"The Boy in Lane Five" by Elijah C

 

“Are you ready?” My teammate Georgia asked me as I was nervously pacing back and forth between her and the timers. This is the most important race since I started swimming my freshmen year. This is my last race that I will ever swim, and I happen to be swimming against “the best swimmer in the district” also known as Sebastian Lopez. I would’ve held that title if his friends never locked me in the locker room causing me to miss the race, letting him take the title.

 

“I don’t know, I feel like I might throw up,” I tell Georgia as I’m hunched over from nerves.

“Well, I mean at least that means you care,” she tries to give me a wholesome smile to calm me down but it doesn’t work.

“I’m just glad that I can actually be here for this race instead of being locked in the locker room,” I say extra loudly just as Sebastian is walking by with his friends or as I like to call them Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. I don’t even need to turn around to know that he has the same crooked smile he always has on his face every time he feels accomplished by something.

“Are you talking to me?” I hear him ask with a smug grin as I turn away from Georgia to look at him.

“No, actually I was talking bad about you, there’s a diference.” I didn’t mean for the words to come out as firtatious as they did. I’m really hoping that he didn’t notice the firting.

“Did you just try to firt with me?”

 

Crap. Of course he would notice.

 

“No, why would I ever firt with a cheater?” Okay, I really need to stop firting with him. Just as I said it I felt Georgia punch my side, signalling me to stop talking altogether. Once she signals me to stop, that's when I know I need to shut up. I turn to her to give her a help me look. In return, she just shakes her head and walks away, leaving me alone with Sebastian and his perfectly shaped face and bright blue eyes that seem to know every single way how to get under my skin.

 

“I think you did just try to firt with me,” he comments and chuckles to himself knowing that I totally did firt with him.

“It really doesn’t matter because in a couple of minutes, I am going to beat you like I always do,” I say to him, trying desperately to change the subject. I don’t know why but every time I’m around him I get fustered and forget that I hate him for a second. Then he opens his mouth to say something cocky and I instantly remember why I hate him.

 

“Okay, sure you are,” he says with that stupid grin again, but this time it was him who was firting. “Let’s just be grateful that you actually showed up for your race this time,” he says in a raspy voice leaning into my ear. “Well I should get to my lane so I can beat you...again,” the grin on his face never left as he turned away but not before he gave me a wink.

Just in time, Georgia walks up to me after he leaves. “Okay, what just happened?” Georgia asks me as I’m still trying to process what exactly that wink meant. “Cos’ to me that looked like you two just had a moment,” she says, bouncing her eyebrows at me.

 

“I honestly have no idea,” I say with a slight smile to my lips. “What do you think he meant when he winked at me?” I ask because half of me wants it to be just another cocky mannerism while the other half wants it to mean that he likes me. No, that was crazy isn’t it? I don’t even like him, do I? Whatever, that wink meant, I didn’t have time to think about it, I just needed to focus on beating him in this race.

 

“Honestly, I can think of somethings that he meant by that wink,” she giggles at her comment thinking she’s cute.

When they announced that my race was next to go, Georgia wished me luck and left me again to get ready for my race. I tried so hard to take my mind of of the wink, but it was even harder when Sebastian was making direct eye contact and smirking because he knew that I was still thinking about what he had done. It doesn’t matter anyways, because in a couple of seconds I would be standing on the podium above him.

 

They called my race up to the blocks, since Sebastian and I had the two fastest times in the race we had the lanes right next to each other. He was lane 5 while I was lane

 

4. As we stepped up the blocks, I could feel my heart trying to pound out of my chest. I heard the announcer say, “take your marks.” As I bent down, I felt the nerves leave my system, then the buzz sounded.