Swimming to Shore

"Arielle! Why do you always walk away!" I felt Levi's familiarly strong hand, gripping my arm around, causing me to turn my body towards him.

"Because it's the only way I can avoid how twisted this team really is!" I snapped, lashing my arm away from him.

He looked visibly hurt as I kept moving back from him. "Arielle, just calm down and we'll talk."

"Levi, there's no point! The whole team now knows we kissed! We just got carried away okay? That kiss didn't mean anything." I crossed my arms as I watched his face anguish from what I said.

I continued. "And are you aware of how good your reputation at school is? If everyone finds out you kissed me, you get rewarded by applause and cheers, and what do I get? I get called words such as whore, slut, and many other pathetic names!" I continued as I watched his face turn pale, his mouth subtly widening.

"What makes you say that? Why would they even say that to you? You're the sweetest girl I've ever met Arielle, there's no way they would.." He muttered, moving his body closer towards me.

I rolled my eyes at him. "You literally don't understand do you? Did you know about that girl who was known as the Amphitrite Whore because they thought the head football player took her virginity, even though he was just her bestfriend?" I huffed as I squinted my eyes in annoyance, backing up away from him.

"Ofcourse! Who would forget about her." He anxiously laughed, not aware of what I was gonna say next which made my blood start to boil.

"Well, I was the Amphitrite Whore." I let out a deep sigh as I felt my eyes start to water, seeing his face visibly feeling bad for laughing.

I just turned my back around on Levi who was still behind me, not saying a single word or doing a single move, but it was obvious he knew he messed up.

"The kiss, Arielle it might not have meant anything to you, but it did for me.." He let out behind me with strong sincerity from his voice.

I turned around. "Levi! You're being delusional! This isn't middle school! We've known each other for like, 5 days!" I exclaimed.

"5 weeks! Maybe even more!" Levi turned back around as he replied.

"Does it feel like 5 weeks or more? That kiss was out of pleasure, you'd be lying if you said it wasn't. There's no way you can act like we're dating, especially when we've only known each other for 5 weeks!" I ranted, watching his face break apart before me.

His eyes closed for a quick second as he clenched his fists at me.

There was a small pause, but I had enough. This is dumb, everything is happening too quickly and he needs to understand that! 

I turned back around as I sighed quietly, thoughts running through my head.

As I prepared to walk away with the tears emitting from my eyes, memories flashed through my head of how it felt to be treated a long time ago.

"Oh my god, it's her." I hear a girl from behind me. Her whisper almost sounded like she wanted me to hear what they were talking about, making me clench my fist in anger.

"She's always with him! Like after his football practice they were hugging, I was totes like wtf." The girl scoffed, making the other girl's voice appear.

"Ugh omg I saw that too! And last time, I saw a woman pick them up, and they totes rode the same car! Like they probably went to her house and totally banged! Oh and I also heard she had a baby and she aborted it cus she doesn't have enough money to raise it, what a slut." The girl explained, hearing as the other girl reacted with a gasp.

Heat from anger started to emit around me, causing me to feel dizzy and nauseous, not believing everything I just heard.

Like holy shit, calm down.

Every word she said felt like a murderer's knife cutting through human flesh. These girls sound obnoxiously cruel.

"I also heard, that her dad left her because he was totes addicted to drugs, and was a crackhead." The girl let out a sinister giggle, skyrocketing my anger out of me.

I quickly stood up to leave the classroom, being unable to control of what felt like gallons of water come out of my eyes.

How can people be so cruel and insensitive to how horrible they can make a person feel?

Also how is it possible that these mean girls manage to fit in the word totes in every one of their sentences.

"And what brings you to my office in this wonderful evening Ms. Tesfaye?" He gave me a smile, almost as if he was very excited to see me.

"Hey Mr. David, I'm here to talk to you about my switch to the TigerSharks. I'm just wondering why I was switched to an all-boys swim team, and not an all-girls team." I explained, trying my best in sounding polite to not show him any signs of annoyance.

