Chapter 14

Tuesday was crazy, right from the start. First off, it was in the 60s on the way in to school with a forecast high in the 70s. Winter to summer with no spring in between. Crazy but I didn’t mind. That’s Charleston.

At lunch, I was walking to what I had begun to think of as our table, when Kim snagged me from behind.

“Over here today. Come meet the squad,” she said and tugged me toward a bunch of cheerleaders, in uniform.

“Hey,” I said, sitting down and was greeted by a chorus of ‘heys’ in return.

“This is Jack,” she said and they all chorused ‘Hi Jack’. They were definitely into the team thing. “I don’t know who you already know. This is Annie but everybody calls her Fling.”

Fling? “Fling? Why Fling,” I asked.

“Because I’m a flyer and when they throw me, that’s what happens. Fliiiiiing.” She laughed and I couldn’t help but laugh too. She was the smallest so it would be easy to remember Fling.

“And this is Lisa, but everybody calls her Spot.”

“Does everybody have two names? There’s no way I’m going to remember two names for everyone. Should I ask why they call you Spot? You don’t have a giant birthmark on your...”

“No!” she said, and everyone laughed. “I don’t have a giant birthmark on my ass. I don’t, right?”

“I thought you did. Who has that giant birthmark?” Fling asked.

“When someone is airborne, I’m kind of in charge of safety so I’m there to catch or make sure the catch happens.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I’m the spotter. It’s what you call someone who is there for safety.”

“Spot. No giant birthmark on your butt. Got it.”

“I’m Allie.”

“She’s Bounce. You can guess why later, and this is Mel, AKA Giggles.”

“Hi, Giggles.”

“Hi,” she answered. I didn’t think Giggles had laughed in quite some time. She looked totally serious.

“And this is Lori, AKA Flash. Don’t ask. We’re all sworn to secrecy.” She had a mischievous grin. I had a hunch where Flash came from and why it was a secret but I wasn’t going to try. She had flashed someone but they weren’t talking.

“And who are you?” I asked Kim.

“Well, I used to just be Kim but I’ve got a new nickname, I guess.”

“Do tell.”

“She’s Frontier,” Bounce said.

“Yeah. Thanks for that. Frontier Woman. I made the mistake of sharing that little story.”

And from there, it turned into a game of twenty questions that never ended. They all wanted to know about Frontier’s new main squeeze. I tried to eat lunch but they asked so many questions it was tough. They laughed a lot and seemed to enjoy each other’s company and the conversation. Girls are so different than guys, I thought.

When lunch ended, I realized I’d had a question since it started. “I thought cheerleaders only wore their uniforms on game day. What’s up?”

“Tell you later, Jack.”

I made it through afternoon classes and went to the gym to get ready for our meet. The locker room was really quiet as we all changed. There was no conversation at all and it was weird. Everybody had been wearing warm-ups to walk out to the pool but it was so warm, I almost pulled mine off early. When I got to the pool, the Colleton County Cougars were already in the water, warming up. They’d left us half the pool and I stripped down to my Speedos and dove in.

It looked like Coach Miller was sticking to what he’d said the day before. There were only four of us in the water. The rest of the team was sitting in the bleachers. They looked like crap. Totally dejected. I watched Coach walk over to the visiting coach and they talked a bit and he handed him our line-up. I knew what he was saying. Something like, “I’m sitting out most of my guys. They missed practice. I don’t expect you to take it easy on us and I don’t mean to disrespect you guys.” I was sure it was something like that. I never found out but I’d bet that’s what he said.

It closed in on four and the first event was the two hundred medley relay, where four swimmers each swim a different stroke in a relay. Claire dove in to get wet. He was first up with backstroke. Before the race started, Kim and the rest of the JV Cheerleaders trooped in. We’d never had cheerleaders at any of our meets before. I guessed they hadn’t been to one either and they didn’t know what to do so they sat in the bleachers to watch. There were only four or five people in the stands and they didn’t need cheerleaders to encourage them.

