Learning to Breathe (35 page)

I nodded. “I know … but it would be great to wipe that smug smile off her face!”

Danny laughed. “Easy Gilmore,
save it for the pool.”

I let out a low chuckle but glanced over at Kimmy again. She was now staring at me intently with a smirk on her face. I pretended not to notice and focused on Danny.

“So, are you in the other pool today or are they just using the one?” I asked, hoping that it was the latter.

Danny grinned. “Just the one pool so I’ll be able to cheer you on if you do the same for me.”

I smirked. “Of course! Is it the boys first or the girls?”

Danny shrugged. “
Dunno. All I know is that there’s less boys competing than girls.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I guess you guys are better swimmers than us girls!”

“I wouldn’t say that!” Danny protested. “Just that the competition between the guys is more intense – I have seven other guys to beat today or that’s it!”

Shaking my head, I squeezed his hand affectionately. “Don’t worry Danny. I have complete confidence in you that you’ll kick all of their asses!”

Danny chuckled loudly but then turned serious. “Yeah, well it’s Lance I’m worried about … he’s good – really good.”

I shrugged and let out a sly smile. “But he doesn’t have me cheering him on, does he?”

Danny shook his head and threw me a killer smile. “I guess not. Plus, he doesn’t have a good luck kiss from you either.”

He winked and I let out a laugh before pulling him in for a kiss.

“Good luck.” I told him as I pulled back. “And you’d better buy me a hell of a dinner when you win today!”

Danny threw his head back and laughed. “
No pressure then?”

I grinned at him. “Hey, we have to keep the magic alive!”

He shook his head, laughing and then pulled me up; an organiser had just announced that we should make our way to the changing rooms – the Finals would be starting in half an hour.

The girls were picked to start the competition and would therefore be competing first in each style of swimming, the boys second. There were twelve girl finalists and only eight boys so the organisers thought it would be best to let the girls go first.

So, changing quickly into my swimsuit, I made it my p
ersonal mission to avoid Kimmy; I just knew that she would relish the chance to get inside my head before we were due to compete. However, I didn’t count on running straight into her.

“Ah, Darcie!” she exclaimed in surprise. “I’ve been looking for you.”

I frowned at her. “What do you want Kimmy?”

She held out her hand. “I think we got off on the wrong foot. Good luck today.”

I glanced at her suspiciously before grudgingly shaking her hand. “Um thanks … you too.”

Kimmy smiled but it wasn’t genuine. I couldn’t help but feel that she was up to something.
Sure enough, she grinned at me evilly.

“Oh, by the way, how’s your leg?” she added with a smirk.

“How do you know about that?” I asked, furious that she had found out.

She smiled slyly at me. “Oh, I know
all
about you Darcie Gilmore.”

I didn’t like her tone but I didn’t want to start another fight so I merely frowned at her and said, “Whatever Kimmy.”
I then nodded to her, and started to make my way out to the pool area.

There was a rather large crowd gathered in the viewing gallery and instantly
I felt sick; the nerves had finally hit. I could see that the whole school was now watching us; I could spot Harriet and Samuel waving over at me.

I waved back, taking deep breaths as I did so and then
made my way over to the other girls and waited for the competition to begin.

However, at the last second, my gaze drifted over to Kimmy. She was staring intently at me again and I felt unnerved;
her comment made me feel that she was definitely up to something. When she caught me looking, she smiled sweetly and then turned away. Yeah, she was definitely planning something … I just wished that I knew what it was.

The first two styles were breaststroke and backstroke. Surprisingly, they both went well for Danny as well as myself. I managed to make the top three in both but it wasn’t without a bit of pain. Kimmy’s comment about my leg had provoked me and I pushed myself harder than I should have.

Judging by the fire now burning in my leg, I was probably right. However
, it was totally worth it when I saw how furious Kimmy was that I had qualified. She didn’t seem too amused that I would be joining her and the two other girls – Sarah Nolan and Frances Darkwood – for the title.

Danny qualified in the top three for both styles also. The other finalists were
Lance and two other guys called Gary Whitman and Kris Appleby.

However, it was now time to break for lunch and then it would be freestyle and butterfly.
After that, it would then be time for the final races. I happily threw on my tracksuit and met Danny in the canteen.

He embraced me in a big bear hug as soon as I made my way over to him.

“Darcie! You were fantastic!” he exclaimed while squeezing me tightly.

I smiled. “You weren’t so bad yourself!”

Danny grinned and then turned serious. “How’s your leg?”

I shrugged and avoided his gaze. “It’s fine.”

Danny frowned, clearly doubting that I was telling the truth. He opened his mouth to argue but I threw him a warning look.

“Really Danny.
” I emphasised. “I’m fine.”

He
sighed heavily and then glanced over at Kimmy and Lance. “I told you not to let her get to you.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m a big girl Danny, I can handle it. Though I don’t know how she knew I had a bad leg.” I added thoughtfully.

Danny looked alarmed. “How did she find out?”

I shrugged. “Maybe she saw me limping on Tuesday.”

Danny frowned. “Maybe. Just take it easy though.”

“I know. Don’t worry so much.” I told him with a small smile.

With a heavy sigh, Danny nodded but I noticed that he glanced over in Kimmy’s direction and frowned. I followed his gaze and saw that she was staring over at us yet again. She smiled sweetly and threw us a sarcastic wave before getting up and leaving the canteen.

