“Only if you admit you’ll miss Gigi.”

I splash back.

When Viv’s mom picks her up,

we promise to text, video-chat—

whatever it takes to stay connected.

Viv suggests we make a blood oath.

I remind her she faints when she sees one drop.

We settle for a tame, lame pinky swear.

Viv starts to open the car door,

but then throws her arms around me.

We cry our goodbyes.

SUPER SLEUTH

Every kid needs one place

they can escape to when

life gets to be too much.

The pool is my place.

Today I’ve been in the water so long,

my fingers look like raisins,

but I plan to swim and float for hours more,

mourning my first day without Viv

and the last day of summer vacation.

“Ilovetoswim.

CanIjoinyou?”

Catalina’s back on the trampoline.

I barely know her,

so can I trust her

with the pool?

I haven’t swum

with anyone

but Viv since

the Under the Sea party.

I still don’t know why

Catalina wants to hang around me.

Could she be friends with

Marissa and Kortnee and

helping them set me up for a prank?

I climb out of the pool and

wrap my towel around my

shoulders like a superhero cape.

Time to activate my sleuth powers.

“I wish I could keep swimming,

but I have to get my stuff ready

for school tomorrow.”

I don’t lie.

Catalina climbs over the fence.

“I’ve been putting it off, too.

I dread being the new girl.”

Like Wonder Woman with her lasso,

I seek truth.

I ask Catalina,

“You going to go to Kiser Academy?”

“Is that where you go, Ellie?”

I nod.

“I wish. Then we’d be together.

But I’m going to Bishop Joseph Catholic School.”

Wonder Woman wouldn’t give up

until she had all the answers.

Neither can I.

“Wanna get our stuff ready together?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

A FRESH START

The best part of

going back to school

is the back-to-school supplies.

We dump everything on the floor.

Catalina zooms in on one of my prized finds:

flamingo pens with feathers.

“Watch what happens when you write,” I say.

The flamingo dances

as I scribble on a piece of paper.

She trades me a unicorn pen for one.

It lights up when she taps it.

“Great for writing in bed.

The best ideas for songs come at night.”

“Same with poems!

Viv and I used to do this,

swap and share supplies.”

“Me and my friends, too,

but they’re all back in Houston.”

So she’s not from here.

She doesn’t know Marissa and Kortnee.

She doesn’t know I’m Splash.

Being friends with her will be like

opening a brand-new notebook,

a clean, fresh start.

LUCKY DOG

Every morning,

my pug stands on her hind legs,

snatching kibble out of the scoop

before I even have a chance

to dump the food into her bowl.