Diving Board DEATH, Part 1

Before reading: This story is not meant to offend anybody; all characters are made up and were not made to represent anybody. 

“Andrea, you’re going to be late! Hurry down, we don’t have time,” A deep voice shouted.

Andrea’s eyes flashed open. She was face down on her desk. No, no, no, she thought. I must have fallen asleep while studying! She shook herself awake and immediately began stuffing a bag with her towel, and a pair of dry clothes.

“Andrea, hurry! I’ll get your shoes and wait in the car.” Andrea’s dad said as he grabbed flip-flops and dashed out the door.

 She grabbed her swimsuit and the bag, then tried to run out of the room, but, as everyone should know, one should ALWAYS watch where they step. Andrea’s foot landed on her skateboard instead of her bedroom floor. Trying to stabilize herself, she glided towards the stairs. Uh-oh.

Clutching her swimsuit and the bag, Andrea took a very bumpy ride halfway down the stairs, feeling as if she was sitting on a wild bull, trying to tame it. She then fell off her skateboard and toppled the rest of the way down. 

Andrea almost immediately got back up, then felt the pain coming from her ankle. She didn’t mind that too much, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her skateboard, which had snapped into two. Wiping away tears, she grabbed her bag and bathing suit as she hobbled toward the front door. 

“Took you long enough!” Andrea’s dad said when she finally stepped into the car. “Honestly, honey, don’t you know what ‘hurry’ means-” Her father stopped when he saw the trying-not-to-cry expression on his daughter’s face. She explained what happened on the way to her swimming class. 

When they arrived, Andrea hurried to the changing rooms, while her father checked in with the front desk lady. She slipped on her swimsuit, then ran (as fast as she could with a throbbing ankle) to the pool. 

Her instructor, Ms. Karry, was just explaining how today was the big test day when Andrea tried to sneak in.

“So, there will be three main testing activities: swift swimming, deep diving, and- Andrea, you are late. Again.” Her Instructor sighed. Andrea turned redder than a tomato as she looked down, embarrassed. 

“Right. As I was saying, swift swimming, deep diving, and finally, the diving board.” 

The color drained from Andrea’s face as the words echoed in her head. The diving board?! Oh no, oh no, OH NO!

“THE DIVING BOARD?! NOO!!!” She blurted. She cupped her hands over her mouth as Ms. Karry gave her the stink eye. Andrea gulped.

First, they dove into the icy cold water for warm-ups. Andrea could usually tread water in her sleep, but today, every time she kicked her feet, her ankle stung with pain, and she would nearly drown. Things will turn around, She told herself as she coughed up water. Again. 

Then, it was time for the swift swimming test. Swift swimming was how fast someone could swim, and what better way to test that than a race?

Everyone slipped into the water, shaking themselves and stretching. 

The coach called, “Three…two…one….GO!!!”

Most of the swimmers pushed off the wall, splashing and kicking as they raced across the pool.

Andrea, on the other hand, held her breath, then dove, all the way down to the bottom of the pool. She pushed off, then sped like a bullet toward the other end of the pool, while above her, at the surface, people were crashing into one another and moving slower than turtles.

As soon as Andrea reached the other end, she pushed off the pool floor and swam upward. When she finally reached the surface, relief flooded through her as she realized she had come in first. 

Now it was time for the Deep Dive test. Luckily, Andrea had already gotten a warm-up during swift swimming.

Everyone got out of the pool and headed towards the deeper end. Ms. Karry quickly explained the directions, then counted them off. 

“Three, two, one, DIVE!” She screeched. 

Everyone took a deeeeeep breath, then dove. The pool was so deep, you couldn’t see where it ended. Andrea began propelling herself downward, constantly checking where the other swimmers were. The surface got farther and farther away, and one by one, the other swimmers turned around and headed back up. 

Soon, it was only Andrea and one other girl. Andrea pressed on, determined to beat her competitor. Soon, the bottom of the pool came into focus. The other girl looked confident, so did Andrea, despite the fact that both were running out of air. Then suddenly, Andrea’s foot began throbbing. Bad. Will she make it? Find out in part two!