Chapter 22 - A New Year

Chapter 22: A New Year

We saw in the new year quietly at home, I didn’t even stay up late enough to actually celebrate. Then the holidays were done, it was about to go back to the usual grind of school or work.

Though I did have one thing soon to look forward to, my birthday was only two weeks away. Not the greatest time, being so close to Christmas, but it is when it is.

Start of the new semester meant some changes, now I had the choice between basketball, wrestling or swimming, two were contact sports, though I had grown a bit, I was still too small to compete in the first two, so I picked swimming. I actually loved the water, so it was a moot point that I wasn’t big enough. That wouldn’t start till the second week back though, since we had to get permission slips signed before we could start.

Other than that, classes were just starting new chapters of subjects in each lesson.

One of my electives was Spanish; the first semester had been just the groundwork basics of learning, now we were progressing into actual verbal conversations.

I had selected this elective since I enjoyed learning languages so much, on the plus side with a growing Hispanic population in the area it would be a benefit in communicating with others in the community.

As was my norm, I wasn’t willing to just stick to the basics, I know I set a goal of not reading ahead in the textbook, but my feelings on this were slightly different, in order to communicate with someone, I needed more than the basics we were learning in class, I wanted to be proficient, so had gotten an online program to help me progress quicker.

Another change was getting to school, Rory was driving me and Chloe in each morning, and this allowed us an extra fifteen minutes to get ready, since it was a straight drive in, instead of the bus which meandered around picking up other students.

It was on the third day that I mentioned to Rory how long he was going to continue to drive, since he was getting through the full tank I had given him.

“Every day” Rory proudly announced.

“And how are you going to afford the gas for that?” I asked, “I don’t mind pitching in for my share, but it will cost more than that to keep it on the road.”

“Don’t you start, my Dad has already been on my case to get a part-time job to pay for its upkeep.” Rory moaned.

“He does have a point Rory, so are you looking for a job?” I pushed.

“Well Dad is looking for me at the minute.” Rory explained.

“I would think you might want to look for yourself, that way you might get to do something you want, rather than flipping burgers or something, which you would probably hate.” I mentioned.

“Hmm good point, alright I guess it is something I need to do if I want to keep the wheels spinning.”

“Especially, since you will want to have the truck for date nights.” I teased.

Chloe was struggling hard not to burst into giggles. Rory gave her a glare. “You have a point there.” he confirmed.

“What about you Chloe, what work are you going to look for?” I asked.

“Why do I need to work?” She asked, surprised.

“If you want lifts to school, you need to pay for your share of the gas.” I explained.

“Oh.” was all we got in response, though she remained quiet for the rest of the journey, I just hoped she was thinking about it.

I would have been happy to pay for the gas, just so I didn’t have to take the bus each day, but it wouldn’t help the siblings understand the costs of driving if I did.

Ironic isn’t it, someone with lots of money, trying to teach kids with none to budget.

I was enjoying school a whole lot more now, I actually participated in conversations with other students, either in class before the lesson started, or at lunch, I no longer sat by myself, being invited to join tables with groups of my peers.

I didn’t sit with the jocks, as that was not done unless you were one or were dating a cheerleader, who always sat near them.

But now I did have the opportunity to sit with classmates, talking about classes or anything else under the sun that came up in conversation.

I was asked several times to explain the fights I had been in, everyone was interested in how I could have beaten much larger and older students. I explained my martial arts, how it gave you the knowledge/confidence to stand up for yourself or others. Several demonstrated an interest in finding out more, as it had done me so much good, but whether they would follow through with it was another matter.

The second week swimming started properly, we were bussed over in the afternoon to the local YMCA who had an agreement with the local schools. We only had one coach from the school, once we were all changed into swimming suits we bunched up waiting for instructions.

“My name is Coach Jamison; I am the swim team coach for the school, now there are other instructors here from the “Y” to teach the others I don’t. Now for those who don’t know how to swim move over to the far left, those who can swim a width or a length stay here, those who feel they are competent at swimming, able to do lengths of several strokes, go to the lanes roped off from the rest of the pool.”

We all moved to where he designated, I was surprised at the number who went to the two less proficient areas. There were only eight of us in what you would call an advanced group.

Coach Jamison came with us; two other instructors took the other groups.

“Alright, settle down, get into two lines and prepare to do two lengths front crawl, one group in the left lane, the other in the right, stay to the left side of the lane going up and the right coming back. Wait a couple seconds between each person getting into the pool, ok, start.” Coach Jamison instructed us.

I was second in line in the left lane, the guy in front of me dived in and started swimming up the lane, he made a lot of splash, but was moving forward quite well, after ten seconds, I dove in and followed him up the lane, I was making ground on him, but not enough that I would swim into him before the end of the lap.

At the end of the two lengths, we jumped out of the pool to await further instructions.

“Good, not bad of a start.” Coach Jamison stated, “Now those who know how to breaststroke get ready to go again.”

Everyone lined up again, I was pleased to note that no one had dropped out.

We did the next two lengths just the same, though I had to back off a bit or I would have swum into the guy in the front legs.

The third stroke we did was backstroke, we all participated again, this time I did catch the guy in front, passing him when I had enough room in the lane.

For the fourth rotation, Coach Jamison asked for butterfly, only me and one other student stepped forward, we used separate lanes as there were only two of us, I finished before the other guy, getting out as he was only just a third of the way down his second length.

“Good start everyone.” Coach stated when we were all out again. Take five then we will do the endurance test.”

While everyone else just stood around chatting, I focused and did some moves to keep myself loose, not wanting to stiffen up from the lack of movement after doing exercise.

“Alright, attention, we will now do twenty lengths, use any stroke you want, but be aware of others in the lane, line up and begin.” Coach told us.

I think he caught some unaware, I moved forward to the left lane again, I think the guy who had led off last time was miffed when I was first in line, but I was thankful, from watching him before I knew I would have needed to pass him over this distance, by starting first I would have a much bigger gap before I caught someone.

I started off, I swam with a steady stroke, not using my legs much at all, as I had studied distance swimmers, the guy behind me had nearly caught me after the second length, I think he was trying to prove he should have led off, by swimming hard to start with, but after that I distanced him, by the eighth lap, I was catching one of the others in front of me, I passed him during the turn, a few of the others were starting to struggle by now, pausing at the end of a length before starting the next.