Orange Juice & Chlorine Courage

My palms were sweating so bad I could barely grip the edge of the starting block. Behind me, someone whispered, "That's The Bull. Third in state last year."

I squeezed my eyes shut. Mom had force-fed me her special immunity **vitamin** cocktail that morning, insisting it would help me "swim faster, stronger." Right. Like a gummy shaped like a cartoon superhero was going to fix the fact that I barely passed tryouts last week.

The pool smelled like chlorine and teenage anxiety. I'd taken this job at the community center partly for the money—my parents cut my allowance after I failed algebra—and partly to prove I wasn't completely useless.

"NEW GUY," someone yelled.

I opened my eyes. The Bull—real name Marcus, a junior with shoulders like a small mountain—was staring at me.

"You gonna **swim** or just pose?"

"I'm swimming," I squeaked.

"Then swim."

The whistle blew before I could process the terror. I dove in, water swallowing me whole, and suddenly everything was clear and blue and silent. I could actually do this. I could actually—

Someone splashed water in my face as I surfaced, coughing.

"What the—"

"**Orange** slices," Marcus said, floating next to me with a weirdly calm expression. "You looked like you needed one. You gonna pass out on me, new guy?"

"I'm good," I lied, still sputtering.

He tossed me a slice from the deck. "Coach says your name's Leo. Like the zodiac sign."

"Yeah."

"Cool." He paddled to the edge. "You're not terrible. Just scared."

I ate the **orange** slice, juice dripping down my chin, and something about his complete lack of BS made me actually believe him. Maybe I wasn't terrible. Maybe I was just scared.

"See you tomorrow, Leo," Marcus called, already halfway out of the pool.

I watched him go, my **palm** stinging where I'd gripped the edge too hard, vitamin gummy from this morning completely irrelevant, and realized maybe—just maybe—I'd actually found my place.

For once, nobody was watching me fail.

For once, I was just another swimmer, chlorinated and exhausted, eating orange slices at 7 AM with someone who could have crushed me but decided to help instead.

The Bull, it turned out, wasn't so scary after all.