The swim team met at the school, where a bus was waiting to take us up to the coast. Everyone else's families were there too, even Mark's mom, which was pretty impressive. Nice. But I was surprised when he hugged her so tightly. Mark wasn't usually like that. He wasn't the type to show that kind of affection in public, and I'd never seen him hug her before, not even at home. On the other hand, there was a lot of shit he had to deal with because of her asshole boyfriend… shit his mom… I didn't know anything about that, so there was no doubt in my mind that he loved his mom. Stacks.
Wingnut, however, wasn't so keen on being hugged, which made me smile. His mother was practically choking the little guy, and from his wriggling, it was clear he was desperately trying to break free from her grasp.
My mother hugged me warmly as always, but my father knew he shouldn't overdo it. He didn't want to make a big fuss, so he just gave me a quick hug and then shook my hand. Actually, I wanted to... I had the impression that some of the people on the tour were more excited than the team itself. Because they could go home and have sex without having to worry about their children coming in.
The bus ride began with the usual noise and banter from the boys. But… After a while, as we drove into the night, the younger guys gradually arrived. Roy, one of the younger ones at Wingnut, must have dozed off. A wicked dream, because he had a massive erection that attracted the attention of the rest of the team. They paced up and down from both ends of the bus. They went into the aisle to take a look and then burst out laughing. Robbie, the guy who was sitting there, and Roy, who was standing next to him, gave his buddy a slap on the penis, which woke the boy up. It only took him a moment to realize what all the laughter was about, then he let out a long laugh, a string of insults, peppered with curses that would make even a sailor blush with despair.
Our accommodation during the tour was an apartment complex with six units. I was assigned to the team. I was housed with Mark, Ross, Kevin, Jumbo, and Carlos. The remaining seniors occupied two other units, while the juniors occupied the remaining three. One room had a double bed, which two teenagers had to share. The other two units each had two single beds, and I think Wingnut was very happy to have been assigned one of the single rooms. He shared it with Michael, Robbie, Brian, Marvin, and Dane. In the senior apartments, however… Each unit had two single beds… no double bed. Luckily, I shared a room with… Mark, Ross, and Kev shared another, and the third was shared by Jumbo and Carlos.
The view from the apartment was absolutely amazing… directly overlooking the beach and surfing, which immediately made me feel at home.
On the very first night, shortly after we arrived and were getting ready to go to sleep, Mark wanted to know if I had seen Steve.
"Yes, he came over last night. I wasn't expecting it and was pretty nervous." He called after dinner and asked if he could come over. He showed up in swim trunks and... he looked absolutely fantastic. Anyway, my dad scolded him for being around so rarely, but Steve just said he'd always been there. I was really busy. So we went to my room and sat on the bed. It was kind of awkward, and we started making small talk. He said you'd told him that we... He wanted to go on a week-long swimming trip and needed to get me checked out first.
"To apologize?"
"Something like that. Anyway, I asked him how things were going, and he said it was totally messed up." He said he'd totally blown it and wasn't sure if he could fix the damage. What he'd done to me. I thought he was talking about the stitches... not Steph. Then he told me that you thought you were the one who'd given me the stitches, and that he hadn't told you about the fight between Steve and me... he said he thought it was just between him and me. Then he said something pretty cool.
"How?"
“That you really like me,” I grinned. “So I told him that you’re a handsome…” “A good friend… when you haven’t been beating me up.” He laughed at that.
"Always that damn comedian."
"So he asked me if an apology would be enough, and I told him he'd said something." Such a load of crap... like screwing Steph because she needed a real man. You have no idea "how much that hurt."
"I think so."
"So he told me that his original intention had been to make me angry, and I agreed..." He did. And how! Then he went on to explain that the whole thing with Steph was just... him... that she had given in to him. But even while they were doing it, he knew that she was thinking about me. He said it made him angry and jealous that I already had her, and he knew even then that he couldn't take her away from me. He said that Steph had hoped I would never find out.
"You can blame me for that, kid."
"Then he wanted to know something about us... about him and me. He looked at his hands and..." He fidgeted, you wouldn't believe it. "I missed you, Kyle," he said. "I have no idea how I got into that depressing mood when you walked out my door that day. "The fight." So I told him I'd missed him too, and that I'd be lying if I said I'd seen him at the mall, in the pizzeria, in the restaurant, in the waves, and I wondered if we'd ever be friends again."
"Sounds like you're talking about more than just friendship."
"Yeah, that's me. You know me pretty well, Mark... you know what kind of guy I am. Anyway..." I told him there was something I needed to know... I wanted to find out about the guy who... I showed up at Steve's after he ran me over. So I asked Steve if he'd planned for the guy to beat me up. "I was scared shitless, Kyle," he said. "I've seen you beat up guys before, and I knew that's what you were like." "He's furious and he's planning the same thing for me."
