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“I would expect nothing less,” I told him.
These guys smiled a lot. It was unnerving and made me slightly uncomfortable. I just wasn’t that smiley. I worried it would make me come off as an asshole.
No one likes you. Stuck-up, too-good Lars.The words echoed in my head like a taunt. Or a reminder.
“Come on. Let’s go change,” Wes called, heading toward the locker room.
“Cannonball!” Jamie roared as I walked away, his words followed by a massive splash.
“Is he always like this?” I asked Wes, who laughed.
“Always. Madison is the only one who can control him.”
“Madison?”
“His girlfriend. And Rory is Ryan’s. He calls her Carrot, though.” The question must have shown on my face because Wes said, “She has orange hair.”
“You guys are all friends, then?”
Wes nodded. “We eat at Shirley’s after practices. It’s the local diner. Sometimes we have pizza, and sometimes we just eat on campus. You can join anytime.”
“Why?”
Wes paused. Then his head popped out from around his locker. “Why not?”
I didn’t say anything, just went back to jamming my clothes into my locker and pulling on the Speedos and then my swim cap.
Wes’s locker slammed, and I felt rather than saw him approach.
“Were you not friends with your teammates back in Sweden?”
“Sure. We all got along. We didn’t hang out or eat together, though.”
Actually, they did do that stuff, butIdidn’t hang out with anyone. In truth, it had been so long since I had a friend that now the offer of one made me suspicious.
Wes nodded. I watched him reach out as if to pat my back, but suddenly, his hand fell back to his side. Instead, he offered a smile. “Welcome to Elite. We’re your friends now.”
He was walking away when I said, “Because of Win?”
“No,” Wes returned. “Because you’re you.”
I stood there even after he left the locker room, the silence trying to erase what he said, but it couldn’t. I still heard. Still a little lost in my head when I stepped out on deck of the pool, I didn’t see or hear them coming until it was too late.
Panic seized my lungs when I was snatched under the arms and at the same time hoisted up by my feet. Gasping, my body went horizontal over the floor as I was swung back and forth like some kind of pendulum.
“Put me down!” I yelled. Well, I tried, but my voice was hoarse from shock. I flung my arms, lungs tight, as horrible flashes from the past started to pummel me.
“No can do, bro!” Jamie’s boisterous voice cut through the anxiety.
I glanced down to where he held my ankles, grinning like some kind of deranged clown.
“You can’t officially be Elite until we toss you in the pool,” Ryan said, his voice very close.
Lifting my chin, I met his blue gaze as he towered over me… his hands the ones beneath my arms.
“It’s tradition,” he said, teeth flashing.
Most of the tension drained away. The memories trying to take over my body and brain fled.
