"Oh my God, that is such a cute skirt. You need to buy it," Kelly squealed as her best friend, Marie, showed her Amazon shopping cart to her friend.
"Thanks, Kelly. I love the design but I'm so scared to buy it. It's way shorter than what I usually wear," Marie explained, blushing at Kelly's compliment.
"Anyway, how are you feeling about the big swim competition tonight?"
"I'm so nervous. It's been 12 years since a freshman girl made it to nationals. But I feel like I really have a shot."
"I know you do, Kell. You know I'm your biggest fan, and I'll be up there in the stands cheering you on!
"Thanks Marie," she smiled, "You know that means a lot to me. Anyway, I guess we'll have to get to class soon. I'll see you at the swim meet tonight."
"See you there," Marie smiled, clearly happy for her friend.
Unfortunately, as Kelly was getting up to throw away the rest of her food, she felt a bump as she crashed into another girl who was walking by and spilling a sizable glass of chocolate milk all over the girl.
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry," Kelly exclaimed, trying to help the poor girl up. As she reached out her hand, she realized the girl she had bumped into was Becca, the captain of the cheerleading squad, a cute brunette of average height. Becca, not to be trifled with, glared at Kelly, ignored her outstretched hand, and stood up herself.
"Watch where you're going, you little freak. You just ruined this outfit," Becca said indignantly. True enough, chocolate milk was sprayed all over the girl's outfit, as well as the food Becca had been carrying as well. To make matters worse, she was wearing her cheerleading outfit today since all the cheer girls wore them on the night of a big game.
"I'm so sorry, Becca"
"You had better be, you loser. What's your name?"
"Kelly. Sorry."
"You are totally going to pay for this, you little-"
"Hey!" Marie yelled, "lay off her. She just made a mistake. Stop being rude. It's not like she meant to bump into you." Becca, not being used to getting talked back too, glared at the two girls before quickly turning around and stormed away, her high heels clicking as she strode.
Kelly and Marie shared a knowing look before continuing about their days. Kelly felt really bad about what had happened, and she wanted to make things right, but Becca had really been a bitch. She didn't know quite what to do. She shrugged it off and figured it was nothing. After all, she had her own problems to worry about, like getting ready for the nationals qualifiers swim meet tonight. Of course, she didn't realize how that moment would still come to haunt her.
*****
Kelly brushed her hair into something just between a mid-part and a side-part and checked herself out in her bedroom mirror. She was a cute, shorter 18-year-old girl, with dark brown hair that fell past her B-cup boobs down to just above her waist. At the moment, she was putting on a light layer of makeup - she didn't want to overdo it since it would all be washed off by the pool water anyway - but she still wanted to look good on her first appearance since Marie would be watching her in the stands. And besides, it wouldn't hurt to look good for the judges.
As she finished gathering up her swimsuit, swim cap, and a few other items into her gym bag, she got a text from her friend Katelyn, saying she was waiting outside. She and Katelyn lived in the same subdivision and had been friends since they were kids. They even both joined the college swim team together. Since the multiplex where the sports occurred was only four or so miles from the subdivision she and Katelyn rode their bikes there every night for practices and home competitions.
"Can you believe it?" Katelyn greeted Kelly, "We're finally going to know if we're going to nationals. Of course, I'm sure you already know you'll make it in."
"I hope so," she replied as she hopped on her bike and started on her way to the multiplex, "It's been so long since a freshman from our school has made it to nationals though, so I'm not expecting anything."'
"Of course you'll get in, Kelly. You swim better than anyone else on the team, even the varsity girls. If anyone's getting in, it would be you. I'm just here for moral support," Katelyn countered. Kelly supposed that was probably true. She had been a star swimmer in her high school swim team, and now, even though it was only her first year in college, even the older girls admired her talent. In fact, even her coach told her that, based on her speed and technique, she was virtually guaranteed a spot unless she royally messed up tonight. Katelyn, though she was a good swimmer for a freshman, still had a long way to go before she could consider competing in nationals.
"You know Kelly, I think you're just nervous since you know Marie will be there."'
"Shut up! I'm not nervous. Besides, she's just a friend"
Katelyn gave her a knowing look, followed by a smirk, and responded, "Well, you're clearly wearing that makeup for someone." Kelly realized she didn't have a response to that.
Once they had made it to the multiplex, they rode around to the back entrance that no one ever seemed to use. It was a bit out of the way, so most didn't use it - save Kelly and a few other members of the swim team, since the entrance was close to the pool. She and Katelyn particularly liked it because it had a secluded bike rack they felt they could safely leave their bikes without the potential for them to be stolen. There were also some metered locking rings implanted into the concrete that resembled a normal combination lock's top, where people could insert coins to keep their bikes locked if they didn't have bike locks, but the girls never used it since no one came by that way anyway.
Once they had put up their bikes, they hurried into the multiplex, both eager to do their best at the competition.
*****
On their way to the locker room, Kelly decided to make a quick trip to the pool - to scope out the judges - as she put it. She suspected Katelyn knew she was just going to check if Marie had arrived but said nothing.
Once she had entered the pool area, sure enough, Marie was in the stands with a few other friends of theirs. She gave them a cheerful wave as butterflies welled up in her stomach. She knew she needed to focus in order to give it her all, but she couldn't stop thinking about how Marie would be watching her from the stands while she was competing.
As she looked over into the actual pool, she saw most of her teammates were already there, swimming warm up laps, so she hurried over to the locker rooms to get changed. Once there, she looked around and was surprised to see that Katelyn wasn't there. She shrugged and hurriedly changed into her team swimsuit. It was a medium blue racerback swimsuit with a golden leprechaun - her school's mascot - on it.
As soon as she had gotten changed, she saw Katelyn run back into the locker room, already in just her suit and sandals. She had a worried look on her face, so Kelly walked over to check on her.
"You won't believe it, Kelly, someone stole my bike!" she complained, "no one ever so much as goes back there, and besides who would have stolen it?"
"That's awful. I can't believe someone would do such a thing"
"Yeah, that girl Becca from the cheerleading team, told me she saw someone messing with our bikes, so I went out to check, and sure enough, they were gone." As the distressed girl said Becca's name, Kelly perked up. Becca had meant to steal her bike, she was sure of it, and Katelyn had gotten caught in the crossfire.
As an upset Katelyn went to the pool to start swimming, Kelly realized it would be a good idea to lock up her bike as well, or at least check on it. If Becca hadn't gotten to hers yet, perhaps she could scrounge up some coins and lock it on one of the metered bike lock rings.