Lake Gem~A Lapidot Story

Chapter 11: Lapis' Time

Lapis' POV; First Person

I was starting to regret this.

Pearl was stretching by the edge of the pool, but I felt as ready as I always do, so I skipped that. I knew I could win, but my anxiety was acting up anyways. I felt like I had something to prove, especially to Peridot.

I looked over at Peridot, who winked at me. She then threw in a thumbs up and a warming smile.

I turned to Pearl, who gave me a sarcastic smile. Smirking, I strutted over to her.

I put my hands on my hip. "You ready to compete, Pearl?" I asked.

"Only if you are," she responded. "And remember," she added annoyingly, "There's no shame in backing out."

That was it. I hated it when people said that. There is always shame in backing out. Always.

My anxiety blew away as those words hit me, and was replaced by anger-fueled determination. "Ha, funny Pearl. I was just about to say the same thing."

Pearl stopped stretching and scowled at me.

Peridot walked over from her "discussion" with the other three. And in "discussion", I mean she was probably betting on who would win.

She stood next to me and patted me on the back. "You've got this, Lapis. Don't let her get to you," she reassured me. I smiled.

Pearl looked over Peridot and rolled her eyes. "Ready to lose all of your money again, Peridot?" she chimed.

Peridot raised an eyebrow and smirked. Behind her, Jasper rolled her eyes and shouted, "Are you and Peridot gonna make out or are Lapis and you gonna swim?"

Both Peridot and Pearl blushed. Something inside my chest twinged, causing me to wince and frown. I suddenly felt less inclined to do this for Peridot, but instead do it for myself.

"We're going to swim," I shouted back at Jasper. I took a 180 and pierced through Pearl's eyes with mine. "Right, Pearl?"

"Yeah," Pearl said, less confident than before. "Let's go."

Both Pearl and I walked towards the pool. Squatting, I surveyed the pool. It seemed clean, so maybe I could open my eyes under water, although I wouldn't need to. Five laps would be great, especially since I would be able to push off of the walls, ultimately giving me a faster time. I tried to find the best angle to dive in.

"Yo, Peridot, how deep is this pool?" I asked.

Peridot thought. "Where you're diving in is the deep end. Around here is six feet, but over at the shallow end is about four," she explained.

I nodded. That would be good enough for me, as long as I stayed level underwater.

Jasper stepped forward onto the left edge of the pool. She held her phone in her hand. "Are you dorks ready?" she groaned. "Or are you gonna stall forever?"

I frowned. "I'm not stalling. And yes, I'm ready."

"And I'm ready as well," Pearl said. She placed her left foot behind her on the side of the pool, as if she was ready to run a foot-race.

I took a few steps back from the pools edge. What I wanted was a running start, so that when I dived I would slice through the water easily. Pearl turned to look at me but stayed put.

Peridot stood by Jasper on the left side of the pool. She smiled at me and mouthed, you can do this, which made me feel better. Amethyst and Garnet sat on the right side of the pool. Amethyst gave me a thumbs up, and Garnet gave Pearl an air-high-five.

"Alright girlies, when I say go," Jasper announced. She hovered her thumb over her phone. "On your marks,"

My heart started beating harder. I could hear an especially loud "THUMP" after Jasper said 'marks'.

"Get set," Jasper yelled. THUMP.

"GO!"

My instinct launched me into a full sprint towards the pool. I took two long strides and a large dive into the water. I could feel myself being propelled through the water, which made me feel calm and at home. I could feel the water rushing past my face, and it soothed me.

When I started to lose speed, I kicked my feet in unison and moved my stomach. I put my hands in a triangle above me head. When I reached the wall, I gracefully turned and used all of my strength to kick back off of the wall.

I didn't see Pearl in front of me, but I didn't want to look back to see how far behind she was. For all I know, she could be right at my tail.

I started moving faster. My lungs started to call out for air. I slowly raised my body up and started kicking with my feet separately. My head surfaced, but as quickly as I went up I pulled myself back down.

I kicked off of the wall again. I opened my eyes to see Pearl pass me, going the other way. I couldn't determine if she had lapped me or if I had lapped her.

I continued on my pace until I had kicked off again. I took another breath. I took my last kick off. I swam with all of my ab strength, and made sure to kick my legs in unison. I gave all I had in this last lap.

As I reached the wall, I kicked off the bottom of the shallow end. My body propelled out of the water and my hand gripped the edge of the pool.

I took a large breath. I moved a few strands of hair from my face and rubbed my eyes.

I looked over to where Pearl should be. Yet she wasn't in her designated ending spot. What if...

I looked up at Peridot, whose mouth was wide open. Jasper was next to her, her mouth open as well.

I looked over at Amethyst and Garnet, who both had the same reaction. I started blushing at all the stares I got.

"Lapis..." Jasper said, her eyebrows raised up to the middle of her forehead, "you have a time of 52.31 seconds."

Right as Jasper said it, Pearl emerged from the pool's surface, huffing.

Peridot smiled wide. "Lapis won! LAPIS LAZULI BEAT PEARL!"

I smiled at Peridot's reaction. I tried to act nonchalant, but Peridot's excitement was making it hard. I brought myself out of the pool, only to be tackled back in by Peridot.

Amethyst jumped into the pool as well. Garnet got out and put her arm around Pearl, who was frowning. Jasper cannon-balled in, soaking everyone's hair.

"Jasper!" Peridot scolded, trying to fix her hair. She splashed Jasper in the face.

Jasper splashed Peridot back. It soon turned into an all-out splash war.

After it all ended in ugly wheeze-laughing, I got out of the pool. I walked over to Pearl, who smiled at me. I put my hand out for her to shake.

"Good game?" I said.

Pearl looked at my hand. She took it. "Good game."

LAPIS BEAT PEARL!!! (who would've guessed, totally not me) I had fun writing this chapter actually. I had to do some research to figure out what her time could be, because obviously if I said she swam a little over 100 meters (114 to be exact) in 30 seconds, that wouldn't be right. The fastest 100 meters swam in an Olympic pool is 48 seconds, but considering they're kicking off of the side four times, it would make it faster as well. But if you are a swimmer and I've got this all wrong, don't be afraid to DM me my mistakes.

I'm SO EXCITED BC yesterday was like 72 degrees bUT TODAY ITS 69 DEGREES (nice). I'm finally gonna be able to wear hoodies 24/7 without dying. Other than that its your author Pearl saying Hola from San Antonio and Yeehaw from Texas.