(Extra)ordinary

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

It was a Wednesday already. The day of the competition. However, I skipped to the bathroom, took a shower and went down to the kitchen with a smile.

"Good morning mom!" I chirped.

She turned around. "Good morning dear."

I sat at the kitchen counter as mom prepared my breakfast for me. I had wanted to prepare cereal for myself but she had already made cheese omelet. I grabbed an orange off the fruit basket and begin to peel it while waiting for mom.

I ate in silence until mom served me. "Thanks," I mumbled, stuffing the last orange slice into my mouth.

I quickly finished my breakfast and that was when I heard a beep from outside of the house. That should be Dakota. This would be the first time he will be fetching me to school. The last two days he woke up late.

I chuckled. He finally woke up early. I put on my sneakers and called out a goodbye to mom before dashing out of the gates.

Dakota's sleek car was parked just in front of my gate. I opened the door and climbed in. "Hello."

"Hey."

He put the car into drive while I buckled up.

"Today's the competition, huh?" He asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah."

"You nervous?"

"So nervous. I've got an adrenaline rush though. You?"

"I'm not so nervous anymore. I've been doing competitions for the last 5 years."

"Good for you. This will be my first." I said softly. He looked at me and touched my hair. The car swerved, but Dakota quickly snapped up and slowed down.

"Keep your eyes on the road!" I yelled in shock.

He laughed and I couldn't help but laugh too.

We arrived in school. As soon as I stepped out of the car, I met a few curious stares. I kept my eyes down while I waited for Dakota to lock the car.

He walked over to me and took my hand in his. People were seriously staring now. Students stopped chatting to turn and look at us.

"Why are they staring at me?" I asked Dakota softly.

"'Cos you're with me," he said with a smile. I was still feeling uncomfortable.

I heard offensive words from some students as I walked past. Tears stung my eyes. All the adrenaline and happiness from this morning vanished.

"I can't do it," I told Dakota. I shook my hand away from his and ran to the toilet.

"Anna! Anna, wait!"

I heard him calling after me but I ran straight into the girls' room, my tears now full blown.

Why were they so mean? What did I do to them?

I sat on the toilet seat cover and buried my head in my palms, feeling sorry for myself.

After 2 minutes of sobbing, I heard the first bell. It was time to move to our first class - home room. Dakota will be there. And so will Adam. I sighed and went to wash my face at the sink. I splashed water on my face and dried it before going out of the toilet.

Students were making their ways to their classes. As I turned, I banged into someone. Dakota.

"You alright?" He asked. My eyes were puffy and red.

"Yeah. I heard something offensive, that's all. Sorry, I'm just such a cry-er."

I laughed, trying to lighten up my mood.

"Let me know if there is anything wrong next time okay? Don't just scare me by running away."

I nodded and we walked in silence to our first class.

We did not hold hands throughout.

*******

I took my seat beside Adam. Dakota sat beside his partner, Courtney, after shooting me one last concerned look.

I gave him a slight smile and sat down. Adam turned to look at me. "Hey, Anna."

"Hi." I nodded briefly, acknowledging him.

"Heard that you have a swimming competition today. Good luck." He grinned.

"Thanks. Same to you." He was on the boys' team with Dakota, so he will be in the competition too.

There was an awkward silence until Ms Ross came in. She droned on about announcements and then left us to do our own stuff. I pulled out my. Physics assignment that needed to be done.

I was stuck on question 3 when Adam spoke again. "So you and Dakota?"

I stiffened at his question. I nodded. "Yes."

He sensed my hesitation. "I could never imagine."

"What do you mean?" I asked, curiosity evident in my voice.

"I mean, he has been teasing you since... Forever. Why the sudden change in attitude?"

His words struck me like lightning. I hated to admit that he did make sense.

I shoved all negative thoughts out of my mind. Dakota would never hurt me.

"That's none of your business." I snapped.

He held his hands up in surrender. "I was just saying."

"Then don't." I shot, annoyed.

The rest of the school day past in a blur. I heard other disgusting remarks but decided to just ignore them. Why give them the satisfaction of seeing me crumble?

*******

I changed into my swimsuit and gathered in the swimming hall. Our school was lucky to be hosts for this competition. I took my seat on the bleachers with my team. Swimmers from other schools were also present. They were our opponents.

I glanced to the boys' side. Dakota was also looking at me. He mouthed, "you okay?"

I held up my fingers to show an okay sign. He smiled and mouthed again, "good luck".

I said good luck too and leaned back. Dakota did the same.

I sat in silence and waited for the commenter to take his place. He introduced all the schools. I will be competing in both the relay and singles race.

Dakota will be participating in the relay, singles and doubles. Of course, he was doubled with Adam. The two best swimmers on the team. What a coincidence.

First was the elimination round. Out of sixteen teams, only 8 will make it to the quarter finals. It was the same concept for all the competitions.

We'll be doing relays first. I put on my swimming cap and goggles as we made our way to the stands. We did a group huddle and wished each other good luck. We even high fived each other. There were five of us. Alice, Gabriella, Jill, Fanny and I.

Alice went of the board first. We cheered for her. I turned to see that Dakota was on the bleachers, cheering for our team. I flashed him a smile, adrenaline coursing through my veins again.

The gun shot went off and Alice jumped into the water. Gabriella was next. She took Alice's position on the board and leaped in when Alice came back. We were one of the last. I started to panic. We trained so hard for this, I could not just let it go to waste.

Jill jumped in. She was a fast swimmer too. She overtook some other swimmers before coming back. Fanny was next. Her record timing was just 2 seconds below mine. I looked around the stands for one last glance before making my way to the board.

I spotted Naya sitting on the bleachers. She was our substitute. She smirked at me. I ignored her and stepped on the board. I can do this, I told myself.

Fanny came back and I leaped into the water. I swam like there was no tomorrow. I pulled myself against the water current and made it back, panting. I looked at the score board to see that our team had made it fourth. My team cheered and we hugged each other. We made it to the quarterfinals!

It was the boys' team next. I toweled myself dry before sitting down to watch Dakota and his team.

Adam took his place as first swimmer. The gun shot went off and he started swimming. The boys were way faster.

Soon, it was Dakota's turn. He took his place on the board, and shot me one last smile. I cheered for him and he jumped into the water swiftly. The boys' team were second place now, as they had a good start.

Dakota was trying to race for first, I could see. It was just elimination, I thought.

I squinted to see him racing back. But, there was something different about the way he moved.

His movements looked restricted and pained. I stared in horror as he came back. He had finished first but his team crowded around him. They were not cheering.

I made my way over to them. That was when I saw the medic team pulling in and scooping Dakota up.

My feet stood frozen to the ground.



__________________________

Hello everyone!

Wow, 322 reads! It's not many but it made my day! Thank you, you lovely people!

This chapter is dedicated to gaby_99 for voting for my story! Sorry, if this was a little late.

I stopped writing for awhile because I thought that nobody was reading my story. But after I saw that I had 322 reads this morning, I quickly got up to write.

So thank you once again!

The next chapter will be more about the swimming competition, so stay tuned.

I was just wondering if any of you read this. So if you did, please comment 'Squirrel' . I'm just curious :P

Please check out my other book, When Hate Becomes Love. Thanks and bye!

P.S. vote! :)