Water of Hell

Chapter Three - Edgewater Reef

ღNaidaღ

Waking up the next morning, I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across my face. Last night was the best night of my seventeen years! The fact that Triton had so blatantly declared us being on a date was both ridiculous and amazing. It definitely wasn’t how I had imagined my first date to be, but then again, he had just swept me off my feet. Suddenly a loud ringing noise came from the side table and I reached over to hit the ‘off’ button on my alarm. I had almost forgotten about swim practice. As I got out of bed, I thought about how cute Triton had been last night. While eating our waffles, he had been discussing his plans for their date at the reef. I smiled as went into the bathroom to get ready for practice. Admittedly, I had wanted to kill Abby for ditching me but thoughts of how angry I had been with her had dissolved when Triton had kissed my cheek goodnight. He had brought me home! I danced around the bathroom excitedly before heading downstairs.

“Good morning darling,” my father greeted me as I entered the kitchen. I kissed his cheek and glanced down at the plate he had in front of him.

“Why me?!” I groaned out. I never ate before practice and seeing the plate of scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, and French toast had my mouth watering.

“Oh honey, when you get home, I’ll make you a plate,” my mother promised. That silly smile crossed my face once again. “Ok, what is it? Did you have fun at the party?” she asked.

“I did, and I have a date after practice,” I sang out as I went over to the fridge to get a bottle of water.

“A date? With who?” Zale questioned curiously.

“With Triton Gale,” I admitted with a shy smile.

“Triton? Oh, honey, is that wise?” Talia asked as she came over and ran her fingers through my ponytail. I frowned then, what did they know about Triton?

“What do you mean?” I questioned. This conversation had turned weird.

“Getting involved with a boy…shouldn’t you be focusing on swimming and school?”

“What the hell, mom? Last night you and dad were over the moon that I was going out and it is just a date!” I huffed out before I left the room. Why did I have to have such weird parents? I threw my bag into the back seat of the jeep and got in. I started the engine as I thought about whether or not I should stop at Abby’s to pick her up. No, I was still annoyed at her for ditching me. She hadn’t even bothered to send me a message to find out if I got home ok. I drove to the school and parked the jeep. It was always weird being at school on a Saturday and the empty parking lot always made me feel odd. Like I shouldn’t be here. Taking out my bag, I headed inside and went straight to the girl's locker room. I wasn’t surprised to see some of the other girls sitting on the benches, chatting among themselves. They politely smiled and greeted me as I headed to my locker. Abby wasn’t here yet and I already knew that she would be late because I hadn’t picked her up. I didn’t always do that on a Saturday, but I normally gave her the heads up if I wasn’t planning on it. I pulled off my clothes and hung them in my locker before taking my towel out of the bag and headed to the swimming pool. I spotted some of the guys as I put my towel down on the bench.

“Hey, Naida!” Kevin called out and I waved a quick hello before tying my hair up in a tight bun on top of my head. Slipping on the swimming cap, I started doing stretches. This was the one practice that Coach didn’t attend, and I had always been grateful for that. However, this morning I wished the strict demanding Coach was here to boss us around.

“Naida!” I glanced over at the doors as Abby rushed in. She was already dressed in her swimsuit and she was headed my way. “Care to tell me what the hell happened to you last night?” she demanded, and I rolled my eyes as I stopped stretching and faced her.

“Why should I?”

“Because I am your best friend!” she argued.

“Oh? So, I am only your best friend when it suits you?” I said rudely. The anger of her ditching me came back in full force.

“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked. I could tell that she was thinking about everything, trying to pinpoint why I was upset with her. I ignored her and turned to see that everyone was there.

“Ok, guys, everyone in,” I said loudly. Every single Saturday was a slow nightmare, and this morning was no different. They walked to the pool as slowly as possible and instead of diving in like they normally would, they first sat down on the edge of the pool. I ignored Abby and rushed over to the pool. Diving in straight away. The cold water soothed my heated skin and when I reached the other side, I looked back. The others had just gotten in. “Come on guys, the faster we do this, the quicker you can all go home!” my motivational words had them going under the water. I started swimming back, passing others as I did so. Each member would do a total of ten laps of their desired style. I chose to do the butterfly stroke. This was a style that made a lot of movement in the water and a lot of noise. I concentrated on doing my ten laps and when I was done, I was more than just exhausted. I didn’t drink last night, but just being awake past my bedtime, had me breathing heavily as I climbed out of the pool. Since I had a date with Triton, I headed to the locker room to take a shower. When I was done, I got dressed in a pair of shorts and a top. I knew it was simple and nothing fancy, but the bikini I had on underneath was a cute bright green that was sure to catch Triton’s eyes. I smiled as I packed away my stuff. I knew that I still had to address the team, so I hurried back out to see some of the others getting out of the pool. Abby was one of them. I sat down on the bench and waited for everyone to get done. I watched as she ran into the locker room and I rolled my eyes. When she came out, I knew she had literally pulled on her summer dress over her swimsuit. She looked eager to talk to me and she was.

“Naida, what is going on?” she asked as she stood in front of me. I looked up at her and sighed.

“The fact that you even have to ask me, says a lot,” I spat out. I started tapping my foot impatiently on the concrete floor as I waited for everyone to come out.

“Give me a break, Naida, and just tell me,” Abby whined. I looked away from her and spotted Triton leaning against his jeep. He was on his phone but the fact that he was here, made my heart skip a beat. “Oh…did something happen between you two?” Abby asked and despite my best efforts, I blushed. “Something did, didn’t it! Why is he here?” she questioned. I was relieved when the others slowly started coming out of the locker rooms.

