the thing about revenge

22 e n t y - t w o : pee and pools

The best part of the day arrived. I met up with Lydia about an hour ago during break, after English. The guilt of getting Asher into trouble still gnawed at me. I stared at the white binder in my hands. His boyish, sloppy handwriting imprinted on the lines of essay papers. It was messy and yet neat at the same time. I flipped through the binder.

Wait, what?

I frowned as I caught sight of all the unmarked essays he'd written. I double-checked the date and the titles. He didn't write any heading, but there were papers after papers of full essays. I recognized a few that we were supposed to do.

Confusion flooded over me, what? Why didn't he hand these up to be marked? Why didn't he save himself the trouble of detention every few days? Why did he complete all the assigned homework and not pass them up?

Lydia grabbed my arm, tugging me to the participant name list by the door. The event was split into two sessions, each two and a half hours long. Students were allocated to the different sessions by age. Being seniors, we were in the second session.

My eyes swept the name list and I saw Thomas and his clique on the sheet. The school made it compulsory for the swim team to participate. The school was going to present the top three students, those who swam the most, with a medal and cash prize of $100 each. Not much, but better than nothing.

"Remember! One lap equals a dollar donated!" Our council president, Ruby Twinn announced chirpily, holding a megaphone to her mouth. The event had been sponsored by a company that collaborated with our school last summer on a project. Basically our school saved their company from falling to pieces a few years ago, and I guess this was their way of thanks. Charity work and promoting active living are great. The mass of students sat on the plastic chairs at the side of the indoor pool. It was a really big place, large enough to fit three-quarters of the students.

"First session swimmers! Get ready to plunge! Not literally, please don't jump into the pool, thank you- oh and please, no peeing in the water either." Ruby said.

There were hoots from the boys as the girls removed their robes. They must be having the time of their lives. They winked suggestively. My eyes searched the crowd for Thomas and the group. I needed to return Asher's binder.

Finally, I found them. It didn't take a genius to know that they were most probably going to be seated in the middle of the place.

"Let's go find your babe." She winked at me, pulling my arm toward Thomas. Thomas spotted me immediately and jumped up, pulling me into a hug.

"It's a pity you aren't participating." He pouted.

"I'm sorry. Have you seen Asher? I've got to return something to him." I asked while kissing Thomas. He pulled away, frowning.

"Last I saw him, he was in the boys' locker room, he's been there for quite some time, I'll go check on him, see if he's fine," Thomas replied, concern lacing his voice.

"I'll go, you're on duty." I offered. Thomas, being on the swim team also had to play lifeguard for session one. He nodded. I told Lydia to wait by the pool before walking off to find Asher.

"Asher!" I shouted as I pushed open the locker room door. It was silent inside. There was heavy breathing, though, coming from the inside. For a second, I was afraid I'd walk in on people having sex, but thank god, when I walked into the locker room, I only saw Asher.

"Hey, love." He smirked.

"Are you okay?" I asked as he stood up in nothing but his black swimming trunks.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said as he packed his beats back into his bag. He sure is good at saying those words. I held the binder out to him.

Should I ask him?