F•A•S•T//r.s.l.❣

0.5

I tied off my hair in a bun, looking down at the water. Ross touched my arm, "I'll go in first, take your time"

I nodded, and he dived in. Apprehensively, I watched, biting at the skin on my thumb. He made this look so easy it wasn't even funny. I was just being an idiot for being scared of something so little.

His eyes looked up to me when he got to the surface. "Go to the side, and only dip your legs in"

I nodded again, following his orders except from the leg bit. I dipped my toe ever so slightly then cowered away. "Let's put this one behind us, yeah. Another day"

"No, today" Ross emphasised. "Just your feet, you can do it"

The very soles of my feet came in contact with the water and I inhaled, forcing the rest of my foot up to my ankles to be submersed in the water.

Ross smiled encouragingly, treading water nearby. "You're doing great, Athena"

As I tried to put my other foot down, I shrieked and rolled back and away from the edge, gasping for air. Ross watched me confused. "There's more to this story, isn't there?"

"Yeah" I shuffled a bit closer. "It happened when I turned 10, I had a pool party with all my school friends and it was going great until we actually began to get in the pool"

"What happened?"

"Everybody knew I couldn't swim, but since my birthday is in August and I was having a pool party, I lied that I learnt. It was okay until I got challenged for a swimming race" I explained. "I thought it was going to be easy, seen as both my parents know how to. The moment I jumped in, I sank down and could not get back up. My dad then had to jump in and save me...lets just say that my birthday ended with me spending a couple of days in hospital"

"I'm sorry that happened" Ross said. "But I promise you won't drown, I'm here. And I've been a water baby since I turned 5, plus I saved you the other day too- how about this, I very slowly pull you in at the shallow end and then we can float over to the deep end, yeah?"

"O-Okay" I agreed hesitantly, walking along the edge to the shallow end.

The moment my hand touched his, I felt something different. It was difficult to explain but, it was nice, like a fresh breeze. The same for being close to him.

The water was cold, but not freezing- it was the perfect temperature but my trembling body didn't agree. I however believe I was shaking out of fear. When Ross' hand touched my back, I jumped forward and slipped, water coming up to my jaw as I lightly hit my butt on the bottom of the pool.

"Oh crap-"

Like a child- I was hooked. I raised my hands up from the water, and watched the droplets run down my arms. Boldly, I swung my arms back and splashed Ross who was not expecting it whatsoever. "Hey!"

"Sorry" I said quietly, pulling myself up so the water lapped at my waist. It stopped at Ross' waist, as he had an extra two inches than me.

"Not too bad, is it?"

"No..but, I want to get out" I said and he nodded, leading me to the steps. He then handed me a white towel with the F.A.S.T. logo on it with blue thread (an eagle).

I had my second bold moment of the day. "We should do this again"

"Of course we will, we have to teach you how to- oh" Ross stopped and smiled. "Yes sure. Um, we have school tomorrow so I could take you to get some milkshakes? I know a place that makes the best ever"

"Sure" I nodded. "Sounds fun"