Road Trip (11 page)

“Look,” Tristan said. “There's the New York team.”

I'd already noticed them and moved in the other direction. “I wonder how they did today?” I asked.

“Only one way to find out,” Tristan said. “Let's ask them.”

“Do you think that — ” I stopped talking, since Tristan had already turned and walked toward them. Reluctantly I followed, and Kia trailed behind me.

“Hey, New York!” Tristan yelled over the noise. “How'd you do today?”

“We won our division,” one of them said.

“As expected,” another said. “And you?”

“No problem,” Tristan said. “Not even a contest.”

“
You
won your division?” one of them questioned.

“You sound surprised,” Kia said, sounding annoyed.

“Maybe I should be surprised that
your
team won their division.”

“It would be a surprise — no, a shock — if we didn't win!”

“He's right,” Tristan said, jumping in.

Why was he defending these guys?

“I bet everybody here at this whole tournament figures you're the team to beat,” Tristan said.

“You got that right!” one of their players said.

“Bank on it!” another trumpeted.

“And not just the division, but the whole tournament. You're supposed to win, aren't you?” Tristan continued.

“No more truer words were ever spoken,” another New York player agreed.

“So if you win, then you're just doing what's expected, right?” Tristan said.

“Of course.”

“And if you lose, it would be a real disappointment, like choking big time, right?” Tristan looked over and winked at me. Now I knew what he was
doing: he was trying to psych them out.

“Well… I guess so… ”

“Wow,” Tristan said. “That means that unless you win, everybody will look at you all and think you're nothing but a bunch of big choke artists, especially all the other players from the New York teams that won before.”

“My brother was on the team two years ago,” one of the New York players said. “He'll never let me hear the end of it… never.”

“Just think, if you reach the finals and lose, then you'll still be just a bunch of losers. Nothing less than winning everything will be good enough,” Kia said. She'd obviously figured out what Tristan was doing.

“And you'd go home and everybody, I mean everybody, would be so disappointed in you, or mad, or make fun of you. That would be hard. I don't envy you guys,” Tristan said.

“Not like us,” I added. “We've already done better than people thought we would. We're already winners no matter what happens.”

“And you guys,” Kia said, “are losers unless you win the whole thing. Talk about pressure. We better get going now.”

The three of us turned and walked away, trying hard to stop from giggling.

“That was fun,” I yelled to Kia and Tristan.

They nodded in agreement.

“It's the only fun we've had in here,” Kia said.

“It's too hot,” Tristan added.

“And I haven't even been able to play a game yet,” I continued.

“Maybe we should go for a swim now,” Kia suggested.

“Swim?”

“In the pool. Since everybody in the world is in here, the pool must be practically empty,” Kia reasoned.

“Do you think Coach will let us?” I asked.

“He said we could go in as long as we didn't swim… you know, just for a dip. How about me and Tristan round up the guys and you go and ask?”

“Why me?”

“Why not you? Besides, I think it's better we get out of here before the New York team realizes what we did to them,” Kia said.

She had a point there. I started off through the arcade, weaving my way through the crush of kids. It was impossible to move without bumping into or brushing by people. I pushed open the glass door and was hit by a rush of cool, quiet air. The door swung shut, sealing in the sounds. I took a deep breath of air. It felt good in my lungs.

My father and Coach were just up ahead. Standing with them were a few other men, including the mayor.

“That isn't right!” Coach suddenly bellowed as he jumped to his feet.

I froze in my tracks.

“We're playing by them! You show me one place in the rules where it says that this is — ” He stopped mid-sentence as he saw me standing there, watching. He motioned for me to come.

“Hi, Nicky,” my father said.

“How long have you been standing there?” Coach asked.

“I just came out of the arcade… just now.”

“Maybe you should go back inside and join the rest of the guys… um, players,” Coach said.

I went to go and then stopped. “We were thinking it was too crowded in there and too hot. We wanted to go for a swim — I mean, a dip in the pool… if that's okay?”

“The pool?” Coach asked, as if he didn't understand the word.

“The outdoor pool. You said we could if we just soaked and didn't swim. We'd just go for a while,” I suggested.

“It would give us a chance to continue our discussion,” the mayor said to him.

“I could go with them,” my father suggested.

“It might be better if you come with me,” Coach said.

“There's a lifeguard, and you could join them
right after we're through,” one of the men said. He looked familiar, and then I realized he'd been up on the stage at the big table. He was one of the officials of the tournament.

Coach didn't answer right away. He looked like he was thinking.

“I guess that would be all right, for just a while. What I need, then, is for the whole team to go and everybody to stay together,” Coach said.

“And it won't be for long,” my father added.

“Sure, we'll just go for a while,” I agreed.

“We'll meet you down there shortly,” Coach said. “And Nick… you're in charge.”

“No problem. Kia and Tristan are rounding everybody up now,” I said, and turned to go.

“Nick!” my father called out.

He walked toward me. “I don't want you talking to anybody about what you just heard.”

“I didn't hear anything.”

He cocked one eyebrow at me. “I didn't hear
enough
to understand what's going on. What is going on?”

“Nothing that you need to worry about. There's just a little disagreement about rules and eligibility.”

I nodded my head, although I had absolutely no idea what he meant.

“And Nick, keep an extra eye on Kia.”

Everybody had thought the pool was a great idea. We'd gotten out of the arcade, up to our rooms and into our suits in record time. Approaching the pool, it was apparent that it was practically deserted. There were some older people and a couple of families with small children, but nobody else.

“Group cannonball!” Jamie screamed.

Almost all at once people dropped their towels, kicked off their flip-flops and pulled off T-shirts, scrambling to the side of the pool. We all got there at almost the same instant.

