In Your Dreams

Chapter 5: Swim team results

            

The sky is smeared with pink brushstrokes as Casey and I head across campus to the pool.

Time to see if I made the team.

My stomach starts doing somersaults. I rest my hand on my abdomen, trying to calm my nerves, but of course it doesn't work.

One of my favourite Aunt Lindsey stories is the one she tells about my first swimming lesson. Apparently I cried the entire time I was in the change room so Dad, still dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, carried me out and slipped into the pool with me. Almost right away I stopped crying and started splashing.

Sometimes I let myself imagine the feel of his arms around me, like between his strength and the water, nothing can make me fall. Aunt Lindsey says that, except for being with my parents, nothing made me happier than being in the water.

Casey pushes open the door to the pool deck. "I must be the only non-swimmer in this swimming-obsessed town who's nervous right now. And I know you made the team. I know it."

I step onto the pool deck and am promptly welcomed by the smell of chlorine. I wrap my arms around myself, as if to squeeze out the tension. "I hope so."

We approach the group of students gathered around the bulletin board by the shallow end of the pool. Craning my neck, I find "swim team" and "girls" followed by twenty numbers and twenty names. My heart starts pounding. I am about to be very happy or very, very disappointed.

I scan the page. Jessie Harte...Jessie Harte...

And then I see it. I squeal. "I made it, I made it, I made it!"

Casey shrieks beside me, temporarily piercing my eardrum. We hug each other and jump up and down, shrieking our heads off. I'm so happy I feel like I can hug just about anyone.

"I have to tell Aunt Lindsey and Kraig!" I reach into my bag for my phone and clash nose-first into someone's shoulder.

"Oof!" I stumble backwards and a hand shoots out to catch me.

A leftie. I know that hand—it's his.

I look up, not surprised to see Chris.

"Jessie!" Chris sounds concerned. "I'm so sorry, your knee—" His brow furrows and he shakes his head. "Are you okay?"

That's right, didn't I hurt my knee recently?

"Uh, yeah, thank you." I stare at his hand on my arm. How did I know it was his?

Chris yanks his hand back, turning red. "Sorry, I didn't mean—"

"No, you were helping me—"

Casey's eyes are darting back and forth between us, a knowing grin on her face.

"Thank you," I conclude. "Don't text and walk into people, right?"

"It happens to the best of us." Chris gives me a smile that reaches up into his dark brown eyes. "So, I guess you came to see who made the team?"

The joy comes flooding back. "Yeah, and I guess you did too?"

I hear a loud shriek and turn just in time for a mass of strawberry-smelling blond hair to assault my vision. Rachel is wrapping me and Casey in a hug, jumping for joy before leaping into the arms of the guy behind her, giving him a kiss that turns his dark cheeks even darker.

Chris looks at me and we share a smile as the excitement explodes like fireworks around us. I shrug happily. "Looks like we all made it."

Brian walks over, grinning from ear to ear. "Gotta thank those third- and fourth-year students for choosing studying over swimming."