Darien Solski
"Mr. Solski." The detention prof, someone Darien hadn't had before, snapped at him yet again. He kept distracting Candy (as if she needed any distraction) and generally causing problems. He was bored. What does he expect me to do? Darien couldn't help thinking. Stare blankly at the wall? He ignored the part of his brain that reminded him he could have brought his homework like all the other people in the room with him. Darien firmly told that part of his brain to shut up. He sighed loud enough to earn a warning glare from the unknown teacher and began to stare at the clock. That is the absolute last time I ever help Candy. He watched the second hand move forward one and back two. If I ever get out of here.
"Dad? Joel? Mom?" Darien threw his bag onto the pile of clothes that occupied his bed.
"I'm the only one home, twerpling." Rosalind sat on the couch, feet on the coffee table, eating a pizza pocket. "Why're you so late?"
Rosie, as pretty much everyone called her, was Darien's older sister by a year and a half. Joel was her twin. "Candy. Where's everyone?"
"Dumped Kyo-whatever already?" Rosie tossed him her second pizza pocket and began to flick through the channels.
"Kyosei and no. I tried to give Candy an answer in physics. Got busted. Where's everyone?" Darien repeated the question as he bit into the hot snack.
"Mom's at a late meeting and dad's at hockey with Joel." Rosie finally tossed the flicker to her younger brother, deciding that nothing worth watching was on. "I'm going out with my buds. Mom only told me to stay home long enough to inform you that she would be home in time to take you to swimming."
"Ok. Is there anything out for dinner?" Darien wasn't supposed to eat before his lessons, but seeing as he already ate the pizza pocket he decided he may as well not starve.
"Hotdogs in the fridge. No buns." Rosie grabbed her coat and car keys. "There is bread."
"It's probably moldy." Darien was used to having the house to himself. His entire family thrived on being busy and their house was often void of food and people. "Mom hasn't been shopping in days."
"Yeah." Rosie opened the door. "But dad went yesterday. You may find something." She locked the door. "See ya twerpling." She quickly stopped herself before fully shutting the door. "Oh yeah! 'G'luck on your test."
"Thanks." Tonight was the night Darien went for his gold medallion.
"Don't drown." Rosie slammed the door as she left.
Darien grinned. "I'll try not to."
"Darien!" His mother flung the door open, shouting. She found her youngest son asleep on the couch. "Dari! What are you doing?"
Darien started at the sound of his mother's entrance and slid off the couch. "What?"
"I'm late! I expected you to be ready to go right now!" His mother began sorting out the many bags she was carrying. "Get ready quick. If you're super fast we might make it on time."
"Shit." Darien swore under his breath and raced to his room. He grabbed his swimming bag quickly and slid his shoes onto the wrong feet. He barely had time to grab his coat before his mother slammed the door after him. They ran to the elevator, catching it just as it was about to go down carrying an elderly couple. The man kindly held the door for them and they travelled the ten stories down. His parents hadn't wanted an apartment so high up, but their only other option had been in the basement. A quick dash to the car and they were off.
Darien quickly fastened his seatbelt and held onto the hand grips. His mother was �not- a good driver. "You're probably the only person who can make it from home to the Y in five minutes flat." The drive from their apartment building downtown to the YMCA would have taken anyone else near 30 minutes.
"Do you want to be late?" His mother smirked, fully knowing that if a police person or driving instructor ever saw her, she'd be banned from the roads for life.
Darien couldn't help yawning. "Why would they put testing on a Friday?"
"So your weekend would be free." His mother leaned on the horn, even though she'd been the one breaking the rules.
"Speaking of which, any chance I could go to a party this weekend?" Darien made sure he had all his stuff.
"Sure." His mother didn't bother asking where, she never knew where half her kids were anyways. "Good luck Dari." She dropped him off and disappeared down the road to a chorus of squealing tires and swear words.
"Thanks mom." Darien often found that he finished conversations with himself. He shook his head as he ran towards the locker room. In seconds he was changed and showered and on the deck with the rest of his class. Only two other people were there for testing, the others were there to get some laps in.
The instructor told everyone to warm up a bit and the entire class leapt into the water. Darien loved the pool here. The water was always warm, just the right temperature. He floated on his back for a few moments, letting the water swell around him. "Swim!" His instructor threw a beach ball at him. Dari tossed it back and began his laps. A whistle brought them all back to the side of the pool.
"Okay. The three of you I'm testing, get out. The rest of you, set the buoys up. You can go crazy on that end of the pool." The instructor unlocked the cabinet and the other members of the class begun hauling the heavy line of buoys into the water. Darien stood with the two other guys and shivered. Eventually he had to bit his tongue to keep his teeth from chattering.
"Going to the party at the river?" He was pretty sure the guy standing beside him was Josh, but he wasn't positive.
"Yeah. You?"
"Sure." Maybe Josh grinned. "I hear that there's gonna be a race across the river."
