Stay Fierce

“Fuck my life, fuck my life, fuck my life.” I chanted, attempting to take deep breaths.

Mae giggled from beside me, “Don’t say that, you’ll do amazing today.” She referred to the meet I completely forgot we had. Our first meet, and I was unprepared.

“Mae, I was up until like, one in the morning last night. I am so fucked for this meet.” I groaned, burying my head in the red towel I was taking out of my swim bag at the time.

“Is that a Blackhawks towel?” Mae questioned. I raised my head to meet her eyes, glaring unhappily. Nobody knew about my relation to Brent, and that’s how I wanted it to be.

“You know, at the time that you’re supposed to make me feel better, you’re more concerned with my towel.”

She smacked my upper arm, “Don’t be such a sour bitch. You’ll do fine.”

Not feeling any better, I frowned, looking down at the towel and stuffing it back into my bag, face down so that the Blackhawks symbol wasn’t staring back at me. The only towels my brother had available for me to use were ones with his team’s symbol. Go fucking figure.

Mae went to talk with a girl from JV and I took deep breaths, closing my eyes and jumping, stretching out my muscles before it would be time to get in the water and warm up. And hopefully, that wouldn’t be soon. I needed rest.

Right as I went to sit up against the wall and close my eyes for that rest, Coach Morten’s voice echoed off the walls, “Amundsen! Get in the water! Start warm up!”

I stood, growling under my breath. This meet would suck.

-.-.-

“For the Varsity 100 free we have Lanes 1, Senior Dera Zemberg from Amundsen, Lane 2, Senior Kara Deering from Lincoln, Lane 3, Freshman Amelie Seabrook from Amundsen-”

All noise disappeared at that moment. It was her first event, and her heart was pounding. Amelie’s legs shook as she stood on the block, and a cold wave rushed through her, chilling her body.

“Swimmers, take your marks,” He paused, beep!

Amelie dived into the water, a tight streamline. The cold water hit her skin and she resurfaced, sprinting out her four laps of freestyle. She didn’t look around at the other girls in the other lanes. At her last flip turn, Amelie used all of her last strength to push off the wall and sprint the last length.

Once her hand hit the pad at the wall, she sulked in the water, hearing cheers from the spectators, and rested, ripping off her goggles and cap. The cool water felt great against her heated skin. It flowed through her hair and scalp, cooling her off.

Amelie turned to the girl to her right from Jefferson, in Lane 4, and smiled the best she could at the moment, treading over to the lane line that divided them and catching her in a one arm hug, “Nice swim.”

The girl laughed slightly, still breathless, “Are you kidding me? Says the freshman who won the race and just made State at the first swim meet of the season?”

Amelie’s jaw dropped and her head whipped around to look at the time board. 52:12. She just beat the State cut off by three seconds. Three whole seconds. And considering she was out of shape after lazing around through the summer, 52:12 was her slowest time for the season.

The roaring of her coach caught her ears and she slowly lifted herself out of the pool as the next event was to start. But the announcer made it a responsibility to stop the meet and announce that she just qualified for state.

Her ears felt as if they were being squeezed with pressure.

“Amelie Seabrook!” The coach whooped, holding out his hand for a high five. She complied and he squeezed it for a second, “You just made state!”

“I guess…”

He looked at her in disbelief, taking his time to talk with her as they walked the the diving well, which was next to the pool, as the diving event started. “You guess?” He exclaimed, “With a time like that, you’ll drop seconds during the season and win state. That means regionals and then nationals!”

Amelie flushed at the thought of the nationals, “I don’t think so.”

Coach Morten scoffed at his swimmer, “I had All Americans that were going 55’s at the end of their senior year. You can get far. That’s all I need to tell you.”

When he walked away, Amelie pulled out her towel and dried herself. As she patted her face and wrung her soaking hair, she pondered over what he had said. Was she really nationals material?

