I apologize for my irregular update last week ð©sorry loves. Well I'm here now so I declare this part OPENNNN
AMANDA'S POV
(Amanda Aderinsola Akinde)
"Everyone stay in your lines and keep quiet please" I say, blowing the silver whistle hanging on my neck
Wendy makes a remark under her breath catching my attention- I have let every single snarky comment she has made since we got here slide but not this time- I walk closer and stand directly in front of her
"Is there something you want to say to me" I say in a low, intimidating voice
She holds my gaze for seconds before she breaks it off, shaking her head
"The next person that speaks when she's not spoken to is going back to class and don't even think of showing your face again this term" I say sternly
"And where the heck is Jenny?" I ask a light skinned girl by my right
"U-uhm I think the teacher is still in her class" she stutters
"What class is she?"
"SS2 A" she replies
"Go and call her, don't come back if it's not with her" I order
"You already picked numbers from one to four now all number ones stand on the diving boards, number twos get ready and so on"
They scamper according to my instructions, the first set of students in their preparatory stances
"One, two-
Whistleee
They all dive in at the same time, giving it their bests.
The coach handed me the clipboard and a whistle today, he wants me to handle training. I'm not in the best mood obviously, today has just not been a good day for me. I told the coach that he only needs to work with us four that will be representing and maybe a substitute or two, but he insists on training the entire team together, waste of time and energy- it's even worse that one of the representatives is a junior, Jenny
Jenny is a pretty good swimmer and she's quite fast too but her nonchalance is more than annoying! She acts like she doesn't know the decathlon is literally knocking on our doors, she probably acts that way because Toke favours her- being her school daughter or something like that- not under my watch though
"Denny why aren't you swimming?" I ask the girl on afro beside me
"Sorry what?" She unplugs one of her Airpods
"Why are you sitting instead of swimming?" I repeat
"I don't get, I thought the other swimmers are the ones swimming and we'll swim later" she shrugs
"Why? Because you're too big to practice with them?" I cross my arms over my chest
She stands from her spot
"Why aren't you swimming with them?" Denaya throws the question back at my face
"Because the coach told me to coordinate and watch ALL of you practice" I put emphasis on the 'all'
She shakes her head and walks away, towards the locker room
"I'm still talking to you Denaya" I call after her
"It can't be me you're talking to like that" she walks away
Just great
Jenny and the girl I sent to fetch her- Britney- saunter into the arena, Jenny swaying her hips a little extra
"Come here" I order
She spares me a glance then detaches her arm from Britney's
"Yes" she answers with her nose in the air
"Were you in class?" I tuck the clipboard under my arm
"No, I was at the basketball court cheering my friend" she shrugs
Friend or boyfriend? You think we don't know what you and Nathan do abi
"You weren't aware we have practice?" I tilt my head to the side
"I didn't know y'all had started since the captain isn't here yet" she punctuates the word 'captain'
I take a deep breath in so I don't haul vile words at the girl or mistakenly yank her ponytail off her head
"How many days till the competition?" I ask demandingly
"Uhm- about eleven days before we travel"
"Then what the hell do you think you're doing?" I close the gap between us, slightly towering over her
"Yo chill, I don't know what you're doing or what you're pushing at but I'm here now, drop it" she side steps me and goes to join the other girls
My jaw hangs open
"Hey what's up, you started practice already?" Toke beams as she walks into the arena, taking in the look of things
I let out a sigh as she drupes her arm around my shoulder, pulling the both of us closer to the pool
"You regrouped them?" She asks as she uses her finger to take note of the number of swimmers
"Yes I did, they are too used to swimming the same positions in a relay so I decided to switch things up" I say massaging my temple with my fingers
"The groups were newly formed this term, you don't just change it without asking anyone" she raises her voice slightly at the last part
"Look, they were slacking and I chose to challenge them, there's nothing wrong with that" I rest my chin in my palm
The banging in my head becomes worse
"And please lower your voice, you're giving me a headache" I groan tiredly
She sighs
"Okay it's fine, thanks" she says
For what?
