Life of Two Best Friends: College CHPT 48

CHAPTER 49

I needed that cooldown. Finally my limbs were feeing like jello. Jello was better than fire. I searched for Henry. He must have only needed a short cooldown. I pulled myself up and out of the pool. ‘Ouch! That hurt.’ My shoulders did not like hoisting my body up. I walked back over to lane three and grabbed my towel. I was so glad that I was done with races. I didn’t know if I could do it again, today. They were on the last heat of 200 Freestyles done by the B and C strings.

Walking up to Coach I saw Henry, Jeremy, and Chad standing there talking to Coach. I don’t know how I knew, but I was not going to like this. “Hey Coach. Sorry about diving in too soon. You could blame it on habit. My body hears the long whistle and I get up on the blocks. What’s going on?” I already knew the answer. We were going to be doing another race.

“Don’t worry about the 500 race right now, George,” Coach waved me to stand next to Henry, “now that George is here, shall we begin?”

Hopefully it’s just another race; and not a workout. ‘I will protest! No I wouldn’t.’ “What are we beginning?”

“I want you four to do a relay. I think could be a great line up. And since you and Henry are so exhausted I’m curious to know what you can do with no energy. Now, go get behind the blocks. Jeremy is first, then Henry, then Chad, and lastly George. George chase yourself! Now go!”

We were walking away, “is Coach crazy? I can barely feel my body. How am I supposed to sprint now?” Henry said as he began to actively stretch.

I tried to swing my arms too, but I could only seem to do small pathetic circles. “You know Coach. He wants to see what we can do when we have nothing left. Strangely enough it is sometimes your best race. Come on Henry! We will be done after this. Let’s show Coach what we can do!” I was trying to pump Henry up, but also myself. I was hurting too. But Coach was expecting the impossible again. If we didn’t deliver we would be expected to try again. “Let’s get this done!” I started to jump. Waking up my body; ignoring the burning.

“Yeah. Let’s get this done in one shot. We can do this,” Jeremy jumped as well trying to get pumped.

“Yeah. I don’t want to have to do this over and over again,” Chad said walking to the blocks.

“Tweet tweet tweet!”

“Let’s do this,” Jeremy climbed the block.

‘Get it done Jeremy!’ The three of us crouched around the block.

“Take your mark…BEEP!”

Jeremy left!

“Go Jeremy!” I was yelling. I never yell. I usually conserve my energy. But not this time. My teammates needed encouragement. They needed more; so I was giving them more. Jeremy touched the wall and Henry took off. I helped pull Jeremy up and out of the pool. Henry was flying. At least it seemed like he was flying. The yelling at the other end of the pool was so loud it made no sense for me to continue to yell. You couldn’t hear anything but them.

‘Come on Henry!’ Screw it. I was going to yell for them. They deserved it. “Go Henry! Go!” He touched and Chad was gone. I too pulled Henry out of the pool. He just crumpled to the deck once he was clear. I was next. I needed to move. I jumped. I moved. I was ready. Burning or not, I was going to finish this. ‘Chase George. Chase your well rested self. Chase the one that thinks they will win. Chase!’

I climbed the blocks. Chad was coming. He was almost here. Soon it was me. I could see myself in pool. Leisurely swimming away. Not trying at all. ‘Catch him, George!’ Timothy touched the wall and I dove in.

…