Chapter 9 - The Rowing Squad

"There might have been a time

I would give myself away

(Ooh) Once upon a time

I didn't give a damn

But now here we are

So what do you want from me?

What do you want from me?"

Once Dylan parked, me and him got out of his car. Rusty was sleeping in his doghouse and none of my parents were at home, they had gone to a job dinner. 

I didn't want to be alone, so I invited Dylan in. 

We sat silently on the living room's couch, his stare never living me. I wasn't crying anymore, they were not worth it. 

"Kiara..." Dylan started in a smooth tone. "Please tell me what's going on. What did Aiden do?"

As much as I didn't want to envolve Dylan in this, I knew I could never hide something this big from him, especially not after he saw me crying. I just didn't know if he was going to agree with my plan, but at this point, it didn't really matter.

I took a deep breath and without looking at him, I started talking.

"I found out what they were up to, and you're right, Dylan, it's not good. Apparently, they made a bet about kissing me and breaking my heart. Just for fun. Just like that." I said quickly.

"What?" Dylan's eyes widened and his face was contorted in rage. "But.. how... the sons of the bi--"

"I know, Dylan, but they're not worth it."

"They made you cry, Kiara! They were going to break your heart! We can't just sit here, we have to do something!"

"I'm going to do something. Dylan, I don't want you to do anything, otherwise they will find out I already know and my plan won't work."

"Kiara..."

"Dylan, please." I said firmly. "You have to trust me, I'm going to make them suffer."

"How?" Dylan asked, slightly preoccupied.

"First of all, I'm going to pretend I don't know about the bet." I started.

"But how can you do that? How can you even look them in the eye knowing what they are planning?"

"I'll be superior, Dylan, and so will you!" I declared. "Let them think they got me, that I fell for them and all that crap and then, instead of them breaking my heart, I'll break theirs."

"Kiara, they're the two biggest players in the whole school." He retorted. His face was getting more and more worried with every word I said. "How are you going to make them fall for you? They don't love anyone, they aren't capable of loving!"

"Well, then I'll have to change that." I determinedly stated. "I promise you, Dylan, they'll be the ones whose hearts are going to be crushed, completely shattered. They can't just play with me, I'm not one of their barbies!"

"I'm just afraid you'll end up getting hurt. This things never end well. What if... what if you fall for one of them?"

"After what they did to me?" I opened up my eyes widely. "Not gonna happen!"

"I don't know, Kiara, it doesn't sound good..." Dylan shook his head.

"It's the only way for them to taste their own poison." I reminded him.

"But then again how far are you willing to take it?" Dylan confronted me.

"I don't know and honestly, I don't care. The only thing I care about right now is seeing their stupid faces broken. "

"Kiara, it's senior year. Do you really want to spend it like this?"

"Weren't you the one saying we couldn't let this pass? I'm telling you that I will make them learn and you're acting all cautious!"

"Because it's a crazy plan and I'm afraid you'll get hurt!" Dylan said with a concerned look on his face.

"You don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself. I will. I'll be careful and smart. And what better way to spend senior year than playing a game?"

Dylan sighed.

"I'm warning you, Kiara. The game of hearts is a dangerous territory."

-------------------------

Sunday I woke up with a huge headache it seemed like I was with a hangover. I had decided not to shed another tear over the whole bet situation and instead focus on my anger and my plan. Of course I wasn't totally sure it was going to work or how it was going to be, but I knew I had to do it. 

Fortunately, it was Sunday. And Sunday meant the start of another rowing season, which was basically what I most liked to do on this world! 

I started rowing when I was twelve and I loved it. I felt so free on a boat, I can't even explain it. I had been doing swimming until I was twelve but I didn't want to go to competition style but neither did I want to leave sports, so my swimming coach at the time suggested rowing. I must say it was love at first sight. My favourite part was the competitions days, where we all gathered together and had a good time. Yup, me, the antisocial girl, liked rowing events. 

Because it was different. We were together because of something we loved, not because some stupid popular guy wanted to be even more popular. 

