Silvia was dumbfounded by this as she was left all alone in the pool.
He made a deal with me, and now he is trying to back out? How rude. I can't let him get away with it!
Seeing that he was gone already now and could not follow him to the changing room, she decided to stay for a swim. She made a few dozen laps back and forth, practising all strokes.
I really missed this feeling... but I don't think I miss the competition. The stress, the crowd, the nonstop motion. Why can't swimming be just this?
After a while, Silvia looked at the clock. It was midnight.
"Time to go home. I hope James is alright, I have never left him alone this long before."
----
Getting back home, Silvia saw that her brother had left her a note with dinner in the fridge. She ate it quickly and went to sleep next to her brother, cuddling with him.
The next morning, they went through the same routine with breakfast, and they were both on their own way to school. In her painting class, she spent the day learning about different techniques used by historical painters and practising their styles. Overall, it was quite an interesting lesson, but Silvia still could not get over Lucas.
Why did he just leave me like that yesterday? What can I do to make him my model? Is this what mother used to say, the feeling when you find your muse? But she said there will only be one your whole life...
As Silvia walked towards the cafeteria with a sullen face, dressed in gym clothes yet again, she suddenly came across a face she recognised.
It was Lucas.
"Lucas!" Silvia called him, trying to catch up.
At the mention of his name, he turned around and saw Silvia walking towards him. He started to speedwalk away from her.
"Lucas, it's me. Wait, I need to talk to you!" Silvia shoved through the crowd. The people around watched the spectacle unfolding before them.
The 'Silver beauty' Silvia, the nickname she had gained from the other students and the 'Swimming Prince', the title given to Lucas, were somehow connected.
Silvia kept trying to chase him, but he was just too fast. Frustrated, she stopped. Frowning, showing just blatant expression for the first time in front of so many people, with hands clenched into fists.
"You promised you would be mine!"
With Silvia's habit of saying things out loud without a care and without much information, everyone's eyes were wide open as she shouted this across the cafeteria.
Mouths hung open, people stopping to watch, they were all sucked into this drama.
"Fuck." Lucas, who was now stuck in this, could not help it. He turned around and walked towards Silvia. He grabbed her arm.
"Are you fucking crazy?" He leaned in to whisper into Silvia's ear. "You can't just say shit like that in the open."
"But we made a deal. I won fair and square." Silvia replied with a whisper, lines between her brows.
He clicked his tongue in frustration as he dragged her away. Taking her to one of the briefing rooms in the sports building. Everyone had seen them, the incident had become a hot commodity among the students.
With the door closed, Lucas pushed her against the door and slammed his arm over her head.
"Why are you following me? I told you I won't do it." Lucas was furious that he had to deal with this situation.
"But you said if I do it under a minute, you will let me watch you," Silvia replied with a straight face.
Does she even realise what she is saying? Who goes around asking strangers if they can watch them swim alone in the middle of the night?
"Well, I did not expect you to actually do it, nor take me seriously. I have my own shit to do, so just leave me alone. Got it?"
Before Silvia could reply, he unlocked the door and left her there alone.
---
[After school at Silvia's home]
Silvia sighed while eating dinner with her brother. James was talking about his school and the new friends he had made, all excited and smiling.
"Sister, are you even listening to me!" He grumbled.
"Sorry, James, I have been distracted lately about something..." Silvia played with her food with gloomy eyes, moping.
James had never seen her sister like this before and got worried.
I have never seen Silvia express anything other than anger and sadness before... I did not know my sister could make such common expressions.
"What's wrong? Is uni life not as great as you thought it was?"
Silvia thought about it for a while. It was not any different from high school; instead of swimming, she just concentrated on art.
"Well... there is something." Silvia hesitated to talk about it. This concerned James even more since Silvia always told him about everything.
"Come on then, spit it out." James urged Silvia to talk.
"Do you remember how mother used to talk about her muse when she was in university?" Silvia looked at her brother; they did not talk much about her mother, especially after it affected Silvia in a bad way.
James nodded.
"Well... I think I found mine." Silvia puffed her cheeks and pouted even more, her eyes glistened a bit watery as if on the verge of tears.
"Ha?" James was dumbfounded. He did not know whether to be shocked at the expression his sister was making or the fact that she supposedly found a muse.
Unlike Silvia, James was a bit more arrogant in a social sense, and he understood what his mother meant when she talked about her muse. Her mother had found one person she had ever loved, who had become her muse for her art. But she really meant her first love and her true love. It was all before she had met their father.
James sighed, not knowing what to say.
Does sister even know what love is? I doubt it. She has never even dated before, nor even looked at any person, male or female, that way. Did she just end up seeing someone pretty and decide that they were going to be her muse?
"So... this person. You 'muse'. What kind of person is he?" James asked, curious nonetheless.
"Hmm... he is very skilled, but he's not a man of his word," Silvia replied again, leaving out a lot of information.
James nearly choked on the food he was eating.
Calm down, you know how she's like. She leaves the important information out.
"Skilled at what?"
"Swimming." Silvia thought back to his form, eyes glazed, blushing.
Oh god, I guess she really fell for a random guy for no good reason.
"Ok... What did he say about being your muse?"
"He lied... he said he would but went back on his word." Silvia was frustrated just thinking about it, "But I will make sure he keeps it. Mother says you will only ever find one muse your whole life, and I am not letting go of mine!"
Silvia was fired up with determination, and James sighed.
"Have you really thought about it? Are you sure he is your muse and it's not something else?" James tried to point out the obvious problem.
"What else could it be?" Silvia asked, tilting her head, not understanding the question.
"Never mind." James rolled his eyes.
I guess she has to learn on her own. She's old enough now. Hopefully....
----
A week went by, and Silvia still kept on pestering Lucas. When he was at lunch, after school, he would make his way to the swimming pool at the entrance of the university. Every chance she got, she tried to get his attention, and the rumours grew even bigger.
"Did you hear about the Silver Beauty chasing the Swimming Prince? It's a bit crazy, isn't it? No matter how pretty you are, you can't just force yourself on someone like that."
"Who does she think she is? She's not even that pretty."
"How could Lucas reject such a beauty like that. If it were me, I would have slept with her right away."
Whispers spread through the school, but Silvia, who did not care much about the public, never heard any of it. She did not really communicate with many people outside of class, so she was oblivious to the rumours.
Lucas, on the other hand, was hearing these whispers left and right.
What the hell is wrong with her? How is she still bothering me with these shit rumours going around? I mean, who the fuck is even spreading these rumours?
There was also a rumour that Silvia joined the swimming club to chase him. He had not been to a swim club meet, so he did not know if it was true, but since he was not going anytime soon, he did not bother with it.
Another week passed, and finally it seemed like Silvia had vanished from his view. She was not there to bother him again.
Thank god she gave up. It was getting pretty annoying.