THE TEACHER

Chapter three

Only one more lap, she thought, pushing her right arm above the water, and digging it into it again a few moments later.

She finally stopped to take a few breaths, holding on to the edge of the pool, silently staring at the water ahead of her and contemplating how beautiful and peaceful it looked.

"Looking good," exclaimed unexpectedly an unknown female voice behind her, making her turn around.

"Do I know you?" Abby raised her eyebrow a little, a bit startled by the unidentified presence and kind of pissed off that she was interrupting her session.

In front of her stood a girl that might have had around her age, with very big brown eyes and blond hair. She seemed like a nice girl, with the good posture, the nice smile, and the kind expression, but her sudden appearance made Abigail question the reason why she was there, talking to her when she clearly wasn't in the mood for any chitchat.

As if it wasn't clear enough, Abby didn't enjoy the presence of new people, mostly because she feared that she was part of the group she had got in trouble fighting against – Robbie Wilson and his equally annoying best friend Nate Dickson.

"Do I really need to know your name to talk to you or is it enough that I find you cute?" she smirked.

"Uhm... okay?"

She's crazy, thought Abby, before pushing herself off the wall once again, resuming her session in hope that the unexpected visitor would eventually go away. Instead, she sat down and waited for the whole half hour Abigail had left to practice, and didn't seem about to leave any time soon.

Despite her attempts to stall her, Abigail eventually had to get out of the pool, and still dripping and panting she sat down next to the young girl, who greeted her with the same huge smile on her face and an amusing little wave with her hand that even someone as heartless as Abby found cute.

"I'm Alex," the blonde introduced herself, showing much confidence in her voice.

"Abigail... you can call me Abby, I don't care. Is there any reason why you're here?"

"No reason," she shrugged her shoulders, still grinning and staring. "I just wanted to meet you. I've seen you here at the pool a few times, and thought I'd better stop and introduce myself before someone else got to."

"Oh my god, I remember you now! I saw you here, talking to the coach, just a few days ago."

Alex nodded enthusiastically, particularly happy to have left an impression in the mind of the girl she was interested in. She crossed her legs and started talking to Abby as if they were very good friends and had known each other for ages, while the swimmer got more and more suspicious as to why a random girl had approached her so confidently and, most importantly, unannounced.

The more Alex kept talking, though, the more Abby became quieter and started to listen. She wasn't shy or particularly introverted, but she definitely didn't know how to react, since Alex's way of talking alerted her that not even her worst attitude could have helped against such an insisting and stubborn person. 

"Alex, I've got to stop you right here... I think you haven't quite answered to why you're here, talking to me like this. We're not friends."

"Would it be bad if I said that I'd want us to be?" she smirked, getting closer to Abby's face, slightly biting her lower lip. "Well, honestly I'd like us to be a little bit more, if it suits you well."

"I feel like you're misunderstanding me... I'm not into girls."

Another smirk, this time way more obvious than the last one, appeared on Alex's face. She knew something Abby didn't, and she seemed to think that the situation was quite funny – opposingly to what Abigail was feeling –, given the little chuckle she let out before resuming flirting with the swimmer.

"Love, can I ask you a quick question?"

After a nod of approval, Alex locked eyes with Abby and went on with the experiment to confirm her hypothesis. 

"If you had to choose between Black Widow and Thor, who would you choose?"

At the thought of Black Widow, Abby couldn't do much but cave in and bite her lower lip, dreaming about being with the spy instead of the God of Thunder. She thought it was a normal thing to have crushes fictional female characters, but thinking about it, perhaps she was wrong: she had never had a crush on a fictional male before, and there may have been a reason for that. Nevertheless, since she was too proud to admit defeat, she didn't answer the question, and instead kept her mouth closed.

"Point proven, I'm satisfied," nodded satisfied Alex, stepping away from the other girl to enjoy her victory.

"For the record, that didn't prove anything, but if it'll make you shut the hell up, then I'll let you have it," said Abby, hinting at a smile.

"A-ah! So you do know how to smile! I've been asking myself that since the moment I got here."

"Shut it."

"I won't. Not until you agree to go out with me this Saturday, how about that?"

"Give me one good reason why I should go out with you."

"I can give you more than one, actually," she confidently said. "For starters, I'm hot, you're hot, I bet we'd make a hot couple. Second, you're clearly into girls, and trust me when I say that a date with me would make any doubt you have about your sexuality completely disappear. Third... I really wanna see that smile again."

Despite her pride, Alex's foolish and cheesy attempts to convince Abby didn't end up being totally useless, as the swimmer felt her cheeks burning up.

"Fine, I guess I'll go out with you."

"Really? I thought I'd have to convince you a little bit more," exclaimed Alex, surprised. "You're not saying yes and then not showing up, are you?"

"I'll be there, you were pretty convincing."

"And you were pretty gullible."

Before Alex could start celebrating her success, Abigail grabbed her arms and gently threw her into the pool, laughing as the other girl fell in the water.

"You little snake!" she gasped for water, moving her arms around uncoordinatedly in order to stay afloat.

"Oh my god Kim, shut up!"

"Then get in here, Taylor."

Alex took Abby's arm and pulled her next to her. Abigail fell in with a big splash, and the two started laughing loudly, before getting out and drying off in the changing rooms.

"I don't have anything to wear besides this," chuckled Alex, pointing at her wet oversized t-shirt and cargo pants. "If I get sick it's your fault."

"And miss our little date? Not a chance. Take this," smiled Abby, throwing a spare change her way.

Alex's clothes hit the floor, as she stood in her underwear in the middle of the room, right in front of a stunned Abigail. The brown-haired stared at the blonde with her mouth half opened and her eyes inspecting every single one of her curves and peculiarities, as the other girl laughed it off, not at all embarrassed to strip like that.

"You're not very subtle, are you?"

"I am, usually. People don't tend to undress like this in front of me, you know?"

"Well, get used to it. This might just be a little sneak peak of what you're gonna see Saturday," seductively smirked Alex, walking past Abby and out of the changing room, making sure to gently nudge her on her way out.

"Wait! Let me get your number."

Alex quickly dialed her number on Abby's phone, and without adding anything more disappeared, kinda like she had appeared that same day on the edge of the pool, with her eyes locked on Abigail's and the biggest smile she could possibly have stamped on her face.