Calicem lotus unus ~ bath cup part one

Atticus

"Thanks again for driving me to school."

"No problem mate, what are big brothers for ay." he gives me a swift punch on the arm. "Can't have you missing the bus on your big day can we."

Don't remind me, I thought to myself; my stomach is in enough knots as it is.

The bath cup is a huge deal, coach already told me a number of scouts were coming down to see me swim, including Edinburgh which was the one I was most nervous about. Just thinking about it was enough to make my stomach flip.

"Ay you're looking a bit green there mate, if you're gonna chunder don't do it in 'er just got the car cleaned." Eoin jokes to try and make me feel better; it doesn't.

We arrive at the school; the gigantic coach was waiting out front. The teams from both St Mary's and my school were already lining up and getting ticked off before getting on. I stay in the car not getting any sign of moving any time soon.

"You're gonna be fine Atti, you know why? 'Cos you're the best goddamn swimmer I've ever seen and those scouts will realise that as well."

"Thanks Eoin." a small smile spreads onto my face, I say my goodbyes before making my way onto the bus.

As I walk down the bus, I get greeted by my teams as I feel a hum of excitable energy fill the space. I look around and see Finn is already sitting with Ivo so I drop down next to Hugh who's also sitting across from Robin.

"You alright?" Hugh whispers softly to me while stifling a yawn.

"Am I alright? You look wrecked." I say laughing, Robin joins in.

"I stayed up a wee bit too late last night, finishing that Harry potter book I got."

"You eejit, you decide to basically pull an all nighter before our big match!"

"It's fine" he yawns "I'll take a kip on the coach." and just like that he's out for the count.

Once we've left Derry and are on our way, Robin starts talking to me about the party next week some girl from St Mary's is throwing.

"You coming then?" Robin asks me.

"Yea guess so, Finn is probably gonna end up dragging me anyways."

"Yea Finn's always trying to chat up any St Mary's girl."

"They aren't having any of it tho"

We both laugh at this as Hugh's head ends up resting on my shoulders, as he continues to snore softly.

"Aw he's so cute when he's asleep." Robin comments.

I turn to look at him without waking him up, his long curly brown hair falls over his eyes so I push them back. As he softly snores his mouth pulls up into a small smile.

"Aye he does, doesn't he."

"C'mon you lot look alive! We're here! Let's go everyone sharpish now!"

Finally! I thought, I was starting to feel super stiff sitting in that seat for four hours.
Hugh suddenly jolts awake as I shrug him off my shoulder and does a massive stretch before stating "I dunno about you lot but I feel refreshed."

His stupid grin is so contagious Robin and I can't help but laugh as we make our way off the bus and meet up with Finn and Ivo.

"Ugh of course those posh pricks have to arrive at the same time as us." Finn mutters angrily.
Finn is of course talking about St. Benedicts, the posho school from London, we have a long standing rivalry with them ever since one of their teammates a few years back called someone on our team 'working class scum'.

"I wanna rip their bloody heads off." Ivo adds. Ivo was never one to get really angry so the fact that he says this shows how deep rooted the hatred is between our teams.

This is probably what causes Finnegan to yell to them "Get prepared to lose ya posh pricks!"

Our entire team jeer and laugh at this as we notice their coach have to hold some of them back before they try to attack us.

"Hey!" Our coach yells at us, the vein in his neck throbbing. "How many times do I have to tell ya lot! Every year we come 'ere and I have to tell ya!"

"No fighting! No fighting! No bloody fighting!" He points at Finn, Ivo and myself each time he says this to get his point across.

"Yes coach..." we all reply to unison.

"Good" The vein starts to die down "Now let's go in, get ready and win some races."

We all mutter in agreement as we pick up our stuff and head inside, as we're walking I hear Hugh grumble

"Why does coach never think I'm gonna be the one to start a fight."

"Ey it's because you have the upper body strength of a twig mate." Finn suggests.

Everyone laughs at this, making fun of Hugh is enough to take our minds off seeing St.Benedicts again, well nearly.

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Another chapter!
I'm trying to update twice a week now, Monday and Thursday to get more of this story out.

Feel free to comment about how you feel about the characters and what you think is coming next!

See you Monday x