Breathe Read Free Page B

didn’t know whether to be ecstatic or terrified. Garrett had stood up for me and while it wasn’t the first time and though I knew he was only protecting me, his temper scared me. Seemed almost out of control lately. It was a possessive and volatile side of him I wasn’t sure I wanted to get used to.
    Nolan lifted his palms into the air in a show of surrender. “Sorry, didn’t realize you two had a thing going on.” He paused and chuckled before asking, “Does Zoe know?”
    I’d almost forgotten she was there and when I glanced across the pool to meet her gaze, it chilled me from the inside out, as if she’d plunged a large icicle straight through my heart. She stamped her foot and stormed off in the opposite direction toward the exit.
    “Zoe,” Garrett called to her but it was too late, she was gone and I was surprised that he remained planted between me and Nolan Carter. I thought for sure he’d go after her, but he stayed to protect me and force Nolan to retreat.
    They stared each other down for a bit, neither one budging, until finally Nolan laughed and tapped his nearest crony on the shoulder. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.” Then he turned back to Garrett. “She’s certainly not worth it.” Garrett lunged in his direction but I stopped him with a firm touch to his arm. Garrett didn’t need to get suspended because Nolan was an ass.
    “You should go after her,” I told Garrett, thinking of Zoe, as soon as Nolan was out of sight.
    Garrett shook his head. He was so close droplets of water from his still-wet hair slicked my skin and memories from a night just a week ago flooded my mind— Garrett’s face above mine, his wet hair dripping on my forehead, my cheekbones . The feel of his fingertips as they grazed my lips.
    “Just get dressed,” he replied, breaking through my reverie. Then he stood guard outside the girls’ locker room while I slipped from my bathing suit and slid into my uniform. When I emerged, he was talking to his father, Coach Scott.
    When they were that near to one another, it was hard not to notice how unlike they were. Garrett was tall, broad shouldered, and tanned skin, while Coach Scott was short, pasty, and overweight. I imagined Garrett looked like his mother, though in the five years that I’d known him, I’d never once met the woman. Much like Maggie, she never came to meets and only rarely did he speak of her except in generalities, like ‘my mom got me that game for Christmas’ or ‘I can’t go swimming today, it’s my mom’s birthday’ .
    From the way folks in town talked, I got the impression she was a few sandwiches short of a picnic and I wondered if he kept her at a distance to avoid embarrassment like I did with Maggie.
    “Garrett says you missed your run this morning,” Coach Scott commented in the straightforward way of his that had a habit of catching me off guard. Like he couldn’t be bothered with a simple hello.
    “Yes, sir. I was late,” I replied.
    “You’ll do it this afternoon.” It wasn’t a question, but I gave a curt nod anyway to show I understood it wasn’t an option.
    “Did you swim?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “And your time on the hundred?”
    “Fifty one.”
    He raised his eyebrows and gave me a stern look that said he knew I could do better. Which was true. Garrett and I had been playing around and I hadn’t exactly been trying. I hadn’t even bothered to put my hair away.
    “I can get it under forty nine,” I promised.
    “Do it before next Saturday.”
    “Sir?”
    “Penn State is coming.”
    He disappeared into his office without another word. Then again, ‘Penn State is coming’ are the only words I’d’ve heard anyway. I’d set my sights on a swimming scholarship to Penn State five years ago. It was the only thing that kept me going day in and day out. It was the reason Garrett and I got up at five o’clock every morning and swam laps in the pool. It was the only thing on this planet I wanted.