hall. Goosebumps set my skin ablaze and my heart took on an erratic beating tempo.
It was just a simple peck, but it had revealed so much to me; what it felt like to love someone, to have strong and intense feelings that could make you go haywire and feel all jittery inside.
The sudden urge to tell someone about this welled up inside me and I began patting my pockets for my phone with the intention of calling Akunna. But after a minute's search, a memory dawned on me.
Oh crap, I left my phone on charge in the lab.
I also didn't have a key. Shola would probably be settling down for her beauty sleep by now, and I didn't want to bother her. Apart from Shola, the only other person I knew had a key was Chad, the club's treasurer.
After a quick dash to his hall, I made my way towards the lab with the keys jingling in my hands. Slotting one into the designated hole, I hadn't even turned the key fully when the doors clicked open. Strange. Didn't Shola lock up before we left?
Curious, I walked in and turned on the light, eyes flitting over every inch of the room. They soon came to a halt on the gleaming piece of machinery sitting in a corner. Our robotics project stood with its right arm sticking out. The old blanket we had used to cover it was now a rumpled mess at its feet.
I moved over, picked up the blanket and gently pushed the robotic arm down, then covered it up with the blanket. My attention soon veered back to the thing that brought me here. Pulling my charger out of the socket under the window, my phone lit up, alerting me of a full battery.
"What the fuck are you doing here?"
My head shifted in the voice's direction. Mawuli stood at the entrance with a vivid frown etched onto his forehead.
"I left my phone behind," I simply said, holding the device up. "What are you doing here?"
He hesitated. "I... I left my tools." He entered and snatched a small tool bag off the table. "Now can you please get out so I can lock up?"
Stuffing my phone into my back pocket, I walked past Mawuli, shooting him a suspicious glare. He also didn't fail to send me a nasty one in return as he plunged the entire lab into darkness.
I watched him lock the place up, metal grid and all, before setting off to return Chad's keys.
¤¤¤¤¤
A day later.
"Ok guys!" Coach Sarah began her address to the entire team in the corridor. "This is the moment we've been training for. We're here at the El-Wak Sports Stadium for Ghana's Regional Level Swimming Competition. I'm not gonna mince words, guys. We're here to make history. To leave a permanent mark cuz that's what I trained you all for. This is our only shot at Nationals, so I expect you to give it your best!" She yelled. "We came here to do nothing but to WIN! It's time to make me proud! It's time to make Penfield proud! So go out there and show them what you're made of!"
"Yeah!" The loud baritone voices from the guys drowned out the response from the girls.
I shrugged on my team jacket, pretending not see Ethan and Princess huddled in a corner, kissing and groping each other, the entire time Coach was giving her motivational speech.
Ever since they got back together, their PDAs have gone a notch higher. I've even lost count of the number of times Coach scolded them for making out during practice hours, but they never seemed to mind.
Taking a swig out of my water bottle, I followed a couple of the girls into the lobby. Though I had my first heat in the next twenty minutes, I still wanted to watch some of my teammates in action.
"Hey, man." Nana Kwame extended a hand as I approached. "You're up after Seth's race, you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." I slapped my hand in his.
"That's the spirit!" He smiled, then his eyes darted past my shoulder in search of someone. "Yo where's Ethan?"
"Smooching Princess."
"Really?" Nana Kwame's eyebrows flew up. "At a time like this?"
"I'm the team captain, N.K." Out of the blue, Ethan materialized beside us. "Which means I can do whatever I want, including kissing my girl for some good luck."
"Your girl? Yeah right," Nana Kwame snorted. "More like your personal prostitute."
"Ssh guys, Seth's heat is starting." I pointed at the TV.
Our broad-shouldered teammate and his competitors jumped into the water and grabbed the starting block's metallic railing.
"It's always surprising seeing him so serious like this," Nana Kwame whispered and I nodded in agreement. Seth was basically the team clown, but when it was time for a race, he was a completely different person.
"On your marks!" The voice crackled out of the speakers.
Beep!
All swimmers threw themselves backwards, slicing through water with the backstroke. Seth started out slow and steady, allowing three other swimmers to go ahead of him. But the moment they reached the turn, he picked up the pace in a millisecond. His long arms skillfully cut through the water like a knife slicing through butter. His feet propelled him forward and forward until...
Peee!
"Yes!" The whole team jumped up in celebration.
"I guess whoever said slow and steady wins the race wasn't a liar," Ethan chuckled. "Your turn, buddy." He gave me a light punch. "Ready?"
"You bet," I smirked.
"Go make us proud, then." Nana Kwame urged.
As I walked out of the lobby, the confidence welling up inside me tipped my emotional scale. I didn't know why, but I felt really good about this race and the competition as a whole.
After a quick warm up, we were ushered out onto the deck. My eyes immediately shifted to the bleachers. They were occupied alright, but not by people I knew. Shola and the rest of the engineering team couldn't make it today because they had the science fair to get ready for. Akunna was also in the same boat, assisting his chemistry club with preparations and Deon had an urgent family issue to take care off so he went back home.
I understood all their reasons, but it still didn't erase the tiny ball of disappointment that none of my friends were here to support me.
