Heyy children of the most highð here's an update earlier than usual as I said. Dedicated to Je_dwinfor commentinggggð«ð«my agba commenter thank you so much. Dedicated to every other wonderful reader that leaves commentsðð
I declare this part OPENNNN
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Amanda's POV
(Amanda Aderinsola Akinde)
"Three, two, one" the whistle goes off and I dive in, along with 7 other contestants
The familiar kiss of the warm water hits my skin and the feeling thrills me. I stretch my hands fully for my forward stroke to really count knowing that I have an advantage over the other new comers who have not really found out their footing. I give myself a solid push to complete the lap totally unaware of the positions my competitors stood at the moment. Giving extra effort to complete the final four feet of the pool I feel my hand graze the tiles slightly as I prop myself out of the pool.
Claps and cheers erupt from the audience behind me as I look to find out I am the only one out of the water, the others are still struggling to finish. I feel like letting out a scoff when I see this, the coach actually made me swim with SS1 tryouts, how embarrassing! These guys have probably never even competed, does he know how many medals I got in Bolton? A whole Mami water Amanda
I look over to where the coach and captains usually sit where I see Toke looking at me with the most bored expression ever, as if she sees someone swim like a fish everyday. I can't believe I imagined all night how surprised she would look like when she witnessed me in water, I guess nothing impresses this Ice witch!
I grab my towel from my chair and wrap it over my shoulders as the other swimmers who just got out of the water are doing. The coach signals for the next set of swimmers to stand at the edge ready to dive. From my seat I watch each of them and their similar stances, each probably saying a silent prayer. I notice the last person to walk over to the stand, Toke. Okay this girl has never been a fan of baggy clothes but I don't think I've ever seen her figure this much before in my life! Our school had one piece swim suits which had tights that got to our mid thighs and tops that exposed just our upper backs and that was all. That was all Toke needed to show us she could pop in and out of a fashion magazine anytime she wanted, she had flesh in all the right places, curves in all the right places. See my mate lord am I a potato?
The whistle is blown and just like that Toks flies into the water, her motion in water is so silent, so swift. It looks as though she melted into the ripples and has become one with the water, she was made for this. As she flips to complete the second half of the lap a second girl Denaya, one which I already picked is the second best after Toks which made them tie often, is catching up with Toke and may outswim her. I don't know if I'm supposed to be feeling this way but I am silently praying for Toke to go faster and not let Denaya take first place, no offence Denaya but I am secretly rooting for Toke. Like she'd ever root for me
It seems like Toke heard me telling her to go faster when she suddenly did at the end and got to the finish, slightly ahead of Denaya. Majority of the cohort beside me clap and cheer for Toke, junior students who adore the peanuts out of her. Toke doesn't even seem fazed by the whole fan girl rubbish the juniors are doing when she gets out of the water, she simply grabs her towel and dries herself off silently as the coach scribbles numbers and names on the board. He stands up slowly then gestures for everyone to gather around him for information
"You guys all did well, I'm impressed to say the least. I've made my top ten list and those who did not make the cut are still our swim team but you need to work harder okay?"
"Yes coach" we all chorus
"I'll leave the list with your captain, training begins officially on Monday"
Everyone starts cheering and hooting and the giddy SS1 students are jumping and squealing like they already saw their names on the top ten list.
I sight Denaya and some other senior team girls walking over to the locker room. I walk closely so I can walk in with them you know we the 'senior swim team' I could feel my ears growing hot from the excitement of today's turn out. Not only have I competed, I won and am definitely among the top three fastest on the team. That would be Toke, Denaya and I not sure in what order exactly but I'm too giddy to care. Why shouldn't I be walking in with them?
The girls put their things down as they both take their caps off, Toke's revealing her perfectly neat and completely natural cornrows with gold and silver ropes -or what would I call them- decorated her hair perfectly. Denaya on the other hand has a cool afro cut that gives her a stud look. Denaya ties her towel around her waist turning slightly noticing me as I walk in. I try not to be awkward as I fit in my new crew
"You were really good out there you guys" I smile at the both of them
They both look at me, one with a smile and the other with a more arrogant expression
"Ahan it's even our Mami water premium" Denaya smiles as I laugh nervously at her joke "you were really good too welcome to the team" she smirks coolly
"Thank you so much-
"You need to work on how hard you splash and your boost does not give you a headstart if it's not actually a boost" Toke said all in a breath
"Okay.." I had no words to say to her comments. I don't think anyone has ever told me straight out that something was wrong with my swimming
"Cut it toks at least tell her you were thrilled by the electric performance" Denaya says throwing a smug look at the taller girl
"Well I wasn't, hope you brought your note like I asked at least I can help you with that" she clutches her blue duffel bag as she walks out on Denaya and I. Denaya gives a tight smile and shakes her head mentally telling me to "not take it to heart" too late, I already did
"It was nice to see you swim, I'm Denaya Mike-Adeleke you can call me Denny" she stretches her hand out to me
"I'm Amanda, call me Trip please" I take her hand balancing my duffel bag on my other shoulder
"See you around" she releases my hand and gives me a small pat walking past me
Denaya has this cool, fresh vibe that anyone would want to love. She looks and acts like a boy, I'm sure she grew up around brothers. Her afro isn't freshly cut so the sides have some extra hair even though the style is still prominent. She has a piercing on each of her nostrils and they glittered when she turned or tilted her head. I have never seen her outside school but I'm sure her choice of outfit would be baggy boyish outfits judging from how baggy her uniforms are. They are baggy but not ugly though, she's one of the very few slaying big uniforms
