neil_is_indian: sup

anibun91: guess whos gonna be in new jersey this weekend

neil_is_indian: uh u?

anibun91: other than me!!

neil_is_indian: ur mom ba doom chha

anibun91: *sigh* sam

neil_is_indian: o shit

anibun91: im like:OOO

anibun91: hes visiting his cousin or something

anibun91: who goes to rutgers

anibun 91: n then his parents r gonna take him to see princeton lol w/e

anibun91: not that he could get into princeton (!)

neil_is_indian: thats rando

anibun91: ok ya

anibun91: but then when i mentioned the pageant he was like o maybe ill come

anibun91: (!?!!?!!?!?!?!!?!?! whaaaaat)

neil_is_indian: the brown ppl will trample him

neil_is_indian: “one of these is not like the others”

neil_is_indian: “kill outsider”

anibun91: im so embarrassed

neil_is_indian: no ur not

anibun91: what do u mean of course i am

neil_is_indian: ur gonna win its gonna be fine

neil_is_indian: & he likes u even if he is an asshole

anibun91: who says hes an asshole?

neil_is_indian: u did?

anibun91: w/e no he isnt

anibun91: but actually im like so sick of this pageant and all the fobs

anibun91: and sick of being only

anibun91: like

anibun91: pretty for a brown girl

anibun91: hey u still there

anibun91: ??

neil_is_indian: ya sorry @ debate

neil_is_indian: wendi on my ass

anibun91: oooooooooh

neil_is_indian: not like that shes anal

neil_is_indian: also not like that

anibun91: w/e u have yellow fever

neil_is_indian: ???????

anibun91: melanie, wendi, lol

neil_is_indian: theyr both twinkies and im a coconut so nothing counts

anibun91: um literally ur screen name

neil_is_indian: its IRONIC

neil_is_indian: g2g

anibun91: ok bai

neil_is_indian: good luck

neil_is_indian: this weekend

neil_is_indian: w the pageant i mean

anibun91: i might not like him

anibun91: like im not totally sure now?

neil_is_indian: sam?

anibun91: ya

neil_is_indian: who do u like then

anibun91: who says i *have* to like someone?

neil_is_indian: okok

anibun91: now i g2g

neil_is_indian: actually wait

neil_is_indian: can i talk to u about smthg

neil_is_indian: kinda important

anibun91 has signed off

THE WEEKEND Anita and her mother were in New Jersey—which was also the weekend before debate nationals—I let myself into the Dayals’ house early on Saturday morning using the key beneath the watering can.

In the basement, I set about performing the routine I had been memorizing for months.

Shruti’s chain piled into itself in the basin. Was this how the forty-niners felt—sweaty, exhausted, sick with themselves, having left behind all that was familiar for this gleaming element? Flux, sloshing. Goggles, the rest of the ill-lit basement obscured through the plastic.