Leia --April Fool's Day at the university pool after close
In retrospect, I should have known that she would strike at the pool. It should have been my one safe place on campus, but I did have it coming after what I did two years ago. It didn't seem to help that my hilarious prank finally broke the ice between Candice and my twin brother, Luke. They both have seemed insanely and sometimes nauseatingly happy together for the last two years. My friend confided in me that my brother was the one; their post-undergraduate plans involved them together. I had no doubt that they were destined for great things once we finished college, but that didn't seem to have softened her need for some well-deserved revenge.
I had been so meticulous today, on the lookout for all the classic pranks, and I had even caught a few of her more amateur attempts to embarrass or inconvenience me. I was quite happy that I noticed the old plastic wrap over the toilet trick before I sat to pee this morning. The salt replacing the sugar next to the coffee pot almost caught me, but she didn't know that I had started taking my morning Joe black. The fact that we still shared an apartment left her plenty of opportunities to strike. Candice did spend far more time over at Luke's place than our own these days. This was good as I had no desire to listen to that pair's constant boisterous lovemaking. This morning though, she had plenty of time to lay sneaky traps.
I was always a late riser after a meet. I was on the university's dive team, I wasn't going to be making any waves on the national stage or anything, but I had the talent to get my college at the private university paid for. Our big meets came fast and furious as the semester really got going. My late start today was more due to the team drowning our sorrows after a particularly disastrous showing against our cross-state rival.
I did not stay at the pub too late or get too crazy, but I was glad that Matt, the men's swim team's comely captain, drove me home. I would like to think it was because he was into me, but he took half the team home. I did get to sit shotgun, and I was the last one he dropped off, but maybe I am trying to read too much into things. Though I don't recall him walking any of the other guys or girls to their front door.
He was swarthy, with a ready smile and the most intense brown eyes, and a fantastic sense of humor. All his time in the pool made him ripped, and he had the respect of his team. What I am trying to get across to you was that the man was just my type, and I wish he had tried something, but he was too nice of a guy. He would not take advantage of my slightly buzzed state.
I should explain my best friend and I's relationship a little more before I just dive right into the aftermath of her carefully plotted vengeance. Candice was a neighbor and a close friend growing up. I don't have any memories from before she was in our lives. My mom had pictures of us together before we could crawl. We were far more like sisters than best friends; our parents were close with her folks and fellow nerds. From the number of pictures when we were babies, you would have thought we were triplets.
And yes, reader, before you ask, my brother, Luke, and I were named after exactly who you think we were. When my mom found out they were having fraternal twins, the name was picked for them. At least that was what they claimed whenever Luke or I complained. A love of Sci-Fi was how they met in the first place. Their first date was to one of the re-releases of those classic films. The nineties were a different time for nerds; they had yet to take over popular culture as they have today.
Luke and I have an older brother, Terry; he's two years older than us. He was named after a fantasy writer that my parents also enjoyed. His name was not nearly as obvious as my twin and I's. Terry and Luke were close as we grew up. Candice was an only child, and we ended up spending as much time together as sisters. She even went on vacation with us several times as kids, and her parents took me along on a trip to the mountains of Colorado. A few years later, when her parents went through a rough divorce, our house was more welcoming than her own. I had a bunk bed in my room just for Candy. I am the only one that can ever call my conniving friend that, and even then, I get a well-deserved dirty look.
In a way, our own adolescent rebellion led us to more athletic pursuits. Candice and I were rivals and teammates in many sports growing up. Between too much time on buses and good old-fashioned team bonding, it led to the start of an escalating prank war that nearly tore us apart when we pushed it too far. A particularly epic round of jokes in high school led both of us to just about wholly shave our heads near the end of our junior year. It was not a popular look with the guys at school. Luke shaved his head in a show of solidarity, but it didn't seem to be the same impediment to his social life. This led to the informal treaty that still governed our war; we would abstain from the tricks on any day but April Fool's Day. Of course, this meant when the unofficial holiday came around, we went big.
It probably helped calm things when the two of us started specializing in our sporting pursuits and didn't spend as much downtime waiting for events to begin together. We didn't have nearly the same audience or time together to perfect our art. Candice leaned into cross country and track. Her lean, lithe body and long legs seemed to work well in her chosen sports. I always loved the pool. At first, it was swimming, but now I was far more into the diving end of things. I was still in the water, but this better reconciled my prior love for gymnastics.
Both Candice and I had gotten good enough to receive scholarships at a private university across the state from our hometown. Luke, however, was a big damn baseball star, good enough that he had his name mentioned in professional baseball blogs as a future prospect. My twin had the pitching arm that would have allowed him to go almost anywhere; mom and dad insisted he go somewhere to get a good education. Luke had the skill for the big leagues, but he didn't have the desire or passion for going from farm team to farm team while he earned his way to the big show. He far more enjoyed his time in molecular biology and organic chemistry classes. He intended to someday help discover the cure for cancer, but that would require more years in school.
