Page 17

My head is pounding as the fuzz clears and the blackness lifts, showing the stadium and all the people surrounding me. My head is hazy as I try to gain my bearings.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I got too close to the lane ropes, and my arm came under and hit her nose. I’m so terribly, terribly sorry,” I hear Marta say in a sickly sweet voice as I lay on the edge of the pool deck, zoning in and out.

“Lacy, Lacy, can you hear me?” Tuck asks while a medic takes my blood pressure.

I dip my chin, trying to take in everything around me. There’s some yelling and I catch security holding Coby back as he struggles to get to me.

I sit up dramatically.

Tuck pats my back. “Lacy… say something.”

“What happened?” I gurgle.

Everyone around sighs with relief.

“Marta’s hand came under the lane and hit your face. She hit you pretty hard.”

I huff and glance at Tuck. This wasn’t an accident. “Okay. What happened to the race?”

“They stopped it. It’s going to be re-run at another time. Once we can find another fly swim—”

“No! I’ll do it. Just give me five minutes to get my bearings.”

“Lacy, you could have drowned. You nearly passed out.”

I cough slightly. “Tuck, I’m not… not racing in this event.”

“Let.. me… through ,” Coby yells and somehow bursts through security. He rushes to my side and pulls me to him. “Jesus Christ, Butterfly, scare a man half to death, why don’t you?”

“Sorry.”

He caresses my cheek. “You okay? How’s the nose?”

“A bit sore, but I’ll be fine. I just need to win this relay.”

He scoffs. “You’re not going back in that pool—”

“Coby don’t—”

“No, Lacy, you practically drowned. You probably have a concussion. Be smart.”

I slump and soften my gaze on him. “Coby… I love you for caring, but I didn’t even swallow any water before someone pulled me out. Australia needs to kick Marta’s arse, and I want to help do that.”

“What if it happens again?”

“She’d be stupid to try it twice. Plus, she did it so I would bow out. If I don’t race, I give her what she wants. She will win.”

“She’s right, Cobes,” Katie chimes in from behind me.

“Shit!” Coby huffs.

“So, how long can they delay the race for Tuck?” Coby asks.

“They’re thinking of re-running it after yours.”

Coby winces. “Okay, but you stay by my side until then. Katie, while I’m out racing, don’t let her out of your sight!”

“Agreed,” Katie replies.

“Let’s get you off the floor,” Tuck advises.

I nod as Coby stands up, taking me with him in his arms. I stumble slightly, but he catches me as I take in a deep breath, and the crowd cheers. I wave to them. Coby wraps his arm around my waist and walks with me, Katie, and Tuck to the marshalling area. I sit with Katie while Coby gets ready for his relay race, and we watch on the screen as I try to get my breathing back to normal.

Coby swims last for the relay team and brings home a silver for Australia, being narrowly beaten by the Americans.

I’m super happy for him, though.

By now, I’m much better.

Tuck walks up and squats down in front of me. “Are you okay to race? It’s fine if you’re not, we can withdraw and no one—”

“No way, we are racing. I’m good to go. I promise, Tuck. I’m fine, nothing but a little bump to the nose. Let’s do this.” Standing up, I move over to the lineup. I spot Marta and raise my eyebrow in a gesture of ‘ you can’t beat me. ’ She grunts. Then I face Katie, who bumps my shoulder. We walk out, taking our positions again, and I must admit I’m nervous. I’m not up to my full potential, and it could be critical to the team. But I am going to power through, and if I struggle, hopefully, Katie can pick up my slack.

The buzzer sounds, and Laura steps up to the block, and she jumps into the pool.

My nose hurts.

I’m still a little dazed, but I hope I’ll be fine.

And I’m not putting it past Marta to try something else. She’s obviously so threatened by us that she’s willing to attempt anything to get us out of the way rather than win on her own merits.

What a loser!

Laura pulls up as she takes her mark, and then the starting signal fires. A sense of thrill and excitement fills the air as the crowd cheers and stomps their feet. It’s hardly ever that a race is run twice. So, this is a rare occurrence.

