Coach's Number One

Chapter Twenty Four

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Dedication: Charcoal_Face_Paint for the cover! Thank you!

Recap:

"Let's do some warm up laps. Four laps of each stroke. Don't push yourself yet, just warm yourselves up, okay? Let's go."

As I dove into the pool, I switched off all thoughts of the weekend. This week, it was about me and my swimming.

That's what mattered to me the most, after all.

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Placing a hand on my stomach, I gently rub it, as if that will help soothe the anxiety I am feeling.

I text Harvey and ask how he is. No reply. After swim practice, I proceed to search for him, with no luck. I ring his phone, twice. No answer.

This makes me feel sick. Is he falling for what his mum is saying? Does he not want to be friends anymore?

Placing my chin in the palm of my hand, I sigh heavily as History starts. I swivel my eyes to the empty spot beside me.

Where is Harvey?

Why is he ignoring me?

Biting my lip, I look around. My eyes land on Hayden across the room, a sour expression on his face. Mia is next to him, taking notes. He is looking down at his book, scribbling. I desperately want to talk to him about the weekend, but Mia is constantly by his side. She is doing it on purpose which is infuriating me more than it should.

The feeling of being alone is eating at me. My best friend is ignoring me. Hayden won't look at me. I cut ties with Ashton. My own mother has chosen to work and stay with her boyfriend... lover... whatever he is, over me.

I have never felt so alone.

The rest of the period drags by and I spend most of the lesson glaring at the wall above Mr Preston's head. At lunch, I can't take it any longer. I have to talk to Hayden.

Sprawled out beneath the shade of a tree with a hand draped over his forehead, is Hayden. Thankfully, Mia seemed to have herself preoccupied for the time being. As I approach him, I notice his jacket and tie are thrown to the side, his shirt unbuttoned at the top with his sleeves rolled up, revealing his tan, unblemished skin.

I sit heavily down beside him and stretch my legs out in front of me.

"What part of alone doesn't make sense to you, Mia?" he grumbles and I smirk.

"The part where I don't give a shit." 

Pausing, he peers over his arm and looks at me.

"Oh. It's you."

"Yeah," I say, leaning back onto my hands. "We need to talk."

"We don't."

"We do," I press, frowning at him. "I get that whatever is going on with your family is none of my business, okay? Can we just go back to being friends?"

"Friends?" he echoes. "We're not friends."

I open my mouth to retort but no words come out. I let out a breath as I realise that actually hurt. I was used to Hayden's snarky comments and insults, but that hurt me a lot more than I expected it to.

Noticing my silence, he peers up at me again. "Sorry, that was kind of harsh."

"Whatever," I say with a shrug, attempting to cover up my lack of comeback and attempt to seem nonchalant. "Can we just go back to how we were?"