“Okay” I said nodding my head then turning back to the girls. I cleared my throat focusing my eyes back to Tess. “So the Butterfly; how bout it?” Tess shifted uncomfortably; her head began to turn to one worried face after another.

“That’s Regan’s race” Tess responded in a small voice.

“Nothing is anyone’s race, every time we hit the water we hit as a whole, a team, a group.” My eyes jetted over to Abby who was leaning against the wall, her eyes watching me intently. A small smile move over her lips as she nodded to my words. The small gesture was more than enough to encourage me I was on the right path with this situation. “If you swimming the butterfly gets us closer to the number one spot you girls have worked so hard to keep then I don’t see the problem.”

“I know how to do it” Tess stated.

“Of course you do, you are a great swimmer this is why I requested you for this race. The question is can you do it and can you win?” Tess thought for a minute, I could see her face and shoulders relaxing as her confidence was gaining.

“I’m down” she answered after a pause. The team hollered and cheered slapping Tess on the back giving her the thumbs up. I felt elated that I didn’t know what to do. My eyes went over to Janey but instead of seeing her happy hazel eyes beam back into mine, I saw fire and despise being aimed at Abby. What was this look? It surprised me to the point that my breath caught in my throat on my next words. Janey could sense I was looking at her because her face softens as she turned back to me. In her eyes I could see the hope that I didn’t observe the way she was looking at Abby, but I did.

--

“So how did I do in there?” I asked as Abby and I were walking back into the hallway while the girls lined up for the bond fire in the locker room.

“You handled it well in there, I was impressed.” Abby smiled. She leaned against the wall crossing her arms.

“Well hearing that from you makes me feel good” I responded in sighting a small blush in Abby’s cheeks.

“Well, I’ve been doing this Captain thing for a long time.” Abby began. “It always starts out hard but it gets easier. Your team has to know you got their back and they have to know that they are a unit, a ‘Group’ as you put it.” Abby and I began to walk down the hall towards the double doors leading out.

“At first it just seemed like it was impossibility when they told me I was captain. Thought Regan would never let it happen.” I told Abby. Abby just shook her head. She took my arm pulling to the wall of the hall way and seriously peered into my eyes.

“You know it isn’t over between you two?” I moved my eyes away; I just didn’t want to think about it, about more confrontation. “No really” Abby held my arm tightly. “You are captain, you team in there knows that” Abby pointed to the locker room.

“Yea I know” I responded softly.

“Regan is an individual now, and it’s obvious, you have to get her back in line with the team because she is good and they need her. Without her, they will struggle and so will you.” Abby finished. I bowed my head and stared at my feet. Abby moved a smooth finger under my chin lifting my head back up. “You are gonna do fine, quick worrying”

“How do you know I’m worrying?” I questioned.

“Because you get the cutest expression lines on your forehead when you do.” I shrugged playfully. “Well hurry up and get the team out here, everything is ready.” Abby moved her arms around my neck taking me into a tight hug. My heart jumped, pounded and stopped all together. I moved my hands over the small of her back as I held her. After a moment her arms loosen as she let me go. Abby eyes moved everywhere except to my eyes she bit her lip and exhaled. “Hurry up” she mumbled before leaving through the doors to the gravel pit.

--

Once we got out there the barrels were already lit and blazing for us making everything look pretty damn good as the orange glow covered the pool house walls making our shadows behind us look larger than life. Each of us was handed a torch that burned bright and was led around the bond fire logs. Coach made a small speech praising the team then instructing us to lay a torch into the logs. After every torch was thrown the fire blazed. Regan wasn’t no where to be seen.

But after awhile and a quite a few punch drinks later no one seemed to care of her absence. Ivy, Pepper, Janey and Me ended up starting a Punch war fight in the middle of the gathering causing all the kids to run loose with punch cups in their hands trying to get them in everyone’s hair and clothes. Abby had cornered me against the pool house, drunk, which was a state I had never seen in end with a huge pitcher of punch in her hands. I begged for mercy but the only answer to my prayers was face and mouth full of punch. I ran after her chasing her into the pool house, others followed behind me and her.

Abby kicked off her shoes as she sprinted to the pool’s edge and jumped into the water. I ran after her stopping shortly in my tracks at the edge. I gave her a mischievous smile as I pulled my t-shirt over my head revealing my sports bra. Before I could even try to attempt a diver’s stance Janey came up behind me shoving me in the water. How we ended out side for a bond fire then inside to a drunken pool party is beats me to death.

--

I took a deep inhale after my eyes fluttered from the deep intoxicated sleep I had endured. I was more than surprised to have air mixed with Chlorine move through my nostrils causing me to sit up abruptly gasping for air. My hazy vision slowly focused and I was presented with the sight of the school swimming pool and my team members and friends sprawled out on benches fast asleep.  I moved a shaky hand up to my face where my eye sight could rest on my watch, already afraid to see the numbers that lay.

“Shit!!!!” I jolted up, standing on wobbly; heavy with sleep legs, to a stance. Little by little my teammates shifted. Each of their eye lids cracked open to the sunlight and their deep breath let in the chlorine of the swimming pool.

“Damn” I turned to see Ivy lying on the ground. She yawned, sat up and looked at me. “Shit is gonna hit the fan on this one” she was right and it wasn’t a good time to admit it but it was true. My watch said that it was 7:30am, we were suppose to be at the bus headed to Blue Bay 1 hour minutes ago.

--

My team and I were running at full speed through campus towards the already running bus. We all had run to our dorm rooms grabbing our gym bags and anything that resembled swim clothing then out the door. We were tired, drunk and weary; everything about our state was everything we shouldn’t be going up against our rival.

I could Coach Langston leaning against the bus with his arms folded, watching his team. I could almost feel his hot stare on me as we approached. The team and I slowed down stopping in front of Coach. I turned around to look at them, they were tired and exhausted we had nothing left, and nothing to give.

“Alright guys” my voice was weak. “We got a two hour drive ahead of us, so get on the bus, get comfortable and grab some sleep before we get there”. I shoved my hands into my pockets, everything in me took me from lowering my head to the defeat I felt we were gonna see once we stepped off that bus.