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“Is Dad still going to push through with the partnership, then?” Nico suddenly asked his mother as we ate our meal.
“It seems like it.” Rose replied.
“After finding out what the Robinsons are capable of?” Nico protested.
“Look, Nico, I’m pretty surprised as to what Sylvia did, but business is business,” she said. “That’s all our relationship with the Robinsons would be, purely business, besides, after learning what she did to Kyle’s mom, I don’t think I would be comfortable being close with her in a personal level.”
“Then, I guess you won’t mind if I’m not friends with Natalia Robinsons.” Nico added.
“We can’t choose your friends for you, Nico, but please, be at least civilized around them.” Rose Bellard said.
“As long as they don’t do anything to Drew, then they won’t have a problem with me,” Nico said and then held my hand under the table.
Rose Bellard sighed. “As long as you don’t start the trouble, you won’t have any problems with me, but I can’t say the same thing for your Dad. Just remember this Nico, stick to your friends, and if the need arise, protect them, alright.”
Nico chuckled. “Yes, Mom.”
Is it just me or did Rose Bellard just gave her son permission to actually fight?
Nico’s family – and his world – is really different from mine, I guess it would take some time for me to really get used to it. I hope, I really do hope, that I get to be a part of it, for a very, very long time.
I did my best to stop thinking about the mysteries surrounding my life at that moment, but I must admit, it was really difficult. I really wanted to ask my Mom about it, but every time I would see her happy, I would back out. Bringing up memories that she obviously wanted to forget would only make her depressed, and that’s the last thing she needed. My Mom only deserves the best thing in life, she deserves to be happy.
A new school week came, Monday was just beginning and yet my head was already aching because of Perry. He won’t stop interrogating me about Nico’s sleepover. I told him, over and over, that nothing happened, but for someone who doesn’t want to hear graphic details, Perry kept on pressing me for answers.
I wanted to tell him that something happened, and tell it to him in details, but it would be unfair for Nico, well that, and making up such a lie is just too embarrassing for me.
“Come on, Kyle, I’m your friend, you can tell me everything.” Perry insisted as we walked to our next class.
“I told you, nothing happened. We just slept,” I told him in a whisper. “That’s it,” I insisted.
“Fine… If you say so…” Perry said, but his tone told me that he wasn’t really believing what I told him.
“Kyle!” I heard someone call my name. “There you are…” Claire was panting when she approached me. “I need your help.” She said.
“What is it?” I asked.
The next thing I knew, I was already in the school pool, being introduced to the swim team by Claire. Apparently, there’s going to be an exhibition match for our school, Albertson High, and our neighboring school, J. Hendricks High. One of our school’s varsity was still recuperating from an injury, and they needed someone to fill his position.
There are many reserves, I argued, but Claire was so vent on winning that she didn’t want a substitute to compete, so she asked for my help. Well, it’s not like I was doing it for free, Claire and I agreed that she would do me one favor if I win my watch, and have the perfect thing to ask of her in my mind.
I really don’t like competing, but I guess trying it for once wouldn’t hurt.
I was going to do it not to win, but for the love of swimming.
“So, Claire finally succeeded in bringing you here.” A senior greeted me.
“Well, let’s just say that I’m in a good mood, so I said yes,” I replied candidly.
“David, by the way, captain of the swim team.” He introduced himself and offered his hand for a handshake.
I shook David’s hand. “Nice to meet you, you can call me Kyle,” I said.
“Well, Kyle, welcome to the team,” He said. “Listen, I heard this is your first time competing, so let me give you a piece of advice: don’t feel pressured, don’t think about the results, just enjoy it,” David said in a supporting manner.
“I guess we won’t have any problems then, I love swimming, after all,” I said with a smile.
“I like your attitude, Kyle. Claire said you’re not interested in joining the team, but if you change your mind after the match, you’re more than welcome to join us.”
“Really? Don’t have to see my performance first before offering me a spot in the team?”
“True, but that’s only a secondary goal, the main goal in swimming is to enjoy. Don’t you think so?” David asked with a smile.
