“Okay,” I said, stepping to the edge. Gripping a handrail, I sat down, legs out in front of me, water rushing under them.

“Want a push?” the lifeguard asked, probably thinking I wouldn’t go without one. I might not have.

“Sure,” I said, sure I would die shortly.

And before I had another second to think about it, I was speeding down the slippery slide, water making my suit ride even higher up my backside, struggling to stay loose like Girl Sam had. Anything but loose, when the force of the first corner came, I flew up in the air like Sam, but instead of gently sliding back down, I landed hard, my head hitting the wet plastic with a thunderous thud that echoed everywhere. Two or three seconds later, I was thrust underwater, flailing and trying to feel for the bottom of the pool so I could push back up and breathe. The chlorine felt like acid poured onto the dozens of wounds on my fingers.

Surfacing from the water, I pushed my hair from my face and looked at my fellow campers, expecting laughter and cheers. Instead, I saw concern.

“Are you okay?” Izzy asked.

“Ohmygod, Tess, did you knock yourself out?” Girl Sam asked.

“That was loud,” Boy Sam said, an exaggerated frown on his face.

The only laughter came from the other end of the pool area, where Jackie and her friends huddled together, losing it at my expense.

“I’m fine,” I said, trying to brush it off. “That’s how we do waterslides where I’m from. The louder the better.”

What the heck are you even saying right now? Do you have a concussion, freak?

As covertly as I could while moving toward the steps, I pulled my suit from my rear and made sure the top was in place, too. On dry land, Girl Sam handed me my towel. I quickly wrapped it around my body.

“Lazy river, then?” Izzy asked, and the rest of us quickly agreed.

For the next two hours, the four of us—sometimes six or seven when Jasmine, Axl, and Jake joined in—floated on noodles, tried to race each other going in the opposite direction that the river was flowing, and tried to race each other swimming with flippers in the right direction, which felt like being an actual fish. Even though I had a lump on my head from the slide and Jackie made it obvious that she was talking about me the whole time, I had a better morning than I’d had in a while.

After lunch of hot dogs and salty chips, Karly gave us the choice of swimming more in the afternoon or using the other facilities at the rec center. We had to put our name on a list next to what we were going to do. The options were Ping-Pong, video games, basketball, or wall climbing.