Breathing Under Everything

Jordan's lungs burned. That familiar feeling—that edge where everything else disappears and it's just your feet hitting the pavement, the rhythm of your breath, the forward motion. Running had always been her escape. When her parents fought, she ran. When grades slipped, she ran. When the track team whispered about how she'd changed since sophomore year, she ran harder and faster.

"Jordan!"

Maria's voice cut through her headphones. Jordan slowed to a jog, then stopped. Her best friend stood by the pool fence, swimsuit on, towel draped over her shoulder like she actually belonged here.

"Tryouts are in twenty minutes," Maria said, giving her that look. The one that meant *I know you're avoiding everything.*

"I'm not joining the swim team."

"You're in the pool every night at midnight. I've seen you."

Jordan felt her face heat up. It was supposed to be her secret—the way she sneaked into the community center after it closed, using the spare key she'd "borrowed" from her mom's junk drawer. Something about the water silenced everything in her head. The way her body moved differently than when she was running. Less performance. More... peace.

"It's not like that."

"Then what is it like?" Maria stepped closer. "Because ever since you quit track, you've been a ghost. Jordan, nobody cares that you're—"

"I'm not ready, okay?" Jordan snapped. Then softer: "I don't know how to be both versions of myself. The runner everyone expects, or... whatever this is."

The pool gate clicked behind her. Jordan jumped, but it was just the coach, clipboard in hand, looking at them both.

"You coming in or what? We need a butterfly specialist."

Butterfly. The hardest stroke. The one that required surrendering to the water instead of fighting it.

Maria grinned. "She's in."

Jordan looked at the pool—water shimmering under the lights, terrifying and perfect all at once. Running had been about escape. This wasn't.

"Yeah," Jordan said, her heart racing in a completely different way. "I'm in."

Maybe it was time to stop running from everything and learn to swim through it instead.