I flop onto my bed worn out, Ami-chan looks sleepy and Mei-chan is still at the poolhouse swimming with her brother. She wants to beat him; why are those two cut out for long distance swims?

"The new girl didn't show up yesterday." Ami-chan states.

"Nothing was an inch out of place." I nod.

"I hope this girl is nice." Ami-chan muses.

"Me too." I smile.

"School starts tomorrow; do you think she'll show up?" I am asked. I shrug.

"Most transfers join in the first three weeks of the semester." I reply.

"Ahh alright." we are interrupted by Mei staggerring in.

"I." she collapses onto the floor. "Finally. Beat. Sei." she grins triumphantly, green in the face.

"Get up Mei-chan." Ami-chan grabs her friend's arms, I shove her toward the bathroom. Mei is sick. Twice. I grimace at the smell and sound.

"Beating Sei' has it's dissadvantages." Ami-chan gets the bathroom spray and starts to let it spray, the whole room smells like lillies.

"I still. Can't. Believe. I. Beat. Sei'." Mei falls to the floor and sleeps.

~(^v^)~ Time Skip ~(^v^)~

"Yosh!" Mei grins. "As your captain I declare that you Aoi, go and talk to Makoto before you beat him at the backstroke race."

"No." I reply.

"EHH?" Mei exclaims.

"No, I would rather embrace the atmosphere." I shrug.

"Does he know you're racing him?" Ami-chan asks.

"He does now." Mei smirks as Mekoto rushes over.

"Err." I rub the back of my neck awkwardly. "Makoto...about the race, I'm sorry. It was Mei's idea to have me compete in both general and girls."

"I don't mind. I want to see how I'll fare against you anyway." he smiles.

"Phew!" Ami-chan and Mei-chan tease. They too are already in their swimsuits.

"Aren't you competing as Samezuka?" Makoto asks, noticing I am not in my normal swimsuit.

"We're competing as the girls team!" Mei enthuses, topaz eyes shining. "We don't have an offical swimsuit style yet but I'll most likley be like our ones for the main team."

"Ahh." Makoto nods.

"Who's up first today? Aoi?" I nod in responce to his question.

"I'm in for girls backstroke and as soon as I get out the pool I'm on the black for general backstroke." I explain.

"See anybody familiar?" Mei nudges the redhead beside her.

"Ahh! There's Nakamura Naomi. She got into Harumi Prep. She's fair at backstroke but her strong point is front crawl. She tries to compete in every race publically and just do crawl at proper tourneys." Ami-chan points to a black haired girl.

"Harumi Prep." Mei and I shudder simultaneously.

"What's so bad about Harumi Prep?" Ami-chan cocks a brow.

"Our schools are rivals. Sato Academy, Samezuka Academy and Harumi Prep." Mei explains.

"Know anybody else here Ami-chan?" I ask.

"Err... that may or may not be Saitou Hanaka...she was accepted at...Sato Academy. She went to the school that rivalled mine. She's nice though. Hanaka-chan is really nice and isn't one to let school rivalries stop friendships forming. We weren't close but we were friends in Tokyo. It's great to see she's here too. Hanaka-chan is amazing at backstroke but if you look at her leg... you can see she's got a bandage on it. Anything that disturbs her flow will put her off and slow her down so today, she shouldn't be as hard to beat. You do have competition Aoi-chan." Ami-chan states.

That's when the ashy blond haired girl spins on her heels. "Suzuki-chan?"

"Hanaka-chan!" Ami-chan rushes to embrace her friend from Tokyo.

Mei and I look to Makoto.

"You're racing Rei too." he states almost chidingly.

"If he wants I'm sure Aoi-chan would give him a handicap!" Mei-chan giggles.

"He won't mind; he used to compare our data anyway. Now he'll get to compare up close!" I enthuse.

"Ladies backstroke. Ladies backstroke. All ladies in ladies backstroke please get into the pool in your desegnated lane." the announcer states.

