Ashley was struggling with her wine, mini skirt. She kept on pulling its edges downwards to her knees."It's kinda short." Chrysolite noted.
"Yes, but no one will notice." Ashley winked at her breathlessly. She looked down at her cream, shirtsleeved top, then came over to grip Chrysolite's shoulder.
"But I just did."
"You can just ignore it." Ashley grinned. Her hair was in curls this time. One jewelery was stuck in a braid which was plaited.They were both in their first year in Green Hill junior high school. Their elementary examination had been successful, Mary had stopped coming to school, she had lost her self-esteem and she was left with no friends. Sardius and Michael were taken to another class. During recess, they would meet and talk about their class teachers and what had happened in class.
"I told her not to trim her skirt low. You're not even a senior yet and you're doing this." Michael was telling Chrysolite. His hair had grown Fuller and richly black. It was their first day of resumption.
Ashley was later called into the HOD's (head of teacher's) office and was told to change her skirt which wasn't fit for school.
"Is this not a private school? Can't I be free to wear whatever I like?" Ashley said to Chrysolite.
"If you wear casual, you'll get into another bigger trouble." Chrysolite warned.
"You think I don't know about that?" Ashley groaned.
Both Ashley and Chrysolite sat at the front seats, they made new friends in no time. Sardius and Michael began to play soccer and in no time, they were in the school's team. A new girl arrived in class, she had full cheeks, grey eyes behind the lens of her glasses, long blonde hair like Chrusolite's. When she smiled, Ashley couldn't help but smile back.
"I think I I like her Chrysolite, she should come sit with us." It was obvious that Ashley was already attracted to her.
"But you hardly know her." Chrysolite protested.
"Yes, but look at her. She's beautiful and she had the most prettiest smile ever. She looks like a goddess."
Chrysolite didn't like this. Ashley would definitely be taken from her, sooner or later. The girl Jasmine became Ashley's new friend, Ashley was always sitting close to her, touching her hair, complimenting her eyes, it made Chrysolite afraid that Ashley would soon be gone from her.
"The junior are having sports this coming Friday," Ashley informed her friends.
Chrysolite nodded, Jasmine smiled. Ashley looked at them both and repeated what she said.
"We heard you." Jasmine nudged her in the ribs.
"But then, you guys weren't saying anything." Ashley eyed them both.
"Will we be allowed to swim in the pool? I love swimming!" Jasmine looked delighted.
"Good to hear." Chrysolite rolled her eyes.
"Well Jasmine, I don't know about that. The senior are the one coming around to teach us some basics in soccer, hockey, tennis, swimming maybe... We're advised to go for what we love," Ashley counted her fingers as she called out the sports she could remember. "So, you do love swimming?" Ashley felt surprised.
"Yes, I do. I can do a thing like the backstroke!" Jasmine replied demonstrating then she stopped to ask. "Can you swim, Ashley?"
"I don't like swimming, I never did." Ashley laughed stroking her hair nervously.
"Really? It's really fun, you should give it a try though." Jasmine continued then she turned to Chrysolite who sat by her right pulling strands of hair and watching it fall. She was bored by their conversation. "What about you Chrysolite, do you love swimming?"
"My dad was an athlete in swimming, he had a lot of awards in.......,"
"We're not talking about your dad Chrysolite, we're talking about you. Do you like swimming?" Jasmine interrupted Chrysolite rudely.
Chrysolite stared at her in surprise, Jasmine had never done this to her before. This was a first time. Ashley saw the look and turned towards Jasmine.
"She doesn't like it Jasmine. But you can teach us." Ashley suggested warmly.
******
On the D-Day of the sport, Ashley felt so thrilled that she pulled her friends to the swimming hall where some senior students stood waiting.
"If you can swim, you might be trained under one of those seniors. When you get to senior school, you become a member of the swimming team automatically." A senior started his speech at the edge of the pool while the Juniors sat in their swimming suits watching.
The senior giving the speech was a well built, tall boy, dark-skinned, his hair was curled, one would see that he was slowly becoming an adult.
After several practises with some fellow juniors, Ashley was called next to give it a try. Ashley who had been the one giving them motivational quotes suddenly had fish legs. She panicked and refused to come forward. Then, she pushed Chrysolite forward.
