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Ocean
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I heard the whistle and dove into the water. As soon as I felt that familiar sensation of being under water, of being able to swim once again it felt like I was right where I belonged. This was what I lived for. This was the best feeling in the world.
I moved my arms in perfect unison. Forward and back, always in a circle. Each rotation brought my head up and out of the water for me to take a deep breath before I plunged back into the watery heaven.
I never paid attention to how fast I was moving. I never paid attention to my speed. I just moved in perfect harmony with the water.
Soon, much sooner than my teammates, I reached the edge of the pool. In a series of movements that was so practiced it was like second nature, I grabbed the gutter at the edge of the water and swung my legs up underneath me to push them against the wall. My right arm stretched out behind me where it was quickly followed by my left arm as I leaned away from the wall. Finally I pushed off from the wall and turned back onto my stomach.
This whole turn took me just seconds to accomplish but I followed my movements carefully. Coach always says that swimming fast all comes down to following the basics. If you miss a single step then you fall behind. I wasn't going to fall behind.
I did this turn a total of two more times. Fifty meters each direction with four total laps that ended with a two hundred meters in all. And like always I finished it first. My time for the two hundred meter butterfly stroke was one minute fifty-four seconds. Soon I would be able to break the world record.
This race was practice for the upcoming swim meet against St. Reece's next week. St. Reece's was the only school that ever gave us trouble when we raced them, but that was also before I was moved from junior varsity to varsity. Last year we creamed them and took the state championship, and this year we were aiming for nationals.
My life was moving in all the right directions. I was the star swimmer. I was the most popular guy in school. I had the hottest girlfriend. I was a straight A honors student. I literally had everything. Who wouldn't feel blessed with a life like that? Seriously, I had everything.
"That was amazing, Shores." I heard my coach call out to me as I stopped at the side of the pool to catch my breath. I was grinning from the rush of adrenaline. The swim and the win both gave me that natural high that elevated my mood.
"Thanks Coach." I grabbed his hand that he had extended toward me and let him help me out of the pool.
Once I was on my feet I saw my teammates reaching the edge of the pool all in quick succession. They were all closely matched, especially with the butterfly stroke but I was still the fastest person on the team.
Most of my team didn't care that I was faster than them, they treated this as the team sport it was and only cared about the school winning the recognition. A few, however, were jealous that they couldn't have the fastest times.
It's not my fault that I was better and faster than them. I worked hard for my position on the team and I was always going to do my best.
"Dude, how are you so fast?" Ryan Johnson, one of my best friends and teammates, came up to me after he was out of the water.
"He's part fish, that's how." Benton Kennedy, Ben to his friends, came up next. He was another of my best friends. The three of us had joined the swim team together back in sixth grade and here we were still swimming together six years later.
Ryan was a slightly above average guy with a slender build. He had light blond hair and blue eyes. Basically he was the typical description of a pretty boy. Ben was a little shorter but not by much, same swimmers build but he had medium brown hair and green eyes.
The two of them only have the physique in common with me. I think it was something that all true swimmers had. That slender build to their body. But I was taller than them, and therefore slightly more broad. My hair was different too. My hair was black but it seemed to shine with a blue undertone when the light hit it. I just put it down as too much pool water on it or something. Not to mention my eyes were a little different too. They were a light grayish blue, and that was being generous. I really should drop the blue part since they were more true gray than anything else.
I always found my coloring so unique. The dark hair, the light eyes, and add to that my porcelain complexion. My looks have always made me unique.
And I couldn't tell you where I got those genetics from. Literally. I was adopted as a baby. I was the last kid to be adopted, they had adopted three, so I was the youngest of four. I had an older brother and two older sisters, plus a pretty good set of parents. I didn't mind being adopted either. At least these parents wanted me, unlike my birth parents.
The surname for my adoptive parents also went with the name I was given when I was found. No one knew who my real parents were, even after eighteen years. Phineas and Stephemily Shores were my parents now. (I am convinced their unique names are what brought them together.) Their last name went perfectly with my first name, which is Ocean. Yes, my name is literally Ocean Shores. Sounds like a joke but I got over it and I love it now.
Still, I couldn't complain a bit. Life was perfect. For me at least.