Risky Business (20 page)

“Me, too,” Brittany said. “I had my issues when I first started, too. Over time, after you find out what works for you, you settle into a routine and everything gets a little easier. You’ll figure it out.”

“That’s the thing. I don’t know what to do.” Kate plopped onto the bench, put her head in her hands, and blinked back the tears. “I feel so much pressure. My mom is pressuring me not to let anything slip. Coach is pressuring me to be the best. I’m pressuring myself to earn a scholarship.” She took a tissue from Pam and blew her nose. “All of those are good things, but sometimes it’s just too much when you put them all together—especially when I’m so tired.”

“Tell me about it! We all feel those stresses … or at least some of them.” Brittany slipped her arm around Kate’s shoulder as they leftthe locker room to head to their first-period classes. “I tell you what, meet us out here before practice this afternoon. We’ll share one of our secrets with you.”

“I’ll be here,” Kate promised. Maybe they did have the perfect solution—only one way to find out.

“Here.” Brittany shoved a shiny blue metal can, about half the size of a soda can, toward Kate. Kate’s backpack slid from her shoulder to the floor with a thud as she took the can, inspecting the label.

“What is a Red Dragon? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Oh, it’s just an energy drink. It’s totally legal, and it’s sold in every gas station. You’ll see, though, it’s way better than just coffee because it has other stuff in it that makes the energy stick with you a lot longer,” Brittany assured her.

“I don’t swim without one.” Pam looked around her on all sides and then lowered her voice. “It’s the only thing that gets me through a grueling workout and still leaves me with enough energy to do my homework later.”

“Hmm … really?” Kate wasn’t sure she wanted to resort to such drastic measures. “You’re sure it’s legal?”

“Oh yeah. I mean, there’s no way they’d sell it to me at the gas station if it wasn’t, right?”

Kate narrowed her eyes, skeptical. “True … but then why do you have to keep it a secret?”
What would Mom say?

Pam shook her head. “It’s not that it’s a secret. We just don’t want it thrown in Coach’s face that we use this stuff. She probably knows, anyway. It’s just not the natural approach she’d like us to take.”

“Yeah, you know Coach. She preaches about all that good stuff—diet, plenty of sleep, herbal tea … health.” Brittany snorted. “But believe me, she’s happy with the results even if she doesn’t know it.”

Pam narrowed her eyes. “And, Kate, there are others on the team who drink this stuff. We’re not the only ones. Pay attention. You’ll start to notice cans in their swim bags and on the bus. Just don’t make a big deal out of it … ‘cause it isn’t one. Okay?”

“Okay. If you’re sure, I’ll give it a try. What do I owe you for this one?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Go ahead and have it. I’m sure you’ll be buying your own afterthis.” Pam reached into her gym bag and pulled out a can for herself and one for Brittany. At the same time, they popped the tops and tapped the rims in a mock toast. “It’s best to drink it fast, because it doesn’t taste all that great,” Pam warned.

“Thanks for the warning.” Kate took a sniff and wrinkled her nose. “Here we go.” She tipped back her head and sucked down the tangy fizz.
Eww
. They were right. She gagged a bit on the first drink but kept choking it down. She shuddered as she swallowed the last little bit in the can. They turned to the locker room and dropped their cans on top of the other three that were already in the trash. Almost late for practice, they hurried to change and get out to the water.

Within fifteen minutes, much to her surprise, Kate buzzed through the pool, even a little giddy. Her fingers tingled and her head felt lighter. She pictured herself swimming to Alaska—she might actually make it that far. Could it all be in her head, though? No matter, she was back. She sailed through the water with her usual ease, and no one got close enough to even think about touching her leg—what a relief that that had only happened to her once.

“Hey, Kate!” Coach beckoned her over to the side of the pool toward the end of practice. “Come on over here. You’re doing really well this afternoon. Let’s work on some speed drills. How about a race?”

“Race? Um … okay.” Kate gave a nervous chuckle. She couldn’t think of a better day to test her limits. Coach called for Sandy to race the 100-meter freestyle—Kate’s favorite race—against her.

“Swimmers, take your mark….” Coach readied her whistle while the girls pulled forward into their starting positions. “Get set….” They tightened up their stance, perched to spring into the pool. “Go!” The whistle blew and off they went. Kate had the best start of her life. A thing of beauty. How was Sandy’s start? She couldn’t tell.

Kate swam with all of her might. She breathed on every third stroke and sailed into her first turn in what seemed like record time. The water cascaded over her head and through her body. She had never felt so alive and in her element as she did in those moments. As she continued out of her turn, she realized Sandy hadn’t even arrived to the end of the lane yet. She had almost half a pool length advance on her. How had that happened? Instead of relaxing in her clear victory, Kate pushed harder.

Nearing the end of the swim of her life, Kate gave it all she had. With as much extra thrust and power in her strokes as she could muster, she sailed to the end and touched the pad in record time.

She ripped off her goggles and looked at the timer. She had beaten the school record for the one hundred by a little over two seconds. Kate and her coach looked back and forth at each other and at the clock, stunned, as they waited for Sandy to finish her race.

She floated out from the wall, trying to cool her body down. At least two dozen swimmers hanging on the lane lines had witnessed the momentous occasion.

“Good swim!” Sandy said.

Kate tried not to make a big deal of it. “Thanks a lot. You, too.”

