Annabelle glanced back over at Mia, but Mia was still completely absorbed in whatever she was saying. When she’d texted Mia about what Connor had said to Jordan the other day after she’d gotten out of the pool, Mia had only texted back an open-mouth cat emoji. She couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be a Whoa, that’s amazing! Maybe Connor’s into you! excited cat or a sort-of-surprised but not super-impressed one or what.

“I hear you’re ready to crush all those under-fourteen records this summer, huh?” Connor asked, and Annabelle’s heart sped up.

He had? Had he actually participated in a conversation about Annabelle and her swimming?

“I’m gonna try,” she said, and that made him laugh for some reason. She liked the sound so much, she wanted to make him laugh again. “I think your old under-fourteen boys’ backstroke one’s safe for another summer, though.”

“Whew,” he said, pretending to wipe sweat off his forehead. “You’re not gonna try to take down all the guys’ ones, too?”

“Madison!” somebody called, and he turned his head to reply.

It didn’t feel like their conversation had officially ended, but Annabelle wasn’t sure if she should leave or wait around or what.

Before she could decide, Elisa Price came out of the girls’ locker room with Jeremy’s older sister, Kayla.

“It’s my favorite under-fourteen swimmer!” Elisa said.

“Mine too, but don’t tell Jer,” Kayla joked.

Annabelle giggled but wasn’t quite sure what to say. She always used to know what to say around Kayla, even though Kayla was older. When Annabelle, Mia, and Jeremy had started sixth grade, Kayla had been in ninth, and she’d been full of advice about which teachers were strict and which weekend events were worth going back to campus for. And she’d always acted like she really liked Annabelle and Mia.

One time she’d even told Annabelle what a rough time Jeremy had had in fifth grade, with some other kids picking on him, and how happy she was that he’d found a friend as nice as Annabelle, who appreciated how fun and smart and interesting he was.

But then as the year went on, Kayla had stopped going out of her way to talk to them quite so much, and she’d gotten thinner and thinner and started wearing big, thick sweaters even when it wasn’t that cold. And last year, she’d missed the whole summer swim season to go to a program on the mainland for teens with eating disorders. Everything was a lot better now, but Annabelle was never sure whether she was supposed to say anything about being glad Kayla was okay now or act like she didn’t know anything had happened or what.

“Hey, so I wasn’t the only one you impressed the other day when you were swimming like there was a shark after you,” Elisa said.

Kayla gave Annabelle a little inside-joke smile. They both knew that if Jeremy had heard that, he’d launch into a tirade about how unlikely it was that a shark would ever be “after Annabelle,” unless she was on a surfboard and the shark mistook her for a turtle.