I Bruise Easily

(Starts off with a flashback!)

* We were slow dancing. Ramon and I.
I smiled up at him as he smiles back down. Sadly I can smell a bit of alcohol on him, but I only saw him have two drinks, so it was fine. I wasn't worried.
We danced from side to side with our foreheads pressed against each other. When the song was over he smiled and gave my hand a small,soft, and light tug for me to follow him. I laughed with a shy smile and followed him.
Thinking nothing much of it until we arrived at a rose covered bed in a private room upstairs. *

Today's the day. And I couldn't sleep because of it. I turned to look at the clock. Well at least its only an hour to spear. I got up and dressed.
"I'm assuming I wont be seeing you this afternoon huh?" My ant asked,sneaking up right behind me.
"Shit! Don't do that...." I whined but gave her a small smile and nodded her answer.
She smiled and went back to the kitchen to finnish cleaning up a few things. "I made bagels if you want any on the table." She said giving me a kiss on the cheek as she got her bag.
"Be careful, and show those girls what those damn legs are made of." She teased me and walked out the door before I could say anything.
I grabbed a bagel and ate it on my way to school.
When I got to school it looked like a ghost house. It was empty. I walked into the pool room and this time no one was there. I went to change and was walking out of the locker room while putting my hair in a bun when I heard a voice.
"Don't stress about it. I'm sure you'll do just fine." He said and I looked up to meet his eyes.
Keith.
"Thanks." I replied. He nodded and walked into the other single pool room. I sighed shaking my head.
Don't even think about it. I told my head and went to do some laps before school started.

It was government time. Shit. I had a test and I had completely forgotten. Who wouldn't when its only the third day of school.
I walked into the classroom and took the same seat I was in yesterday. I got a pencil out and sat there staring at it.
"It wont be that bad." A voice came from beside me. I looked at her with a confused expression.
"The test I mean. The first one is always the easiest and straight forward." She told me getting her pencil out.
"Oh. Okay, thanks." I replied. She seems nice considering she didn' look like it. So I thought, why the hell not talk till the bell rings.
"I'm Bianca..."
"I know." She told me and I frowned.
She gave a small chuckle seeing my reaction. "Everyone knows a new girl here, since we have all been together since freshmen year you know. Anyway, I'm Cassandra, Cas for short."
"Anything else I should know that the others have been saying about me?"
"Nah, its all the usual. Some thinking your gonna take the crown, others think your the loner, and so on." She said with a smile.
"But apparently you think I'm neither since your talking to me." I replied.
"That's right." She said and then faced forward the receive her test that we were now going to take.
Great.

When everyone was done with their tests we were able to use our phones and listen to our ipod. I was about to put in my headphones when Cassandra passed me a note.
'So why'd u move to a private school. Public r way bettr!'
I smiled a bit and slid the note back to her saying it was a long story and complicated.
'Id say well I have time,but we only have three minutes left anyway.'
I looked up at the clock and gathered my things.
The bell rang and everyone got up.
"Do you have lunch next?" Cas asked
"Yep." I said standing up and walking out of class with her.
"Want to sit with me and a couple of others?" She asked. I was going to say no, but then again, it would be nice to sit in a lunchroom today.
"Sure." I said with a light smile.
We headed down to the cafeteria and found a seat. Cas asked if I was getting anything but I just shook my head and listened to the others at the table talk. Soon the bell rang and it was time for my last period.