I chuckled. “Yeah…” It seems that David and I have a lot of things in common, when it comes to swimming anyway.
“I think it’s about time we get change, come to the locker rooms when you’re ready,” He said and then left.
David then walked towards his team and ordered them to get changed. The whole swim team shouted ‘yes’ and then went to the locker room.
“You’ve met our captain, I see,” Claire said as she walked towards me. “So, what do you think of him?”
“He’s… nice… I guess…” I replied.
“You two have a lot of things in common. You bot love swimming. That’s why I think you’ll be a great addition to the team. We need more members like the captain. Most of the team are all about results and winning, they’re forgetting to enjoy the water. That’s why David asked coach to arrange this exhibition match.”
“David planned this?” I was suddenly curious.
“Yeah,” Claire said. “J. Hendricks’ swim team is one of the best in the region, they’re really strong, and I don’t think we stand a chance against them. David picked them so that the team would realize what they lack, why they can’t win. He wants the team to regain their passion, their love for swimming.”
“I see…” I said. “Sometimes there are things that we could only realize and learn through losing.” Those words came from my own experience.
“Do you think you can reconsider about joining the team?” Claire asked.
“Well…” I don’t think it’s a bad idea. If it’s for rekindling the teams’ love for swimming, then I would be more than glad to help, but with all the things happening around me, could I still manage to focus on the team? I mean, I don’t want to do something half-heartedly. I could see how passionate David is, and it would be unfair to him if I join the team half-assed. “I’ll think about it,” I said.
I followed David into the locker room, he introduced me to the team, and then said some words of encouragement before we changed. They let me choose what type of swimming trunks to wear, and I choose the longer type, the one which covers my whole legs.
Showing too much skin is not really my thing. It’s too embarrassing.
The whole team walked out to the pool, still wearing their team shirt. The pool gymnasium was slowly being filled by spectators, who were sent there by the school principal. I was looking around and saw Perry. He saw me looking and pointed to his far left, there I saw Nico smiling at me. I smiled back at Nico and he mouthed the words “good luck”.
My heart was filled with confidence at that moment. I nodded at Nico and he smiled proudly at me.
“So, are you nervous?” Someone tapped my shoulder and when I turned around, David was there.
“Not really, well at least not yet,” I replied.
“Good, because here comes our opponents,” David said as the J. Hendricks swim team walked out of the locker room.
The whole team looked formidable, and so is our school’s team. Quite frankly, I don’t know what the outcome would be. I guess the only way to find out is to watch them swim.
“You wouldn’t believe who the manager of J. Hendricks swim team is,” Claire said as she approached David.
“Why? Who is…?” David seemed surprised when the manager of the opposing swim team walked out of the locker room. “Trisha…?”
“You know her?” I asked, out of curiosity.
“Yeah, she’s a… friend…” David replied.
“Friend? Oh come on, David. Not because Kyle just transferred, doesn’t mean that you can deny it.” Claire said. “Trisha is David’s ex-girlfriend.”
“Really…?” I reacted.
“Yeah, but they broke up in the middle of the term last year, and that’s when Nico came into the picture.” Claire added.
“Claire…” David sighed.
“It’s in the past now, David, I’m sure talking about it is fine.”
“Wait… Did you just say Nico? As in Nico Bellard?” I asked curiously. I never thought Nico’s name would even come up. “What does he have to do with David and Trisha?” I’m not really into gossiping, but since Nico was involved, I simply can’t let it pass.
“Yeah, Nico, your friend Nico. When Trisha and David broke up, Nico started dating her. Everyone thought that they would end up together, but Nico suddenly lost interest and Trisha moved to another school. There was even a rumor that the reason why she moved was because Nico dumped her for another girl and she got really hurt,” Claire said.
I was utterly dumbfounded at that moment. I didn’t even know what to say. It was not surprising that Nico dated before, but suddenly losing interest and dumping her for another girl, it was something that I find very hard to believe.