Laura launches herself into the water. I smile. Hopefully, we can pull through at our second chance at Gold. This time without that idiot interfering. She’d be stupid to try it twice. Katie and I huddle together as Hayley takes her place and Laura swims solid and fast. She pushes hard, and we are second behind England at the moment, with America quickly catching up behind us.

Laura slams against the wall, and Hayley dives in. My muscles tense up slightly at the thought of being next and of what Marta could have planned, but Katie grabs me, turning me to face her.

“Don’t think, just swim.”

I smile and take a deep breath. “I can do this.”

“Yes, you can, now go.” Katie turns me and slaps my arse as I walk up to the starting block.

Marta turns to me and grins maniacally, which unsettles me slightly, but I push all my fears aside as I take my mark.

My stomach flutters as I take a calming breath. “From the heart,” I murmur as Hayley hits the wall, and I jump in. The water soothes me. Although I struggle, I push through. I come up for a breath and throw my arms over my body, slamming into the water slower than usual, but I continue my strokes as powerfully as I can.

In the words of Dory, ‘Just keep swimming.’

I’m fatigued already, but I hit the wall and sluggishly turn around. My face is aching, my lungs are burning. It scares me. But I need to push through this final fifty for my team. I’m almost there, just a little more.

Just a little more.

I dive and hit the wall.

Relief floods me as I come up, taking a much-needed breath, and it’s then that I understand nothing’s gone wrong—no dramas, no interference, nothing happened—and as I glance down my lane, I see Katie has already jumped in to do her portion of the race.

Glancing up, I find out that I’ve hit the wall in third. That means Katie has to pick up my poor performance. I just hope I haven’t stuffed this up by being stubborn and wanting to swim.

Laura nods. “Good job.”

“Thanks,” I reply through staggered breaths.

Katie strokes up into first place, and Laura, Hayley, and I cheer for Katie as she speeds up to half a body length in front.

Katie is killing it!

Hayley, Laura and I jump up and down in excitement as Katie freestyles into a full body length in front of Anna. She hits the wall, turns back, continues her powerful stroke and leads all the way to the wall. As she slams against the tiles, we all scream in celebration.

We scan the scoreboard.

Shit!

There’s a DQ sign coming up.

We all stop celebrating immediately.

Who could it be?

England came in second, followed by China in third.

Katie jumps out of the pool and studies the board.

My heart is frantically racing as we all stand there, holding our breaths. The board flashes, and the DQ lights up next to England. I scream along with Katie, and jump up and down in euphoria.

We won the gold.

England is, therefore disqualified.

Katie races to me, and we jump around in a circle as the microphone turns on, so we stop so we can hear the announcement.

“Swimmer three for England left the blocks before swimmer two hit the wall—England are therefore disqualified.”

Marta groans, throwing her cap on the floor. She storms off. I can’t help but laugh along with Katie.

“Maybe Karma does exist?” Katie suggests.

I give Katie a hug and she hugs me back.

“Again, I am sorry for everything that happened at the trials. I was just jealous of you and Coby. But I can picture you two together, just from the way he eyes you. He never looked at me like that. Be good to him. He is an amazing man, and you deserve to be happy.”

“Thank you. I like him… like a lot, and I wanna give this a go with him.”

“Does he know that?”

I smile. “I’m not sure, but I’m going to tell him.”

I link my arm with hers, and we head off toward the marshalling area, where Coby waits impatiently for me to return. I let go of Katie, and she smiles at me.

“Go get him,” she whispers and walks off as I race toward Coby.

He picks me up into a giant bear hug and kisses me in front of everyone. I break out into goose bumps as sparks fly between us.

“No fraternization!” an official yells.

He slides me down his body and gazes into my eyes. “I’m proud of you.”

My shoulders lift and fall. “It was a team effort.”

“Yes, but you didn’t have to swim—”

“Yes, I did.”

He smiles a full-on ear-to-ear grin. “Okay, go get ready for your medal presentation. It’ll be after mine, then I want you all to myself.”

“Sure thing,” I beam.