Water Born by Rachel Ward Page B

he’s standing next to me and Clive’s walking towards us, too.
    â€˜Aren’t I enough for you?’ Harry whispers. ‘You don’t need any other boys.’
    I’m getting flustered now.
    Clive calls out, ‘Everything all right?’ as he draws near.
    â€˜Yeah, no. I thought I saw someone. A boy, lying on the bottom of the pool near the deep end.’
    â€˜A little boy? A baby?’
    â€˜No, a teenager. About my age, I guess. I’m not sure. I didn’t get a good look. I—’
    Clive peers towards the deep end.
    â€˜I didn’t see anything. Did you, Harry?’
    â€˜Nah. There’s no one here who shouldn’t be.’
    â€˜But I was sure there was—’
    I’m starting to wonder if I did see him now. What it was that I saw. If I saw anything at all. I’m standing here, trying to explain, and it sounds stupid.
    â€˜Nic, the other girls are well into their warm-up. You’re putting yourself at a disadvantage right now. You’d better get back to it.’
    â€˜Yes. Yes, okay.’
    My cheeks are on fire now. Everyone thinks I’m crazy. That I’ve made a fuss about nothing. Clive’s stalking back to the shallow end. Harry puts his hand on my shoulder.
    â€˜You okay?’ he says, and gives me a sympathetic smile, which just makes everything worse.
    â€˜Yeah,’ I mutter, and walk back to my lane. I stand on the edge, looking down. The water is clear. No shadowslurking beneath me. No shapes that shouldn’t be there. I dive in, grateful for the cool touch of the water on my skin.
    And now I’m desperate for the rest of the world to disappear. I just want it to be me and the water. Nothing else. I want my mind to switch off and my body to take over.
    Let go. Let go of it all .
    Yes. Let it all go.
    Trust the water. Trust me .
    And I do. I trust the voice inside me. And I kick and pull and turn and breathe. The lengths seem effortless.
    When Clive blows his whistle, I know it’s time to race, and I’m ready.
    We line up on the blocks. Beside me, Christie fiddles with the strap of her goggles. Perhaps she’s nervous after all.
    The whistle goes and I dive. I enter the water smoothly. I stay down for a couple of metres longer than usual and when I surface I hit my perfect rhythm straight away. I don’t even check what the other girls are doing. I swim my own race. Lap after lap.
    You can do this .
    Only two lengths to go. And now when I take a breath I look to one side, swim five strokes and look to the other. There are two of us in contention, Christie and me. The others are way back. We’re side by side. If you freeze-framed us right now, we’d be lying on the water, almost face to face, bodies flat.
    It feels uncomfortable to be this close. Me and her. It’spersonal. Like a fist-fight with no touching.
    Just thinking this is enough to put me off. I’ve slowed down. She pulls slightly ahead.
    No! Don’t let her win!
    She’s into the turn before me. I roll forward in the water, twist my body and push with my feet. My head is level with her thighs. She’s a metre ahead.
    You can take her! You can do it!
    The relaxed easy rhythm of the previous laps has gone. The adrenaline surging through me seems to be tautening the muscles in my arms and legs, but it’s okay now. If the Zen feeling of being at one with the water got me through the first fourteen lengths, then maybe aggression will get me to the end.
    Reach! Reach forward!
    I try not to think about Christie, but she’s right there.
    Forget her! Reach for the wall! So close now!
    I thrash my legs, driving myself forward. As each hand angles into the water, I stretch my arm out, straighten my fingers.
    I hit the wall and look up at Clive. Beside me, Christie’s doing the same. Neither of us knows who hit first. My chest is heaving. Even in the water, I can feel the heat in my arms and legs.
    The agonising moment