The starter called the swimmers to their marks. Claire had a decent chance to get a lead but the Cougars had two teams in the water. That was the most you could have in a dual meet. Even if we won, the score would be seven to six, Cougars. I was third to swim. I knelt down and told Claire he had to get us a lead. He nodded and when the buzzer went, he was gone. One lap each. At the end of the first length, they were pretty even but Claire had a great turn and pulled ahead. He came in strong and Birch was in the water and he really stretched it out. Colleton County didn’t have a chance against the fastest breast stroker in the state.

I climbed up in the block for my first chance to compete. I looked up at the bleachers and our other two butterfly specialists both gave me a nod. I didn’t need to hear what Kim was hollering. I know I was nervous but I was focused, too and that calmed my nerves. Don’t go early. Don’t go early, I thought. Waiting for Birch, it seemed like time stood still and everything was moving in slow motion. Finally, Birch touched and I was off. I had a huge lead to start but I didn’t want to give any of it away because Pendleton was last and our weakest link. I made my turn and checked my position. I’d widened the lead a little and was happy with that. I gave it everything and came up, sucking air. Pendleton was in the water.

I climbed out to watch. The two Colleton freestylers were obviously faster than Pendleton and were gaining on him. Everyone was screaming and at the flip he’d lost about half of his lead. We all screamed harder but they were still gaining on him. When he passed under the flags, marking five yards to the wall, he knew exactly how close it was. He quit breathing and sprinted for the finish. He tapped the wall less than a tenth of a second ahead of their first team. We’d won the first race but trailed by a point. It was the closest we got for the rest of the meet. Even so, it was a huge victory for us. The rest of the team was split between cheering and groaning. Kim and the rest of the squad gave us some rahs, and we had a short break before the next race.

I was done for a while unless the coach wanted to use me somewhere besides butterfly. I walked over to him. Colleton had fifteen swimmers and we had four but I thought we could do more than what was planned. I was still working it through in my mind when I walked over to Coach.

“Hey Coach.”

“Nice job Pierce. Great race for everyone. What’s on your mind?”

“Coach, if we only put one swimmer in the water for each race, we can’t win this meet. I know you know that. But, I’m not bad on freestyle or breast stroke. Let me swim for third and try to get us some extra points.”

“You can only race four events.”

“I know but Birch is fast at everything but backstroke. Let Claire swim that by himself, hope he wins and only give up one but we might be able to do okay on other strokes.”

“Okay, but if you and Birch both swim the breast stroke, we’ll be giving away the four hundred freestyle relay. Think a minute, Jack. Do the math.”

I thought it through and came up with the answer. “Twenty.”

“That’s right, Pierce. With only one person per race and one team per relay, we’d need to fill twenty slots and we only have four guys. Sixteen slots. As a minimum, we sit out a relay. They put two people or teams in the water for everything and we can’t possibly win.”

“Yeah. That’s what I’m thinking, too. You knew these numbers yesterday,” I said and he smiled. “You’ve known those numbers since you were a swimmer in high school.” He smiled again. “Still...” I said.

“You already talk to the other guys about this?” I shook my head. “Alright. We’ll put bodies in the water in our best events, take the points we can and not worry about it. Freestyle is next. I’ll put you and Pendleton in that. Your freestyle has really come along. You could actually win it. You know that, right? You’ve been chasing two of the fastest freestyle swimmers in the state all season and you’ve been gaining ground on them. A lot of ground.” I didn’t know. I think I was surprised by that more than anything. “You’d be the starting freestyler on most other teams in the state but we’ve got Mobey and Dickerson. Don’t give me that look. If you hadn’t been chasing the two of them all season you wouldn’t be as fast as you are. Lots of progress Pierce.”

“Thanks, Coach.”

We walked over to the other three swimmers and Coach presented the idea to them. Birch liked it and the other two agreed.

“What have we got to lose, Coach?” Claire asked.

“That’s the spirit. Let’s give it a shot. Two minutes. Let me tell them about the change in lineup.”

Pendleton and I took our spot on the blocks. Kim looked over with her hands up, wondering what was going on. The scorekeeper announced the lineup change over the PA. We had about thirty people in the stands by that time. That was probably the most we’d had all season and I didn’t know where they’d come from. I motioned to the race official and Pendleton and I changed lanes to give him the four lane so he could see better and have the smoothest water. The four and five lanes are the middle two lanes and typically the favorites get them. I’d never raced him before but it wasn’t my specialty so I thought he should have that lane, even if Coach thought I was faster.

