The Swim series - Book One

Chapter 2

"Action and reaction. Ebb and flow. Trial and error. Change. This is the rhythm of living" Sister Ruth said, quoting Bruce Barton from her place at the pulpit. "I've worked at this school for thirty-three-years, and taught many Year Levels. But I'm here to tell you that no greater amount of change can possibly occur, than the change that takes place during the fist year of boarding school. This year you will learn to live away from your parents. You will learn to rely on yourself in a much more unique way, as well as the students around you"

She had the first two rows of Year Seven students stand then and come forwards to sign their names into the Scotts Book. Strength, courage and loyalty; those were the traits we were promising to show.

When the book was signed and the induction process was over, we were sent outside for a short celebratory recess. The Year Twelve Captains walked around the Rose garden, promising the few of us that they were able to speak with that the next six years would be the six best of our lives.

"I hate that this is my final year" the School Captain told one of the swimming boys. "I'm dreading graduation. None of us want to leave"

After recess we had to report to the Sports Hall to play 'Get to know you classmates' games. Classes weren't due to start until we got back from Camp that we were leaving for tomorrow morning with the Year Eights.

"Tomorrow, you'll each receive a Year Eight buddy" Sister Beatrice said, "Who will focus their time on getting to know you, and giving you their years worth of boarding school advice. But this afternoon I want you to focus your attention on members of your own year level. Some of you already know each other, but many of you are brand new"

By "many of you" she meant three people, because that's how many non-Scotts transfers existed in my Grade. Me, Wendy Wu, and Yohan Hayman. We weren't all that difficult to spot, given that we were always alone.

Sister Beatrice handed a boy named Connor a basketball and explained the rules of the first game. We were to stand in a circle and throw the ball around, stating our name and "one fun fact" about ourselves, if someone passed it to us and we caught it.

"Um... alright. I'm Connor Evans" Connor said, "Fun fact about me, I like soccer"

He threw the ball to Brett Beattie, who everyone knew because everyone liked (or feared, if you knew what was good for you).

"I'm Brett Beattie" Brett said. "Fun fact about me I think this game is dumb as shit"

"Brett!" Christina Cook gasped, just as Brett threw the ball to his best friend Frasier.

Do you want to know a real fun fact about Brett Beattie? He was incredibly popular, but he was also kind of an idiot. On night one he got the whole Grade in trouble when he decided to pee out of his open dormitory window. The next morning we were all called into the Church to be given an hour long "Don't stick your genitals outside of windows" speech, presented to us by Housemaster Davenport.

Brett sat at the back of the church trying not to laugh every time his genitals were referred to as "safety hazards" He wasn't embarrassed because there was zero reason for him to be. His friends thought everything he did was funny, and followed him around the school with blind and never-ending loyalty.

"Alright, I'm Frasier. Fun fact about me, I also think this game is dumb as shit"

"Oi, don't copy my answer" Brett smacked him over the back of the head.

The game went exactly how I expected it to go. The popular kids maintained control of the ball. They didn't pass it people they wanted to get to know better, they passed it to friends that were sure of and liked.

"Don't forget the students on this side of the cicle!" Sister Beatrice ran around the edge, doing her best to get the ball to move. "Eyes up, pay attention!" she shouted at those of us who were deliberately staring at the floor. And that's when bang the ball hit Wendy Wu, and then came ricocheting and hurtling towards me.

I caught it out of instinct and then threw it away from me without saying my name. Because just get rid of it, get rid of it, get rid of it. I didn't want to participate in any sort of introductory game at all.

My heart sunk when I looked up and realised that I'd thrown the ball back into Brett Beattie's hands. He had a smile on his face that was amused by me, rather than friendly or welcoming.

"I'm Brett" he said, bouncing the ball once. "What's your name?" he then asked confidently, before throwing the ball back over to me.

Brett Beattie was considered to be funny, but he came with this predatory glance. He had a very quick way of sizing people up, or in my case, sizing someone down.

"Emily..." I said.

"What?" he asked even louder.

I said it again, but I was now so terrified of him, that I'm pretty certain he didn't hear me the second time.

"What's her name? Who is she?" he was still asking his friends, when I finally got the ball away from me.

The next game was called 'Cross the line'. Sister Petunia draped some rope over the centre of the hall and told us to walk across it if any of her read statements applied to us.

"Cross the line if you suffer from low self esteem"

"Cross the line if you've ever been bullied!"

"Cross the line if you feel frightened at this school!"

"Cross the line if you're nervous about living away from your parents!"

Brett and his friends had a field day with the game, crossing the line for every excuse possible. "Cross the line if you think Frasier's a dipshit!" Brett yelled, coming up with a few choice statements of his own.

I moved not to cross the line, but to get out of another girls way. And that's when smack, I collided with someone so strong and fast, that for a moment I was certain I'd hit concrete.

Ow, ow, ow! I tried to move my head away from them. But holy-be-jesus... ow! Something had me stuck at the base of my scalp.

Landon Cole looked down at me like I was a bug that had splattered itself across a windshield. He tried to move away from me twice before realising there was a greater problem, and then side-stepped until we were back by the wall.

It took me a few seconds to realise that my hair (or large tangled knot as it now was) had wrapped itself around Landon's shirt badges. My head was caught at such an awkward angle that I couldn't see Landon's face properly, but his list of golden accomplishments were right at my eye level.

''Boys - NATIONAL - Gold medalist - 400m Free'

'Boys - NATIONAL - Gold medalist - 200m Fly'

'Boys - NATIONAL - Gold medalist - 200m Back'

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...

"Stop moving" Landon muttered at me, as he attempted to unclip the first badge. In the background I could still hear Sister Petunia, shouting out statements about parental alienation.

Do you want to know a fun fact about Landon Cole? Too bad. There aren't any. He was hostile and vacant. And in less than five days, he'd been involved in three fights.

The first one happened in the boys showers and involved one of my fellow new kids, Yohan. Landon had smashed his head into the sink, and then kicked him until he was down on the floor.

I didn't see it happen of course but I heard about it, because everything Landon did seemed to make the news. He was the youngest member of some Elite Scotts squad, which probably meant something to any student at this school who understood Scotts and swimming

"Sorry" I said, when the last badge was freed, and I finally regained control of my neck.

Landon dropped the badges into his shirt pocket, and without so much as a glance at me, disappeared back into the crowd.

"What happened?" Shell came back from the rope. Landon slid an arm around her.

"Nothing" he replied, because that's what I was at this school. Nothing but a few strands of hair, that he'd pick off his school shirt later.