Without wanting to brag, I had won lots of competitions so far. I competed only as individual, I didn't enter the group competitions. Of course not everything was dreamy, I had to spend lots of hours practicing (I had rowing on Sundays, on Tuesdays and on Fridays), I also had to do lots of exercises, especially when competitions were near. It was tough, but I didn't mind at all.

I always felt relaxed with rowing and today I definitely needed it. I actually felt selfish for worrying so much about a stupid bet while on news people were dying of hunger or in wars. So I wasn't going to cry. I was going to be strong and face the problem, aka, play my own game. 

I got up from my bed, picked up some clothes, went to the bathroom, ate my breakfast and went outside the house for a walk with Rusty. 

When I came back my dad was washing his car outside. 

"Hey, Kiara." He greeted, as I hadn't seen him today yet.

"Hi, dad. Do you need help washing the car?"

"No, thanks. Dylan passed by and asked for you. Maybe you should go meet him at his house, but make sure you're back at lunch time." 

"Ok." I petted Rusty and made my way towards Dylan's house. I just hoped he didn't want to talk about the bet again, let alone try to make me give up on my plan.

I rang the bell and after a minute the door swung open, revealing a surprised Dylan. He probably didn't expect me to be all energetic and without tears falling down my face. 

"Will you invite me in?" I chuckled. Dylan opened the door and waited for me to walk inside, closing the door after him. 

"Are you ok?" He immediately asked.

"Yup. I decided that I'm not going to let those jerks influence me. I'm going to live my life and make them suffer. And please, Dylan, don't try to stop me."

"Fine." He said, resigned.

"Hi, Kiara." I heard Dylan's mom voice coming from their kitchen.

"Hi, Anna." I've known Dylan's family since forever, so there were no formalities between us. Anna was a nurse and Steve, Dylan's father, a mechanical engineer. Dylan also had a sister, Tracy, who was currently in college studying Fashion Design, and she was also a good friend of mine.

"Are you staying for lunch?" Anna asked once me and Dylan entered the kitchen.

"Sorry, my dad wants me at home."

"Rowing starts today, doesn't it?" Anna questioned.

"Yes. I'm a little nervous, actually. Of course I trained during summer, but it's not the same thing."

"It's a shame that Dylan never wanted to enter as well." Anna stated.

"I'm more an indoor sports kind of person. Don't get me wrong, I think rowing is a great sport and Kiara's great at it, but I just prefer basketball."

"Do you want to come with me today?" I asked. 

"Sure!" Dylan smiled and I was relieved our friendship was back. 

"Thank God. I didn't really feel like my parents driving me there."

Anna smiled at me understandingly.

"I wish you good luck, Kiara, not that you need it."

"Thanks." 

Dylan and I got out the kitchen and went outside. My father had already washed his car, which meant it was basically lunch time.

"Meet you at 2?" Dylan questioned.

"Yes, thanks, Dylan." 

-------------------------

Rowing practice started at 3 p.m which meant I had to eat three hours before so I could make digestion. After lunch, me and Dylan met near his car.

"Good luck, Kiara." My parents wished. It was ironic that one of the few moments I could actually be with my parents was filled with rowing. 

The rowing club I was enrolled in was thirty minutes away from my house when there was no traffic. Luckily today there was none so we arrived quickly. There were already many cars parked there. People from the whole area were enrolled in rowing here, as it was one of the biggest rowing clubs in the region. 

It was very big, with not only a river with good tracks, but also a restaurant, a cafe, a boathouse to store the racing shells (boats) and other equipment, locker rooms and even a gym where we had to train on the fearsome ergs.   

In competitions the club got full, and there were always man with kiosks and ice cream vans. 

Me and Dylan got out of the car and I picked my bag, where I had my rowing suit. We passed the parking lot and I started to see familiar people.

Oh, and I completely forgot. Rowers boys were tanned and muscled, and tended to walk shirtless when they weren't training. It was just another positive thing about rowing.

"I'm going to change, it won't take long." I said to Dylan.

"Ok, I'll wait for you near the boathouse."

I went to the female locker room, but before I could enter it I was interrupted by a girl with blonde-caramel hair and hazel eyes.

