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I nodded. “We met last semester.”
“You were his—”
The entire question wasn’t even out yet, and my entire heart seized.
I was his what?Annoying roommate? Buddy from abroad? Friend with benefits? Lover? Someone he never wanted to see again?
The hunger in me that ripped open and growled fiercely as I anticipated the end of that question was astounding. I practically leaned forward as I waited to hear how Win’s beloved brother would describe me. To find out how Win had described me.
It doesn’t matter. He left without looking back.
“This ain’t Sally Jessy Raphael!” Coach interrupted, his words like a rubber band snapping me violently. “If you all know each other, you can figure it out when you aren’t on my time!”
“Coach, what’s Sally Jessy Raphael?” asked a guy sitting behind Wes and his two friends.
Jamie laughed. “Bro, right?”
“Like you don’t know,” Coach muttered.
Everyone stared at him, silent but also clueless.
He sighed. “I’m not that old,” he muttered, then threw his hands out. “It was a talk show on cable.”
“Coach watched a talk show called Sally Jessy Raphael,” Jamie mused.
“Did you drink hot tea while you watched, Coach?” said the same guy who’d asked what it was.
Coach blew on his whistle. For a long, long time. When he was done, his face was red.
“Coach, we gotta talk about this,” Jamie lamented. “This is mistreatment.”
“Get your asses in the pool!”
Everyone stood up to do just that, and it was clear that while they loved to give Coach shit, they also knew when to quit.
On his way past, the guy sitting behind Jamie offered me his hand. “Kruger.”
I took the offered hand, mesmerized a little by the guy’s different-colored eyes. I didn’t think I’d ever met anyone with heterochromia before. One was green and one was brown.
“You get used to it,” he said, half smiling.
I tugged my hand back. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“Nah, bro. Your eyes are pretty unique too.”
“Why aren’t you wet?” Coach snapped.
Kruger slapped me on the shoulder. “C’mon. I swim backstroke too. Let’s see what you got.”
I nodded, letting him lead me to a lane, but the entire time, my eyes searched the group for Wes. The second I found him, our stares collided. He offered me a small smile, and some of the heinous anxiety clinging to me let go.
And just like that, I remembered so clearly why I’d left everything behind to become Elite.
5
Win
I’m sorry,butwhowas the person who signed me up for an ass-crack-of-dawn biochemistry lab this semester?