I didn't have quite the lofty, world-saving goals of my brother; maybe I was the evil twin in the pair. Perhaps evil is too harsh of a word; I would propose that I was the mischievous or impish twin. I was far more at home behind a computer screen and working on graphic design. I had killed it in my internship the previous summer and had a job offer waiting for me as soon as I graduated. I would be heading back to my hometown after this semester.
Candice was close to a nursing degree. She knew she wanted to be an OR nurse and had an open invitation to apply at a local hospital. My best friend had yet to decide, though. She wouldn't admit it to even me; I thought she was waiting to see where Luke ended up for his post-graduate program. I better be her maid of honor when those two get married.
Anyway, I had not planned on my mostly innocent prank going awry two years ago. I had been merciless that day, but the joke that hit big was not what I imagined it would. I knew that she got up for a long run every morning before class and capped off her run with sandwich cookies and coffee for breakfast. The treats probably didn't taste nearly as good with toothpaste instead of the standard stuff. Since she had plenty of toothpaste already, I hoped she didn't mind anchovy paste on her toothbrush. She was not a fan when I yelled out, "April Fool's!" when she came out of the bathroom with a disgusted look on her face.
For her part, Candice had not been a perfect angel. She seemed particularly proud of setting a loud and raunchy porno video to automatically open when I got my laptop out to take notes in an economics class. I was thankful that I had a pair of headphones plugged in when I opened the computer. I had already made the mistake of having a loud K-pop song queued from studying the night before once in the same class; ever since, I was convinced it would happen again anytime I opened my laptop in that classroom. My cautious approach did not stop a storm of snickering from the students sitting behind me or the nice tomato red color I turned. That was when I noticed her looking through the glass window on the classroom door and mouthing 'April Fool's' back at me.
I want you to understand that she was not merely an innocent victim of my chicanery; she was a diabolic schemer in her own right. Candice got what she deserved when I pulled off the greatest prank of the day. How was I to know that my then-boyfriend and a gaggle of teammates would show up when she was in the shower? Dear reader, I had no intention of my prank involving my brother in the hilarity.
Don't get me wrong, I am now glad it happened how it did. Without my intervention, Luke would have never made a move. He had the biggest crush on my best friend since high school. I will never know how an objectively good-looking guy who was intelligent and confident in the classroom or on the diamond was shy around the ladies. Maybe we couldn't entirely escape the social awkwardness we inherited from our parents. My unintentional push finally broke the barrier between them.
The worst part of all the social awkwardness and sexual tension between the two was that I had to hear about it from both sides. Candice was just as head over heels in love with Luke as he was; she was just too inside her own head about it. I tried to play mediator and get them together, but I had been unsuccessful in my attempts until two years ago, and that was unintentional. My prank would make a great story someday when they were wed.
I am trying to clarify that I did not deserve what happened when I dove off the high dive today. Yes, I earned some payback, but not like this, not in front of the entire swim team. My prank had a happy ending; that should earn me some mercy, right?
We called our own practice after our terrible showing yesterday when the pool closed on Friday night. It was Matt's idea, but I thought it sounded great. Typically, we would be out partying, like average college students, but we were determined not to have a similar showing on Sunday. Our coaches liked to give us a day off after the meets, win or lose. But none of us thought we deserved it. As a captain, I helped critique and motivate the other girls. Of course, I had my suit on but waited to do my diving until the rest of the squad had their fill.
I walked the strip of patio between the diving area and the lap section of the pool, yelling out encouragement and giving suggestions to the other divers. I couldn't help looking over at our swim team's tall, muscular, perpetually tanned captain, Matt. He was a Junior with a long, powerful torso and lean, strong legs. I am not kidding you, reader; he looked like a superhero from one of those popular movies with his washboard abs. The tiny shorts that the guys wore made it clear that he also had other physical endowments that could be fun. Matt and I had a flirtatious and taunting relationship. It had never gone anywhere, but how I wished it had.
I tell you all of this to set the stage for my dive at the end of the evening. The pool was closed for all but the swim team, but it was far from empty. My mind was set on perfecting the dive I almost tried last night. It was a far more technical than anything I had ever landed in competition, but I had some success with it in practice. As I jumped off the high platform and started my rotations, I don't know how I made her out as everything in my perception twisted and turned. My mind was etched with the image of Candice as she snuck into the pool area. I knew I was in trouble, and there was nothing I could do about it now. Whatever she had planned was already in motion.
