Drowning

Meeting a Member of Oceans 12

Lockers opened and closed, echoing in the locker room and fanning the mixed smell of sweat and perfume throughout the enclosed space. Finley threw on her gray T-shirt and blue shorts that were the mandatory school gym clothes before leaning against the lockers and waiting for her friend Whitney to finish putting her hair up into a ponytail.

She didn't know Whitney super well, and they never hung out or really talked much outside of gym class, but when taking racquet sports, it was beneficial to know someone as they typically involved a pair to play. Finley had known Whitney from one of their business electives they had taken last semester and knew that she worked hard and was smart. Thankfully Whitney didn't have any friends in this class either as they had all elected for the easier gym class: lifetime activities. That class was a joke consisting of scootering, shuffleboard, and frisbee golf. Without any of her friends there, Whitney agreed to be partners with Finley and they were both pleasantly surprised to discover they each had a little competitive streak in them. Nothing major, but enough to try, which was more than could be said for most of the girls in the class.

"Ready?" Whitney asked turning to her, her brown ponytail swishing behind her head at the movement.

"Yup. Let's go."

Finley replied, pushing off the lockers and heading into the gym, leaving the rest of the girls to... finish looking pretty? It was honestly a mystery to her why it took them so long. They went and sat in their rows on the floor so the teacher could take attendance. It was the sixth day of the semester so they already had teams established for pickleball and were beginning the tournament today. The winners never actually got anything, it was more designed so that people would try a little harder. Finley wasn't sure if it worked or not, but she was game for it. The teacher told them what teams were on what courts and dismissed them to go play.

Games were typically 10-12 minutes and whoever had more points at the end, won. She and Whitney always tried their best, but they also had fun with it, and if they messed up they laughed it off. Finley couldn't have been happier. They played their first game against 2 other girls and won, although they couldn't really count it as a victory considering the other girls only scored 2 points. The next set of games were announced and they switched courts.

"Looks like this should be another win for us." Whitney whispered as they approached court 2.

Finley looked across the net and saw 2 boys standing there shifting awkwardly. The one spun the paddle in his tanned hand but it dropped to the ground with a clatter. No wonder Whitney was optimistic. It was the new kid and Eli, neither had a super athletic body type. She shook her head, it wasn't like she did either, and she held her own.

"You never know." Finley whispered back. "They might surprise you. Never underestimate an opponent right?"

She smiled over at Whitney who laughed remembering the previous day when a team had scored a last second point and beaten them- a game they should have won.

"Hey guys." Whitney said smiling at them as they stepped onto the court. "You care who serves first?"

Eli's left hand was holding his paddle, but his right hand was once again up by his face, covering his lip. The other boy glanced over at him before shaking his head and tossing them the wiffle ball. Well at least he attempted to, it ended up hitting the net and bouncing back towards him. This caused Whitney and Finley to laugh and the boy to blush slightly as he went to pick it up again. Finley quickly crossed the distance to the net so he could just hand her the ball.

"Nice throw."

It was a subtle tease and not uncommon for her in gym class. She was much looser and joked around more, her quietness taking a back seat to her competitive fun. The boy's blush deepened slightly as he handed her the ball and she could tell he was more embarrassed than she had originally thought.