“Ok, guys, I’ll make this quick,” I said loudly. “The competition is three weeks away and we need to keep practicing, we need to keep pushing. Coach Harris has the times of the opposing competition, so please ask her so that you can be prepared. We all need to pick up the pace,” I glanced over at Abby. “Julie Matthews has pushed her time up by one point five seconds. You need to be fast, otherwise, you will lose,”

“Ugh,” Abby wasn’t happy, and I didn’t blame her. She may not enjoy swimming as much as I did, but she did hate not coming first. I smiled warmly at my team.

“We can do this, just as we have been for the past two years,” I said. “If you need any help, please don’t hesitate to ask the Coach or even me, ok?” they nodded and with a small wave, I ran out. Normally I would stick around, talk things out, force them to speak up, but today I wanted to get away from Abby. I made my way over to where Triton stood and when he saw me coming over, he slipped his phone into his pocket and smiled.

“Morning Naida,” he said sweetly.

“Hey Triton, I thought we were going to meet at the harbor?” I didn’t have a problem with him being here, in fact, I thought it was so sweet of him, but it was not the plan.

“Well, when I woke up, I remembered that you have a practice first so I was thinking we could go to the market and get some food to have a picnic up at the reef,” he suggested, and his smile won me over in one second.

“Sounds perfect,”

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Triton carried the basket as we walked around the market. So far, we had chosen freshly baked bread rolls, salted ham, and cheese. We also had grapes and soft melt-in-your-mouth candy.

“I think we have enough,” I said as I directed him towards the parking lot. Triton laughed but silently agreed. I had left my Jeep at the school, but I wasn’t worried about it. Triton put the basket in the back before getting in.

“Ready?”  he asked and I nodded. He drove us to the harbor, and I wasn’t at all surprised to see his boat. He had a bowrider and I smiled. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah, what’s not to like?” I teased as I stepped carefully onto the boat. Triton passed me the basket before climbing aboard himself.

“Good, let’s go,” he said as he turned on the engine. The soft purr reminded me of my own family boat, and I sat down and looked up at the sky. It was such a beautiful day. The ride to the reef didn’t take too long and I enjoyed the fresh salty air as the water droplets hit my face. As much as I enjoyed swimming, I enjoyed the ocean more. The natural body of the sea was comforting and always made me feel at home. I didn’t know why but I always felt like I had a connection with the ocean. Triton got the boat as close as he could to the shore. Edgewater reef wasn’t all that popular and although I had come here once or twice before, I looked at the small island for the first time. Triton helped me out of the boat, passed me the basket, and jumped out. We made our way to shore and I immediately dug my toes into the warm sand. Triton led me to a spot under a large palm tree and we sat down. I got out two bread rolls and handed one to him.

“This is so peaceful,” I whispered as I took out the cheese and ham.

“It is, isn’t it?” he said as he tore off a piece of the cheese. “I always worry that others will see the beauty of this place and then it won’t be private anymore,” he added sadly. I nodded as I built a sandwich.

“You’ve got a point,” I said before biting into the bread roll sandwich.

“I suppose it’s a good thing we aren’t the tourist city,” he said. Triton was correct. Corogata Edgewater City wasn’t too big nor too small and we certainly weren’t a tourist city. We were smaller than Coral Grove, which was a tourist city. The main attractions happened just north of us. “If we were, this place would be turned into some kind of sea resort or something,” I heard the disgust in his voice, but I couldn’t blame him. Coral Grove had once been a quiet town, much like ours. Then over one summer, it seemed to attract a lot of outsiders and the town took that opportunity and turned it into a business. The tourists enjoyed it and the town has been successful for many years.

“Have you ever been?” I asked him curiously.

“Once, we went to the water park,” he said sadly. “As much as I love water and the simple nature of the sea, I hated seeing animals like that,”

“What do you mean?” I asked. Triton shook his head and stood up. He pulled off his top to reveal his perfectly toned chest and I blushed. I knew he was a year older than me, but I hadn’t expected him to have such a…well, such a sexy body. I blushed as I looked away and finished off my sandwich.

“I mean, seeing animals that should be free in the sea, being used to entertain us, yeah…I didn’t like it,” he said. I nodded as I stood up.

“I never thought of it like that,” I admitted sadly.

“I know right? Anyway, come on, I want to show you something,” Triton took my hand and pulled me towards the island. We walked along and I couldn’t stop looking at the palm trees, at the rocks, logs, and plants. It was all so different and new to me. Triton, of course, took the opportunity to point out different types of plants and bushes. Some flowers that he said only grew on the island, birds that chirped and sang in the trees. It was quite magical, and I was enjoying myself so much. When we arrived at a pool, I gasped in surprise. There wasn’t a waterfall and I didn’t see the attachment to the sea, so I frowned as I stared at the pool.

“How?” I asked him curiously.

“The water comes from an underwater tunnel, come on, I’ll show you,” he said before he dove in. I quickly removed my top and shorts. “Looking good,” I heard him say and I blushed before diving in. Triton pointed downwards and we went under. It was crystal clear and absolutely beautiful. The walls of the pool were ragged, and I ran my hand over it. Triton took my hand and showed me where the water was coming from. I wanted to swim that way, but he pulled me back. When we resurfaced, he explained. “The water comes through the tunnel, I’m not sure how the tunnel was made in the first place, but I’ve only ever swum through it with the help of some equipment,”

“It’s far?”

“Very far,” he said. We swam around for a bit longer and when the loud sound of thunder made me scream, Triton suggested we head back. As we climbed out of the pool, I looked up at the darkening sky.

“A storm?”

“Probably,”

“But it is such a nice day,” I complained. When the sky opened up and the rain came down, Triton led me to a small cave. It wasn’t big, but it gave us some protection from the harsh rain. I snuggled against his side and sighed. Our perfect date had gone bad. The muddy situation was not attractive. I glanced over at the pool and saw my clothes being drenched by the rain. What a disaster.