She heard her coach’s voice from behind her. “Kate, can you come into my office before you leave the pool area? For now, though, go ahead and cool down. I’m sure you need it.”

Chest heaving, Kate swam two easy laps on her back to cool her body down. She hoped her rush wasn’t just because of that energy drink. She felt like she had been under her own power,her own skill … but how could she be sure? By the end of her cool-down, Kate decided that she had just found a way to tap into the strength she already possessed. Ready to talk to Coach, she hoisted herself out of the pool and made her way to the office.

“Well, well, well, Miss Kate. Nice swim, to say the least.” Coach shook her head in disbelief. “Something tells me you’ve got a lot of surprises in you.” She put down the papers she had been shuffling through and turned her chair to face Kate. “I want to know how serious you are about swimming. You’re a first-year swimmer, a sophomore, and you’ve beaten our school record in a practice. Unfortunately, the time doesn’t get recorded because it’s not a formally timed event, but things look really bright in your near future.”

Coach leaned her elbows on her thighs and clasped her hands together. “Then, there’s the long-term future to think of. Kate, you have an amazing talent and you just keep getting better and better. What do you think of all this?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I love to swim; and I want to push myself. I’d like to earn a scholarship and swim through college, if you still think that’s a possibility.”

“A possibility? Do you understand that the record you beat today is eight years old?” Coach shook her head, as if hoping she could get Kate to grasp the significance of what had just happened. “If you can swim like that in an impromptu race after you already swam a full practice, just imagine what you’re capable of doing at the Regional invitational on Saturday. If you come even close to a time like that, you’ll definitely get some attention and the powers-that-be will start watching you.

“Here’s what I want to do.” Coach picked up her clipboard, and Kate leaned forward in her chair. “I want to have you swim several events on Saturday. Let’s get in there and make some waves. You can swim the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle races, as well as the freestyle leg of the IM relay, and the anchor leg of the free relay.”

Kate panicked. “Um, Coach … Sandy swims the IM relay.”

“Not anymore, Kate, not anymore.”

Kate left the office buoyed by the possibility of her future but concerned over the pressure she’d face from the other swimmers. Not only would they be counting on her to swim at least as fast as Sandy, but they’d expect her to prove why she was a worthy replacement. She hoped her coach wasn’t making a horrible mistake. No matter how it turned out, Sandy would hate her for sure.

I’m going to need more energy drinks
.

“Liv! We need to talk!” Kate shut the door to her room and sprawled out on her stomach across her bed, her cell phone in hand. “I have so much to tell you, and I need your advice.”

“Okay. I’m all ears.”

Kate took a moment to soak in the image of her friend closing her bedroom door before settling down into her beloved purple banana seat. Once the sounds of settling stopped, Kate launched into a monologue about her life. She left nothing out: Julia’s baby, the tryouts at church, the energy drink that helped her win a proverbial gold medal at practice that day, a shot at a scholarship, and then finished it off with Mark.

“… He said I’m amazing. Well, I guess he said I sounded amazing, or something like that … oh, now I can’t remember his exact words.”

“I don’t need the exact words. I already know you’re amazing. And I already knew he thought so, too. You two have been destined to get together. It was only a matter of time.”

“So, you think I should let it happen? I mean, if he wants it to, of course. He hasn’t asked me out on a date or anything.”

“Yes!” Olivia laughed. “I do think you should ‘let it happen,’ and he will ask you out on a date for crying out loud. I guarantee it.”

Kate remembered that Steve had said the exact same thing. “Okay. I believe you. But we’ll have to see. I still feel weird about it, though. He’s such an old and good friend. Maybe it will feel like dating a brother.”

“Perfect first-date material, if you ask me,” Olivia assured her. “There’s nothing to worry about. It’s all part of your life’s inevitability. Just live it.”

Kate laughed at Olivia’s cosmic approach to life. “That’s true. Okay, enough about Mark. What do you think about the other stuff?”

“It all sounds so incredible. You’re living a dream. Are you able to do it all, or are you falling apart?”

“I did have a hard time for a little while, but I’m fine now. I think I’m getting my second wind.” Kate thought of something. “Oh, Liv. I wish you could be here for the invitational on Saturday. It’s going to be so exciting—a lot of pressure, though. Coach says this is going to be the moment that everyone sits up and takes notice of this new swimmer at Sandusky High School. What if I crumble?”

“Yeah, you’ll crumble under the pressure because that’s your style, right?”

“Ha-ha, funny. But seriously.”

“I’m sure it’s unnerving. But you deal with stuff like that well—look at what happened today. Just do the same thing on Saturday. Boy, I wish I could be there, too. I assume your mom is going?”

They talked for almost two full hours while Kate watched the sun go down outside her window. She ached for her friend.

Reclining sideways against the window, Kate ducked to miss the balled-up towel that flew by. A sigh escaped her lips as she gave up and shut her geometry book. No use trying to study with all the racket. Slipping her book back into her bag, she pulled out a Red Dragon to sip. Turning in her seat, she drew her knees up and pressed her shins against the vinyl seat back so she could join the chaos in the back of the bus for the rest of the two-hour ride to the swim meet.

She popped the top on her energy drink.
Thunk
. The vacuum released. Only two more rolled around at the bottom of her bag for later, so she took small sips to make it last. Was it just her imagination, or did she have to drink more to get the same effect now?