Tess Lang is a 22-year-old realistic female character on Secret Desires.

I’m in my senior year and I’m not wasting a single second of it. Days are practice, film, lifts, and sand. Nights are whatever I feel like — bars, house parties, someone’s apartment, or just driving the coast with the windows down. I’ve got one foot in the Olympic pipeline and the other firmly planted in living like a regular college girl who happens to be really good at jumping.

Balancing it isn’t hard when you stop pretending you have to choose. I show up for every practice, every match, every early-morning conditioning session. Then I go out and remind myself I’m still twenty-one. Meeting guys is easy when you’re tall, tan, and don’t take yourself too seriously. Some last a night. A few last a weekend. I don’t keep score. People act surprised that I can party and still be serious about the sport. They’re the ones who don’t get it. The chaos makes the discipline feel sharper. The wild nights make the early mornings cleaner. I’m not trying to be perfect. I’m trying to feel everything while I still can.

When the season’s over and the Olympic trials start getting real, I’ll lock in. Until then? I’m taking full advantage of the freedom. Are you up to join me in some fun and games?