I tug at the sleeves of my swimsuit as I look at myself in the full length mirror at the back of the stall. The swimsuit is red with the American flag printed over one side on the chest and my name printed on the back of the suit. It hugs my body just like any good swim suit should to allow me ease of movement. It's half-sleeved and stops at my knees.

Thankfully, this time there was constant surveillance of all the people setting up for the event and all suits and equipment were tested for malpractice. I feel safe that I won't be passing out because of a drug on my uniform.

As I throw open my stall door, nervousness slaps me across the face and I almost close the door to take a moment to gather my emotions but an usher spots me and points me towards the door that will take me out to the swimming pool.

Taking a deep breathe, I find Coach Elliot standing just outside the exit. There are several contestants already in the water, warming up. I stand to one side and observe them while Coach rattles off conventional instructions that he's been telling me for the past fourteen years.

"Good luck, Hazel. Do California proud." He gives me a thumbs up and then heads off towards one of the bleachers. I follow him with my eyes and spot mom, dad and the others sitting amongst the other spectators.

Mom catches me looking at her and waves before probably pointing me out to the others who launch into a chant that they came up with while they loitered around in my hospital room.

I laugh as the four of them scream at the top of their lungs,

"Hazel! The queen! The champion! Of California dreams."

I cringe but the rest of the crowd recognizes my name from past contests. Cheers and whoops fill the air. I laugh as I pull my swimming cap over my hair which is in a tight bun and put on my swimming goggles.

I hop into the water and carry out some breathing exercises. I'm sitting under the shade of the canopy, with a towel wrapped around my shoulders, watching my opponents when a lady walks up to the side of the pool where all the contestants are.

"Simple three races. Each time, you'll swim to the other end of the pool grab your rod and swim back. The first to reach the finish line, gets the most points and the points reduce from there. The contestant with the highest cumulative points, wins the title and gold medal, second wins silver and third wins bronze."

"Please line up according to your numbers."

She walks away and I set down my towel before walking to my spot at the starting side of the pool. The crowd is loud and hyped up as they cheer and clap for us.

We stand in position for a few seconds before the whistle blows and I instantly jump into the pool. The adrenaline and water makes it hard for me to hear anything except for when I stop for a split second at the other end to take in air and grab my rod. That's when I hear just how loud the crowd has gotten in the time that it took me to swim one length.

Just like all other races I don't look at my opponents and a sense of victory settle over me when I feel my hand cut through a ribbon. I've won the first race!

As I push myself onto the edge of the pool and push my swimming goggle onto my head, I realize that the crowd has picked up the chant from earlier and they're all saying it.

"Hazel! The queen! The champion! Of California dreams."

I feel shy as I grab the dry towel that has been set out for me and wrap it around my shoulder as we wait for the pool to be prepared for the second race. I come in second in the next race but instead of disappointment it fills me with a fierce sense of competitiveness which makes me push myself to my limit and I end up winning the last race.

I pull off my goggles and swimming cap just as the large screen at one of the pool puts on display the list of participants and their scores. I don't realize that I've let out a loud scream which is lost in that of the crowd as I read my name at the top of the list.

I've won! I've won my last ever swim meet of school!

I shake hands with the other swimmers and then we pose for a picture, still in our wet suits before we're allowed to head back to our stalls to change. Once in the privacy of my stall, I peel off my wet swim suit and the welcome the water that cleanses me from the smell of Chlorine.

Once I've brushed out the tangles in my wet hair and changed back into the pink top and jeans that I was wearing earlier in the day, I grab my backpack which I've repacked my toiletries into and head back to the pool to meet everyone.

Mom is the first to engulf me in a hug and I feel my eyes tear up. Not a moment later, I feel another pair of arms wrap around me, dad's. After them, Angelina gets to congratulate me, then Liam, Aakesh and finally Ben who forgoes formalities and gives me a quick kiss before pulling me into a tight hug.

"Hazel!" I hear Coach Elliot call out as he walks over to us. "I'm so proud."

I'm beaming, "Thank you, Mr. Elliot."

"There are two pictures that I want to recreate." Mom says when there's a break in the conversation. She pulls her phone out and shows us the first picture.

"Oh my gosh." I squeal, covering my mouth with my hands when I realize what it is. It's from the last swimming competition that Ben and I took part in at the country club before he joined the school's soccer club and I started swimming full time at school. It's fitting for my last ever school swim meet.

Just like the picture, we stand shoulder to shoulder in front of the pool with Ben pretending to look really grumpy at coming in third and me in the middle of saying something to cheer him up.

We all gush over how similar the picture turns out to be before turning our attention to the second picture which is of mom, dad and me.

"Is this from my first nationals?" I gasp, as I take the phone from mom's hand to take a closer look and my friends crowd around me to see the picture.

"You're tiny!" Angelina exclaims and we all laugh at this. But she's right, I'm just five years old in the picture. It's in front of the swimming pool with mom standing to my one side, holding my hand and kneeling down on my other side with his arms wrapped around me.

"We're doing this all the way through." Dad smirks at mom who shakes her head at him and smiles.

Dad kneels down in front of the pool and then pulls me down next to him so that we're the same height just like in the picture and then wraps his arm around me. Mom rolls her eyes at us but comes to stand on my other side and takes my hand as we all smile for the picture.

"One last picture!" Angelina says as she rushes to my side and the others follow suit. Liam stands to my other side with Ben next to him and Ash by Angelina's side.

"Now everyone scream Hazel." Liam says.

"Hazel!" They all scream, including mom and dad as dad takes the picture and the remaining spectators around us burst into cheers again.

Three updates in one day!

Just wanted to let you all know that there are only five more chapters left of this story :) Cool Mom had 100 chapters but Cool Girl is just a companion, so I've decided to cut this story down to 50 chapters. My purpose was to follow Hazel's story through senior year and we all did that :)

-T

P.S. I have chapters 46, 47, 48 and 49 already written. I'm just left with the last chapter which will be the epilogue. So hopefully by next week this story will be complete :)