I was stuck in gym 3 with some swimmers after my first event. It was really quiet in the gym because most of the swimmers were swimming their events and I got bored since there was nothing to do in the gym. I didn’t know where Carina went, and I had to wait for my next event that was probably 100 years later. Then, I saw coach Ariel walking around in the gym trying to find someone.  

“when is my next event?” I went and asked her. 

“just sit and wait, I’ll call you later.” she replied. 

She was right about to walk away when she turned around and said: “Daisy, why don’t you swim for the 12th grader’s medley relay. One of them didn’t come and we couldn’t find her.” 

When I heard that I was shocked and, in my head, I was thinking NONONONONONONO WHY ME! I was confused as in why she would replace a 12th grader with a third grader since 12th grader’s speeds are way faster than me.  

Head shaking, mind racing, “Naaah.” I said to her. 

“Why not? You have nothing to do right now. Quickly get ready.” she said. 

I hesitated for a long time but clearly, I couldn’t say no since she already said I was going to do it and she really needed my help so, I got my goggles, took off my jacket, and went to the place where the 12th graders in their relay team waited and I also waited there… not knowing what to do. There were a group of girls who were blabbing about the person that did not come to the swim meet, so I knew that those were the people I was going to swim for. When I waited there, there were many people standing there chatting even if they weren’t going to swim, and one of the people that were chatting suddenly pat my head from behind because she wanted to see who was going to swim for the 12th graders and then I turned around and she gave me some advice by telling me it would be better to cover my ears with my swim cap. I was like alrightt since I didn’t know what I should say. Then, Coach Ariel came and told them that I was going to swim for them, and they were like oookay while one of them were calling that swimmer that did not come one last time trying to find them. Then, coach Ariel told me that I was going to swim breaststroke for them, and I was like GOOD! THANKGOODNESS IT WAS A STROKE I WAS FASTER AT. Soon, we went outside to the place where you sit and wait near the pool and the other 12th graders that my team and I were going against looked fast. Among all the anxiety, the thing that scared me the most was “what if my goggles fall off when I’m diving or when I’m swimming?” that was literally the thing I feared the most when I’m at swim meets. Anyways, we finally got to the diving board. “BEEP!” the timer thing roared. The first swimmer dived into the pool and swam her 50 meters backstroke. While she was swimming, for the whole time I was pushing my goggles towards my eye socket so there’s a less chance of my goggles falling off. When the person was almost done with her 50 meters backstroke, I got on the diving block being ready to swim my 50 meters breaststroke. Once she touched the end of the pool, I dived in. Kicking, gliding, and repeating those steps, I swam my breaststroke and tried not to let the other people pass me. When I dived into the water it didn’t really feel so cold since I was too focused on keeping up our place in the relay. After I did my breaststroke, someone dived in; I got out of the water and waited till the other people in my group were done. Then, I heard some 12th graders behind me saying: “Wow this girl is actually fast. She did pretty good!”. That was nice to hear and I was glad that my goggles didn’t fall off, we were not last place yet, and we were pretty in front/faster than most of the other swimmers we were swimming against.  

After the whole relay ended, we got second place and when I was walking back to gym 3, one of the members in my relay team came up to me and said: “you did really good! ”.