"Hello, I'm new here." She introduced herself and I immediately noticed a british accent on her voice. "I'm Ellie, by the way."

"Kiara." I greeted. "Are you new in rowing or in US?"

"US." She answered with a bright smile. She seemed nice. Usually people from rowing were more friendly than people from my school, which explained why I had more rower friends than school friends. "I'm from London, where I used to row, but my family moved here, so I decided to join this club. It seems really nice, actually."

"It is nice." I said, impressed. If she used to row in London, she was probably really good. "You're in Juniors, right?" I asked. People under the age of 19 were in Juniors.

"Yes. I'm seventeen. I brought my shell from London, do you think that's a problem?"

"I don't think so, but the coach probably will want to see it. Do you have a suit?"

"Yes."

"Then let's get changed." I said, finally entering the locker room. After we put our suits on, Ellie went to the boathouse with me, where Dylan was waiting. 

"Dylan, this is Ellie, she's new here. Ellie, this is Dylan, my best friend."

"Hi!" Ellie said enthusiastically and Dylan replied with a smile.

I entered the boathouse and quickly saw my racing shell. It was purple and only had one seat. 

Dylan and Ellie helped me taking it out.

"It's really nice." Ellie said while we carried it through the club. In the river there were already some people training, but most people were at the river's edge.

"Hi, Kiara." Roxy and Lori, my biggest friends in rowing, greeted. I gave both of them a hug. They also knew Dylan because he used to see me training and always went to competitions.

"Hey, Dylan!" Roxy exclaimed.

"You keep getting hotter everytime we see you!" Lori bluntly added. Dylan made a small smile in response. 

"Hey, girls, this is Ellie." I introduced. "Ellie, these are Roxy and Lori."

"Hello!" Roxy said. She had brown hair and the most piercing blue eyes. Roxy was more reserved than Lori, and more observer, just like me.

"Welcome!" Lori cheered. She was a redhead girl with beautiful green eyes, and with some freckles around her nose.  Her personality was cheerful and saucy. Unfortunately, none of them were in my school.

"Hi!" Ellie playfully answered back. She looked around, admiring the guys. "I must say American boys are hot."

We all laughed. We had fifteen minutes until training started. 

"Oh, by the way, my brother is also a rower. He must be around here somewhere." Ellie said.

"A British guy? Why didn't you say earlier? Is he hot?" Lori asked. I usually didn't like this type of comments, but I forgave Lori. "You are beautiful, so I'm guessing he must be really..."

"I most certainly am." We heard a voice from behind us. We all turned, looking at a boy who looked similar to Ellie. He also had blonde-caramel hair but instead of hazel eyes he had blue ones, and he had tattoos on his right arm and shoulder. Yup, he was hot.

"Cameron!" Ellie laughed at her brother.

"Hi there." Cameron said, looking at us. Well, he certainly was more interested in us girls than in Dylan.

"I'm Lori!" She immediately introduced herself.

"I'm Roxy." She said, more timidly. 

"Kiara." I simply announced.

"Nice to meet you all, girls." Cameron said with a thick british accent. He was going to be the center of attention of the girls here, I could see. 

We talked for more ten minutes and then my class gathered around the coach, Mr. Yanks, a well-built man around forty years old. Dylan sat nearby.

"Hello, team!" The coach greeted. "I'm really excited to have you all here again and start training with you. I must say that we have two new additions to the team, Ellie and Cameron Abrams. I hope you will make them feel at home. Now, I hope you have trained a lot during summer because there is no space here for lazy people, as you all know. Our first competition is within two months and I'm expecting not good, but excelent results. We will have to work hard and well, but I trust all of you will give your best. Now, enough with the talk. Let's row!"

"Just don't give up

I'm workin' it out

Please don't give in

I won't let you down

It messed me up, need a second to breathe

Just keep coming around

Hey, what do you want from me?

What do you want from me?"

Note: I'm not an expert on rowing, far from it, so I had to do some research about it, sorry if any information is wrong! But hey, blame wikipedia xD

There are some pictures of the rowing club on this chapter just so you can get an idea! And the music is "Whataya Want From Me" by Adam Lambert.