Streamline (18 page)

As soon as Leo jumped into the crowded warm-up lane, he grinned.

He loved the feel of his shaved body. Last night he’d shivered as he slid into bed, the smoothness of his skin gliding under the covers.

Now surrounded by cold water, every nerve ending in his skin tingled.

Popping to the surface, Leo took only a few strokes before he arrived at the opposite end of the pool. Swimmers littered the wall, draped over the gutter, and Leo squeezed in a flip turn.

The sun had decided to grace the Ft. Lauderdale International Hall of Fame Pool. The meet format for Friday and Saturday involved morning preliminary races, which would qualify swimmers for evening finals.

Almost finished with his warm-up, Leo waited in a line behind lane one to do a sprint off the blocks. Surveying the scene around him, he saw a familiar face. “Hey, Gary.” Leo smiled, shaking the hand of his closest competitor from St. Petersburg.

“How you been, Leo?” Gary Gable’s shoulder muscles rippled as he gripped Leo’s hand. Gary was shorter and more compact, and his ebony skin stretched taut over his pectorals. Their minority status in a sea of white swimmers had helped forge a friendship between them.

“I hear you got a scholarship to UF,” Leo said. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks, man. And where are you headed?”

“To the Naval Academy. I hope I get time to train with the crazy schedule they have for plebes.”

“That’s so awesome. With all this Mideast stuff going on, I’m really impressed you’d do that. You’re a better man than me.”

“We’ll see ’bout that. Who’s gonna win the fifty this year?” Gary grinned. “It’ll be one of us touching out the other by mere hundredths.”

“So it’ll be just like last year’s meet then,” Leo said as his turn arrived. “Good luck, dude.”

After his warm-up, Leo grabbed his towel, water bottle, and racing suit from his bag. He noticed Matt timing Audrey on some pace fifties as he headed for the locker room. They appeared to be having an intense discussion, and Matt had leaned down close to the water.

Leo’s eyes took a moment to adjust to the cool semidarkness of the locker room. Ducking into an open stall, he stripped off his drag suit and stepped into his high-performance racing suit. Aware of its hefty price tag, he was careful with the technical material. If he ripped the suit before getting even one race in, Cheap Spender wouldn’t be happy.

The meet began with the girls’ 200 medley relay. Elaine, Audrey, Susan, and Kelly gathered behind the blocks, looking jittery yet optimistic about making the top eight. Sure enough, they gave a strong performance — an auspicious start for the team.

After her cool down, Audrey came to sit next to Leo, whose first race wouldn’t begin until she’d completed both her morning swims.

“How was your split in the relay?” he asked.

“Okay — twenty-nine-two. I want to get under twenty-nine tonight.”

“I thought you stayed underwater for your pullout a tad too long.”

“Hmm…I’ll practice some starts tonight and play around with it a little. How’d you feel in warm-up?”

“Pretty good.” Leo smiled. He’d actually felt amazing but didn’t want to jinx himself by saying it out loud.

“Well, I better go for my IM.”

“What’s your heat?”

“Heat three, lane four,” she told him over her shoulder.

“Kick some butt!”

She looked back with an impish smile.

Leo watched her fidget as she approached the blocks. Where was her confidence? She’d won this event at last year’s meet.

“Hey, Leo.”

He looked up to see a blonde hovering over him. “Oh, uh, hi, Marcie.”

Marcie Sayer was Audrey’s nemesis in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, and he hoped she wouldn’t catch him talking to her. Audrey claimed Marcie hit on him at meets.

“You’re lookin’ good, Leo,” Marcie said with half-closed eyelids.

She licked her lips. Did she actually think she could seduce him?

He tried to think of a response. “What heat are you in?”

“I’m in heat…heat four.” She leaned closer, the wet strands of her hair almost brushing his shoulder. “Right after Audrey’s heat. Which one of us do you predict will win tonight?”

“Audrey, of course.”

Marcie pulled back, emitting a slight hiss. “We’ll see about that.” After she walked away, Leo snuck a look at Audrey and felt relieved to find her oblivious to the interaction. Audrey stretched behind the blocks, her graceful limbs like a ballerina’s. A tense ballerina.

Leo watched her take the race out smooth and easy, but she seemed to fall off the pace. The other girls began to close the distance, and Audrey barely held them off to win the heat. Leo looked up to the clock and saw 2:03, a full three seconds off Audrey’s best. He knew she’d be disappointed.

Audrey grasped the gutter for a few seconds, her back heaving.

She dragged herself out then almost stumbled to the cool-down pool. Marcie’s heat started, and exactly two minutes later it ended.

Audrey wouldn’t be happy to know her rival had bested her by three seconds in the prelims.

Ten minutes later Audrey sat back down next to him.

“What did Matt say?” Leo asked.

“He said I died on the breast and free. I
told
him I didn’t feel right in warm-up!”

“It’ll go better tonight. I gotta get ready for my fifty, okay?” Audrey nodded. “I hope your swim goes better than mine, Leona.” He laughed and grabbed his goggles.

