The Suffering by M.J. Mars

Author:M.J. Mars [Mars, MJ & Publishing, Wicked House]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-02-23T16:00:00+00:00

12

Sometimes, people are worse

Cassie had few energy reserves for relay swim training that morning. Like her relationship with Martin, her already tenuous kinship with her team was growing more fractured. She had thought she’d built some bridges by inviting them to Kyle’s welcome home party, but as usual she’d been too optimistic. Jonah had screwed the chance of her building any friendship with Tara, and the girl’s misplaced hostility towards her was rubbing off on the rest of the relay team. A small part of her wanted to skip the group training altogether. Sometimes it didn't seem worth the hassle.

She steeled herself in front of her bedroom mirror, knowing that swimming usually took her to a place where she didn’t have to think about personal problems. There was no way she would miss the chance to ditch the stress of her argument with Martin in a cloud of chlorine.

The household had been subdued after the events of the night before. She’d expected Tad to sleep in, but when she walked into the kitchen, he sat bolt upright at the table, his long fingers wrapped around a mug of black coffee. “You feeling better, Ugly?”

“I’m waiting for Pete,” Tad told her, anxiously checking his phone.

“He’ll be all right.”

Tad glanced up at her and shot a look that was so unlike him it startled her. It was a look she’d have expected from Lance. Even from herself. A churlish arch of an eyebrow that dared her to repeat what she’d said. It was a look that said, Really? You really think he’s okay?

Instead of rising to it, she walked up behind him and wrapped him in a bearhug. His skin was cold to the touch and his clothes smelt like a book that had been left festering at the back of a damp old cupboard. “It’s gonna be okay,” she whispered into his back.

Tad just stared down at his coffee, saying nothing.

Cassie arrived at training wearing her swimsuit under her clothes. She tore off her sweater and jogging bottoms in the communal changing area, slinging them into her drawstring swim bag. She hooked her goggles strap over her wrist before tugging the swim hat over her head and securing it in place, tucking her hair into the rubber rim at the back.

“What reeks?” she heard a voice behind her hiss.

She turned, her heart plummeting. Three of the girls from her swim team were huddled in the corner, turned into each other conspiratorially, their noses wrinkled in distaste.

Cassie breathed in, instantaneously aware of the sour salt stench of the seaside that surrounded her.

Coach Morris yelled from the corridor, “Coming in in ten seconds! Make yourselves decent, ladies.”

He appeared approximately three seconds later, striding through the changing rooms with his clipboard propped against his forearm.

The girls snickered at something one of them had said, their narrowed eyes cutting in Cassie’s direction, their lips turning down in sneers of disgust.

She blushed and ducked her head, wrapping her hands around her upper arms and hoping the smell would fade before Coach got a whiff of it.

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