The following week
"Good morning, Penfield!" A cherry feminine voice seeped out of the speakers. "And welcome to day one of our 25th Annual Swimming Competition!'
An avalanche of cheers followed.
"Today, our very own Sharks are going to battle it out amongst themselves in a three-day-event for the lavish title of Penfield's Greatest Swimmer! Who's ready to see them in action?"
The replies were beyond deafening. Ever since I joined the swim team, I'd never seen the court this packed before. It was as if the entire school had crammed itself into the bleachers of the swimming court. Every seat was occupied.
"Hey bestie!" Two arms wrapped me from behind and gave me a squeeze.
"Princess! You need to stop doing that!" I quickly pried her arms off just before her boyfriend made an appearance with Nana Kwame in tow.
"Looking good, Akwasi," Ethan said with a broad grin. "Ready for your first race?"
"Yeah, I just wasn't expecting this place to be filled to the max," I said, casting a brief glance at the swarm of students and staff.
Nana Kwame laughed, "Yo dude, this is one of the biggest sporting events in Penfield. The academic board called off classes for the next three days so everyone could be here."
"So basically," Princess chipped in. "We're going to be swimming in front of the entire school for the next seventy-two hours."
"That's the boring part." Ethan waved her off. "The awesome part is that we're going to be having killer parties continuously till the grand finale on Friday night. And trust me, the grand finale parties are the best." The smile on Ethan's face could replace the sun at this point. "Last year after I became the two-time reigning champion, the party that followed was massive! From twerking competitions to grinding competitions and being in the centre of it all...oh God!" He exclaimed out of excitement. "Nothing can top last year's party!"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves E," Nana Kwame patted Ethan on the shoulder as all four of us made our way to the waiting area. "This is Penfield. You never know what students have in store for the grand finale."
The moment Nana Kwame completed the sentence, Seth walked past us like we were basically non-existent. I began wondering why until Ethan and the rest started laughing.
"There goes the big baby," Nana Kwame tried stifling a chuckle.
"You should've seen his face the day Amina told him that she didn't want to have anything to do with him. Dude was seconds away from crying a waterfall," Ethan bent over in laughter.
"I know right," Princess chortled. "I'm sure if the entire team wasn't around, he would've grabbed onto Amina and begged her to get back with him."
"Oh please Amina, please," Ethan dropped to the floor, acting out the scene Princess had just described. "Please don't leave me, cuz I can't live without your pussy."
The three of them burst into a hearty laugh, with Nana Kwame leaning on the corridor wall for support.
"Really guys?" I crossed my arms. "This isn't funny. You guys are Seth friends. Instead of standing here, laughing it up, maybe you should be by his side, helping him out."
"Argh, you're too much of a goody two shoes, Akwasi," Princess scoffed.
"Yeah, why should we help Seth when he's the very person who set himself up for disaster?" Ethan stood up and wiped away a stray tear of joy. "If he hadn't sent those pictures to Ishmael, he'd still be fucking Amina without any issues. He's like this because of greed."
"Exactly," Nana Kwame nodded. "Seth brought this upon himself. So why should we help him out?"
The question lingered in the air, altering my view of the kind of friends they were. But none of them seemed bothered as they trudged past the doors, announcing their presence in the waiting area where the rest of our teammates had gathered.
I followed them in, and opted to keep my distance from Ethan, who was now yapping on about how no one on the team had the guts to beat him.
In the midst of his bragging session, Coach entered the room along with two other individuals. I recognised them as the lab technicians who came for our blood and urine samples after practice on Tuesday. Their presence here could only mean one thing.
"Ahem!" Coach Sarah's deliberate cough, brought a halt to every form of communication. "Good morning everyone. I believe we're all excited and ready for the annual competition. But before we can proceed with that, we need to consider your test results from the urine and blood samples that were taken during the week. These gentlemen from the Ghana National Anti-Doping Organisation are here with the results."
The man on Coach's left handed her a brown envelope which she tore open.
The girl sitting beside me sucked in a harsh breath and I totally understood her reaction.
Failing any of the drug tests meant an automatic disqualification from all swimming activities for the rest of the year. Refusing to take the test wasn't an option either.
This competition was a big deal for Penfield because it was in preparation for the National Swimming Tournament. The sports department had pulled out all the big guns for this and they weren't going to let anything foul slip past them.