Sure, Nico acts cold and snobbish to the people he is not close with, but he’s not a mean guy. He’s not such a horrible person that he would just leave a girl hanging in the air and dump her all of a sudden. I’m sure if Nico did found someone else he was more interested with, he would talk to Trisha like a true gentleman. I mean, unlike what everyone thinks, Nico is a sweet, gentle, and very thoughtful guy.
“I don’t know what really happened, but I’m sure Nico didn’t just dump her for another girl,” I said.
“Can we stop talking about that? Let’s just focus on the match,” David said and sighed tiredly.
Looking at Trisha, I could see that she’s a really beautiful girl. No wonder Nico dated her.
Why am I feeling jealous all of a sudden?
I hate this.
Seeing Trisha made me insecure.
She’s beautiful.
She would look good with Nico.
Most of all, she’s a girl….
I sighed silently and then looked in Nico’s direction. Levi and Evan was sitting beside him and I saw them prodding Nico and then pointing at Trisha. They both have that naughty smile on their faces, and I just knew that they were teasing Nico about her.
That only fueled my jealousy.
Not really jealousy, but I was getting irritated.
I was looking sharply at Nico when he suddenly turned his head and met my eyes. His friends were still teasing him and he looked at me with guilty eyes as he bit his lip and shook his head in denial.
I shrugged my shoulders at him and then looked away. He should at least feel guilty, after all it’s his fault that I was jealous… sort of…
The match begun and I was assigned to compete in the freestyle race. There were five events; backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle, and relay, respectively. For the first four events, each team would have two representatives, for the final event, the relay, only one group per team would be competing.
Captain David was going to participate in the freestyle event as well, and our opponents are the captain of the opposing team, the other guy, as Claire described him, one of the best in the region. Hearing that made me somehow anxious, that other guy was already recruited by universities for their swim team and swimming against him made me really excited for some reason.
Finally, my turn to swim came. I took my shirt off and instantly felt shy. I’m really not used to parading myself half naked like that. To add to the pressure, I can feel the heavy atmosphere from our swim team.
“The team’s moral is really down. For the preceding events, we either finished second or third. Either of us need to place first this time, or the team would lose confidence, not only that we would also lose face to the whole campus,” David said as he stepped closer to me. “So, no pressure,” He said and then tapped me on the back.
David was right, looking at the swim team, I could see how frustrated they all were. They all looked really down. And the crowd, they all seemed disappointed. Everyone from our school looked really frustrated.
It’s not like I can promise that I could win, all I could do was give it my all. “I’ll do my best, but no promises,” I told David as we both stepped on the platform.
I looked at the opposing team and saw the smug smiles on their faces, somehow it irritated me. I noticed Trisha looking at David, then she turned her head and looked at the bleachers. I had hunch, so I followed her eyes, and true enough, she was looking at Nico.
It didn’t take long for Nico to notice me looking at him. He smiled proudly at me. His beautiful smile was enough to boost my confidence. I needed to win, not just for the team, but also to wipe those smiles from the opposing team, especially of that of Trisha.
Stepping on the platform was new to me. It gave me a different kind of sensation. I felt like I was standing on top of a building and the ground was way below me.
The opposing swimmers were smiling, one of them, the supposed ace of the team, even smiled arrogantly at me. David nodded supportively at me though, so at least it balanced the negativity inside me.
Finally, the signal went off, and we jumped into the water. The moment my skin touched the water, I instantly felt at home, all the worries were gone and I felt like nothing can stop me. I swam, I didn’t compete, but I swam. I swam simply because I love it.
I had no idea what my standing on the race was. I was so focused on swimming, and enjoying the sensation of swiftly moving in the water like a dolphin. I reached the wall on the other side and flipped underwater, I kicked the wall and started swimming back.
I was drowning in the satisfaction that swimming was giving me. I was so into it that when I reached the wall, I actually felt that the swim was too short.
Suddenly, the whole gymnasium was booming with loud shouts. I looked at the scoreboard and saw that David finished second, and I… well, I actually finished first.