“You can blame me for that too, mate,” Mark admitted. “I called him and told him you’d gone crazy.”
"Then he told me he'd arranged for the other guy to be a replacement, and that he, Steve, didn't think he'd hurt me. He said it was a nervous punch. Anyway, then... He asked me if we could be friends again, and I said 'cool.' After that, we went for a walk, about halfway to his house, without saying much, and stopped at a tree that we had once juiced."
"Was?"
"About a year ago, we were acting pretty crazy and walked home with erections." We stuck our swim trunks out of our shorts and goofed around. It was dark, so we stopped to get some juice. I asked him if he remembered, and he said, "Hey, how could I ever have forgotten?"
"You're a totally crazy guy, Kyle," Mark smiled and shook his head. "And so am I." Steve.
"So we hugged, and I went home feeling like I was in seventh heaven. It was so..." "A cool farewell gift, and I was totally hyped up."
Our first day of the tour was a relaxed one… to settle in a bit. We spent some time on the beach that morning, watching the locals surf. I wanted to rent a board right away. We were there, but not for long enough. Meanwhile, Wingnut was hanging out with the younger students, who, I suspected, were all scared stiff and wondering what was going on. Initiation ritual. Mark, Kev, and Ross were on the initiation committee. I had decided against it. Because of Wingnut. I would have ended up feeling sorry for him, and that would have been… In the end, it wasn't so cool for him anymore. All the older students who had been informed beforehand were allowed to watch.
Later, we all went to the aquarium to watch the dolphin show, which was absolutely amazing! The dolphins were so incredibly beautiful, with their shiny, smooth, muscular bodies. They leaped out of the water. The aquarium was a research station for dolphins. There were many dolphins, some of which were stranded or had been caught in ship propellers.
In the evening, we all went to the local McDonald's for burgers and fries. There we met up with one of the other schools participating in the competition. They were also from Cape Town and were our arch-rivals.
A certain guy there, Brandon, thought he was on top of the world. He'd won everything in his age group for the past three years. Anyway, he started causing trouble when he shoved one of the younger guys out of line so he could be first in line. Wingnut was also in line and objected to Brandon's bullying tactics. The kid didn't know the guy, but typical of him... Wingnut told him to get lost anyway.
"Fuck off! I'll finish you off, you weakling. Go back to your fucking ghetto."
Ross, who had been watching, stepped in and pushed Wingnut aside. "Hello, Brandon."
"Hi Ross. What's wrong with the rim of your glow plugs? They need to be seated deeper." "Get a grip, man."
“I will. But be careful what you say. They were first in line.”
"Who says that?"
“I said. Now move, or should I move you?”
I could see Ross was totally out for a fight. Brandon could see it too. So he stepped aside and let the younger guys take their place in front of the... But Brandon was the type who always had to have the last word, even in line. Defeat. "Screw you, Ross, if you're standing behind me in the competition tomorrow," he said, growling, and then walked away.
The younger students thought Ross was fantastic because he had everything so well under control. They treated him like a hero… at least for a while. Meanwhile, Mark was… checking out the girls and talking about one of their cute butts, and another one had cute breasts. Mind you, the girls were eyeing the whole team up. So.
Back at the apartments, the juniors were called to the coach's accommodation, where Ross explained the procedure for the entrance exam. They all had to report to our apartment later that evening, wearing their Speedos. "And bring a towel. But that's all." Nothing else.
Of course, the coach wasn't present at the induction ceremony. There was no way he could have officially condoned this behavior, even though he was aware of it. So he went to an event with some of the other coaches from the team. What I noticed about the coaches was that they all got along quite well… but only until the competition started. Then all hell broke loose!
After nightfall, the young people were called to our apartment. We had moved beforehand, bringing all the furniture from the living room to one of the other rooms. A few chairs and a table, where the initiation took place, remained in the living room. The committee met, while the other seniors stood behind them as observers.
The atmosphere was thick with anticipation. Damn! If this initiation went that far… If it was even remotely like what we experienced as juniors, we all would have had a pretty good time. We had an idea of what was about to happen. Or did we?
Mark, Kev, and Ross were also wearing their Speedos and had the most serious expressions on their faces. The wide-eyed, worried expressions of the younger people who marched into the room seemed to be asking themselves: What the hell was going to happen to them?
The rest of us tried desperately not to laugh ourselves silly. And Wingnut? Hey, he looked like the world was ending and he'd peed his pants with fear. Time.
Once everyone was settled and organized, Ross gave the juniors the usual speech. “Listen up, guys. This initiation is supposed to be fun for the guys.” Those who have been through it before. So you have to try and take part. This whole attitude thing. It’s not like it’s the end of the world, even if you might think so, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about… Provided, of course, that you’ve all made your wills. Ready, guys?
