In Disguise

Chapter 8

I walked to my room, thinking over my options carefully. I couldn't refuse to swim, that would just make me look like I was a wimp or something. I guess the only thing I could do was swim with my tight workout t-shirt. It looked sort of like a surfer shirt when it got wet, maybe I could make up some insane excuse. 

Zander was already in the locker room, so I decided to change quickly in our room to avoid possibly getting caught. I wasn't sure if guys ever took funny videos over bathroom stalls of their friends, like girls, but I definitely wasn't going to find out. After getting changed, I made my way back to the combat room. I was happy to see that I wasn't the very last person to get ready. Once everyone arrived, we began walking towards the beach. As a child, I loved living in California right by the ocean, but right about now I wished I lived in a place with no big bodies of water. 

"You look like you're about to shit your pants." Grayson was looking at me with a hint of amusement. Alex was walking next to him and I swear I could see a slight smile. 

"I'm just... I'm afraid of jellyfish. Last time I surfed out here I got stung. That's why I'm wearing a... sting proof shirt?" It sounded more like a question than a statement but neither guy seemed to notice.

"Jellyfish huh. I better not get fucking stung," Alex said. I was beginning to think fuck was his favorite word. 

"Dude, remember last time?" Grayson looked at me while laughing, "he got stung and started to cry. It was hilarious." Alex just gave him a light punch and laughed along side him. They were so cute. But wait, there were really jellyfish in the water? Well karma was kicking me in the ass. I should've said puppies or something.

We reached the water and started to swim. I was the only one with a shirt. Awesome. Not to mention the fact that it was over 90 degrees today. 

Coach Damon and Coach Matt started to give the instructions of our task, but I was barely paying attention. There were supposedly freaking jellyfish in the water. From the little bit I heard, we had to stay treading the water for as long as possible. The last person out would get a reward. We were farther out than I had ever been before, and I'm pretty sure sharks could come and eat us up. I felt claustrophobic even though there was an endless amount of space around me. 

We treaded water for so long in silence. I began to just think about life. My period would be coming in about 3 days, and of course I forgot tampons and pads. I would have to remember to have Davina sneak some in for me along with Advil. The cramps were always unbearable. Then I began to think about my ex boyfriend. My mother called a few days ago saying he sent me flowers. I told her to burn them and give him back the ashes. The dick cheated on me. Me! I had no respect for him nor would I forgive him. Alex was way hotter anyway. As he entered my mind, I turned to look at him. He looked deep in thought. I swam closer to him to try and avoid ruining the silence. 

"Thinking about my girlfriend?" I had a smirk on my face. I was so funny.

He gave me a weird look before a smirk appeared on his own face, "yeah actually. I was thinking about how I recognized her from somewhere. I finally remembered though, we fucked last week." His smirk turned into a smile as he bursted out into laughter. There goes the silence. I was in complete shock. If I wasn't my own girlfriend I would be fucking pissed. But I did something he did'nt expect... I laughed with him. In fact, I cracked up. I even cried. I wanted more than anything to say, 'strange. I don't remember having sex with you.' But I held my self back. 

"You must be really confident about your girl to laugh at a joke like that. I mean look at me. When I'm alone with a girl, anything can happen." 

"Oh you have no idea. We're basically attached at the limb." 

"Hmm sounds like incest then."

"Pretty much." This whole dating myself thing was so fun. I wonder where I would take myself for valentines day. Ooh and our birthdays were the same day so it would be like our own little holiday. So frickin cute. 

It felt like I had been swimming for an eternity. I had been in the water for over 3 hours. My limbs were tired as hell. Only Alex, Reese and I were left. I had a feeling Reese would drop out any second so I kept a straight face and stayed strong. I had been sweating buckets with this shirt on. If one thing was for sure, I did not look attractive right now. Alex didn't seem to notice though, perks to being a guy I guess. 

"Fuck, I give up," Reese gasped as he slowly made his way back to shore. It was just me and Alex out here now because Coach Damon and Jesse had to check someone who got stung by a jellyfish. That did not make me feel safe out here in the slightest. As a continued to tread the water, I felt something hit my foot. 

"Oh no no no. Nooope. Do you see something?" I began to swim towards Alex like he would protect me from whatever had hit my foot. I began to panic and look through the water. 

"Holy shit!" Alex moved towards me. Actually he practically dived towards me. 

"Listen Evan. I don't know how to say this in a way that won't make you freak out but.. there's a shark swimming underneath us right now." His voice sounded calm but his eyes showed complete fear.

"We have to swim slowly and be quiet. Okay?" He got right next to me and gave me a look that told me to start swimming. I wanted to cry. I looked down and saw the shark coming straight at us. I screamed and pushed Alex as far as I could before punching it in its nose. I heard a weird yelp before seeing the shark quickly dash off. I was happy until I looked at Alex to see him traumatized. 

"We're okay now. It left." I was trying to sound reassuring but he still seemed scared out of his mind. He grabbed me and swam faster than I thought possible, practically dragging me though the water. I began to swim too so that he wouldn't have to pull as much and felt immense pain in my stomach. The shark's teeth must of skimmed me. 

"AHH." I let out a girly scream, not even caring about my disguise. The adrenaline was gone and I was in pain and bleeding in shark infested waters. 

I felt something swim against me and saw fins all around. Alex must of seen them too because they were literally everywhere, but he kept swimming with one hand as his other dragged me along. His head barely came out of the water for breaths. I tried to keep swimming but the pain was just too much. 

Sharks began getting to close for my liking, so I put myself to good use and began hitting their noses like I had done with the other one. It was a little trick my dad had taught me before I began taking surfing lessons, but I had I never needed it until now. 

I looked to my left and saw a shark getting ready to ram Alex, so I got up on his back and pushed both of us under the water just in time. With me on top of his back he could now use both arms to swim and he went much faster. We finally got to shore and even though he was out of breath and about ready to pass out, he still rushed to pick me up from the shallow water and took me to the dry sand. I was bleeding like crazy and when I looked down by the bottom of my stomach I saw a small bite mark. Thankfully, it looked like the shark only partially got me. 

Everyone rushed over and asked if we were okay but I passed out before I could even answer. And from the looks of it as everything faded to black, Alex did too.