I had my black one piece swim suit that was required to wear if we were trying out. I had a sweater on and was sitting on the bleaches waiting for everyone else to get here.
I looked around and saw a lot of girls talking to each other and they seemed pretty sure they were going to make it. And then of course, there were others who were freaking out. Then everyone turned around to see a group of five girls come in. They were in different neon colored swim suits and had their hair down. Surprisingly, the one who seemed to be the leader and was brunette.
"Those are them."
"....amazing-"
"....the judges-"
"...school record..."
"....nationals..."
Those were small bits of conversations I was able to get from all the whispers.
Great, those blonds and that burnett are the judges. Shit.
The girls took their seats at the table in front of the pool and chatted.
And apparently the boys had practice this exact day and time. Perfect! I grumbled to myself irritated. I hated crowds.
I know. Why the hell try out then? Well, because I need a freaking life, and because I missed being a part of a team.
"What are you grumbling about missy!" Sandra said as she sneaked up behind me. And I gave a small jump surprised.
"Nothing..." I lied.
She laughed shaking her head. "This is the time the boys want to "practice." Ha, yeah right." She chuckled. "All they want to do is look at our asses!"
I chuckled a bit and shook my head.
"What about them..." I nodded toward the five girls.
"Well as you could guess the middle is the captain, and the rest are her puppies. They are the captains of the team and hold the highest ranking in our school and national right now anyway." She told me.
"Huh..." i said quietly to myself. Then I looked at her outfit.
"Aren't you trying out?" I asked
"Nah, I've been on the team since the beginning of this year. They always want me back because no one can do the Fly as well or as fast like me ." She said with a proud smile.
"Then why aren't you with that group." I asked nodding toward the judges.
Sandra scoffed and then laughed shaking her head.
"Did you not hear me say those around her are her pups? To hell me being a pup." She said shaking her head still laughing.
Two teachers walked in then. One of them was the man that told me where to find the information on the tryout. The other, I assumed, was the couch for the girls team.
"Line up on the edge of the pool ladies and be ready to do many laps!" He shouted and the girls quickly raced over.
I stood up and took my sweater off.
"Good luck fish." Sandra said.
"Fish?" I repeated confused. But that only got another chuckle out of Sandra.
I sighed and stood beside another girl who was already in position to dive. I looked around and saw that all the girls were like that. I looked at the couch who was looking right at me.
"Any day miss." He told me and I froze. Luckly, Sandra was behind the couch waving her hands to keep my mind from bringing back a memory. Before I got into position, my eyes caught the line of boys from the swim team staring at all of us girls. Again, I shook my head and sighed as I waited for the whistle to go off.
And when it did, I was gone.

For the first fifteen minutes or so we just warmed up. Then we got down to business. He made five of us go at a time for the different strokes. As he watched the other girls swim I saw that he was taking down their time. Sadly, many of the girls were slow.
When I heard my name, I saw everyone shift. Sandra smiled wide and stood up. The brunette girl at the table straighten and narrowed her eyes at me. But what caught my eye was to see James smiling at me and Keith holding up a finger to his couch to wait till he was done watching me swim.
I bit my tongue and got in position once more and waited.
The whistle blew.
I flew in the water. Each part of my body worked the way it was suppose to. The water passed around me like air. And before I knew it, I was back at the starting line. I popped up and looked around. The rest of the girls were barley making their way back. I was surprised to not find myself out of breath. I finally looked up at the couch who was double checking over and over his stopwatch and the clip board he held. When it seemed like he had no choice, he looked at me with a shocked expression.
"You've just beat the schools girls record and the nationals." He said in astonishment.
I on the other hand, had really no interest in that. But others apparently did.
"What!" The brunette girl from the table stood and walked over. "How is that even possible?" She said glaring at me with her arms crossed.
Oh no....I said in my head and closed my eyes for a bit until I heard Sandra join the conversation.
"Well, well, guess we have a new record holder! Yaya Bianca!" She shouted and smiled.
The whole guys swim clapped and cheered. I looked at them and saw James was hooting my name and clapping. Kieth though, clapped politely and nodded in my direction. His eyes showed that he was happy, but there was no smile.

When tryouts were complete the couch gave us that speech. Yep. That speech about never giving up even if we didn't make the team and all.
He began calling the names of those who did make the team.
"Bianca." Was the last name he said. As first I was surprised, but then was filled with joy.
Everyone took their shower in the locker rooms and talked.
"Congrats!" Sandra said with a smile as I finished putting my shoes on.
"Thanks." I said with a small smile in return.
"Damn, I bet Nelly was missed off!" She laughed.
"Nelly?" I questioned.
"Yeah, that brunette chick who screamed 'what' when she heard you beat the schools and nation record." Sandra answered.
"But why? They're just records." I said, still confused.
"That's where your wrong. They aren't just school records or national records. They are HER school and national records."
Oh boy, I thought. Definitely not what I needed now.
"But anyway, you are coming to the bonfire to welcome our new swimmers?" She asked me.
"I didn't even know there was one..." I told her.
"Well now you do. Are you coming or what?"
I thought for a bit and finally gave a small nod.
One night couldn't hurt right?