Page 29 of Jump on Three
Evelyn
A tap on my shoulder in the locker room activated my fight-or-flight response, but there was nowhere to run. I whirled around, my heart kicking like a donkey in my chest.
Except it wasn’t Layla prepared to torture me; it was the mini version of her.
“Sorry.” Chantel held up a hand, shuffling back a step. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Says the girl who snuck up on me.
“Okay.”
“Well, I wanted to tell you thank you for doing that paper for me. It really wasn’t necessary and—”
A scoff slipped out before I could stop it.
“Don’t thank me for doing something forced upon me.” I smoothed my hands over my bathing suit.
Her mouth puckered in a very Layla-esque way. “You could have said no.”
I tilted my head, unsure if she was joking. “I don’t agree.”
Her dark brows drew together in the center. “I won’t ask you to do something like that again. It was stupid of me to go along with Layla in the first place. It’s just…well, it’s hard to tell her no.” She sighed. “Okay, I guess I see why you feel like you can’t say no to her. She’s my sister, and I’m not able to turn her down when she wants something. I get it.”
“Okay. Is that all?” I couldn’t imagine what she wanted me to say to her.
“I guess. I mean, it’s the start of the season and we’re teammates. I don’t want any bad blood between us.” Her movements were nervous. A hard tug on her braid, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, crossing and uncrossing her legs. She might have meant what she was saying, but she was Layla’s sister, so I would never trust her.
To make matters worse, she’d put that Taylor Swift song in my head. No doubt, it would be swimming there all day.
…now we got bad blood…
Spinning away and grabbing my towel, I was distracted by the song and annoyed because I only knew the chorus. Slipping on my flip-flops, I wandered out of the locker room, singing under my breath.
As soon as I put my towel on the bleachers, Ivan appeared, his long strides bringing him to me in seconds.
“Hello, Evelyn.”
“Hello, Ivan.”
He held his hand out, and I slapped it. Over my years swimming, I’d seen my teammates high-five each other, but Ivan was the first to offer me one. It was just flesh hitting flesh, but there was something about the gesture that made me feel included in a way I hadn’t before.
His chin tipped toward the diving platform. “Are you ready to jump again?”
“No. Not at all.”
He chuckled. “I knew you would say that, but don’t worry, Evelyn. I will jump with you if you want.”
“Everyone will see.”
“You don’t want anyone to see you jumping with me?”
I shook my head. “I can’t have them seeing how much it scares me to jump. I have to do it on my own.”
He studied me, skimming my face with his eyes so intently I turned my head but felt him move closer. He picked up my hand, and until that moment, I hadn’t realized I’d been pressing my fingertips into my upper thigh.
He held my hand between both of his, rubbing back and forth like I was cold. I wasn’t, but I liked how comforting it was.
“Did you beat Felix up?” I hadn’t spoken to Ivan since he’d escorted Felix out of the dining hall, but I’d thought about it quite a bit.