She didn’t have to long to herself because Mae soon sat down beside her, wrapped in her own towel since she swam the backstroke in the Medley relay. “Holy shit, Am!” Mae squealed, wrapped the freshman in a huge hug. “You’ll make state for the 100 fly too!”

Amelie nodded, “Yeah, sure. I’m in only two events though.”

Mae snorted, “Because it’s the first meet and the coach is still changing the line up.” She looked around the crowded floor slightly, and upon seeing none of the varsity girls continued, but with a dropped voice, “With your time, you beat one of the girls out of their 400 free relay. Karissa’s pissed after the 100 free.”

Amelie shot the junior a weird and worried look.

“It’s because you came in first, and because your time is like, four seconds better than hers. She got a 56.87.” Mae explained, finally straightening her head and paying attention to the diving in front of them.

Amelie bit her lip, nervous and worried. Karissa hated her already. She was positive that now, Karissa despised her.

-.-.-

Amelie stretched in her bed Saturday morning, her sore joints cracking and popping. Groaning, she stretched even more. The meet yesterday made all of her muscles sore. The coach sensed that in all of his swimmers and called off the practice that would usually take place on a Saturday morning.

Rolling out of bed, she stretched her arms above her head and pushed her door open with her foot, walking out into the living room.

She yawned, finally putting her arms down and walked into the kitchen, grabbing an apple and taking a bite out of it. She sat herself down in one of those spiny high chairs and made it live up to its name as she spun around in it.

Knocks came at the door and she grunted, hopping off the chair and opening it, rolling her eyes as she saw Brent standing there. Skipping back to the chair, she took anther bite of her apple.

But upon seeing the look she was getting from her brother, she sighed and glanced at him, “What?”

“I spent the night at Fraser’s last night, and as I was leaving for the UC I called you, but you weren’t picking up. So I’m checking if you’re alive and not all bloody and dead in my bathroom.”

She rolled her eyes, “How thoughtful of you.”

“Yeah, well, seeing as it’s two in the afternoon, I’m guessing you got a good night’s sleep.” He commented.

Amelie’s mouth dropped open as she heard the time, wondering if she really slept in that late. “The fuck?”

Brent rolled his eyes this time, “So you okay?”

She waved him off, “Yeah, yeah.”

“Then I’m off.”

A thought flashed through her mind and she hopped off the bar, “Wait!”

He turned back to her, eyebrows raised.

“Take me with you.”

He stared at her, stumped. “You don’t wanna do that.”

“And why not?” Amelie demanded, getting a bit prissy.

“Morning skate is boring, especially for people who don’t pay attention to hockey.”

Amelie huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “I have literally nothing to do.”

“Can’t you hang with some friends or something? You always get rides from them to swimming.”

Amelie rolled her eyes, “Brent, I’m not going to call up a 17 year old and go, ‘Hey, wana hang with me, the 14 year old freshman?’”

He shrugged, “Then I guess you’ll be sulking at home.” And with that, he walked out, closing the door behind him.

Amelie’s jaw dropped slightly and she stared at the now closed door where her brother had just been, “Un-fucking-believable.”

-.-.-.-

Loud knocks on the front door made Amelie have to heave herself from her bed and actually go open the door.

She sulked out from her room, her high ponytail a mess on top of her head and a long over sized t-shirt along with shorts draping from her body.

Her sleepy haze broke as soon as she opened the door and saw the captain of the Blackhawks standing in front of her, grinning.

“May I help you?” She questioned, stifling a yawn.

“That depends, are you willing to put on some decent clothes and go to the movies with me?”

One of her eyebrows arched and she twisted her mouth to the side, “And why would I be doing that?”

“Because I want to see The Hangover again, and I heard Brent grumbling about you being in a sulking mood wanting to go somewhere. So I thought, ‘Why the hell not?’”

Amelie nodded slowly, letting it soak in. “Again? You’ve seen it before?”

“Three times. But none of the guys will go with me anymore.”

Amelie clicked her tongue at the roof of her mouth, “So I’m your last choice?”