"You can give me the board now, I have a different whistle so don't worry about that" she stretches her hand out to grab it
I pull it out of her grasp, reflex action
She gives me a questioning look
"Why do you need the clipboard?" I ask with a frown
"Because" she looks around like she's saying the most obvious thing " I'm here and I need it"
"There's no need for that, I've got this" I say pointedly
She smiles, nodding her head slowly
"Amanda, I understand you're trying to help and maybe you like this whole 'being in control thing' but I'm the captain and that's my clipboard" she reaches out for it again but I pull it closer to myself
"The coach told me to coordinate the team today" I say lowly
She stands up, probably in frustration
"I've had it with you! I don't care what the hell that coach says or what you think you're trying to do, I AM captain and I have been before either one of you stepped into this school" she pulls the clipboard out of my grasp, this time I let her
"It's okay to want to help out but you need to know your place and stay there, you might think you're doing a great job as captain but that's because you've not heard what these people are saying behind your back! I didn't just became captain from nowhere, they put me there to lead them" she turns her back and walks towards the team, her team
I swallow the hard lump in my throat, my eyes brimming up with hot tears. I catch Denaya staring at me through the side of my eye- she must have seen our ordeal- I give a long and loud hiss before walking out on all of them
That's right Denaya, I hope you're entertained
**
Everyone is annoying the crap out of me today! Okay I've not been the most polite either but I'm just a little out of it, this school is beginning to irritate my guts! Denaya literally told me to 'fix my attitude' when she saw me in the hallways. Well there's nothing to fix, I'm completely fine!
Something is definitely wrong with everyone today, I can't remember ever yelling this many times in one day, one was even at a sophomore who wanted to know if I was standing in the line at the cafeteria, I can't believe I lost it so quickly
Toke walks into the class and stomps over to Eddy's seat
"Epele oh Romeo and Juliet" she tries to pull a calculator from Espn's grasp " Eddy tell your girl to give me my calculator" she says with an amused expression seated in her face
I feel a little pang of jealousy as Eddy smiles at Toke's comment
"Mr Richards seized mine, you can help me collect it" Espn pouts like a child
"You're unbelievable" Toke throws her hands up in frustration
A loud groan elicits from her as she turns to leave
"Branch at the staffroom on your way" Espn calls out while Toke flips her a middle finger without looking back
She practically didn't look in my direction once, I forgot about this side of Toke
"Are you free?" I ask as I walk over to Erling with my unnecessarily heavy math textbook and hardcover jotter
"Depends on what you want" he closes the novel in his hand and grins widely
I roll my eyes and drag my chair to his desk
"Teach me longitude and latitude" I dump the books on his desk
"Someone's being commanding today" he says in a sing song voice
"Just shut up and teach me okay" I plop myself on my wooden chair
He flips the pages of the textbook till it lands on the right chapter, sneaking few glances as he does
"Why did you come to me to teach you? What happened to your former teacher?" He asks with a smirk
"Do you want to teach me or not? I can take my business elsewhere" I start packing my things to move on to the next desk
"No no no" he collects them from me and places them back on his desk
That there is what we call bluffing, I've literally considered all options and none of them can work out. First Toke is a no go area, we know why, Eddy and Espn are currently sitting together in Eddy's seat, smiling, Aidan's seat is directly behind Eddy's so that's a no no
Eddy took my advice to tell 'the girl' how he feels and she might just feel the same, yay me! Maybe if I knew it wasn't going to be me I would have given him a different advice like
"scare her with spiders to show how much you care"
But I told him to confess instead, to go for it, motivational speaker of the century. Now they are seated in the corner of the class, whispering and laughing like jackals. I'm so happy for them
"Hey" I feel the top of a pen hit me "you zoned out" he completes, a smile playing on his lips
"What the- what is the matter with you?" I rub the spot he hit
Okay Toks was super mean when she first started teaching me, but she never resorted to violence!
"Stay focused and you won't be getting any more of those" his eyebrows scrunch up as he focuses on the question in front of him
I watch his expression as he scribbles speedily on the blank paper, a small smile finding it's way to my lips as I scrunch mine up too, if that's how he focuses it's time for me to start focusing too
He suddenly looks up and catches me imitating him, holding my gaze for a few seconds. He clears his throat
"Yeah so if you want to tackle any question on longitude and latitude, the diagram-
He lectures, I pay my full attention
*
ERLING'S POV
(Erling Tobechukwu Kingston)
"So if it's West to East you add then if it's East to West you subtract?" She asks, a little unsure
"Yessss" I put my palm up for a high five causing her to squeal and slam her tiny palm on mine
"Now gimme questions" she picks her pen up and sticks the top into her mouth
She pulls it out slowly as she catches me staring, dropping her gaze to her notebook
"If you're hungry it's okay, swallow the pen" I lean back in my chair, flashing a full toothed grin
She rolls her eyes
"Oh shut up I wasn't eating it" she pulls off the blue cap of her pen and secretly cleans it against my desk, I act like I don't see her
"Hey Erling" Justin calls as he walks into the class casually, he ducks his head at Amanda slightly, she replies with a small smile
"The coach said I should call you" he says
Crap
"Okay, I've heard" I reply curtly waiting for him to leave but he doesn't
"It sounded urgent, I think he needs you to come now" he punctuates the 'now'
"I'm coming, I'm just a lil busy" I retort, hoping he gets the cue to leave
He looks at Amanda then offers her his brightest, most genuine looking smile
"Senior Amanda, Erling needs to attend to something urgently if he values his life, I hope you understand" with that, he yanks me off my seat without a warning
I offer a small smile to Amanda, hoping she understands that there's no saying no to this potato head. She giggles as she watches our exchange, throwing a salute at Justin who returns it. Okay that was cool
She looks into the textbook and starts writing, I guess she's picking questions out by herself. That there people, is what we call determination
"Good afternoon Coachie" I say with my usual smiley expression
"Thank you Justin, you can leave now" he pushes himself off the wall and walks past entrance into the locker room, silently ordering me to follow him
He sits at the edge of the bench, not resting his back on the part of the chair that was obviously created to save you the stress of sitting with a straight back in the air. He stares at me wordlessly but I decide that he wants me to sit down
"Erling am I right?" He starts
You gotta be shitting me right now, he doesn't know my name?!