"That's me." I duck my head, Makoto lightly takes hold of my hand, pulling me back to him. He kisses me on the nose.

"You'll do swimmingly." he smiles.

"Nice pun, dork." Mei-chan laughs, elowing him.

"He's my dork. So I don't mind." I grin.

I jump into the pool. I see Ami-chan's friend Hanaka in the next lane. There are only three of us today? On my other side is another girl with a sharp look to her. Her eyes are beady but her swimming hat covers her eyebrows.

"Ready! Set! Go!" and with that the three of us jump backward into the water.

"Aoi-chan's in the lead already!" Mei-chan enthuses.

"Go Aoi-chan! Go Hanaka-chan!" Ami-chan encourages.

"Go Aoi-chan!" Nito' shouts, as Rin's roommate and run around muppet he is here with the first year swimmers. There are eight newbies entered in the races and then Captain Rin, making nine swimmers from the Samezuka main team.

"Go Aoi!" Rin is the next to shout encouragements.

"Go Aoi!" Makoto cheers. As I make the turn I see that the girl with the hat over her eyebrows is almost caught up. Time to speed up.

"Go Aoi!" Rei pumps his fist.

"AOI-CHAAANNNNN!" Nagisa hollers. Does he have a bullhorn?

"Yosh! Aoi-chan! Last spurt!" Mei-chan chirps.

"Last spurt!" Rei calls.

"LAST SPURT AOI-CHAAAANNNN!" Nagisa cries.

I begin to speed up.

"I'm going to cheer for Hanaka now Mei-chan. Aoi's got all you guys." Ami-chan says. "GO HANAKA-CHAN!"

"AOI YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!" Makoto says.

"MIND YOUR..." The announcer tries to stop me.

Smack!

"Head!" everybody sighs.

"Winner Ryugazaki Aoi. Lane two." the announcer declares.

"YOSH!" I beam, hoisting myself out of the pool.

"Good luck Makoto. You'll need it. See how pumped your girlfriend is." Ami-chan giggles.

"Hey!" Hanaka holds her hand out to me. "Congratulations Ryugazaki-kun. Great race today. Maybe I'll see you at perfecturals."

"Aoi." I smile warmly. "Thank you Hanaka."

"No problem...HEY!" she calls to the sharper girl.

"Tch." the girl who placed second waves Hanaka off.

"Oh...GOOD RACE! CONGRATULATIONS ON SECOND PLACE! MAYBE I'LL SEE YOU AT PERFECTURALS!" Hanaka enthuses before turning to me with a smile and approaching Ami-chan.

"Hey beautiful." Makoto smiles.

"Hi." I beam, pretty used to being called beautiful by my amazing boyfriend.

"Congratulations on your win." he hugs me.

"Thanks. Good luck." I poke my tongue out at him.

"EHHH? MAKO-CHAN'S RACING AOI-CHAN!" Nagisa gasps.

"Does that boy have a volume switch?" I laugh.

"I think only Rei knows where to find it." Makoto blurts. The two of us shudder.

"General backstroke. General backstroke. All participants in general backstroke please get into the pool in your desegnated lane." the announcer says.

Makoto and I are in ajoining lanes.

"Good luck Makoto-senpai!" Rei shouts. That is bound to be his last call to encourage his captain. As soon as the race begins he'll be cheering for me. Which sucks since his supporting party is smaller.

"Ready! Set! Go!" and with that me, Makoto and the other swimmers leap backward and begin the race.

"Look at those two go!" Nitori gasps.

"Who has the lead right now...Ah it's Mako-chan!" He knows my strategy; he's seen me pull it off. I sort of took it from Mei's book, speed up after the turn.

"Go Aoi-chan!" Nito' encourages.

"You're almost at the turn Aoi-chan!" Mei-chan squeals happily, she is totally telapathic, she knows I'm taking her style.

