Penfield's Greatest Swimmer

🌊~29

My hand cupped my cheek.

Shola kissed me!

Shola frigging kissed me!

I could still feel it. The imprint of her puckered lips on my face had me floating on cloud nine instead of walking back to my hall. Goosebumps set my skin ablaze and my heart took on an erratic beating tempo.

It was just a simple peck, but it had revealed so much to me; what it felt like to love someone, to have strong and intense feelings that could make you go haywire and feel all jittery inside.

The sudden urge to tell someone about this welled up inside me and I began patting my pockets for my phone with the intention of calling Akunna. But after a minute's search, a memory dawned on me.

Oh crap, I left my phone on charge in the lab.

I also didn't have a key. Shola would probably be settling down for her beauty sleep by now and I didn't want to bother her. Apart from Shola, the only other person I knew had a key was Chad, the club's treasurer.

After a quick dash to his hall, I made my way towards the lab with the keys jingling in my hands. Slotting one into the designated hole, I hadn't even turned the key fully when the doors clicked open. Strange. Didn't Shola lock up before we left?

Curious, I walked in and turned on the light, eyes flitting over every inch of the room. They soon came to a halt on the gleaming piece of machinery sitting in a corner. Our robotics project stood with its right arm sticking out. The old blanket we had used to cover it was now a rumpled mess at its feet.

I moved over, picked up the blanket and gently pushed the robotic arm down, then covered it up with the blanket. My attention soon veered back to the thing that brought me here. Pulling my charger out of the socket under the window, my phone lit up, alerting me of a full battery.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

My head shifted in the voice's direction. Mawuli stood at the entrance with a vivid frown etched onto his forehead.

"I left my phone behind," I simply said, holding the device up. "What are you doing here?"

He hesitated. "I... I left my tools." He entered and snatched a small tool bag off the table. "Now can you please get out so I can lock up?"

Stuffing my phone into my back pocket, I walked past Mawuli, shooting him a suspicious glare. He also didn't fail to send me a nasty one in return as he plunged the entire lab into darkness.

I watched him lock the place up, metal grid and all, before setting off to return Chad's keys.

¤¤¤¤¤

A day later.

"Ok guys!" Coach Sarah began her address to the entire team. "This is the moment we've been training for. We're here at the El-Wak Sports Stadium for Ghana's Regional Level Swimming Competition. I'm not gonna mince words, guys. We're here to make history. To leave a permanent mark cuz that's what I trained you all for. This is our only shot at Nationals, so I expect you to give it your best!" She yelled. "We came here to do nothing but to WIN! It's time to make me proud! It's time to make Penfield proud! So go out there and show them what you're made of!"

"Yeah!" The loud baritone voices from the guys drowned out the response from the girls.

I shrugged on my team jacket, pretending not see Ethan and Princess huddled in a corner, kissing and groping each other, the whole time Coach was giving her motivational speech.