"That's suicide." Darien stretched. "The water's freezing this time of year and the current's too swift."
"That's why I'll make it across and you won't." The other student grinned.
"That's why I'll go to the prom and you won't." Darien had never been one to give into peer pressure. If he thought something was stupid, he'd make sure you knew about it.
"Chicken." Josh snorted, dismissing him as a weaker person.
"Dead." Darien whispered the comment to himself, not caring what anyone else thought of him. "And I'm not pulling your frozen ass out of the water either."
"Button up." The instructor blew his whistle. "Okay, everybody in the water."
The three thankfully returned to the warm water, diving under the surface a few times to wet their hair. Darien finally stopped shaking. This is it.
It had been a bad dive, that's all there was too it. It had been a bad time and now Josh wasn't returning to the surface. "Josh!" The instructor yelled his name, searching the 5 meter deep pool for any trace of his pupil. "Josh!" He began running towards the edge of the pool, ready to jump in.
Darien beat him to it. He had been standing on the end of the diving board, waiting for his own turn. He'd seen Josh's unsteady approach, whereas the instructor was farther away and wasn't prepared for the fall. Josh had leapt into the air, attempted a dive, and fallen. His head and smacked against the lower diving board. Darien was off the end of the board and in the water before the teacher could say his name.
The first thing he realized was how much deeper the pool seemed when you knew you had to find someone under the water. It also seemed oddly darker. He shut his eyes against the sting of the chlorine, but forced them open again. He saw a flash of orange, and was glad Josh had those outrageously loud trunks on. He swam down towards the body, when his teacher appeared, grabbing Josh around the waist. Darien helped swam over and helped pull his classmate to the surface and onto the deck.
The instructor told everyone to back off and Darien crouched shivering a few feet away. He was tempted to get back in the pool, save for the fact that you could see a thin trickle of blood floating through the water. "Solski." His instructor snapped. "Call 911."
Darien merely nodded and took off at a dead run. It was the only time he'd ever ran along the pool deck. He threw open the heavy doors and ran into the lobby, the cold fall wind blowing on his wet skin. His teeth were chattering horribly, but his training pulled him through. He dialled quickly, told the operator all the vital information, and stayed on the line. He finally hung up the receiver as one of the ambulance workers tossed him a blanket on his way past.
Frost in his hair and positive that he had pneumonia, Darien returned to the pool deck. Josh was sitting up, conscious and completely red faced. As he got closer, Darien heard the ambulance guy mention something about a light concussion and no lasting damage. Darien collapsed into one of the chairs, still freezing.
"Y'okay Solski?" The instructor was the only person who noticed his return.
He nodded, shaking too hard to form words. He pointed toward Josh, indicating that he wanted to know what was wrong.
Josh smiled. "A headache. Heard you tried to play the hero."
Now it was Darien's turn to go red. "Y-y-yeah." He was still shaking.
"So, expecting me to say thank you?"
"N-n-naw." Darien grinned. "B-b-but I ex-expect y-y-you to s-say y-you w-won't s-s-swim t-the r-river."
They both laughed.
"How'd it go twerpling?" Joel asked as he entered the apartment. Both him and his twin used the unaffectionate nickname.
"Cancelled. Someone almost drowned." He still felt cold, but had managed to stop shivering. "Bad dive."
His brother grunted an acknowledgement of the statement and turned back to the tv. Darien grabbed a cold hotdog and popped it in his mouth before going to the computer room and chatting with Kyosei on ICQ. She was complaining about her family again. Darien sighed. He honestly didn't see what was so terrible about them. He cut the conversation short by saying that he needed to work on his costume. Darien may not love his family, but he didn't hate them passionately like Kyosei did. He turned off the computer and joined his brother and mother in the living room. He didn't bother asking where his father or sister were. "You have any Halloween costumes kicking around?"
"Not to my knowledge." Joel was still in most of his hockey gear. "I gotta suit kicking around though."
>"In case I want to be what? A man?" Darien was exhausted.
"A prince?" Joel offered. "Go to be twerpling. Mom told me what happened at swimming and you look like hell warmed over. I'll get the suit."
"Thanks." Darien headed for bed.
Rosie poked her head out the window. "Someone might want to tell your friend that he can't honk loud enough for us to hear up here on the tenth floor."
"Pathetic." Joel agreed. When they were apart, no one could have guessed Rosie and Joel were twins. When seen together, no one could say they weren't.
Sometimes Darien wished he had a twin�Joel and Rosie looked so natural together. He examined himself in the mirror again. "This is going to look really last minute and thrown together."
"That's because it �is- last minute and thrown together." Rosie smiled.
"You're friend is deafening the neighbourhood. You better get going." Joel shut the drapes.
"See ya twerpling." The two twins said it at the exact same moment.
Off to the party�
Backgrounds from All Hallow's Eve Backgrounds.
Pictures from Here (yes I forgot the name and am too lazy to go check).