"She can swim." Ashley pushed Chrysolite forward. Chrysolite was confused, wasn't it Ashley that was encouraging them? Telling them she would take the lead. She smiled cause she had no choice. She would certainly try swimming.
Chrysolite was dressed in a silvery swimming suit, her long fair hair was tied up in a bun. She stood at the edge of the pool while the senior in the pool urged her to dive in. She keeked around one more time as all eyes befell on her. Her palms began to sweat, she was nervous.
"Look at me. It's all right, you can do this. If you don't want to do this, that is fine." The senior in the pool addressed her to which she nodded.
"Chrysolite, you can do this." Ashley called softly behind her.
Then, the senior signaled to Chrysolite to dive in. Like an amateur, Chrysolite raised both hands in the air and dived in like a pro, it was her first time yet it felt like she had long been into swimming. She smiled at herself stupefied at her efforts. Ashley and Jasmine were much more stunned. The senior too was amazed and he motioned with a wave of his hand that she should swim towards him. He was at the deepest part of the pool.
As her hands gave way to the interior part of the pool, her legs froze. She felt a wave of scintillating sensation wash over her. Her blood level abruptly surged ahead as her heart pumped faster, she was ebbing away. She felt at peace here likened to silence, to freedom. Her nerves began to calm as her eyes began to shut. She could see beings like stars at first, then humans shaped as fishes appeared, she was drifting away to another world entirely. This feeling was far different, special than the feeling under a shower or in the bathtub. She felt at peace. She was were she should belong, this was where she belong. She heard a name. It was her name. It's was fading into extinction, why were they calling her? They should leave her be, this world was too good to be true. Was this in her imagination? Why have she never felt this before?
In a trice, someone grabbed her arm sharply, pulling her out of her trance. Her imaginations scattered into oblivion as someone was shaking her vigorously. Her breathing gave a start and she started coughing, her mouth spluttering out some liquid. She opened her eyes and wondered why people were gathering around her. Ashley held one of her hand in a worried state. Another senior, this time a girl was slightly bent over her. She must have given her the mouth-to-mouth respiration. Her rigid body instantly felt flexible, she felt strange about it. She looked around again, suddenly feeling naked. Other students had been going into the pool without stress or any case of emergency. She had unfortunately became the first victim of the pool.
"Are you alright?" The female senior asked.
Chrysolite nodded.
"Are you allergic to the pool?" Another senior asked.
"Allergic? I have .....no....idea."
"Can you stand on your feet?" He prompted, concerned about her.
"I'm fine." Chrysolite dragged her body up, her friends, Ashley and Jasmine stood on either sides, helping her stand. "I'm fine." Chrysolite repeated.
"Let's go to the school clinic to fix.....,"
"I said I'm fine." Chrysolite interrupted the senior. She hated the eyes on her, it made her feel in the spotlight.
"You sure?" Ashley whispered.
"Yeah." Chrysolite decided to jump, clap and wiggle her waist so they would believe her.
"See? I'm okay. Nothing is wrong with me." She assured her friends and the seniors.
The crowd dispersed as the class continued, this time cautiously. They brought in swimming kits such as the kickboard, training fins and the likes. Ashley had to pull Chrysolite aside questioning her.
"What was wrong with you? You could have died." Ashley stated. "I'm sorry I pushed you ahead of me. I should have known you were so allergic to the pool."
"I'm not allergic to the pool. I mean.... I don't know."
Again, Ashley and Jasmine wete confounded. Jasmine touched Chrysolite's right hand. "Are you really okay?" Jasmine questioned.
"Yes I am."
"When you dived in, you dived in like a pro. Swimming like one to be exact. One would have thought you were a dolphin." Jasmine demonstrated.
"No! Like a mermaid! The way your hands and legs made your movements, I was surprised you said you didn't know how to swim. Then you just suddenly went off like a switch." Ashley put in, switching on an invicible switch.
"We thought you've dived lower when you swam towards that senior teaching us. We were worried, almost twenty seconds had gone by." Jasmine continued.
Chrysolite kept looking from friend to friend disbelieving what she had just heard about her. Could this be true?