The girl paused and tread the water. The pool area was empty save for her and the sounds of her splashing. Sighing, Adira took a deep breath and sank beneath the chlorinated water. She kept her eyes opening, forcing herself down to the bottom of the pool. It was kind of peaceful, really. Just being suspended there, sun creating shadows on the walls of the pool. The girl had always enjoyed water; her parents had a pool put in for her 5th birthday because she couldn't be bothered to be anywhere else. She wasn't sure if they had noticed her sneaking off to the pool every night, but she did it anyways. Her minder at the time, an old woman named Nancy (or had it been Martha? Adira had had so many nannies' that it was difficult to keep track of names. They all had similar faces though; wrinkled, kind, and old) had noticed, but she just smiled and winked every morning when the little girl had walked into lessons, hair still smelling of chlorine.
Feeling her lungs tighten, the girl slowly made her way back up, cresting the surface of the water smoothly. She took another deep breath and proceeded to finish out her 20th lap. Adira sat on the stairs of the shallow end for a while, simply thinking. Her muscles ached, and she had bruises on her arms and back still from the falling books. They were mostly gone now, but they were still a little tender .But at least being a senshi had one benefit- accelerated healing powers. ********* had mentioned it, and Adira had noticed. She bruised easily, and usually the remnants lasted a lot longer than they had.
Being a senshi was a strange concept. She was born with the potential to be one, but the cat's got to pick and choose who to awaken? It didn't sound very fair. Adira still didn’t know if she liked the idea of it, but Sailor Iris had made her so mad, just assuming that she was better because she threw her fists around. The girl was still determined to fight her someday, and she would throw punches like a BOSS.
She stepped out of the pool, shivering at the cold draft that swept over her mostly bare skin which was no longer encased in the warmth of water. She stretched out her muscles on the cold tile floor, uncaring of how unpleasant it should have been. Adira had hired a personal trainer, and the man had quite literally kicked her butt. Tomorrow's appointment would be worse, her muscles would be still from today, but she could already feel the effects of her self defense course and training.
She lay back on the tile, staring straight up at the ceiling. She wasn't sure how long she had been laying there, but it must have been a while. A boy with shaggy blond hair and the red trunks associated with being a life guard edged into her view. He seemed to breath a sigh of relief at the obvious signs that she was still breathing and alive, though her silver blue eyes didn't leave the ceiling.
"Are you okay, miss?"
"Yes."
There was a pause of him waiting for her to say more. When it was apparent that she wasn't, he spoke up again. "Do you want help getting up?" He seemed like a sweet boy, really, but Adira was in no hurry to move anywhere. Finally, her eyes flicked across to meet his.
"Nope."
He looked confused. He looked really, really confused. "Oh." The shaggy blond hair disappeared from her view. She could hear arguing with someone in the corner, it sounded quite a bit like a manager. How annoying. The girl closed her eyes for a few seconds. When they opened again a fat squished man that smelled vaguely of chili was staring down at her. They stared at each other for a few seconds.
"Yes?" She was impatient; she just wanted to be left alone. Maybe she should have looked for a house with a pool instead of her loft.
"Ma'am, I'm really going to have to ask you to get up." Got, the smell got worse when his mouth opened. Adira's stomach turned a little.
"Why?" He puffed a bit at this, obviously frustrated.
"Because, you are a hazard to other people, and you might frighten our other patrons." It was a bad argument, they both knew it. Not bothering to stand up, her eyes flicked around the pool.
"Did someone complain?" It was late on Saturday at a high class club. The pool was deserted. They both knew this fact, and the manager puffed even more. He really was an annoyingly squishy man, and his face was starting to turn red from looking down over her.
"Well, no but-" The girl cut him off before he could squeeze out any more chili-scented words.
"Would 200 dollars be enough for you to shut up and leave me alone? $200 to leave me alone, at the pool, for one more hour." It was all she would offer, he would be a fool not to take it. I mean, why not? Split the profits with the kid, have him lock up, and no one would be the wiser. She was new patron after all; she'd just got finished paying for a full years membership, and half that was with a personal trainer. The squishy man disappeared from her view, and she heard the pool door slam. The shaggy haired young man came back into view.
"He said that I should deal with it. You can stay in here if you like for another hour, no money necessary. If you don't mind me doing homework that is. I get more done when I'm at the pool." He shrugged, offering her a smile which she returned back.
"That’s fine by me." She stuck a hand in the air, offering him an awkward handshake. "Adira Perses."
He reached down and they shook hands, just as awkwardly as she thought it would be. "Zac Jefferson." He left her view and went to sit on the life guards stand with a book in hand. Without much further ado, Adira slipped back into the pool, pushing her problems out of her mind with each arm stroke slicing through the water.
She'd always loved pools. And for that hour, nothing mattered except for the sound of the water moving, her controlled breath, and the smell of chlorine. Being a senshi was forgotten, the ache of her muscles was forgotten, and Adira Perses was forgotten. It was just a girl swimming, nothing more and nothing less.
At the end of the hour, she slipped out without a word and headed into the locker rooms. When she came back out, Zac had been shutting off all of the lights and prepping it for close. She slipped him a $100 dollar bill, figuring it was well worth the extra time.