“One… two… three… jump!” Jamie yelled, and we all threw ourselves into the air.

I splashed down, breaking the surface and plunging underwater! It felt fantastic! I bobbed up to the surface and saw choppy waves bouncing back and forth across the surface of the pool. Across the way, on her tower, the lifeguard jumped to her feet. She looked like she wasn't happy, but didn't say a word.

I took a few strokes back toward the side of the pool. Looking up I saw Kia standing there – she hadn't jumped in with the rest of us.

“Hey, Kia!” Tristan yelled. Obviously I wasn't the only one who'd noticed. “Come on in, the water's great!”

“Maybe she doesn't want to get her hair wet,”
somebody suggested.

“Yeah, you can never tell when you might end up on camera again and you have to look your best!” L.B. laughed.

I cringed. I expected Kia to say something. Instead she turned and started to walk away. What was she doing?

“Come, on, Kia, I was just joking,” L.B. yelled out.

I quickly pulled myself out of the pool and started after her. I looked back. L.B. was doing the same thing. I knew he hadn't meant anything mean – he wasn't a mean guy. I raced after her, L.B. right behind me.

“Kia, wait up!” I yelled.

She turned and stopped at the end of the pool.

“The water's really nice and it was your idea to go into the pool to begin with, so you can't just leave!” I pleaded.

“Who's leaving?” she asked.

“I was just joking around; come on in the pool,” L.B. said.

“I am going in,” Kia said. “I just thought I'd go in a different way.”

“Different?” I asked.

She placed one hand on the ladder leading up to the two high diving boards and then smiled.

“You don't mean…?”

Her smile widened, she kicked off her flip-flops
and then started up the ladder. I stood at the bottom, looking up as she took step after step. There were two boards, one partway up, and a second right at the very top. Jumping from the low one would take a lot of guts. Going to the very top would be like jumping from an airplane. It had to be twenty feet high. I was sure she'd just go to the lower one.

Kia reached the landing at the first board. She stopped and looked around. She looked down at me and then started out for the board.

“Be careful!” I yelled up.

She slowly walked out onto the board. It bounced with each step she took. Carefully she made her way to the very end of the board. It dipped slightly under her weight. She gazed down at the water beneath her.

I noticed that the sound of the guys splashing and fooling around had stopped. I looked over at them. They were all staring at Kia. Actually, everybody in or around the pool was looking at her. The lifeguard was still in her chair, but her eyes were focused on the tower.

“You can do it, Kia!” Jamie called out.

I felt like yelling up, “You don't have to do it,” but I kept my mouth shut. I knew there was no point in even trying to talk Kia out of, or into, anything. Once she'd decided on doing something, there was no use in trying to confuse her with
reason, logic or the facts. At least she'd chosen the lower board.

Kia bounced at the end of the board, and it dipped dangerously.

“Come on, Kia… jump before you fall,” I said under my breath.

“She can swim… right?” L.B. asked anxiously.

“Yeah, she's a good swimmer,” I reassured him. “But I know she's never jumped off a diving board from that high up before.”

“Look!” L.B. called out. “She's coming down!”

Kia had turned and walked off the board. She was coming back down and – she wasn't coming back! She had reached the ladder and started up for the high board!

“Kia, what are you doing?” I yelled up.

“Figure it out,” she called back down.

Without thinking, I grabbed onto the ladder and started up after her. Maybe if I talked to her I could convince her that she… who was I fooling? Then again, maybe I could tell her that Coach had told me we could go swimming, but that he also told me nobody should go off the tower. She'd believe that, wouldn't she?

I doubled my pace up the tower, reaching the first landing before Kia had reached the top of the second. Man, did I hate heights. I grabbed onto the railing and, holding on firmly, started
up the next flight.

“Kia! You can't do this,” I puffed as I reached the top landing. “Coach said you can't!”

Kia threw me a look of disbelief. “Coach isn't here and he really didn't say anything about the tower, right?”

“Well… ”

“I can always tell when you're lying,” she said.

“And I can always tell when you're going to do something stupid,” I snapped back.

“I'm not doing anything stupid. I'm just jumping in the pool. Coach said we were allowed to jump into the pool.”

“This isn't what he meant and you know it!”

“I guess since he's not here, the only way we'll find out if I'm wrong is if somebody tells him. Are you going to tell?”

“You know I wouldn't do that. Nobody on the team will if you don't want them to.”

“Then I'm going to jump.” She paused. “Did you come up here to jump too?”

“Of course not!”

“Too bad, because boy are you going to look like a big chicken when I jump and you crawl back down the ladder.”

I shook my head in disbelief. Did she really think she could get me to do this by calling me a chicken?

Kia walked off the platform and onto the board.
It bounced slightly under her feet as she slowly and deliberately moved farther out. She looked over the side at the water below. I held onto the railing with one hand and looked down. We were a long way up – a long way.

“Kia, can you just explain to me why you're doing this?” I asked.

“I'm going for a dip in the pool, like I suggested when we first drove by the pool yesterday.”

“You know what I mean. Is it because of people kidding you about the TV news thing?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“Then what?” I asked.

“Because I want to,” she said.

Kia turned around, walked to the very end of the board, bounced twice and jumped!

I gasped in disbelief at her sudden disappearance, which was followed by a loud splash and a cheer from everybody watching. I leaned out even farther. I was just in time to see her come back up to the surface, wave to the crowd and then swim to the side. Thank goodness she was okay.

“Your turn next, Nick!” Tristan yelled up.

“Come on, Nick, you can do it!” Jamie screamed.

“Do a cannonball!” Jordan called out.

I watched as Kia climbed out of the pool to join everybody else on the deck. People slapped her on the back. I felt very alone, very exposed, standing
by myself up on the tower while everybody else was so very far below me.