*
"Oh my gosh Trip baby I'm so happy for you" Nana squeals my ears off as we walk into the cafeteria
We checked the top ten list and my name sat there, coolly in the midst of Sheffield's swim team. I am super excited but Nancy is definitely beyond super excited. She has not stopped squealing since we left her class when I delivered the news
She drags me into SS2 class where the school's most notorious students chose not to go for lunch
"I'm guessing you guys heard the bell, before 5 seconds I want to see the back of the slowest person's head" Nancy says with a voice that is different from her normal chatty one, she sounds so scary. I expect the students to grumble or complain or something of that sort but even the boy with the most stoic expression when we got there has panic written all over his face. They all scamper out of their classroom and head straight for the cafeteria with many saying "leave the road abeg" "aunty walk faster" Omo I was more than thrilled at how good my best friend commanded the crowd
As they all disperse Nancy goes back to her chatty and bubbly self exclaiming over everything and complaining about how she'll soon need to take her braids out and make new ones. Apparently she hates sitting down for hours in the salon
"So you're not planning to ever go back?" I hear a voice I recognize as Aidan's echoing through the almost silent hallway
"I don't know, I'm just- just not ready" a deeper voice says with a sigh
We make a bend and see Aidan and Erling at the cafeteria entrance in a bit of serious a conversation
"You really want to run from this forever" Aidan says with a scoff as he shakes his head
"I'm not running it's just-
He stops when he sees us walking towards the cafeteria. I see a broken expression behind his usually sea blue orbs, it lasts for only a second as he goes back to his usual cold expression straightening his back. He acknowledges his cousin with a smile that doesn't reach his eyes and signals for his other to go in with him. His gaze pauses on me for a second before he walks out, away from the direction of the cafeteria, as usual bouncing like a wounded cow. So arrogant! Nancy whispers that she needs to talk to Erling, she trails after him
I walk with my tray of rice, chicken and sprite trying my best not to stumble as I can feel gazes from the senior boys table on me. It feels like they were seeing me for the first time, walking without Nana made me feel so exposed- I really want to get to my seat faster. I quicken my pace then set my tray on the table as I let out a sigh. I don't notice when someone pulls my chair when I'm about to sit making me fall, I try to save myself from falling at the last minute but manage to knock over the bottle of water water on the table making it spill all over me as my butt lands on the tiles, hard
The dining erupts in loud laughter as they watch me on the floor. Some shout "oooh" and "yeee" when I turned around to see the dim wit that played that on me. I turn to see Amaka and Nkechi laughing and throwing their heads back and forth in laughter. Tears blur my vision as the students snicker and make comments, what did I ever do to these guys?!
"Amaka must you behave like an uncultured swine?" an obviously annoyed Toke groans
She gets up from her seat and walks over to me. She picks up the cutlery I dropped not really looking at me still sitting on the floor
"Awwww Toke the defender of justice, did you hit your head on a bus?" Amaka mocks as she clasps her palm over her mouth still letting her animalistic snorts out as she laughed. Not really woman-like if you'd ask me
I stand up slowly, aware most eyes are on me. I would be downplaying if I said I'm embarrassed. I expect toke to help me up, but instead she does something I don't quite expect
She leans over to grab the remnant of the water and flips it over Amaka's head splashing the remaining on the both of them who now have their mouths open in shock. Amaka stands up and bangs the table angrily
"Toke are you mad?!" Amaka yells seething at toke who now holds me by my elbow. The latter simply turns to Nkechi
"Nkechi, chain your animal" she pulls me along with her out of the hall
I hear a lot of 'ooohh' and 'aaaaaahs' and 'yeeeeeees' as we walk out. Toke just stood up for me and that does not happen every day
We don't stop walking till we enter the ladies room just around the corner of the hallway
"What is wrong with you?!!" Toke yells at me
Startled I'm lost for words, is this girl bipolar or something? She just stood up for me and she's here screaming like we're having a lovers' quarrel?
"I- I don't know, she pulled the chair-
"Then you stay on the floor like a loser?" She sighs as she rubs her temple "You don't sit down like a cry baby when weasels like that try to diss or make fun of you" she grips my shoulders a little too tight
"Don't you ever, and I mean EVER let me see you looking all weak and pitiful especially around those banshees" she drops her hands and clears her throat taking a step back from me
"Take off your sweater, it looks terrible" she walks out of the restroom door with a slam shaking me slightly
Toke is all shades of weird, what was that? First she completely shades my swimming then she sticks up for me and now she lectures me about being weak? I don't think anything about this girl can surprise anymore
I stare at my dark blue sweater through the mirror, my A.A.A initials are embroidered on my left chest with gold thread for easy identification. It looked so cool this morning, I even laid my edges perfectly and applied extra lipgloss. All that effort literally 'dampened' by one of Amaka and Nkechi's infamous pranks. I sigh, taking off my sweater and adjusting my tie on my white shirt
*
Dandandannn
Children of the most high I've updated two days before my normal time ð¥ºand guess what? I'll still be updating in the next two days as usual. Count it as a double update to celebrate my increased reads>>>>
ðBaby Tripp has finally swam people and she is definitely going places ðð
What do you think Aidan and Erling were talking about? What's Erling running from?
Most of you have probably figured that Toke has some background story or the other rii? It'll still come up
Thanks for your support guys keep commenting and voting â¤ï¸â¤ï¸