The swimming team ran towards me as soon as I got out of the pool. They patted me on the back excitedly, and I was actually glad to see them back on their feet. The first person I looked for, after my win, was no other than Nico.
I looked for him and easily saw him amongst the crowd. It was so easy, because he stand out all too well. He was standing on the bleachers as he smiled so widely at me. I smiled back at him. Then, when I felt an arm around my neck, Nico’s smile was replaced by frown and sharp look.
“I knew you could do it!” David said proudly and excitedly as he pulled me closer with his arm around my neck and then ruffled my hair with his other hand. I swear I saw Nico mouthed a curse at David.
This is bad. Nico looks really mad.
I’m dead.
What should I do?
Nico looks really mad.
The celebration was cut short because of the next event, but it continued after we won the relay. After that, I felt that the swim team had finally genuinely opened up to me. They welcomed me and treated me like one of them, some even tried to convince me to sign up for good.
Well, after what just happened, after seeing Nico’s expression when David congratulated me, I think there’s a slim chance that I would be joining the team. I just felt that Nico would do everything to stop me from joining.
I’m not judging Nico. I just know him that well.
After the successful match, I felt really good, but that moment was shattered once I got out of the locker room and saw Trisha hugging Nico just by the entrance of the locker.
My heart was simply filled with anger and jealousy at that moment. Why is she hugging Nico? Why is Nico letting her hug him? I really hate it. I hate seeing Nico being that intimate, being that close to any other person. To make things worse, they had a history together. They used to date.
Stop that. Stop touching Nico.
He’s mine.
No one else can touch him like that.
“Hey, Kyle, we’re eating out to celebrate, do you want to come?” Claire asked as she followed me outside.
“Drew!” Nico was surprised. He instantly pushed Trisha away when he saw me. “This is…”
“I don’t really have an appetite, maybe next time.” I told Claire. I gave Nico a sharp look and then walked away without saying anything. I’m pretty pissed at that moment.
I was angrier at myself for feeling that jealous, for being so unreasonable. Sure, I trust Nico, I trust that he wouldn’t just leave me, I know that he really cares for me, but I can’t seem to trust those girls that try to get their claws on him. I wasn’t really angry, honestly, I just felt a bit insecure.
I went to my locker in the hallway, I just opened it but then someone behind my back shut it close violently.
Seeing Natalia behind me was a nightmare of a surprise. I had no idea why she approached me all of a sudden, after days of ignoring each other’s presence.
“I don’t know what you did or say to the Bellards, but if you think it’s that easy to ruin our plans, then you’re mistaken,” she said in a very angry tone. So that’s why she approached me.
“Oh, so we’re talking now,” I said sarcastically as I faced her. “Your problems are none of my concerns. So, stop talking to me like we know each other. And I don’t have time to meddle with your family, so stop thinking that the world revolves around you.”
“You must be really bitter that your Dad left you for us, so now you’re trying to get back at us, by making the Bellards hate my family,” she added.
“You can have my Dad all to yourselves, I don’t care.”
“Stop making us look bad in front of the Bellards, you hear me?” Natalia said as she pushed me on the shoulder. “I don’t know what Nico sees in you and why he befriended you, but I’m going to make sure that it won’t last. I’m going to take Nico from you, just like my Mom took your Dad from your mother,” Natalia said sharply.
“First of all, I don’t need to do anything to make your family look bad, you’re doing a fine job of it all by yourselves. And you’re going to take Nico from me? I would like to see you try,” I said and then grinned at her. “You would lose all you have, but you will never get your hands on him,” I told her in my most threatening voice. “I told your Mom about this before; stay away from me, my family, and those who are important to me, or else I’ll cut you,” I said as I looked at her sharply and then walked passed her, slightly bumping her in the shoulders.
I walked out of the campus and sighed heavily. I felt really tired. “Take away Nico. Huh! You’ll lose all of your hair, but Nico wouldn’t even give you a second of his time.”
“Drew!” Speak of the devil. Nico ran towards me. “About that… It was really nothing. Trisha just said hello, we talked for a while, and then she hugged me goodbye. I was on my way to see you when she approached me so…” Nico explained nervously.
