After warm-ups were finished and they’d done some faster laps, it was time to practice the medley relay.

“We’ve been needing a strong butterfly to round out our team,” Colette said as she walked Annabelle over to the end of the pool where Kayla and Elisa were standing with a pretty summers-only girl who’d been new to the team last year. “We’ve got Kayla on backstroke, Ruby on breaststroke, and Elisa on free. Ladies, do you all know Annabelle?”

“Of course!” Elisa said. “Welcome!”

And Kayla said, “Yay! It’s so great you’re here!”

“Yeah, seriously,” Elisa agreed. “Ruby and I were on the relay last year, and we almost never won a race. Right, Rubes? We need you!”

Annabelle was starting to relax a little bit, but then she noticed how Ruby was sort of examining her, with her eyebrows raised and her lips pressed together.

Annabelle knew she didn’t look like a high school butterflyer. She was taller than the other middle school girls, but she wasn’t as tall as Elisa or Ruby. Her chest and hips curved, but her shoulders were narrow and her arm and leg muscles only rippled when she flexed them. Elisa’s and Ruby’s arms, calves, and thighs were thicker than Annabelle’s and obviously strong. Kayla’s were, too. She’d gotten so, so thin when she was sick, but now she was closer to her size from before. They all looked like swimmers in a way that Annabelle didn’t.

“Congrats on joining the team,” Ruby said. “What grade are you going into? Seventh?”

Her voice was sugary sweet and too high-pitched—the kind of voice people used to talk to little kids.

“Eighth,” Annabelle said.

“Aww, I loved eighth grade!”

Kayla messed with her goggles strap, and Elisa was still smiling her friendly smile, as if she thought Ruby’s sweetness was genuine. Maybe Annabelle was being oversensitive?

“All right, ladies. There’ll be plenty of time for socializing later. Let’s get going,” Colette said.

Kayla jumped back into the pool, since backstroke goes first, and Ruby lined up by the blocks to go second.

Annabelle had been swimming the fly leg of the medley relay for ages, so she was used to being third in the order, after back and breast. But Kayla and Ruby were a lot faster than anybody she’d ever been on a relay team with. Before she knew it, Ruby was already halfway done with her leg and quickly approaching. Annabelle glanced over to the end of the pool, where Connor stood with a bunch of other almost-sophomores. Her legs shook a little as she stood up on the starting block.

“You got this,” Elisa said quietly. “Just do your thing.”

Annabelle nodded and repeated that in her head. Just do your thing.

There were lots and lots of things she couldn’t do well, but swimming was one thing she could.

So she took her three breaths and dove in as soon as Ruby’s hands touched the edge. She had too much adrenaline at first and was wasting energy, rising up too far out of the water on her first few strokes.