Chapter 2
of a daze, I turned my attention to her. She stripped off her top and
slipped into the pool with me.
"What's wrong today? You're not yourself." Ray said, slipping an arm
around my shoulders. Ray was like an older sister to me. She was 26 years
old and one of the greatest swimmers Ireland had known. But a back injury
had prevented her from swimming professionally again.
"I'm all right, really." I said, trying to smile. She gave me a warning
look. "Ariana, I've known you since you were ten. If you're ever not
yourself, you have five reasons for it; The previous day's training,
school, family, friends or guys. Which one is it?" She asked. I smiled
despite of myself. There was no fooling Ray.
"School." I confided. "And Amma and guys." I added. "Come on out." She
said, hoisting herself up onto the edge of the pool. I sat up next to her
and for the next half and hour, I told her about my danger of slipping
behind in Math, Amma's tight rules and about Rowen. She listened patiently.
When I was done, she gave me a hug.
"About the Math, I can always ask your teacher Miss. O' Brian to give you
extra lessons till you've caught up with the rest of your class. You did
miss nearly a month's work while you were at the Pan Pacs. Have you caught
up with the rest?" She asked. "Everything else except for History, but I'm
getting extra tutoring by Mr. Thomas on Fridays till I catch up on that." I
told her. She nodded. "Good. I'll talk to Miss. O' Brian tomorrow."
"And about your Amma, well, you know your mother was always a bit strict.
It's just now that you're older, and more open to a world where normal 16
year olds don't get to step into, I think she is a little scared that
she'll lose her little girl." Ray said. "I wouldn't change!" I exclaimed.
Ray smiled. "I know, Ari, and deep down, so does she, but it's a little
difficult for her to accept the fact that she'll have to share you with a
world of strangers." I was silent for a moment. Maybe she was right.
"And what's this about Rowen? I thought the two of you were good
friends?" Ray asked. "Good friends, yes. But only good friends." I said,
pouting. Ray smiled again. "Oh, you've got the hots for Rowen?" She asked,
giggling. "But what about Mark?".
"Mark? No way. We're far too good friends to like each other. But Ro is a
completely different story." I said with a sigh. Ray laughed. "He does have
a hot bod. I've seen him in the pool quite a bit. He's a very quick
swimmer, isn't he?" She asked. "Definitely." I said. "If he improved on his
strokes, he could be quite good, you know." She mused.
"No way are you going to get him into swimming. It's too much torture,
and you know it's too late for him to start now!" I said. She laughed. "I
was just kidding. Now, what about getting some training done? Shall we give
3 minutes, 48 seconds a shot?" She asked. "Why not?" I asked, sighing and
prepared myself for a grueling five hours.
By the time I finished, my muscles were aching more and more, but I was
happy, I had achieved a best of 3:47:67. "Good job. If you keep on like
this, you're going to make it to the top three at Sydney." Ray said,
smiling. I glowed under her praise.
Mark had gone to England for some promotional work on their next single,
"If I Let You Go." He was due back the next day. Rowen picked me up from
training and drove me home.
"Hey, Thaththa's already home!" I said in surprise as I saw his car in
the driveway. "Do you know I still haven't met your father?" Rowen asked.
"Do you want to come in and do that now?" I asked. He smiled. "Sure."
He parked the car and followed me to our house. I rang the bell and Anika
opened the door. "You came back, you're early today." She said, letting us
in. "Hi Rowen." She said, taking his coat. She liked Ro. She always said
that he was the nicest guy she had met, after Mark, of course! "Hi Anix.
How are you today?" He asked. "Fine. Ari, Emily called." She said of my
best friend, Emily Sheridan. "Oh? What did she say?" I asked.
"Something about breaking up with Adam? Maybe you should call her." Anika
told me. "I will." I said, as I hung my coat and walked into the kitchen
where Thaththa was cooking.
"Thaththa?" I said, sniffing the delicious smell of roast chicken in the
oven. "Hello, long legs." He said, looking up with a smile. He was wearing
an apron and a chef's hat, which made me laugh. "I like the new look." I
told him. Rowen had followed me into the kitchen. I saw my father look at him,
interestedly. "Um, I want you to meet Rowen. He's Mark's friend?" I said.
Thaththa smiled. "Of course. I've heard about you." He said, extending his
hand. Rowen shook it. "Pleasure to meet you, sir." He said.
"Would you like to stay for dinner? We've got plenty of food." Thaththa
asked. Ro looked at me. "Say yes!" I mouthed. Ro smiled. "Why not?" He
asked. "Good! Ari, tell your sister to set an extra place at the table.
Now, you go on upstairs. I'll call you when the food is ready." Thaththa
said. "Where's Amma?" I asked as we turned to go. "At the Sheridans. She'll
be back soon."
We went up to my room. "Anika, Rowen's staying for dinner." I called. "Do
you want me to set an extra place?" She asked, coming into my room. "Yes,
please." I said.
I dumped my bag on the floor. Ro looked around my room. He let out an
exaggerated sigh. "Popov and Perkins. Perkins and Popov. Don't you ever
grow sick of it?" He asked, looking at my larger-than-life posters of
Alexander Popov and Kieran Perkins, my all time favourites. "No." I said
with an impish smile.
Dinner was fun. My father hit off well with Rowen. My mother was a
completely different story. She had always been wary of my Irish friends. I
didn't understand why, but we were used to it and so was Rowen.
Mark called after dinner to say that he was going to come home in 2 days.
"I miss you. How are the other lads?" I asked, twirling the cord of the
phone around my finger. "We're all okay. Guess what, Shane's found himself
a girlfriend." He said. "Really? What's her name?". I asked, smiling. "We
don't know yet, but she's not Irish, that's all he's telling us at the
moment! We're meeting her soon." He said.
"That's nice. Anika says hi, by the way." I said, glancing at Anika's
furious sign language movements, by which she was trying to tell me to say
hi to him. Rowen laughed.
Mark must have heard him. "Is Ro there?" He asked. I glanced at Rowen
from the corner of my eye. "Yeah, he is. He brought me home from training
and Thaththa asked him to stay for dinner. We're just about to watch the
9:00 movie." I said. "Have fun, and don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Mark
laughed. "As if." I said, but hoped desperately that neither of them could
hear the wistful note in my voice.