The buzzer sounded and we were in the water. Two laps. I’d been swimming freestyle mostly for distance and endurance but this was a short race. I had to adjust my speed to the distance. At the first turn I flipped and pushed off hard, using everything about the turn and underwater push that Birch had taught me. I came up and looked and I was in front by a little. Coach was right. It was the turn. It had to be. I hit the second flip and came up blind. I was looking the wrong way on my breathing so I just swam hard and hoped for the best. On the third flip, I came a full length in front of everyone. The race was mine to lose but I wasn’t going to coast. At the flags, I buried my head and sprinted for the wall.

I touched the wall and let myself sink for a second before popping up. I knew I’d won but had no idea about my time or anything. Birch bent down and told me. “One, forty, Jack. You won that; in case you didn’t know. Nice job.”

I felt like a million bucks. A very tired and limp million but a million, nevertheless. I had competed in exactly two races and won them both. I was gassed. Pendleton didn’t look so great. He’d finished fourth out of four. After two events, we trailed by two. Birch was up next. We needed to be careful where we used him or we wouldn’t have him available for the two relays we had left.

The buzzer sounded and they took off with back strokes. It looked like a weak event for all of them but Birch took the lead and held it, finishing a couple of seconds in front. Six more points and we trailed by three. I didn’t want to do the math any more.

Coach gave them the fifty freestyle. We put no one in the water and they took a thirteen-point lead. I was up next for the one-hundred-yard butterfly, my strength, I thought. I wanted this. I took my spot and looked over to Kim. She was pretty excited. I wanted to do well with her watching. She knew I won the freestyle but didn’t know that it was my personal best and she didn’t know I was more surprised than anyone.

The buzzer sounded and I was off. I got a great start, hit the wall in front and turned. I used the underwater butterfly kick and extended my glide, again, just like Birch had taught me. I came up and on my second stroke took a quick look to my right. I had this. I pushed hard though. Two personal bests in one day? My second and third turns extended the lead. By the end of the fourth length, my shoulders were burning and I was gassed. I checked right, saw that I had a huge lead and practically coasted in to the wall in first. Three races and three wins shocked the heck out of me but Coach didn’t seem surprised.

I could race once more. I’d done three and that was it. I had time so I put on my sweats and walked over to Kim and the rest of the squad.

“Hey, ladies. Bounce, Spot, Flash, Giggles.”

“And Fling,” she said.

“And Fling. Nice to see you out here. What’s the occasion?”

“You are. You did great. Whoo hoo. I like your bathing suit,” Kim said.

“Nice. Thanks. Speedos are for racing, not fashion.”

“And showing off,” Fling said.

“Fling,” Kim scolded. “And showing off. You look good.” That got a chorus of agreement and I’m certain I blushed.

“Birch taught me so much. I used his starting and turn advice and it really made a difference. I can’t believe I won the freestyle. I’m sorry about the guys that aren’t racing but this is fun. I need to get back.”

Kim hugged me and I realized that wasn’t a good idea.

“You’re doing great. I’m really proud of you.”

“Ah, you need to let me go.”

“You don’t like me to hug you in public.”

“I like that fine but if you keep hugging me,” I leaned close and whispered. “If you keep hugging me, my Speedos are going to have a difficult job, ah keeping, ah...”

“Oh.” She said and backed away. “Oh, my goodness.”

I blushed, turned and went back to the team, thankful to be wearing warmups. I heard a chorus of cheers from the team. Apparently, I had a new nickname as well. Great. Romeo it is.

When I got back, Coach thanked me for joining them. I wiped the sarcasm off and listened. “We’re doing really well. You guys are definitely making a great showing. But now we’re running into to eligibility issues. Four races each with a maximum of two individual races. Birch has two and Pierce has one race of eligibility left. Two hundred or four hundred freestyle relay? Let’s give them the four hundred. If we don’t, they can put two teams of relatively fresh guys in the pool and we’ll walk away with zip.” We all agreed.

Claire had asked to swim the five hundred freestyle and Coach thought about it for a minute. He told him he’d be too winded for the two-hundred relay if he did. Finally, he relented and Claire was in it.

