Success at Silver Spires (12 page)

I concentrated hard on staying as still as I possibly could, because that was the only way we were going to stop the scull from capsizing. But Holly was flailing about and saying, “Oh no! Oh no!”

“It's okay, Holly, try not to panic, we'll be okay…”

But the boat was lurching further and further down to one side.

“No, it's no good! No! No!” screamed Holly.

And that was when I knew there was nothing more I could do. I tried so hard not to panic myself, just quickly pulled my feet out of the shoes as the boat turned right over and the cold water hit me and took my breath away. I pushed myself to the surface urgently and got a terrible shock when I realized that Holly was still underneath. Then I understood with a jolt that she must have got her foot stuck in one of the shoes, so I grabbed hold of her under her arms and eased her up to get her head out of the water.

“It's okay,” I said, through my chattering teeth, as I trod water hard. “I can release your foot. Just give me a second.” I reached under the scull until my hand came into contact with the metal and then the shoe. I noticed at that moment that Holly's face was really white, and knew I had to work quickly. “Hold tight to the side of the scull, Holly,” I said gently, as I released her foot. “There you are.”

She was shivering terribly, looking really upset, and I noticed that she'd cut her arm on something. Blood was mixing with the water, sending pink streams trickling down her arm.

“I think Ryan's spotted us. He's on his way,” I carried on, trying to reassure her. And thinking about Ryan made me remember something else we'd talked about in the swimming pool when we'd done the capsize drill. “Let's leave the boat upside down, Holly. Here, I'll help you get up on top of it, then your body won't lose its heat so fast.”

So that's how we waited for Ryan, me treading water, stiff and tense, Holly like a rag doll; both of us silent, both staring straight ahead. And it was only then that I noticed the name of our boat for the first time as I read it slowly upside down:
Carla Conrad
. What a coincidence! It was the name of the boat that Antonia had said she liked best.

My gaze shifted back to Holly. Her eyes were very red, and I wondered if it was because of the water or whether she'd been crying.

“Look, Ryan's just about here,” I said, to try and comfort her, because I'd never seen her like this before.

“You're all right, Holly,” said Ryan in a calm voice as he pulled alongside. “Come on, let's get you in here.” He helped her into his little launch and wrapped her in a thermal blanket. “Don't worry about your arm. A little blood goes a long way when it's mixed with water!”

“My f-foot got stuck,” Holly said in a small voice.

Ryan looked puzzled as he reached underneath our upturned scull. “Let's see,” he said. “Yes,” he said slowly. “That's odd. The string's broken.” He looked from one to the other of us. “Did you get the boat that Ben told you to get?”

Holly didn't answer, and I didn't actually know the answer because I hadn't been there.

“Well, not to worry,” Ryan carried straight on, looking at Holly's white face. “These things happen. Sit down there, Holly. That's right, it's warmer on the floor of the boat. You won't feel the wind so much.” Next he turned his attention to me. “What about you, Sasha? Do you want to come in here and get warm? I can get one of the others to bring the scull back. But I reckon you'd be able to scull the double back on your own. It's up to you.”

“I'll scull it back,” I said firmly, even though I was shivering with cold by then.

I was determined to manage on my own and I listened carefully as Ryan gave me instructions to arrange the blades so they were parallel with the boat.

“Well done,” he said. “Now stand on the rigger so you can reach the far rigger.”

I did as I was told and managed to pull the boat over without getting hit by either of the blades.

“Good work!” said Ryan. “Okay, I'll hold the boat steady while you get yourself back in.”

It only took me a few seconds and Ryan seemed pleased with me, but then in a more serious voice he said, “So, what exactly happened out there, girls? What do you think it was that made you capsize?”

I felt myself tensing right up, and didn't know what to say. Holly was looking down, saying nothing at all, and the silence was going on too long. Ryan, meanwhile, looked from one to the other of us, waiting.

“Er…I think it was that we both suddenly felt tired,” I managed to stutter, “and kind of…lost our rhythm…”

Holly lifted up her head and turned to look at me. I wasn't sure what the look was saying, but it only lasted for a second, then her eyes went down again as Ryan began a bit of a teachery lecture, which seemed to be aimed at me. I couldn't work out why at first, but then I realized that, of course, Ryan thought
I'd
been the one to set the fast speed, because I was the one at bow.

“Well you were certainly sculling at a heck of a speed. I reckon you were just pushing yourselves too hard.” He leaned forward a little and looked straight into my eyes. “Try not to be too ambitious next time, please?”

I felt myself going red, even though I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, and that made me cross with myself. Why didn't I just tell Ryan what had really happened? But I knew the answer to that question. I was scared of how Holly would react.

“Right.” Ryan nodded, as if to signal that the inquisition was over. Then he got on his phone and started talking to one of the coaches at the landing stage to ask her to get towels organized and a warm drink, and also to ask Miss Fosbrook to fetch Holly's and my dry clothes from her car. He then asked for another coach to come out and check I got in safely.

“Celia's on her way. You'll be fine now, Sasha,” he said, turning to me as he put his mobile back in his pocket.

I nodded.

“Okay, see you back there!”

Then he was gone. But as he switched on the motor and his launch zoomed off I saw that Holly had sat up and was looking at me. Our eyes met just for a second and there seemed to be a question in them, but I didn't know what it was.