“Hugged you goodbye?” I scoffed. “Saying hellos and talking, that I can understand, but why do you have to hug her? For goodbye? You could’ve just shook hands, hell you didn’t even have to touch her, you could’ve just waved at each other,” I said impatiently.
I had no intention of arguing with Nico at first, but Natalia heightened the anger I was feeling that I just blew up.
“It meant nothing for me, Drew,” Nico said.
“For you, but what about for her?”
“What about you? Why did you let David so close to you?” Here it comes. Nico is starting to let out his anger. “You even let him put his arms around you, he even petted you in the head. How annoying. Do you let anyone do that to you?”
“Huh? Wait a minute, don’t turn the table on me, this is about you hugging Trisha,” I complained. “Besides, we were just celebrating our win, my win.”
“And I’m very proud of you for winning, you were great on the pool, but still he didn’t have to pet you on the head like you’ve known each other all your life. A pat on the back would do just fine,” Nico said in a very impatient tone. “You…” Nico paused, probably holding back his temper. “You can’t go anywhere near that David again, understand?”
“What to do, I was thinking of joining the team now,” I said sarcastically.
“What?! No. You definitely can’t join, I would be happily supporting you before, but now that I’ve seen how touchy David can get with you, I definitely won’t allow it. Listen, no one else can pet you in the head, but me. I’m the only one allowed to that, understand?” Nico insisted. “Ahhh…. It really irritates me…” He said and took a deep breath.
Honestly, hearing Nico say that made me happy. I know we we’re arguing, but Nico looks cute when he’s jealous. “That’s different, I’ve only met David, and he’s just a new friend, Trisha, on the other hand, is your ex.”
“She’s not my ex. We just dated for a while. I don’t know what you heard, but you can’t believe everything you’ve heard,” Nico explained. “We just dated, okay, nothing deeper than that.”
“Just like us now,” I said. “We’re dating right, just dating. How long are we going to date exactly, Nico?” I asked.
“Drew…” Nico sighed.
“I’m sorry. Forget I asked that.”
Because of Natalia, because of what she said, my heart grew impatient, I started to fear that maybe, just maybe, Nico would be taken away from me. I already lost my Dad, I don’t want to lose another man in my life.
I turned back and then started walking away. Then Nico took me by the wrist, turned me around, and then pulled me closer to him. He embraced me tightly, to my surprise. “I like you Drew, I really like you. We’re both new to this, I know. In the past I never even thought of liking another boy this much, but then I met you. I am afraid, really afraid, of many things, but the thing I’m most afraid of is losing you. I thought that if we take things slower, then it would be better for us, but it just made us both insecure, both afraid.”
Nico’s understanding of me never seize to amaze me. It seems that he knows me better than I know myself. Everything he said he felt, I felt those too.
Nico then hugged me even tighter. “Drew…?” Nico asked in a very gentle tone as he pushed me slightly away. “Will you be my boyfriend?” Nico asked.
When I heard those words, my heart stopped. I felt like I was plucked out of reality and was dropped into dreamland. The boy I love was finally asking me to be his boyfriend. It may be still far from the words I really wanted to hear from him, but I was getting closer and closer to hearing those words, and I was content with that.
Words wouldn’t come out of my mouth, I couldn’t speak at all. And in a matter of seconds, my eyes became teary. All I could do to answer Nico back was to give him a small smile and nod at him.
Once again, I was pulled closer by Nico, he held my chin gently with one hand and then pared my lips for a sweet and passionate kiss. A kiss that was even more intoxicating than before, a kiss that was even sweeter than ever, a kiss that was even more addicting the ones before.
There are times that our hearts would be filled with confusion, with worry, with insecurities, and it’s really hard to get rid of those feelings. I figured out that the best way of ridding yourself of negative emotions is by surrounding yourself with love.
For me, that love comes from Nico.
At that very moment, I was floating in utter joy, I was floating in my love for Nico.
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