I couldn’t remember Claire doing anything but backstroke. That’s not really true. I knew he practiced every stroke, just like the rest of us but he was so much better at the backstroke that I just didn’t remember how good he was. The five hundred is the longest race in high school swimming. A lot of guys, me included, will swim long distances of freestyle to build their stamina but not at race speed. We were over half way through the meet and this was only Claire’s second race. He was the freshest of us. Pendleton asked if he could race it too, but Coach knew he’d come in fourth, get no points and be too winded for the relay. He told him he was saving him for the relay.

The buzzer sounded and they took off. One of the Colleton swimmers was clearly better than the other but Claire stayed with him through the first six laps. Every time they turned, we all cheered. Claire had a great glide and it was keeping him in the race. After eight laps, the race started to change. The leader started to come off pace. His lead dropped to two seconds. After nine laps it was one and Claire really stretched out his glide. He came off the last turn dead even but he was on the wrong side to see well. He had to know he was close. They passed under the flags and Claire repeated the sprint to the finish he’d seen us use.

It looked like a shark feeding frenzy with water churning like crazy. They touched and no one knew who had won. We cheered anyway. Claire had done an amazing job in his non-specialty. Timers and the chair talked and it was finally announced that it was a tie. They had exact same time, to the tenth of a second. Six points for each.

The two hundred freestyle relay was next. I was fresh and feeling good so I started my last race of the day. Fifty yards, flat out, for each swimmer. Up and back. That’s it. One turn. Again, they had two teams and we just had one. They already had the meet in the bag but this was the last relay we would compete in and Colleton didn’t want to be embarrassed by a team so short on personnel. I didn’t blame them.

We lined up with Claire last so he could catch his breath. My job was to try to get a lead. Before that day, that would have been unthinkable. I was a butterfly specialist and now I was supposed to get us the lead in freestyle? It was absurd but I forced my doubt underwater. I figured that even if I did get us a lead, Pendleton would give it up, Birch would try to get it back and Claire would hope to hold on for the win. That is, if he’d recovered enough by then. No one said it but I know that’s how we all thought it would go. The thing was, Claire would probably be up against two of their best swimmers and he was gassed. Coach Miller walked over to the officials and asked for a clarification or something but we all knew he was trying to buy Claire an extra minute or two.

The race officials knew what he was doing too, and shooed him away. A moment later the buzzer sounded and I was in the water. No finesse. No tricks. Just brute force, all out speed. Your kick gets you the extra speed but your thigh muscles just suck the oxygen out of you. Didn’t matter. Last race. Entering the turn, we were dead even but after the turn I came up first and pushed hard to extend the lead. I swam the best length of my life and touched well in front of the other swimmers. I didn’t even check my time because it didn’t matter. It was a relay. Pendleton was in the water and holding his own, until the turn. The lead started to slip. We all expected it but Pendleton had given up too much. Birch hit the water in second and tore down his lane like a man possessed. He flipped and when he came up, he was two full lengths ahead. It was seriously impressive. He touched and Claire was back in the water.

It was obvious he had gotten his wind back and managed to hold most of the lead all the way back. No tie, this time. It was a great win and the next race was another chance for Claire to shine. Minutes later, he was back in the water to win the one hundred backstroke and Birch easily won the one hundred breast stroke. We were losing the meet but thrilled by how we were doing it. We knew we had a better team and so did Colleton, even though they won the match.

At the end of that race, we all walked over to congratulate Colleton and they gave us kudos for doing so well short-handed. There would be no four hundred relay to finish the meet. We didn’t have four swimmers to qualify and we’d lost the meet on points four or five races ago. Coach Miller congratulated the four of us and told us we were dismissed. We had Wednesday off, unless we just wanted to get wet. He told us it would be bad practice to be at. And then he surprised me. Probably everyone.

“Pierce, you know that in a relay, only the first swimmer’s time counts for the record book, right?” I nodded and the other three waited, knowing I had killed it. “Your time was the fastest for the team this year. And not by a little, Pierce. I have to check around the league but, well, we’ll see. Great job by all of you.” He walked to the bleachers to talk to everyone else.

“Jack, you swam the fastest split, that’s for sure. I wonder if coach thinks your freestyle might get you into regionals,” Birch wondered.