I got a nice surprise when I found myself back on dry land, because the coaches and various other students I'd never met before were acting as though I was a hero, congratulating me on looking after Holly and then managing to get the boat back in. Two students who were quite a bit older than me said they'd walked round the lake and seen us from another angle and thought how professional we looked. Miss Fosbrook laughed and said she'd give me a big hug once I was dry, but she didn't want to get sopping wet herself. Then she told me she thought Holly and I were amazing rowers, and one little capsize didn't matter. I thought how kind she was being.

Celia gave me a hot drink and told me to take it up to the clubhouse, where Holly was getting changed and where Miss Fosbrook had left my dry clothes. I made my way up there, feeling my footsteps dragging as I drew nearer, because I so didn't want to find myself alone with Holly again.

“Hi,” she said as I went in, which gave me a shock, because I'd been expecting her usual silence. But then I got an even bigger shock, because she was giving me a sort of wobbly smile.

I grabbed my clothes and took them into the loo to get changed in private, as it was easier than being with Holly. But when I came out I found she was still standing there in exactly the same position she'd been in before, and was staring at me with round eyes in her pale face.

“I…did something I shouldn't have done…” she said hesitantly.

I waited, wondering what on earth she was going to say.

“I…I didn't take the boat Ben told me to take.”

My head was spinning, because at that moment I thought I understood what must have happened, and yet…I couldn't believe it.

“I didn't think it mattered. The one I took looked just the same…only I liked the name better.”

I could tell from her eyes there was more to come, so I waited, my heart beating with the gradual realization that my guess had been right.

“Ryan was really cross with me just now. He said the boat I took was waiting to have the heel restraint changed. That's why…my foot got stuck.”

I nodded but stayed silent, feeling suddenly sorry for her as she looked so upset.

“Th-thank you for not telling Ryan it was my fault that we capsized,” she then said, in the same small voice she'd used in the boat.

And suddenly I understood what the question in her eyes had been. She'd wanted to know why I hadn't told Ryan the real reason we'd capsized.

I didn't know what to say. “Er…that's…okay.”

Holly's voice still sounded weak. “He knows…now, because…I've told him what happened…really.”

I still wasn't sure what to say, and when I thought about it, I didn't actually know what had happened myself. “So…what
did
happen, Holly?” I asked her quietly.

She drew her breath in slowly, then began to speak hesitantly. “I thought…you might be wishing…we could go faster. I thought you…might be bored rowing with me. When Ryan put you at bow I worried that he didn't think I was as good as you…and…” Suddenly she started gabbling at full speed and the words tumbled out of her mouth as her eyes grew bigger and bigger, which made her face seem paler and paler. “I felt stupid because I've done lots of sculling before and you hadn't done any, and yet you were just as good as me… And I had to prove myself. So I just kept talking to myself, telling myself to try harder…but you were easily keeping up, so then I tried to make myself go even faster, and still you were easily keeping up—”

I had to interrupt her because she'd got that so wrong. “No, I wasn't. My arms were dropping off!”

“So were mine!” she said.

And then she stopped and looked at me, and I saw her eyes change, and that made mine change too, because I wondered if she was picturing us, like I was, in our double scull out there on the lake, both struggling away, because we each thought the other wanted to go faster. And the picture was so funny that I suddenly burst out laughing and a second later so did Holly.

It was one of those giggling fits that almost hurts your stomach, because you're laughing so hard, and I knew Holly felt the same, because she clutched her stomach with one hand and reached out to lean on me with the other. And there we stood, doubled over, laughing our heads off, until Holly's arm went round my shoulder and she suddenly hugged me and whispered, “Sorry, Sasha.”

“That's okay,” I said, feeling my throat hurting, because there was something really touching about those two words of hers. I knew it must have taken a lot for her to say them.

She drew back but kept her eyes on mine. “No, I mean sorry for…everything. I was just so…jealous. You see, I've always been pretty average at sports and I was so happy when I heard that we could do this sculling course, because I could show people that at least I was good at something, but then I felt as though you were better than me and kind of taking over.”

“I didn't mean to…”

“I know you didn't. It was totally my fault.”

“But thank you for not telling on me about using the rowing machine that time when there were no teachers around,” I said, feeling my face getting hot.

“Well, actually…to tell the truth, I'd already had a go on it myself!”

I gasped and was about to jokingly tell her off when I saw that her eyes had filled with tears. So then it was me hugging
her
. And that's how we were when Celia came in.

“Aha!” said Celia, her eyes dancing. “Sign of a true teamship. Big hugs after an accident!” Then she laughed at herself. “Not sure if there's such a word as a ‘teamship', but I quite like it anyway!”

Holly and I both laughed happily, then Ryan appeared.

“Do you want the bad news or the good news?” he asked.

Neither Holly nor I spoke.

“Okay, well the bad news,” he said, plunging on, “is that the course is well and truly finished, even for you two.”

I nodded, feeling a weight of sadness come over me.

“But the good news is that there's an inter-school double sculls race next Wednesday at five o'clock. It's a very highly regarded race and we've got someone famous presenting the trophy to the winning team. Three schools have entered, and as you two have proved yourselves to be exceptional, I've already got permission from Silver Spires for you to be in it too! No one's expecting you to win, obviously, but it'll be great experience. So now there are four schools!”

I felt a gasp of pure happiness welling up inside me as I turned to Holly and saw that her tears seemed to be sparkling now.

“That's so cool!” she said, reaching for my hand.

Ryan looked at me.

“Yes, it's fantastic,” I agreed, gripping Holly's hand tight, “because we're such a good teamship!”