Jonathan flushed and started stuttering, but Amelie only laughed and walked away from the door, allowing him to step in.

“I’ll be out in five minutes!” She called out behind her.

-.-.-.-

“Oh my god, thank god we’re out of that car because holy shit, you stink.” I emphasized the last word, trying to hold back my gagging while taking in deep gulps of the fresh air outside.

“I don’t smell.” Jonathan’s eyes furrowed together and he slightly raised one of his arms, taking a sniff.

“Uh, yeah. You smell like you’ve been drenched in sweat. You know that one Dane Cook episode with the Obby kid who smells like he got coated with a sheer coat of piss? Yeah, same goes to you expect in the form of sweat.”

This time, a deep frown penetrated his mouth, “You reek of chlorine.”

“Because I swim in it like, 5 hours a day?”

“That is so not fair!” Jonathan complained loudly.

I smirked, kicking off my flip flops and bounding over to the couch, where surely, about twenty of the guys were sitting.

Someone yanked my pony tail, making me my head whip around and glare at non other than Adam. “What’s your issue?”

He shrugged, “It was just hanging there, begging to be pulled.”

Making a face, I muttered a low ‘that’s what she said’ and pulled at the hair tie, let my hair down momentarily before quickly flinging it back into a bun. Upon seeing that Jonathan had taken a seat next to Patty Kane, I decided to speak up.

“So, I had to spend the car ride to the movie theater, the whole movie, and the car ride back breathing in that guy’s,” I flung a pointer finger at the 21 year old captain, “disgusting scent. And then he puts down swimming.”

Apparently Adam decided to butt his huge jaw into the conversation; “Well, you do stink too.”

My lips smashed together and I narrowed my eyes, just glaring at him.

Then Patty Kane decided to make it all worse, as if it hadn’t hit rock bottom already. “Hockey is harder than swimming.”

A couple of the guys agreed, but a couple stayed silent. “Patty,” I voiced slowly. He turned his head towards me, obviously not realizing what he started.

“Yeah?”

“We’re going Speedo shopping tomorrow.”

He snorted, obviously amused, “What the hell for?”

“Because you are going swimming tomorrow.”

Mainly all of the guys snickered at the thought, which only made me more upset. “We’re going tomorrow and that’s it.” I firmly stated, standing up and walking away form the guys before my eyes could let go of the tears which had harbored up during that short time.

-.-.-.-

“I am not fucking doing this.”

Amelie sighed, rolling her eyes, “Take off your clothes.” She repeated again.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe Seabrook’s 14 year old sister is telling me to take off my clothes.” He muttered.

Amelie narrowed her eyes, “Stop making everything sound everything sexual, you horny asshole. Now take off your clothes and dive in.”

The twenty year old blonde sighed, frowning. He was had dug himself into a hole the night before, and now had to pay for it.

“Get in the water.”

“Oh come on!” He complained loudly.

Amelie turned to glare at him fully by now, “You said swimming is easy; now prove it. If it really is so easy, then you’ll be able to do ten easy laps and get out.”

“This is bullshit.” He dumbly commented, trying anything to get him out of the situation he was currently in.

“Your face is bullshit.” She automatically threw back, and his eyes narrowed towards the fourteen year old brunette.

The glaring competition went on for a couple moments before Patrick finally gave up, muttering a string of profanities under his breath while taking his sweet time to take off his sweat pants and t-shirt, revealing the black speedo with flame colored stripes on the side which Amelie had picked out.

A bright flash snapped from behind them and Amelie turned her head, her emotions indifferent once she saw a couple of the Hawks standing there. A couple meaning Sharpie, Ben, and Adam. Grins stretched across all of their faces as they stared right at Patty, who was blushing a deep tomato red color.

“Dive in, Kane!” She called out. He shot her a final dirty look before lamely jumping into the water.

“Now swim!”

He hesitated a little before starting to move his arms and legs. Amelie slapped a hand to her face. His stroke was horrible. The lifeguards were staring at him, and Amelie figured it was because they knew the Blackhawks. Especially since two of the guards were talking to Sharpie, Adam and Ben.