"Yes sir" I reply with a more serious expression, he doesn't look like he's in the mood for o entertain gimmicks today
"You know, I put your name on that list because the principal said so and your teammates testified to some of your achievements, not because I trust you"
Ouch
"I really don't care about tell-tales or what history you think you might have created, I care about what I see now" he adds calmly
Ouch again
"Is there something you want to tell me?"
That question ughhh- yes there's something I need to tell everyone one, there's something y'all don't know
"Uh- I uh- I don't know what you want me to say sir" I splutter lamely
"Answer this question with a yes or no" he begins, I nod my head slowly "can you swim?"
As basic as that question sounds, I still find myself swallowing a million times before replying
"Uh- coach that question-
"Can. You. Swim?" He punctuates every word
"I don't know" I mutter
"What?" He gestures for me to speak up
"No"
My heart breaks into a million pieces as the word flies out of my mouth
I never ever thought I would give that answer to that question ever. Heck I never even thought people would ever ask me such a stupid question but here I am, standing fully clothed but feeling more exposed than I have ever
"Could you swim before?" He raises an eyebrow
"Yes- yes I could" my voice breaks
"Now I'm asking you again, is there something you need to tell me cos I know that arm is fully healed" he crosses his arms over his chest, his silver watch glistening
I take in a few deep breaths
"My arm is fully healed sir" I clear my throat "I've just not been able to get back into the water"
"You're scared, I know you're scared but the question you need to ask yourself is
'what am I scared of'"
I don't reply his comment, I focus on my navy blue trousers instead
"Let me tell you a story
Years ago- about thirty two years ago- there was a swimmer in his prime. He was an over ambitious, goal driven boy that paid little or no attention to other things asides swimming-
He won regional swimming
competitions and emerged among the top 9 to represent his country in the Olympics, his name was on everyone's lips to bring the trophy home-
During the last lap of the relay where he mattered the most, he got a muscle cramp and he couldn't move from his left shoulder down to his wrists-
He tried to push through since it was the final lap and chants of his name enveloped the atmosphere but at that point, his body betrayed him, both his arms betrayed him and he started to sink-
Of course he lost the race and his country lost the glory to their opponents but that wasn't the worst part, the doctor diagnosed this swimmer with a chronic disease of the muscles called bipolar tendonitis. Turns out he was used to getting excess muscle cramps before during practice but didn't complain because he thought he could handle it" he sighs and runs his hand through his bald head
Nice story coach, I've not figured how this relates to me, wait does he think I have bipolar blablabla?
"That's not where I'm going with the story" he states
Phew
"The doctors told him he could never compete again if he still wanted to have his arm, it practically destroyed this guy. He let everything go out of anger towards himself and the whole world that gave him pity. He let his family go, he let his fiancee go, he let his life go, he lived a messy life without meaning-
He now tries to pick up the pieces of what he left behind, hoping someone else doesn't make the same mistake he made" he throws his head back with a sad sigh
Shit is coach the boy? Ohmygosh
"Do you think he should have continued swimming even when the doctors said not to?" I ask quietly
"No, I think he shouldn't have let go of his passion, his passion wasn't competing, his passion was swimming, he should have stuck with it and not given up" his gaze pierces into my soul as he speaks
"Even if you want to sit this competition out, don't throw your passion away" he slaps my shoulder hard causing me to wince
I nod my head
"Okay coach"
*
*Smiles in Lebanese*
End of chapter y'all
Okay Amanda is being annoying in this chapter ðthis is not the end sha, your favourite characters will annoy you, get used to it
Toke is showing us that she has not lost the werey side of her and if you do anyhow, you will see anyhow ð
Let's follow Erling on this his journey ð he might decide to still compete in the decathlon, so help him God
Vote and comment lovesss ð¥ºâ¤ï¸
Aimar outtð¤