“That’s crazy. I’m a butterfly guy.”

“You’re a butterfly guy because you like a challenge and most guys don’t want to do butterfly,” Birch said. “Plus, everyone wants to swim freestyle which means there’s a lot of competition and you didn’t think you could beat seniors. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“No. You’re not.”

“Maybe you’re a freestyle guy after all. Nice race either way and I’m proud of you two guys, also.”

“I sucked,” Pendleton said.

“You did well enough for us to win some relays. Plus, you got some great experience. You did fine.”

I walked over to Kim and her squad. They all congratulated me, giggled and got up to leave. Someone pinched my butt but it was crowded and I couldn’t tell who. What the heck? Once they’d gone, it left Kim and me alone. The rest of the people trailed off and we moved away from the team. I really didn’t want to hear what he had to say.

“I’m so proud of you guys. I bet Miller is really giving it to them.”

“He’s happy with the four of us but pretty pissed at them. He’ll be all business.” We stepped close and she hugged me.

“You smell like chlorine.”

“It’s my aftershave. Like it?”

“Aftershave?” she said, running her hand over my silky-smooth face. “Silly,” she said and slid her hands up under my sweat shirt. By wiggling, she could get her hands all the way up to my shoulders. “It’s warm out here. Take your sweatshirt off,” she said and I couldn’t argue.

As soon as I did, she squeezed my shoulders. And smiled. “Flex,” she said.

“Too tired.”

“So, what was this earlier about your speedos not up to the task?”

“I think you know.”

“Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t,” she said and squeezed against me.

“Kim. Doggone it.”

“What?” she asked as if she didn’t know.

“You know darn well what.”

“Say it. What’s the problem?”

“You are too hot. That’s what.”

“And...”

“And, what do you think?”

She rubbed against me and my Speedos were under duress. “Tell me or show me.”

“Stop it. What’s got you so worked up? Sit down with me,” I said and pulled her down to the bleachers next to me.

“You’re joking, right?” she asked.

“No. What’s got you so wound up?”

“Well, for the last hour I’ve been watching about twenty mostly naked athletes showing off their goods while I’m surrounded by five girls who are announcing what they would each like to do with who. And by the way, you are a very hot topic of conversation and I directed it away from you multiple times.”

“Really?” I said in disbelief.

“Really. And if you’re wondering which JV cheerleader would go out with you if it wasn’t for me, the answer is any of them ... or all of them. So ... for the record, I’m...” she fanned herself and then with a very southern accent said, “I’m a bit warm for the season.”

“Damn, Kim. I ... I don’t know what.”

“Me neither. But you are hot. You’re a stud, that’s what. We could hear the guys on the swim team talking. Some of the juniors think you’ll be the guy to beat for next year. They were talking. They said you were faster than they thought on the, you know, freestyle. Kiss me.”

“Kiss you. All of that and then kiss you.”

“Well, we can’t exactly do any of the other things that were suggested, at least not here. Kiss me.”

I kissed her. It was a post meet congratulation so school rules on public displays of affection didn’t count, right? I went to the locker room took a quick shower, washed my chlorinated hair with Aussie Shampoo, dried, changed and went outside to figure out my way home. I found Kim where I left her.

“How do you plan to get home?”

“Walk or call a cab. Too late for anything else. I don’t mind walking. We’re kind of close, aren’t we?”

“About a mile. Let’s go.”

We walked to her locker to pick up a book and then out the side and started toward her house.

“My curiosity is up. What were they saying? What did the other girls say they wanted to do and stuff?”

“Girls talk different than guys.” She looked at me. “We can be pretty descriptive.” I waited. “Well, there’s a guy from Colleton. Tall and looks really strong, almost Italian, maybe. A couple of them said they’d like to wear him out.”

“Wear him out.”

“You want to hear exactly what they said?” I nodded. “I won’t say who but a couple of them said they would like to fuck him silly. Pardon me. Two of them said they’d like to try that with you until I put a lid on it. Bobby Claire got a couple of votes.”

She stopped and I was quiet as we walked. We took a cut through to Yeaman’s Road. I realized she was carrying a book and took it from her.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“I’m trying to imagine what it would be like to be fucked silly.”