"Ladies and Gents, it's time for the Men's 100meter breaststroke heat! Swimmers, please find your lanes."
Locating lane five, I mounted the starting block and adjusted my goggles. The water lay before me like a turquoise blue jewel.
"Gents, on your marks!"
I bent low. For the long hours training.
Beep!
The water enveloped me in a warm embrace as I began streamlining. Breaking the surface, my arms extended, paving way through the mass of chlorine liquid. I paid no attention to the swimmers on my sides because this wasn't about them, it was about me. This was my chance to redeem myself and I wasn't going to let anything get in my way.
My hand touched the tile and I flipped, streamlining through the water again. The cheers managed to touch my ears, prompting me to go even further. My legs felt like turbines, just pushing and pushing me towards the wall until my hand slapped the cold surface.
Peee!
Catching my breath, I yanked off my goggles and blinked at the score board.
Pen U. Sharks || Akwasi Appiah || 1:16 || 1st place.
"Yes!" I had beaten the person behind me by a whopping three seconds! If this wasn't the best way to start the competition, then I didn't know what was.
Climbing out of the pool, I grabbed a towel and shook hands with a few of my competitors. As I made my way back into the lobby, I ran into Seth.
"There's our breaststroke champion!" Seth clobbered me in a hug that stole my breath away. "That was some speed you had there, bro. For minute I thought you were a fish."
He set me down and a chuckle left my mouth. "Ah, thanks, thanks."
"Seth! Akwasi!" Coach walked towards us, eyebrows pulled into a deep frown. "Any of you seen Ethan?"
"Uh no, ma'am," I replied.
Seth just shook his head, awkwardly twisting his lips.
I turned back to Coach. "Um, Ethan is in the next heat so he should be warming up by now."
"Well, he isn't." Coach Sarah's frown deepened. "He's not on the swimming court or in the locker rooms. If this boy thinks he can just pull a disappearing stunt in the middle of a competition, then he's got another thing coming." Her nostrils flared. "You two go search for him outside, I'll check the bleachers." With balled fists, Coach Sarah stormed off like she was out for blood.
"Oh men, she so pissed," Seth let out a hearty laugh. "It's making me wonder what she'll do if she knew where Ethan was right now. Her head would probably explode."
The statement had me turning to find a mischievous gleam in Seth's eyes, which could only mean one thing.
"You know where Ethan is, don't you?" I crossed my arms.
"Heck yeah," his grin expanded. "Come on."
Draping the towel over my neck, I followed an eager Seth down the corridor to a set of stairs that led to the men's washroom. We hurried down and Seth quietly shoved the door open.
My first guess was Ethan had a very bad tummy problem. But the moment I entered the washroom, the idea vanished into thin air.
"Aah, fuck baby," Ethan muttered. "Yeah deeper, just like that." A loud moan followed and I froze.
"No way!" My eyes grew to the size of saucers. "Are they..."
Seth nodded, smiling gleefully as he drew closer to the occupied cubicle. From the gap under the door, a pair of swim jammers hang from two hairy legs, whilst the other set of legs were kneeling right in front of the hairy legs doing...God knows what.
Another loud moan and Seth banged a fist on the door, startling both of them into silence.
"This...this stall is taken!" Ethan yelled, sounding breathless.
"Yeah we know," Seth laughed. "You guys were clearly moaning up a storm."
The two of them heaved out a sigh of relief.
"What are you doing here, Seth?" A feminine voice asked and my eyebrows disappeared into my hairline.
"Princess?"
"Akwasi?" She was obviously the one kneeling because in the next minute she stood up. "Why are you here?"
"To fetch you guys, duuh." Seth rolled his eyes. "Ethan's heat is starting in the next three minutes so you better shove his dick back into his jammers before Coach Sarah snaps both of you in half."
"Oh shit." A flurry of shuffles ensued. Ethan quickly pulled up his swim jammers and was the first to barge out of the cubicle. He dashed past me, leaving Princess behind. She stepped out, wiping what looked like a whitish liquid off her chin.
I recoiled in disgust.
"The two of you shouldn't have come here," she mumbled.
"Um did you forget that this is the men's washroom?" Seth stressed on the words. "If there's anyone who shouldn't have come here, it's you."
"But seriously Princess, how could you think of giving Ethan a blow job during a competition?" I quizzed.
"Hey, he was the one who asked for it ok! Plus who am I to say no if my boyfriend wants a bj? It's my duty to give it to him and to give it to him well."
"Really? In a public washroom?" I countered and Seth laughed.
"Ok guys, no need to get worked up," he said. "It's all over. Let's just hope this doesn't affect Ethan's game."
Oh but it did.
Instead of jumping into the pool the moment the buzzer went off, Ethan hesitated, resulting in a late start and putting him behind everyone else.
A series of groans filled the lobby were I sat watching with the rest of the team. Though he tried bridging the gap with his speed, the men's 100meter freestyle race ended with our team captain at fifth place out of eight swimmers.
"Coach is definitely gonna kill him," Nana Kwame said beside me.
"Yeah, no doubt about that," I murmured.