Adopted by Pentatonix

Nine- Swimming

Ana

She turns on the slide so it can be slippery. I stand watching her, holding my towel at one of the chairs, not knowing what to do. She comes back over to me holding a spray can of sun screen. She sprays my body with it and does herself afterwards. We wait a few minutes to let the sunscreen dry. While we wait she gets a call.

"Hey, yeah you can come over. " she occasionally stops to let the other person talk "No, we are just getting in the pool. Okay, we'll be here. See you in a little, bye." She hangs up the phone and turns back to me.

"Is someone coming?" I ask
"Yes, Mitch just got home and wants to meet you. Is that okay?"
"S-Sure."
"Are you okay, sweetie?" She ask with a concerned look on her face
"Y-Yeah, new people j-just make me nervous."I stutter
"There's no need to be nervous. He's very nice and fun to be around." She says before diving into the water.

I walk to the edge of the pool and sit down. I wrap my arms around my legs and set my chin on my knees, as I watch her swim under the water. She comes up for air and smiles at me. I look down at the water and unwrap my arms from my legs. I dip my toe in the water to test the temperature. It's cool but not cold. I lower my feet into the water and scoot so the back of my knees are up against the poolside. She swims over to me partly and wades the rest of the way.

"Can you swim?" She ask when she gets to me
I shake my head no.
"Do you want me to teach you?" She ask politely
I shrug.
She comes the remaining distance of the way over to me and rest a hand on my knee. She stands the rest of the way up and looks up to me. The water is just below her baiting suit top so it would be somewhere near the top of mine.

"I won't let anything bad happen to you." She reassures me,

She takes both of my hands in hers and slightly pulls them. I look between her and the water trying to make a decision. I shift my weight slowly and she wraps her hands around my waist to help me. I feel the wall go from beneath me and drop down. I squeal and latch onto her. She laughs at me and holds me loosely.

"It's okay, you can touch here. " she assures "Just put your foot down," she says calmly as she wraps one of my legs from her hips, moving it down slowly. I feel the bottom and relax my grip on her. I uncoil myself from her body and stand up. I grasp one of her hands in mine and skim the other across the water.

"See, you're okay. There's nothing to be afraid of."
She says sweetly "Are you ready?"
I nod
"Let's start with something simple, floating." She says and moves her hand to the space between my shoulder blades. "Lay back in my hands and I'll hold you up."
I take a deep breath and start leaning back. Just like she said she would, I could feel her hands on my back and under my legs.
"You're doing it, you're floating. I'm barely even touching you."Kirstie happily states

I smile in return and close my eyes. I like the feeling I this gives me. I have the sensation of being weightless.

"Ana, you're doing it all by yourself, I'm not touching you at all."

I realize that I don't feel her touching me anymore and my smile widens. I stand up in the pool and turn to her.

"Do you want to go further?"
"I think so."
"Okay," she's interrupted by someone walking though the gate. A man with longish black hair stands there this a bag and swim trunks on. She turns around to face him and I press myself into her back.
"Hey, Kirstin." He says cheerfully
"Hi Mitch, how was your family?"
"They're doing good. Is that her?"
Kirstin nods, she turns her head to me and looks at me from under her arm. She takes my hand in hers and squeezes it lightly.

"It's okay Ana, you can come out." She says sweetly
I step from behind her to see him standing there with a huge smile on his face.
"Ana, this is Mitch. Mitch, this is Ana."
He waves to me and I offer a small one in return.

"So, what are we doing?"
"I'm trying to teach her to swim. So far we are doing pretty good." She says with a smile
"Ooo fun, mind if I watch?"
She turns to me and I nod.
"Sure," she tells him. "Okay, lets work on treading water. What you do is kick your feet." She demonstrates and I try to do it also. "Now, move your arms back and forth like this and it'll help keep you up." I do as she does and it works.

"That's it, you're doing it." She says and stands up. I stand up too with a giant smile.
"Lay forward, and do the same thing, but with your arms going in front of you."
I follow her instructions and go forward a little. I keep doing it and go further towards her.
"You've got it! Keep going." She cheers and edges me on. I go to her and she embraces me in a tight hug.
"You did it, I'm so proud of you!" She praises me and I hug her tightly back. She separates and swims backwards into the deep part.

"Swim to me,"
I look at the distance between us and judge where the deep part would begin.

Worry comes across my face and I look back to her.
Slowly I make my way to were it starts to drop off. Nervously I look from her to the bottom of the pool and back to the shallow end.

"I-I don't think I can do it"
"Yes you can, I'm right here." She coaxes

I take a deep breath and edge forward a bit. The bottom goes from beneath me so I now can't touch. I make my way further out and stop. I most definitely can't touch now.

"Just a bit further, you can do it, you're almost there." She encourages me to come closer and I give in.

I swim to her and she cheers when I get there, along with Mitch. We tread the water and a smile never leaves our faces.

"See, I told you you could do it." She says smirking
"You should try the slide, it's even better than swimming." Mitch says from the chair he's sunbathing on.
"Can I?"
"Go ahead," she says with a big smile

I swim to the ladder and get out. Carefully so I don't slip, I climb the ladder to the slide. I sit at the top and look down to them. They are waiting patiently to watch me. I push myself forward and my body rockets down the slide. I squeal as I slide down. I hit the water with a splash and swim to the surface. I laugh when I reach the top.

"It's so fun!" I cheer, they both laugh and we keep swimming. Eventually, Mitch gets in with us, we end up having a pool noodle fight after Kirstie hits him with hers. We take a break to eat lunch then get back in. Kirstie invites Mitch over for dinner and he agrees. It starts to get late so we get out.