Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

            I regained my cautious a short period of time after I blacked out. I blinked twice and rubbed my dry eyes. I could barely breathe. I choked out all the water that had entered my lungs and coughed consistently. “Air,” I gasped.

            “Give her space!” demanded coach. A few people backed away. “Sanchez, you okay?” he asked. “Fine, my head just hurts a little,” I moaned. “We have training again, two days from now. You can try out then,” he said. “No! I want to tryout TODAY!” I retorted. “That was a statement Sanchez, not an alternative.”

            Furiously, I grabbed Ken’s goggles and ran to the plunging board. “Sanchez! GET DOWN NOW!” Coach Zeke bellowed. It was too late. I jumped.

            The look on coach’s face was neither impressed nor furious. He wore his poker face as I came out of the pool after a 50 meter sprint.

            “I tried out already,” I stated. “Really? Didn’t know that, Captain Obvious,” one of Isis friends smirked. “Sanchez, you do know I can’t let you on the team without an official timing right?”

            “I took your time,” mumbled a voice from the back. It was Dan. I gave him a disapproving look. “Diego right?” Coach Zeke growled. “Diaz, sir,” he replied. “Unless you’re on this team, you’re not permitted on these grounds,” he warned sternly.

            “Her time was 23.08 seconds,” he said affirmatively. “Diaz, you don’t have any certificate or experience with time-taking. If Sanchez had indeed gotten 23.08 seconds, surely she would’ve been offered a scholarship from NCAA, not EINY,” Coach Zeke replied calmly. “With all due respect sir, NCAA only recruits college swimmers. Sasha’s still in high school. Plus, her academic record is exemplary. Hence, it is no surprise she was rewarded the full scholarship from the Institute,” Dan explained.

            I stood there, trying to catch my breath. Is Dan Diaz defending me? Is he standing up for me? I felt a pang of giddiness. “Diaz, stop being such a know-it-all and get the hell out of my stadium!” coach yelled. “Zeke!” someone shouted from the back. Coach turned around. “Sup, chief,” coach ignored Dan and walked towards the man. “Dude, I’m telling you. That chick really did do 23.08 seconds on that sprint. It’s on camera,” he motioned to a room.

            Coach Zeke looked impressed. He came back to the circle of people surrounding me, and gave Dan an approving nod. “Welcome to the team, Sanchez,” he shook my hand. 

           

            I skipped back to my dorm after I took a quick shower. Satisfied with myself, I grinned and waved to everyone I passed. So what if I looked like a retard? The point of life is to go through your ups and downs. Right now, is definitely an up moment, so I decided to just live it to its best extend.

            I decided to treat myself by eating the Godiva chocolates Dan bought me during our shopping trip. Yes, it cost a lot of money but it’s so good! He bought me a gift basket (welcome gift, he claimed). So I munched down half a box or Godiva chocolates and a crateful of strawberries while treating myself to a long bubble bath. When I came out, I began to realize, it was only Monday. I had a Lit essay due tomorrow, notes on History and wow I better stop thinking so much and start actually doing my homework. One thing I absolutely love about Ms Hailey’s Lit class, is she’s really environmentally friendly, so we do everything on our school laptop (given to every student, the laptop can only access the internet with a special browser, only used for education, and limited storage space to avoid students"namely guys"playing computer games in class.

            After all my homework was promptly finished, I went off to bed. I was exhausted and my back ache like crazy, my head thumping and the blue-black bruise on my forehead was starting to hurt even more. Even so, I dosed of within minutes.

 

Author's Note

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