CHAPTER 10: SHIFT

My first job shift ends late in the day.

I've never worked a shift this late before, and I can't wait to go to bed when it's over so I can finally get some sleep.

Even though I'm sleeping in a new place and bed, I've really been enjoying the extra sleep. It's great. Even though I've been in my new apartment for three days, I still don't feel like it's mine. I always feel like I need to ask permission to use the kitchen or be in the living room, and I have to keep reminding myself that this is now my place, too.

I've been very clean because I was afraid they would dislike me for making a mess. So I always clean up after myself, don't leave anything out in the bathroom when I get ready in the morning, and regularly sweep the entire apartment.

It seems like they like me, but I'm not entirely sure. Since that first night, we haven't hung out much, and I haven't even seen much of Kent. He's either in his room with the door shut or out doing something.

"What's up?" I hear it from where I am in the pool office, and I look up. Right now, I'm on break, and Oliver, my boss, is standing by the door.

"Yeah?"

"Could you take over for about five minutes? I really need to go to the bathroom," he asks, and I laugh as I get up from my seat.

I put my whistle back on my arm, and as I grab my water, he hands me the tube. People have the wrong idea about what lifeguards do. They don't just sit around in cute swimsuits and flirt. It's a lot of telling people to walk, dealing with confused older people, sometimes putting bandages on cuts, and sweating profusely because the pool area is so humid.

As pools go, it's not too bad. It's a lane pool, with no separate shallow pool, water slides, or other fun things for kids to play with. Just a simple 56-meter pool with two walls that can be moved to make the pool bigger or smaller for competitions. It's also ridiculously wide, so it's the right width for training.

It's almost 9:45 p.m., and the pool closes at 10 p.m. There are only a few swimmers left in the pool, finishing up their lanes and swimming slowly. We have family activities on the weekends and swim lessons in the evenings and on the weekends, but right now there are mostly middle-aged people or former swim team members working out.

The first pool I worked at was much worse than this one. It was more of a family pool than a competition pool like the Coleman. It was much more dangerous because parents didn't keep an eye on their kids. Kids would hold their breath for as long as they could, splash each other, and do other dangerous things. Not only that, but neither the building nor the staff were as nice.

I moved here because working here wasn't much harder than working at my old pool, and they needed lifeguards, so I stayed once I was hired.

At the ten-minute mark, we usually warn the swimmers, and that's coming up soon. Then I'll have to close the pool, something I've never done before. Oliver is here to show me just that.

The clothes I wear as a lifeguard are never attractive. I wear a pair of gym shorts, my pinnie, and my sports bra underneath. Sometimes I go to work in a swimsuit, and sometimes I just don't care. Part of our work rules is that you have to swim 500 meters once a week, so I usually wear it on those days.

9:50 p.m.

I slide my whistle down my arm and quickly blow it twice. I sigh as I see all the swimmers pop their heads up.

"The pool will close at ten!" I call to them, and as they finish their laps, they all nod or give me a thumbs up.

We also had a rule that we couldn't guard by ourselves. This meant that if there was only one guard on the deck, another had to be close by in case of an emergency. Our aquatics coordinator, Micheala, was still here, but she was in a different office getting the schedules for the pools done.

I've never had a real emergency at the pool, which I think is pretty lucky. My shoulder coming out of place was the worst thing I've ever had to deal with. And all you can do is make them as comfortable as you can until the paramedics get there. The person who did it said he'd done it many times before, so he was very calm.

"Have a good night!" I smile at one of the women heading off to the changing rooms, and she waves with a smile.

Oliver comes back to the deck with a thankful wave, and I nod, waving back. The last of the pool-goers clear out, and he walks back over to me.

"Alright, that's the end of it." He sighs, and I smile. "You've never closed the pool before, have you?" He asks, and I shake my head. "Okay, what we'll do is you go around, do a sweep of anything left behind and do a spot mop. I'll do the chlorine, and then we'll meet up again."

I was just thankful we weren't responsible for the changing rooms; that was the university's job. We were only responsible for the pool.

Once I mopped the pool deck and dumped all found items into the lost and found bin, I met back with Oliver.

Together we moved the bulkheads for aqua-size the next morning. This also left it possible to swim lengths in the other end. Then we packed up the equipment and pool deck signs, locked up the storage room doors, and went back to the office.

I pulled on my hoodie and started to put on my socks and sneakers while we clocked out. All in all, not a bad shift.

"Where's your massive backpack?" He teases, and I roll my eyes.

"I moved closer to campus, so I don't need that big of a bag anymore." I answer, and he raises his eyebrows.

"Really? Where are you?"

"About a fifteen-minute walk." I answer, tying up my other shoe.

"How long have you been there?" He asks, and I swap places with him, leaning over the computer to put my time in.

"Only a few days."

"You like it?"

"Yeah, it's great." I assure him, finishing up on the computer. "Is it cool if I shut it down?"

"Go for it, let's hit the bricks, Julianna." He assures me, and I log out of the desktop.

"Hey, kiddies!" Micheala says, popping her head into the office. "The pool looks good, solid day's work."

"Thanks, Mickey," Oliver says easily, and we both grab our bags.

"I have next week's schedule." She announces, stepping inside and pinning it up on the bulletin board. We both look at it, and I read down the list looking for my name. "Oh, Julianna, I know you said you could keep working the closing shifts now, is that still alright?"

"Yeah, that's cool." I assure her, pulling out my phone to take a picture of it.

"Perfect, well, I know we talked some about putting you in more of a position of leadership. So, we'll train you with some supervisors over the next few weeks, and then you'll be one of our head guards. How does that sound?" She asks, looking hopeful.

How did that sound? I wasn't sure I could handle this. My biggest problem with lifeguarding was that I didn't trust my instincts. I questioned if I was doing the right thing all the time, and it was a problem. Someone in charge should seem knowledgeable.

"Um....I'll give it my best." I tell her, and she smiles.