"Oh well Ms. Tesfaye, knowing that you are such a talent, I decided to just throw you in one of the best teams in our school, I would switch you to an all-girls team, but sadly all spots are filled in." He replied, having a tone of grief in his voice.

"Wait so why did I have to get switched in the first place?" I couldn't help but let out my sentence exasperatedly.

"Well, since the Butterflies start gathering new members in 6th grade, of course some of the older girls would eventually be switched to a different team where they can advance further in swimming.." He sighed, visibly hoping I would calm down.

"So even if I ask you to switch me, no matter what, it would still be an all-boys swim team?" I said slowly, placing a hand on my forehead to suppress my stress.

"Well yes Ms. Tesfaye, I'm quite disappointed to tell you that no matter what, the only available teams right now all consists of boys." He pursed his lips, as he looked at a folder that had names of all the boy's teams available.

"Well okay, there's the Torpedoes.." He started to talk, focusing his big round glasses on the folder.

I shook my head no.

"The SeaSnakes?"

I shook my head no again, remembering how much the SeaSnakes suck.

"The MakoSharks?"

"Sure I gues-" Before I could even answer back, a deep and alluring voice interrupts me as I heard the door loudly close.

"Sup Dad." The boy looked at me with his light blue eyes, then to his dad as he ran his fingers through his rich dark brown hair that seemed so effortlessly laid and conditioned.

"Hey Andrew, aren't you supposed to be in class?" The principal glared at him, pointing at the door for him to leave.

"Yea but I kinda don't care, who's she?" Andrew gaped at me as I got a better view of his gorgeously light blue eyes piercing through mine, traveling up-and-down at my outfit.

"She is Ms. Tesfaye, probably the best out of all the girl swimmers here in Amphitrite." Mr. David chuckled, pointing me out to his insanely attractive son. "She was just looking for a team to get switched to since all of the girl's swim teams are taken." He says, looking back down at the folder.

Andrew sat on the chair next to me, stealing a lollipop from his dad's desk. I was completely lost at my seat. I couldn't even say a word, instead just subtly looked at how perfect he was.

I watched as he took out his lollipop for a quick second as he bit his bright red lips, then placing the cherry flavored lollipop back into his mouth.

He glanced at me from the side of his bright blue eyes, but only a second until I rapidly looked down at my bright pink duffle bag to avoid any eye contact.

I only caught a glimpse of the side of his face, exposing his sharp jawline that demanded attention. The desk's lamp reflected of off his eyes, making it sparkle as he looked at his dad intently, preparing to speak to him again.

"Why can't she just join The Stingrays? We need a new member anyway.." His deep soft voice implied, taking the lollipop out of his mouth as he spoke, only to put it back after.

What he said immediately made my eyes widen, my mouth couldn't utter the words of how I felt inside. Which was "hell to the no!"

Mr. David almost looked relieved at the suggestion, making my mouth drop in annoyance. "Good idea! Ms. Tesfaye meet one of your new teammates, also known as my son! Have fun!" He smiled, gesturing Andrew to kick me out of the office, making me scrunch my eyebrows up in confusion.

"W-wait w-wait hold up." By the time I was about to speak, Andrew had already guided me out of the principal's office, then hearing it get locked from the inside.

"So it's settled then, see you in practice princess." He winked at me, biting into the lollipop that reddened his mouth, emitting a crunching noise.

What the actual hell just happened?

Watching that Andrew boy slowly walk away suddenly reminded me of when Coach Alex explained of how notorious the Stingrays are for cheating.

It's like I didn't even have a choice to join the team I wanted to join! Everything happened so fast...

But knowing I'm in a new team now, that means I would have to basically undergo everything I went through, from the beginning of my last switch.

I'm somewhat starting to feel a sense of regret leaving The TigerSharks....