Page 218 of Whistle

“You love it.”

“God help me, I do.”

“So does that mean you’re going to un-quit your job, stay on as coach, and I’m just going to be a regular student?”

He sighed. “There is nothing regular about you.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Promise me this is what you really want. If you want to swim, I’ll make it happen. I’ll?—”

I put my hand over his mouth. “I don’t want to swim. Well, for Elite. But maybe we can sneak in here and skinny dip sometime.” I wagged my eyebrows.

He laughed. The sound echoed up to the rafters and swelled my heart.

“Come over here and kiss me before it’s against the rules again.”

I wondered if he could taste the happiness on my lips. It was a flavor I hadn’t experienced in so long. A flavor I knew was now going to be in limitless supply.

A bunch of catcalls and whistles echoed around us, and I laughed as he continued to kiss. When he lifted his head, he was smiling too.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I know,” I whispered back. “I love you too.”

Letting me go, he walked to the dean and extended his arm. “If you’ll have me, I’d be happy to continue coaching here at Westbrook.”

Dean Cardinal smiled and put his hand into Emmett’s. As they shook, the entire place exploded with cheers, celebration, and sighs of relief.

“Elite. Elite. Elite. Elite. Elite. Elite. Elite. Elite,” the team chanted as people did cannonballs into the water.

It went on so long that my ears started to ring, and when I glanced around, I noted Prism had his head buried in Arsen’s chest and Arsen was shielding his ears.

Going to Emmett, I grabbed the whistle hanging around his neck and stuck it between my lips.

Phweeeeee-phweeeeeeeee!

The place went quiet.

“Bro. Did he just use Coach’s whistle?” someone whispered.

“Bro, that’s like a felony around here,” someone whispered back.

“What Malibu Barbie lacks in hair, he makes up for in big balls,” Jamie told them.

Coach glanced down at me. With the whistle still between my lips, I smiled.

“Well, go on,” he told me. “One more time.”

Phweeeeeeeee!

When I was done, my lungs burned, but Emmett looked proud.

“All right, you mouth breathers! You’ve wasted enough of my time!” Emmett roared. “Let’s get wet!”

48

Elite Group Chat

---