Chapter 23 - Waylon

Practice went as expected. Everyone was there grumbling about the early practice, even though the school year didn’t technically start. Everyone except my brothers. I knew that they were going to skip; the evidence that was left in my room showed that they weren’t going to come.

“Great practice, everyone,” I yelled at the guys. Some of them were still in the pool, floating, while others were wrapped in towels on the bleachers. “This year I’m instituting a new rule.”  

The guys murmured to one another but didn’t say anything to me directly.

“Everyone is allocated one missed practice a semester. If you miss more than that, you will be cut from the team.” I paused when people started to talk amongst themselves.

“But what happens during finals?” Terry asked, and he was just as concerned about his grades as I was. And I respected him.

“During mid-terms and finals, we will have a lighter practice schedule. But if a practice is scheduled, I expect you to be there.” I said.

I knew that I was a strict captain, but that was what brought our team to win the finals last year. No joking around, I wanted to win again this year.

“What happens if we are sick?” Paul asked as he raised his hand out of the pool.

“If you are sick, I expect a doctor’s note. We get free health care at the on-campus medical office, so it should be easy to get a note.”

I looked at their faces, waiting for any other questions. Each one just gave me a nod. Bryan smirked at me.

In practice, I watched him specifically. He was gone for a year, and I expected him to be slower than he was before. But that wasn’t the case; he was just as fast, if not faster.

“What about your brothers?” Rob asked from the pool.

I knew that question was going to come up. They wanted to know if I was going to give my brothers special treatment, and I wasn’t. “This is considered their one and only skip. If they miss again, they will be cut.”

That got the guys to talk some more.

“You would cut your own brothers?” Terry asked, not believing that I would go through with it.

“Yes. If they don’t take this team seriously, then I won’t take them seriously to be on the team.” I paused and looked at all of them. “That goes for all of you.”

“Is there a possibility for a make-up practice?" Don asked from the bleachers. He shivered slightly. He always seemed to be cold, and that was what spurred him on toward finishing a race as fast as possible.

That thought was a good one. I hadn’t thought about that. I was just trying to get my brothers kicked off the team, but these other guys didn’t deserve the harsh treatment that they did. They worked hard and hardly ever missed.

I nodded. “That’s a good idea. If you know you are going to miss, email me and let me know ahead of time, and we can organize a make-up practice. I’m going to have a packed schedule, and the make-up will be on my terms.”

The guys nodded at me.

“But let me say this, don’t miss. Because the make-up practice will be more brutal than the original.”

Some of the guys laughed but nodded anyway. They knew that I wasn’t joking when I said that. Practice was already difficult, but we became the best. And I wanted to keep our status.

And if they were going to miss a practice session I was going to make damn sure that they wouldn’t want to miss another one.

“That’s all for the day. Expect to see an email from me with the practice schedule and the new rules. See you on Monday.” Typically the couch was the one that would set the rules, but I realized rather quickly that the man who was called coach sucked at swimming.

To be honest, I didn’t think he knew how to swim at all. He would just blow a whistle and tell the guys to swim or whatever. He said that for the first few practices, until I asked if he wanted me to take over. He was beyond grateful to hand the reins over.

That was when I took this D-grade swim team to the best of the best. It was a shock, but I was proud, and the school was proud to say that they had an elite swim team.

Some of the guys patted me on the shoulder as they walked out. It felt good to lead a team that wanted to win. I could see the hunger in their eyes when we talked about swimming competitions. They wanted it almost as much as I did.

“Good practice, Captain,” Bryan said as he stood next to me. “Thanks for letting me join again.”

“The way you were swimming, I should be thanking you.” I chuckled. “You’re a bullet.”

Bryan gave me a genuine smile. “What else could I do when I didn’t come back to school?” He shrugged.

“The team is benefiting from it. At the end of the year, I’ll tell the coach to nominate you as captain for next year.” I grabbed my sweatpants and pulled them over my Speedo.

“What?” Bryan’s smile slowly turned down.

“I’m on course to graduate this year. And the team needs someone good to lead them. And I think that would be you,” I paused a moment. “If you want it.”

“Really? Me?”

“Yes, you. No one is as fast as you are. Not to mention that you took a year off and came back better. There is no question in my mind who would be a good captain.” I said as I pulled on my sweatshirt.

“Fuck yes.” Bryan’s smile came back. “If you’re offering, I’ll take it.”

“Great, we can get together next semester and discuss the transition. But honestly, if you keep doing what we have been doing, it should be easy.” I threw my duffle bag over my shoulder.

“Cool, thanks, Way.” Bryan gave me a nod and walked to the locker rooms. I wanted to get back to my room. I had a list of things that I wanted to do today, and most of them involved Wakely and that girl from last night.

In no time, I was back in my dorm room. I was thankful that it was still pretty early in the morning, and since it was Saturday, the students were taking advantage of the last weekend before the semester officially started.

After a quick shower, I sat in front of my computer and typed up the email that I needed to send to the team. I knew as soon as my brothers rolled out of bed, they would read it and be furious.

I knew that they couldn’t adhere to that rule. They would fail in a matter of weeks. I would give it two, to be exact. Whittaker would do his best, but Wynn, Scarlett, and Zoey would persuade him to have just one drink.

Then one would lead to another and another. And then boom, he would miss the next practice. It was rather genius on my part. They went against the rules of the team, and if they got kicked off, they would lose their scholarship and be kicked out of school.

I knew that I should have been trying to help them and make excuses for them. But they had their time back in Freshman year. They didn’t change. They expected everyone to bow before them. I knew that they considered themselves untouchable.

I was going to show them that they weren’t.

Once the email was sent along with the practice schedule, I went back to what I really wanted to look up.

The girl who insulted my Wakely.

I stood and locked my door. I knew that at any moment, my brothers were going to wake up and want to interrogate me about the new swim team rule. And I wasn’t going to have any of that.

I didn’t need to be interrupted while I was doing my research.

I logged into the school administration website and went to the dormitories. Each room had the students who were residing there listed.

I scrolled through name after name. And I was grateful to see that the student ID photos were next to their name.

“How many Rachels were there?” I grumbled as I scrolled through Williams Hall. Each floor had at least one Rachel on it. “Focus on the lower floors. The door slammed, and I could hear it.” I said absently as I continued to scroll.

I wish that I were better at remembering people’s names. But if I didn’t care about them, I didn’t think it was pertinent to retain that information.

It took me a few minutes, but I found the two girls. I was right, they were roommates. Rachel Lewis and Amber Harris were in room two-thirteen. I was right, they weren’t that far from the laundry room, and super easy to hear if they slammed the door.

I went back to the admin main page and searched Amber’s schedule. I rolled my eyes at what she was enrolled in: fashion design.

It wasn’t that the major was a joke. It was a joke because I could just see her thinking that she was going to be this famous designer and make millions.

From what I saw last night and the previous time I saw her, she dressed like a whore who had no fashion sense whatsoever.

On the other hand, Wakely wore clothes that flattered her. That dress she wore to the meet and greet was gorgeous on her. When I first laid eyes on her, she wore a pair of cut-off shorts, a tank, and a flannel wrapped around her waist.

Sure, it wasn’t designer or anything, but she had style. And I loved that about her.

My fingers froze on the keyboard.