Into the pool

You walked out to the pool deck, and the assistant coach that helped you earlier walked over. He asked about your nose. Instinctively you reached up to touch your nose and found it no longer hurt.

"I'll be fine."

He put his hand on your shoulder.

"I saw you earlier. Even timed a few of your sprints. You were putting up great times. Competitive times."

He leaned in.

"One of your teammates has made me aware of what has been going on. The talk, the ****, how you have been mistreated."

Mistreated.

That word sent a ripple through your body.

The coach began to stroke your arm and looked directly into your eyes. He was a young man, mid 20's, probably just out of college.

Is he hitting on me?

"You need someone to talk to; you come to see me."

His hand moved up your arm, over your shoulder and down your back.

"Wow, I never noticed how great your muscle tone is. Whatever you have been doing in the gym is working.

You gave a front double bicep pose. Coach ran his hands over each and squeezed. He looked you up and down.

"Damn, you are one hard body."

Then he noticed something over your shoulder.

"Break time over."

You turned around and saw Trent walk out of the locker room.

"Put the pressure on Trent, but from behind, make him work.

You headed to the pool. The assistant coach called after you.

"I'm Joel."

You gave Joel a smile, hopped in the pool, and swam over to your lane. Trent followed. Without speaking, Trent pushed off the wall and picked up with practice where you left off.

You were right on Trent's heels for the rest of the training session. Whatever endurance and speed you had before had mostly faded, but you were determined to let Trent know that you were not going to back down. Trent, for his part, seemed off his game. You and Trent were two of the last swimmers to finish practice. Your ability to keep up with him frustrated Trent, and he stormed off to the locker room. Joel gave you a thumbs-up.

Seems I have a fan.

Most of the team showered and took a few hours to study and relax before heading to the weight room, but Trent preferred to workout immediately after practice. He said he liked working out when there were fewer people around, but the truth was the team preferred to work out when Trent wasn't around.

In the locker room, you stopped in front of the mirrors and took a moment to admire your new physique. As an athlete, you were in good shape before; but now you were jacked. You ran your hand over your chest and abs, and as you flexed, you felt your muscles ripple. A teammate wolf-whistled at you from across the locker room. When you turned and looked, he jokingly posed like a bodybuilder, and the group around him laughed. They were making fun of you, but it was good-spirited ribbing. It was the sort of locker-room humor that made you love team sports.

You headed to your locker to change into your workout gear. Problem. While your workout gear was usually a bit snug now, it was way too tight.

This is not going to work.

You tossed your workout gear into your gym bag, put on a pair of baggy swim trunks, and headed to the weight room without a shirt.