As I make the turn I spot two things.

One, how much of a lead I have on the other swimmers.

Two, how much od a lead Makoto has on me!

Time to speed up a bit! I don't want to lose by a long shot!

I push myself harder as we take on the last spurt.

"LAST SPURT MAKO-CHAAANN!" Nagisa exclaims.

"Go Aoi-chan. Go. Go. Go Aoi-chan!" I swear to god if Mei-chan and Ami-chan are cheerleading right now Fubuki will be so goddamn jealous.

"Makoto!" Haruka says louder than usual. Hearing his name my boyfriend picks up the pace.

"Go Aoi-chan. Go. Go. Go. Aoi-chan!"

Flash!

"Go Aoi-chan. go. Go. Go. Aoi-chan!" Did Nito' just join in. Oh dear god! My friends are such weirdos.

"Makoto!" Haruka repeats.

"Mako-chaaann!" Nagisa warbles.

"MAKOTO! DO YOU REALLY WANT TO LOSE TO YOUR GIRLFRIEND!" Rin chides loudly.

"AOI!" Rei hollers "MAKOTO-SENPAI!"

Smack!

"Oww." I groan.

"Some things never change do they Aoi Meowie." Makoto laughs.

"You said it Tachibanana." I shove him lightly.

"The winner is Tachibana Makoto!" the announcer declares.

"Congratulations Makoto!" I hug him. He runs his hand through his hair. I glance away. His hair looks amazing pushed back! I blush.

"Do you need an icepack?" Ami-chan gasps, running over.

"No." I reply.

"She always does that." Makoto assures.

"Wow." Ami-chan gasps. I wonder what the 'wow' was for.

~(^v^)~ Time Skip ~(^v^)~

"Oi!" Fubuki storms over. "What is THIS!" he holds out a phone to Mei-chan, Ami-chan, Nito' and I.

"Err...go Aoi-chan cheering?" Nito' shrugs.

"WHY WASN'T I INVITED TO BE A CHEERLEADER! I COULD HAVE COME IN A YELLOW UNIFORM AND POM POMS AND EVERYTHING!" Fubuki pouts.

"Dude!" Hinata snorts. "Don't tell me you actually own that stuff."

"Hinata, have you not seen the photos on his desk! Andrews Fubuki is a crossdresser." Sho chortals.

"Not a very good one though." Kaito grins.

"Isn't that Kaito's phone?" I cock a brow.

"I sent that photo to Kaito." Nito' grins.

"Oh my God...YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! SCHOOL WAS NEVER THIS WEIRD IN TOKYO!" Ami-chan enthuses.

"All girl schools are just collectives of bitchy swimmers." Mei-chan jabs her friend in the stomach.

"Like you can talk Mei-chan." I snigger.

"YOU SAID YOU FORGAVE ME!" Mei-chan stomps.

"We were wondering if you were coming to the swim club meeting today?" Sho blurts.

"Too. Tired. Need. For. Pocket. Sweat. Maximising." Nito' falls to his knees.

"Dude you were a superviser. Like first years can tire you out that much!" Hinata laughs.

"I think I'll pass guys." I wave them off.

"Duh, you swam what six races." I blush. Indeed I had swam six races.

"You are awesome Aoi!" Sho grins.

"Samezuka is bound to be proud to have you!" Hinata adds.

"Look Aoi-chan, you have more cheerleaders!" Ami-chan giggles.

"Why me." I whimper sacastically.

"Hey isn't tomorrow the day that the girls team do try outs." Kaito asks.

"THESE BITCHES SHALL BOW TO CAPTAIN MIKOSHIBA MEI!" Mei-chan declares theatrically.

"Bitches be like." Fubuki pauses to take a deep breath before impersonating, after sharing a glance with Hinata and Sho.

"Oh hail queen Mei. Let you bathe in baths of gold and never have strain again." they tease.

We laugh, going toward our respective rooms.