A Mermaid's Kiss (Bay State University #1) - Katie Holland Page 0,1
smell of the chlorine radiating off the pool. It was my second home, and the place I truly felt like me.
“This place is great,” Karma said as we walked in.
The main pool was the one I was most interested in. It was a standard Olympic size, great for competing. Karma had her eye on the other one. With its 3m springboard and 10m platform, it was strictly for diving.
“Can I help you, ladies?” A male voice said, and we turned around.
“We’re just admiring the facilities,” Karma said.
“I’m sorry, but this is for our competitive swimmers and divers only. The recreational pool is in the Phys Ed building,” he told us.
“Then we’re in the right place,” Karma said. “I’m Karma Webster and this is Kayleigh Mills.”
“How nice to meet you in person,” he said shaking their hands. “I’m Coach Cross, the coach for the women’s swim team, so I guess that makes me your coach, Kayleigh. Karma, Coach Everett is in her office if you’d like to meet her.”
“Sure,” Karma told him.
We followed him to a hallway that held the change rooms and four offices. Coach Cross took Karma to her coach, and then he took me on a tour of the facility. It was state of the art. It had been built with Olympic trials in mind, so it had everything I could have asked for in a pool. I was ready to jump right in and start practicing. The pool was the one place I stopped thinking and just felt alive.
After only knowing Coach Cross for twenty minutes, I already liked him. I could tell he was the kind of coach I could go to for anything, but that would still push me hard to do better. I was really looking forward to the start of the season.
I met up with Karma and we left the swim complex. I could tell she was just as excited as I was. We had plenty of daylight left, so we decided to drive to the beach. With the help of GPS, we found our way to the nearest one. We left our shoes in the car and walked to the water.
“This is great,” I said, when the first wave hit my feet.
“Yep,” Karma agreed. “We definitely made the right decision in coming here.”
We stood there for a few minutes, then walked up the beach a little ways and sat in the sand. It was blue as far as I could see. The light blue of the sky and the darker blue of the ocean went on forever. The sun on my face made me smile. The smell of the sea air was new, but I think I liked it. I found it very relaxing to listen to the waves on the shore.
“Look over there,” I said, pointing out to the water. “Surfers.”
“Cool. I wonder if they’re hot,” Karma said with a grin.
Sitting on the beach we watched a group of four guys swim out and surf on the waves. I’d never seen anyone surf before and I thought it looked like fun, but then again, I loved everything to do with water. I know if I lived closer to the ocean, I would be surfing too.
The guys we’d been watching made their way to the edge of the water and picked up their boards. They were laughing and joking with each other. It looked like they were picking on each other and that made me smile. I guessed that they were good friends.
Karma was elbowing me to get my attention, like I didn’t see them walking right toward us.
“Ladies,” one of them said with a nod.
“Nice surfing out there,” Karma said, in her voice that always got guys attention. If she kept it up they didn’t stand a chance.
“Thank you. Hey boys, looks like we might have two new fans,” he said.
I snorted out a small laugh. I didn’t mean too, but this guy just seemed so full of himself and I found that funny. Karma gave me a dirty look. I couldn’t help it, and I wasn’t sorry for it either. I’d never been a fan of guys who thought their shit didn’t stink. I might be a quiet person, but I still had my own opinions.
“Something funny?” he asked.
I just shook my head. I didn’t want to say anything that I’d regret later.
“I’m Karma,” she said, standing up and brushing the sand off her ass.
“Major,” he said. “The rest of these assholes are Bodie, Chad, and Zach.”