The Race



“Bang,” and the gun goes off. I dive in and start swimming as fast as I can, I know I have to beat her.
Our rivalry started three months ago when we joined our high school swim team. We thought it would be fun to be on a team together and getting to be together all the time. We had been best friends since 6th grade and let nothing get between us. We had done other activities together like soccer and volleyball, but we were not as competitive about those sports because we both knew who was better. Most activities we tried to do we knew who was good at it and who horrendous at it. For example, Anna was an amazing artist, but my drawings were barely recognizable. However, I was an amazing singer and she sounded like a dying cow. Weirdly, there was something about swimming that made us so competitive that it hurt our friendship.
I was five feet and six inches, while Anna was only five feet and one inch. I was always classified as a dumb blonde even though I had a 4.0 gpa. A lot of people said that our personalities were very different. Anna was loud and outgoing and would do anything it took to get her way. I was still loud but more laid back and wouldn’t risk hurting people to get my way.
When I first dove into the ice cold, chlorine filled pool I realized that I was a pretty fast swimmer and Anna was also an outstanding swimmer, unlike the other sports where we were usually the worst ones there. I was really happy, I wasn’t drowning and I wasn’t getting lapped by everyone. I think we both thought that this could be the one thing that we were better than the other one at. I was good at freestyle and butterfly and she was good at backstroke and breaststroke, so the individual medley was the perfect event to prove who was the faster swimmer.
At first it was friendly competition and we would joke about who was faster and only try to go fast when we were swimming with each other. At the beginning of the season we decided to only go four days a week, but because we both wanted to be faster we ended up going six days a week. Then we started doing extra swimming after practice. We both weren’t really saying that we had a rivalry, however we knew that whoever won the first race was going to be considered the faster swimmer.
All of a sudden materials kept disappearing from my swim bag. First it was my goggles, then it was my cap and eventually my bathing suit and towel also disappeared. My swim bag was only in my locker, so the only person that could've taken it was Anna. I wasn’t sure if I should get revenge or be the good person and not sabotage the other person. I hesitated knowing that this decision would change how the next few weeks of my life would play out. I decided to be good and try not to do anything to hurt Anna because she was technically my best friend.
The pranks started getting bigger and bigger. Sometimes it was my water bottle being filled with dirt and other times it was my goggles covered in molasses. I was getting really mad at Anna for doing this to me and even though I never did anything to hurt her, she just got even more mad at me.
It was the night before our first meet and our team had a tradition to have a sleepover at the pool the night before the first meet. We all slept in the plain, ugly gym. I knew I had to sleep as far away from Anna because I had a feeling she would do something bad to me. Unfortunately they had already set out sleeping bags for everyone and I was sleeping right next to her. I tried to convince someone to switch with, but no one wanted to be next to her.
“I’m going to bed,” announced one of the seniors.
“Everyone should sleep now because you need your rest for tomorrow,” declared someone across the room.

I started to get ready for bed by getting into my sleeping bag. My goal was to fall asleep quickly and wake up without her doing anything to me. I soon dozed and only awoke when the sound of millions alarms going off on millions of different ringtones. I then realized that there was honey in my sleeping bag and shaving cream covering my face. Then I realized that everybody had it on besides Anna and a couple of others girls. I wondered if I was the only one being sabotaged and if there were other people dealing with the same thing I was dealing with.
The coaches were so mad that they made everyone clean the entire room because the wanted everything to be spotless for the meet. After what seemed like years of cleaning, we finally finished and the room was perfect. Warm up was starting in fifteen minutes, so everyone had to get dressed quickly, so the meet would start on time.

I put my hair into a bun and slid my cap over my head.The water was as cold as the north pole, but it was refreshing and woke you up quickly. The IM was the first event, so I had to get ready. The other events didn’t matter only the IM mattered because I could beat her at free and fly and she could beat me at back and breast.
The heat before us was swimming and I started to get nervous. If Anna won she would have all the bragging rights. I just tried to focus on myself because that's what you're supposed to do, but I knew it was all about how we did compared to each other.
“Swimmers on the blocks,” the announcer screamed into the microphone. The room seemed to go silent. I could only hear my heart beating and his voice.
“Swimmers, take your mark... BANG,” and the gun goes off. I quickly dive in and kick as hard as I can. I take a couple of strokes without breathing before realizing that I need a breath. I quickly gulp as much air as I can and bring my head back into the water. My arms were dying and I was only about a quarter of the done. After the fly I have a couple second lead on her, but I know she can make that up in the back and breast. My legs are killing me now and I feel like I’m going to explode. I make a smooth transition from back to breast. I can feel my body telling me to stop, but at least I was halfway done. Anna was starting to pass me and I knew I had to within a couple of seconds of her to be able in pass her in the last lap of freestyle. By the end of the breaststroke she was maybe two seconds ahead of me. I started kicking so hard and my arms were spinning at one million miles per hour. My heart was pounding so fast that all I could hear was “thump, thump.” Even though I could tell that people were cheering I couldn’t hear anything, I was just focused on finishing the race.I can tell that I was catching as we went into the last 25m. I felt like I was going to die. I do one last stroke and reach to touch the wall. I look up and see Anna waiting for the times to come up.
“3rd place Grace,” the announcer said. At least I know that I got 1st or 2nd. I hoped I got first, but I was unsure.
“2nd place, drumroll please... Anna and 1st place Olivia,” the announcer said. I was so excited. I ran up and hugged all of my friends and was congratulated by a bunch of people. I was so happy and so tired.
“Good job,” I said.
“You too,” she replied,” I’m so I got so competitive. I shouldn't have been so mean. I hope we can still be friends.”
I wanted to be friends with her again, but I didn’t want her to be competitive about something else we did. I decided that we should try to be friends again because I really hoped that she would change and not try to do anything it takes to win. I didn’t want one thing to ruin our friendship. I decided that next time she was to competitive, then I would try and talk to her about the problem instead of ignoring it.
“Sure we can be friends,” I told her.