“Stop. Oh, my god, I’m not going to tell you who said that.” She looked over at me and I was smiling. “You’re messing with me. All their talk, though.”

“Don’t let their talk get you amped up.” We came to the corner of Folly Road and Yeaman’s and cut through the parking lot. Acorn, a small private school, was closed for the day and I held her shoulder and stopped us.

“What?”

“You are so, so beautiful. Really. I like you a lot. A real lot. When you said tell you or show you, I couldn’t believe it. So, yeah, I’m pretty excited. I was pretty excited then and probably will be for a while. So, yeah. You’re pretty intoxicating, and when you say stuff like that, it gets me going. I like kissing you.” I took a quick look around but there was no one close. “When you put my hand on you, on your ass, I went crazy. My heart went nuts; I couldn’t breathe right, probably because I was holding my breath. And then, the other night, you moved my hand up to hold you. Kim, you have no idea. None. And then, I put my hands on your sides, and you skin was so warm, almost hot, and soft and smooth. I almost had a heart attack. I’m pretty good with a racing heart and holding my breath.”

“So, if I want to do more than that someday...”

“Then, I’ll be even happier.”

“When we hugged by the pool ... you...”

“You can get me excited pretty easily. Yeah, so there’s that.”

“So, you want to...”

“I listened to my brother. He gave me some advice and Mom gave me a warning. They’re probably both right.”

“I know what your mom said. What did Franklin say?”

“I’m swearing a lot today. Sorry. I don’t usually. He said that the first chance I had to fuck a girl, don’t. Don’t do it. If you can’t make love to her instead, you shouldn’t. He also said there was a lot of emotional investment. Basically, don’t put notches on my belt. Treat it seriously and don’t be too eager.”

“That doesn’t sound like guy talk.”

“Probably not.”

“But you would, or you wouldn’t.”

I looked at her and tried to figure how to say it. “About ninety-nine-point nine percent of me would make love to you in a heartbeat.”

“And the other point one?”

“And that little bit of me would be responsible for slowing me down. It’s the part that doesn’t want to get hurt and doesn’t want to hurt you and doesn’t want to make babies until I’m ready to be a father, and doesn’t want to get cut with a dull knife.”

“That’s a lot of responsibility for a tiny little part of you.”

“No kidding. I’m not sure how much I trust that tiny little part but so far, it works.”

“So, you’ve never...”

“I’m a virgin.”

“You can go to third base and still be a virgin?”

“You can go to third base,” I said slowly. She looked at me seriously, and nodded.

We started walking in silence and turned left on Johnson. When it got to the split, we stayed right. There was a really nice house on the corner and one that we could see on Sayle that looked pretty nice. They all did and we talked about them as we walked. We got to her very nice house. She unlocked the door and we went in.

“Hello. Hello,” she hollered to an empty house. “It’s usually empty when I get home. I just like to check. She took off her light coat and stepped on the heels of her shoes to take them off and sighed. She took her book and set it on an entryway desk and led me to the den.

“This is where all the pens are,” she said almost laughing and then she got serious. “I’ve never been to third base. In fact, I’ve only been to second base once when I wanted to be there.”

“I like second base.”

“I like second base, too.”

“Are you still worked up from the swim meet?”

“No. The other girls were looking at all the other guys and talking but I was just looking at you. Your Speedo doesn’t cover much.”

“No.”

We kissed, tentatively. It was as though we both were trying to figure out how far we wanted to go and how far we would go that day. It took us a couple of minutes before our tongues first touched because we were being so careful. It was difficult because I just wanted to skip second altogether. I tried to imagine Franklin giving me advice. I had a hardon and if I imagined Mom giving me advice it would be gone and I’d walk home. I broke the kiss.

“Kim, what do you want? Franklin said that once you get going, your brain releases all kinds of chemicals. I looked it up and he’s right. It messes up your thinking. So, before the chemicals get to you and me, what do you want?”

“It might be too late,” she said and took a deep breath. “I want you to hold me. I want your hands on me. I want to feel what it’s like to be desired, you know, as a woman. I want to know that you desire me. I want to feel your hands on my tits and on my butt. I want to know if my body gives you pleasure. I want to feel how much you want me. Whew. That’s what I want. I never wanted that before.”