Chapter 36

Nobody had planned on it being an even draw. I should have insisted on firing up the timing system. After Peter had called it, more than a few people backed him up.

“Although,” he had said, as if it was some kind of comfort, “you were in the lead, Coach Connor. Up until the second lap.”

“Oh well,” I said lightly, trying to conceal my disappointment at not besting Nao, “we’re both winners then!”

“And yet,” said Owen dramatically, “both losers. Which means...”

“Oh, yes!” cried Becca and the other girls.

“Yes!” intoned Peter, even more dramatically. I was beginning to think this kid should be on a stage somewhere rather than in the pool. “They get to share both bragging and cleaning rights!”

Never try to override a group of hyper-competitive adolescents’ sense of fairness and justice, especially when it comes to the outcome of a race. Throw in the added bonus of the joint humiliation of a pair of authority figures and you have a force more powerful than the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Nao and I at least managed to get them to haul in the lane markers. I locked the main gate and killed the pool flood lights while the last of the squad finished in the change rooms. The last stragglers very obviously enjoyed walking past me towards the exit turnstile, leaving the change rooms uncleaned.

“Don’t forget to mop properly,” Becca called over her shoulder, laughing.

“I do hope those boys remembered to flush properly. Or at least use the toilet brush,” Owen said loudly to Peter, who began sniggering.

“Laugh it up, guys. You forget who sets your cardio plan. I hope you enjoy burpees forever!” I called after them, grumpily. I turned around to Nao, who was standing there with the cleaning cart. She was wearing an oversized beach hoodie over her swimsuit. She had the sleeves rolled up to her forearms, but the hem hung to mid-thigh. I was still wearing just my swimsuit after working up a sweat helping to store the lane marker reels around with the boys. I was tired and sore. I sighed. “Look, I know you hate me, but if we work together, we can smash this out quickly so we can get out of here.” I was expecting an argument but to my surprise she nodded, then turned and walked towards the entrance to the change rooms. I followed after her and waited as she called into the girls’ side to see if anyone was still in there, then went inside to check. After a moment, she reappeared and beckoned me in. I sighed again and followed her, pushing the heavy-duty plastic trolley with the mops, buckets, and cleaning supplies. I stopped the cart in the centre of the locker area and locked on the brakes.

“Before we mop, we need to spray and hose the showers, as well as dump the cleanser in the toilets and brush them out. You have a particular preference for either, or do you want to do rock-paper-scissors?”

As Nao opened her mouth to speak, the change room was filled with the sound of a squeaking metal gate, suddenly cut off by a solid metal clang that reverberated around the room. We looked at each other for a moment, and then our eyes widened, and we ran to the entrance. I got there first. The metal grille door that guarded the entrance to the change rooms was closed and the lock engaged. I shook it, knowing even as I did that it would be securely locked. The sound of laughter echoed across the pool and faded out as the exit turnstile creaked and clicked. Those rat kids must have hung back before leaving in order to pull this off. I let go of the gate and turned to Nao who was looking at me, expressionlessly.

“I don’t suppose you have your keys on you?” she asked. My eyes flicked to her blank chest where her keys usually hung, then back to her face.

“Uh, on my towel on the bleachers,” I said sheepishly.

She rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Great. I’m going to kill them.”

“Get in line,” I said. “So, we’re stuck here then?”

“Do you have keys?”

“Obviously not.”

“Then there’s your answer.” She thought for a moment. “Until security comes by at least,” she said with a hopeful tone. I looked at her and grimaced. “What?”

“Unless there’s an alarm or something looks out of place, security won’t even get out of the car. And even if they did, the front gate is locked, the turnstile is a tube-steel mantrap, so there’s no chance of anybody getting in that way. The office lights stay on for twenty-four hours, so it won’t look like there’s any reason to do more than drive by or maybe rattle the gate. And what are the chances they’d hear us calling out from here over the sound of the pump and filtration shed?” I shrugged. “I think Kylie’s on tomorrow morning for the five-thirty aqua class and the early lap swimmers.” Nao stared at me. I shrugged. “At least we know when we’re likely to get out.”

“Fuck!” Nao’s cry of frustration echoed around the change room. I raised my eyebrows at both the cry and the language. She looked pointedly at me. I shrugged again. She sighed. “If we’re going to be stuck in here, at least we can make it stink less. I’ll do the girl’s toilets. You do the showers. When we get to the boy’s side, you can do their toilets. I have a feeling they’ll be worse.” She grabbed a pair of rubber gloves and a bottle of toilet disinfectant from the cart.

Despite our situation, Nao wasn’t in a talkative mood. It felt like we had exchanged more words in the minutes after we’d been locked into the change rooms than we had in the weeks we’d been working together. Neither of us were willing to start up another conversation while we were cleaning. Not that you really wanted to have your mouth open while you were scrubbing toilet bowls with bleach or spraying shower cleaner around. Eventually we got to the point of mopping.