Coach Sarah's eyes glanced over the papers in her hand. One side of her lip crawled up, but it soon dropped the moment she flipped the page over.
To hide whatever emotion was running through her system, she cleared her throat a second time. "I'm glad to announce that 98% of you passed all the drug tests... with the exception of two swimmers."
Before the murmurs could build up, Coach demanded silence. "Akweley Laryea and Seth Owusu, I regret to announce that the two of you are disqualified from this year's annual competition."
"What!" Akweley shot out of her seat. "Why?"
"You tested positive for ligandrol," Coach responded with a knowing look. "A drug that's used for bodybuilding."
The cloud of snickers grew in size as Akweley's face turned red. She was a tall lanky girl who often complained about not having enough meat on her bones. So this new drug revelation did not come as a surprise.
"And Seth..."
All eyes shifted to the broad-shouldered guy, sulking at the back.
"Your tests revealed an excessive amount of alcohol and caffeine, along with slight traces of heroin in your bloodstream. Continuous intake will result in a series of heart problems and that's why I pulled you out of the competition." Coach took in a breath before continuing, "Both of you have a lot of potential and I cannot stand by and watch you throw it all into the garbage. Starting tomorrow, I will be regulating your daily meals. You are to pass by my office tomorrow at nine a.m for further details. And for the rest of you, goodluck with the competition."
The moment Coach Sarah and the two men exited the lounge, Akweley dashed after them, determined to change their minds about disqualifying her.
I was expecting Seth to follow suit, but the big guy kept his head low and quietly exited the lounge, heading in the direction of the locker rooms.
As the only person who'd seen him leave, I walked out of the chatter filled lounge, trailed over to the locker rooms and silently slipped past the double doors to find Seth, emptying the contents of his locker into a sports bag.
Grabbing the last item, he shoved it into the bag and attempted closing it. But it was so full that the zipper refused to corporate. With a growl, Seth applied all the force he could muster until the fastening mechanism broke in his hand. Frustrated, he flung the broken zip across the room and dropped down on the nearest bench with a deep sigh.
"Need some help with that?" I stepped further into the room.
All Seth did was to shoot me a deep frown. "I don't need your help, neither do I need your pity so you might as well leave."
"I didn't come here to pity you," I spoke firmly.
"Yeah right. I already know Ethan sent you here. What did he send you for, hmm?" Anger sent his tone a notch higher. "To mock me? To make me feel stupid and worse than I already feel right now?"
"Ethan didn't send me here!" I yelled back. "I came here out of my free will because I thought you'd need a friend since everyone on the team is basically ignoring you. But if you don't want me here, then that's fine, I'll go." Without much effort, I turned on my heel.
"Wait."
My feet came to a halt.
There was an awkward pause followed by a sigh, "I'm...I'm sorry. Because I saw you with Ethan this morning, I was under the impression that he sent you here to make fun of me after he ruined my life."
I turned back to Seth with a curious expression. "Why are you blaming Ethan for the situation you're in right now? He had nothing to do wi-"
"Of course, he did!" Seth snapped. "This whole nude pic shit was that fucking asshole's idea! My initial plan was to confront Ishmael, to tell him the truth about what was going on between me and Amina. But Ethan said no, he insisted that sending those dumb pics would guarantee a better chance of ending Amina's relationship with Ishmael. But the day I printed the pics," Seth paused to swallow, "I couldn't bring myself to send them because I knew it would hurt Amina, so I left them in my locker.... but Ethan, that blasted motherfucker went for them and slipped them under Ishmael's room door!"
"And as if that wasn't enough," Seth plopped down on the bench, wringing his hands, "he went around telling everyone that I was the one who sent the pictures." His hands soon curled into fists. "All that time I thought Ethan was just being a good friend... he was rather setting me up as Penfield's next laughing stock!"
Too shocked to say anything, I just stood rooted in my spot, finding it hard to believe that Seth was going through all this embarrassment because of Ethan.
"That guy is a real snake!" Seth spat. "He pretends to be cool with everyone so he can manipulate them to make himself look good. That's exactly what he has done to Nana Kwame and Princess." Seth's gaze flew up to my face. "He might be your childhood friend, but you better watch your back when it comes to him cuz Ethan is capable of anything and everything.
And for some mysterious reason, that last utterance sent a cold chill up my spine with a hint of deja vu. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake off the feeling that I'd heard a similar warning like this before.
If all the things Seth spewed out were true, then I needed to be careful.