I glanced back at Danny and he threw me a worried look before forcing out a strained smile. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one who thought Kimmy was up to something.

Danny and I left the canteen an hour later and he walked me to the changing rooms.

He gave me a quick peck on the cheek and then gazed at me intently. “Be careful Darcie. If your leg hurts … please just stop.”

I gazed into those extraordinary hazel eyes of his and nodded. “I promise.”

I turned, pushed the door open, and was met with a sudden eerie silence. The other girls had abruptly stopped talking and were now staring at me in shock. Kimmy was standing off to one side, smirking at me. Puzzled, I walked further into the changing room and noticed that all of the cubicles had the same sheet of paper stuck to them.

Curious, I snatched a sheet off one of the doors
nearest to me and inspected it closely. My hands shook as I read it and my blood ran cold: it was the article about my father’s death. However, that wasn’t the worst of it – no, what bothered me the most was the word scrawled in red ink across the page, on every page, on every cubicle …

‘KILLER’

I closed my eyes and tried to block out everything. Every noise, e
very thought. Everything. It didn’t work. I could hear Kimmy taunting me.

“Jeez D
arcie,” I could hear her saying. “How do you live with yourself?”

I squeezed my eyes tightly, still trying to block her out.

“You’re the reason why your father is dead!” she jeered. “You killed him because you were just too dumb to learn how to swim.”

“Leave her alone Kimmy!” someone piped up
timidly and I felt someone place their hand consolingly on my shoulder.

I shook it off and tried to catch a breath. My breathing was laboured and I was gasping for air but Kimmy’s voice still invaded my mind.

“Why did you even learn to swim? It’s not like it’s gonna bring him back! You know you shouldn’t have survived that day and you shouldn’t have survived that car accident either! Do you ever think that fate is trying to tell you something? Maybe Darcie, you should accept the fact that you shouldn’t even be here!”

“That’s enough Kimmy!” another girl shouted.

I reluctantly opened my eyes and found Kimmy smiling cruelly. As I gripped the page tightly in my fist, I glanced at the other girls. A few were trying to comfort me but most of them were staring at me, clearly terrified. Whether it was a case of being too scared to stand up to Kimmy or being too afraid to approach me, I didn’t care; I had to get out of there.

Tears pricked my eyes as I gasped for a breath. With one final glance at Kimmy, I turned on my heel and fled.

I ran down the corridor, bursting through the double doors and straight into something warm and solid. I was vaguely aware that strong arms enveloped me as my knees gave way and I fell to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.

I sat there for a good five minutes, trying to calm down, until I heard a voice break the silence.

“Darcie. What happened?”

I pulled back and looked at Danny. He looked back at me, extremely alarmed.

Sniffing, I slowly showed him the page. As he read it, the colour drained from his face.

“How could she do this?” he asked furiously.

I shrugged and sniffed as fresh tears poured down my cheeks.

“I’m gonna kill her.” Danny threatened quietly. “She’s gone too far this time. I can’t believe she’d do something like this! What happened to her? I’m gonna go tell one of the officials.”

I glanced up at him. “No! You can’t! I still want to compete Danny!”

He stared at me as if I was crazy. “What? Darcie, she can’t get away with this!”

“I know but I want to do this for my dad. That’s always been the reason and I need to do this for him.”

Danny was about to argue but we were suddenly interrupted as Lance burst through the double doors.

He was breathing heavily as if he had been running a marathon. He caught his breath and looked down at us in alarm.

“Danny!” he exclaimed hoarsely. “I tried to get to you before … Kimmy …
Darcie.” He choked out, wheezing heavily.

“Lance!” Danny looked up at him in a mixture of shock and anger. “What are you doing here?”

Lance took a few more deep breaths. “I’m really sorry Danny … I wanted to get to you before … but it was too late.”

Danny frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Kimmy … I found the articles in her bag just as she was about to go back to the changing rooms.” Lance explained. “I tried to stop her but she stormed off so I went to our changing rooms to find you.”

“Is that so?” Danny shot at him sceptically.

Lance nodded. “Yes but one of the other guys told me that they’d seen you walking Darcie to the girls’ changing rooms. So, I ran the whole way here and well, here I am.”

“And since when are you so concerned about me Lance?” Danny hit back.

Lance sighed heavily. “I regret it man – everything. All these years, I’ve regretted what happened. I was blinded by hatred. I couldn’t accept the fact that you changed after Josh died and I was mad at you. Then Kimmy came along and told me that she’d ditched you. I was that messed up about the whole thing, I kind of just stuck with her.”

He took another deep breath and continued.

“But it took seeing you again to realise that she’s a psycho. She’s been obsessed with you from when we ran into you. She’s hell-bent on breaking up you guys and I just couldn’t let that happen. I finally realised that all she wanted was revenge whereas all I wanted was your friendship back.”

Danny sighed heavily. “
I guess we all make mistakes.”

Lance
then threw us both a small smile and held out a hand to help me up. I accepted it and he then turn to help Danny to his feet.

“I’m sorry Darcie.” Lance told me sincerely. “If I’d have known sooner, I would’ve stopped her.”

I waved a hand to stop him. “It’s okay. Thanks for trying anyway.”

Lance sighed and then turned to Danny. “Do you want me to tell an official about it all? I’ll support you all the way.”

Danny shook his head. “No. Darcie still wants to compete.”

Lance glanced at me. “You sure?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll tell them after but for now, I want to do this. Do you think you two can accept that?”