Patrick had somehow gotten to the other side of the pool at this point and was taking a rest at the wall.

“Keep swimming!” She called out loudly. He jumped a bit before making his way back. Amelie smirked; this was a win.

-.-.-

“You’re a fourteen year old witch, you know that?”

I smirked at the frustration in Patrick’s voice and walked into he kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water. “Sore looser much?”

“No I am not! This war isn’t over yet; it’s your time to show me how you play hockey, princess.” He was in front of me, sneering the last word in my face.

I rolled my eyes, “I grew up with Brent, do you honestly think I suck at hockey?”

“It’s possible!”

I snorted, “Dude, Brent used to take me out to the rink every day, sometimes double. And after he left to play in the minors, my dad continued teaching me. Now let me re-phrase; do you honestly think I will suck at hockey as much as you sucked in swimming?”

His lips pursed into a thin line, then opened his mouth. Seeing as he had no response and that I had definitely won this one, he snapped his mouth shut again. “Fuck. This.” He muttered out lowly.

The door to the apartment over and I looked over Patrick’s shoulder smirking. “You’re an ass.” I whispered.

He stared at me in shock, oblivious that my brother was coming up behind us. “Well, you’re a bitch!” He exclaimed loudly.

“Kaner! Did you seriously just swear in front of Amelie again?”

Patrick’s eyes winded and he whirled around, looking as if he were going to pee his pants. I smirked; if I died right now, that look and the situation unfolding in front of me would be enough to let me die happy.

-.-.-

I made myself content in the chair to Brent’s left. His girlfriend, Elina, was sitting to his right. I seriously didn’t want to be here. Troy and Colin had decided to throw a little ‘dinner party’ if you will, and invited Brent along with another guy from the team, Tomas, along. All three of them were here with their wives, and Brent had brought along Elina. And that was fine. Until Elina had urged Brent along to bring me.

I liked her, she was nice and beautiful, and she was perfect for Brent. But why did she have to urge him to bring me to this? I would be content sitting at home, watching TV. It was Sunday too, so I would have to go home and sleep, considering we had morning practice tomorrow.

“So Amelie, how do you like Chicago?”

My eyes snapped to Carli’s, Colin’s wife. “It’s nice.” I smiled politely.

The guys would carry the conversation towards hockey, and Carli, Carmen, Tomas’s wife whose name I still didn’t know, and Elina would always bring me back.

It was during dessert that all three of them stood up and excused themselves to go to the bathroom. While they were gone, Troy, Colin and Brent started talking amongst themselves. I sighed for the millionth time.

My mind wandered to Sophia and Josh. Maybe I should call them? It’d be better than sitting here anyway.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a tap on my shoulder. Reeling back a little, my head turned to look at Tomas.

“You’re Amelie Seabrook right?”

I nodded my head slowly.

“Swimmer for Amundsen High School?”

My eyes widened and I felt my neck heat up, the warmth spreading to my cheeks. “Uhm-maybe? How do you know?” I suddenly demanded.

“Newspaper.”

“The Chicago Tribune?” I finally managed through my shock.

He shrugged, “I read the Local Sports. And you were on the front page of that section.”

My mind reeled over what he said, “My picture?”

“Of you with your coach. I’ve never heard Brent speaking about your achievements in making state.” He stated casually, his eyes glancing to my brother’s form and back to me.

“That’s because he doesn’t know.”

His eyebrows raised and I nodded, shrugging. “He only knows of his own achievements.” I muttered darkly.

“That… sucks.” He finished after a pause.

I could only nod again, seeing as the women were back at the table, sitting down in their seats. My eyes frantically caught Tomas’s from across the table. He must’ve understood what I was implying because he titled his head down and put his thumb and forefinger to his lips, twisting them as if to show he were locking something.

I let out a content sigh, feeling calm again as my eyes trailed to look at Brent. He really only cared about himself.