Despite her best hopes, Audrey stared at the clock, dumbstruck after her swim in the evening finals. Had she really just swum that slowly? Last year she’d won the 200 IM in two minutes. This year, her senior year, the year she was supposed to have the meet of her life, she swam a 2:04 and ended up in third place. Marcie had swum an incredible 1:58, setting the Florida state record, and a freshman from Sarasota had snuck in for second place with a 2:03. Not only had Audrey failed to defend her title, she hadn’t even finished in second place, which lost valuable points for her team.

Instead of cooling down after her race, she stormed over to her coach.

Matt didn’t meet her eyes. “Go cool down.”

“Won’t you even
tell
me what went wrong in that race?” She could hear the shrillness in her voice.

“We’ll talk after you cool down.” He turned to focus on the next heat.

“You didn’t taper me right. My meet’s ruined.” Matt turned back to her. “Listen to me. You have races tomorrow, so you need to work out the lactic acid. I know you’re disappointed, but sometimes swimmers have bad races. It happens. And the good swimmers don’t sit down and pout — they move on, and they cheer for their teammates. You’re our team captain, Audrey. Please act like it.” He walked away, leaving her standing alone with her cheeks on fire. Her eyes welled up. She’d worked so hard! She’d tapered like she always did, yet she felt exhausted. Her entire senior year was a complete waste.

Just then Leo draped his arm around her and guided her away from the pool, into the evening shadows.

She sniffed. “Don’t you have to get ready for your race?”

“I’ve got a few seconds. I’m so sorry you had a bad swim.” She continued to cry. “That’s not the worst part. I just had a complete temper tantrum. I told Matt he
ruined
my taper.” Tears flowed. “My dad would be so embarrassed right now.”

“Shh.” Leo scooped her into a hug. “Your dad’s always proud of you, you know that. Just go cool down and apologize to Matt. He knows you didn’t mean it.”

She nodded.

“You’re upset because you care so much about swimming. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Audrey took a deep breath and gently pushed Leo away. “Thank you. Now go get ready for your fifty.” She attempted a smile. “Be a madman out there. This is your race!” Leo held her hand for a moment, searching her eyes, before reluctantly letting go.

Once Leo was in place behind the blocks, he checked the cool-down pool and was relieved to see Audrey slide into the water. He had no idea why she was having a bad meet. Elaine’s speedy backstroke split had given the Pensacola girls’ 200 medley relay a third-place finish earlier in the evening. Audrey had a decent breaststroke leg on the relay — nothing stellar but nothing awful. Yet her IM was clearly off.

Gary grinned at him from lane four, and Leo returned the smile from his position in lane five. Both Gary and Leo had swum their 50 free in 20.22 during the preliminary heats. It was a personal best for Leo.

Listening to his teammate’s iPod, Leo jammed to a pounding beat and felt ready. Then he glanced up to the stands and saw his father glaring at him. CS probably wasn’t too pleased with Leo hugging Audrey on the pool deck. At lunch his father had hinted that Leo shouldn’t surround himself with “losers” whose slow swimming might be infectious. He’d been relieved that his father hadn’t directly ordered him to stay away from Audrey, but that action might be forthcoming after her performance tonight.

He tried to put his father out of his mind, instead focusing on stretching his hamstrings. Matt had told him to concentrate on his breathing and repeat the word “bullet” to himself behind the blocks.

Leo wanted to get off the blocks like a bullet fired from a gun. A perfect start and turn were essential.

He took deep, energizing breaths.
Bullet…bullet…bullet
. He shook out his limbs and jumped a few times.

The starter called them to the block, and the cheers gave way to deafening silence.

“Take your mark.”

Leo crouched to grab the front of the block, his feet spread in a track-start position. When he heard the electronic beep he rocketed off the blocks but came to a halt underwater when the beeps sounded in a rapid-fire staccato, indicating a false start.

The field of eight popped the surface and nervously made their way back to the blocks. Whoever false started would be disqualified, and every swimmer prayed it wasn’t him.

Leo pulled himself out and readjusted his goggles, resuming his deep breathing and repeating his trigger word. He stared ahead at the water, funneling all his energy and attention to one focal point.

The starter walked over to the referee to compare notes. Nodding, the starter headed toward the lanes. As he passed lane eight, seven, six, and began slowing down near lane five, Leo stopped breathing.

He hadn’t false started, had he?

When the starter passed his lane, Leo was flooded with relief, but his heart sank when the starter stopped in front of Gary. Gary grimly nodded and grabbed his towel. Leo’s toughest competitor had just been disqualified.

As Gary passed, Leo grabbed his arm. “I’m so sorry.”

“It happens.” Gary’s disappointment was obvious, but he was trying to be a good sport.

“Race won’t be the same without you, man.”

“Get it done, Leo,” Gary said. “I’ll be cheering for you.”

The swimmers stepped back up to the blocks, with the block for lane four noticeably empty.

When the electronic beep sounded, Leo once again launched himself and sliced into the cool water. Instinct took over as he poured all of his effort into lightning fast arm-strokes and an explosive kick.

He took only one breath, as he’d planned, and drove to the finish.