Annabelle cheered as Kayla gained on the other girls a little at a time. By the time she was nearing the end of her swim, she’d passed one of them and was a split second behind the other.

Ruby dove in and came up for a breath a tiny bit ahead of the girl from the South Shore A team. Her stroke was quick and clean. Breaststroke was usually the slowest leg of the relay, but Ruby’s pace was almost as fast as Kayla’s. Next to Annabelle, the tall, strong butterflyer jumped up and down. “Let’s go, let’s go!” she shouted.

Pull ahead, Annabelle willed Ruby. Give me some kind of lead.

But the girl on South Shore was just as fast as Ruby. Annabelle looked again at the butterflyer next to her. The only way she had any chance of staying close to this girl was to get into the water faster. She could be quicker off the blocks and get more momentum under the water before they both surfaced to start their stroke.

Sometimes Annabelle could gain a whole body’s length on the other swimmers with her entrance into the water. If she could do that, she could stay close enough to give Elisa a shot to win the race, even if the South Shore girl overtook her.

We could really use the points.

Annabelle stepped up onto the blocks. Her job was to help the team come in first or second in the league so they could make it to the Invitational. That’s what Colette had told her. It would be almost impossible to do that if they couldn’t beat South Shore.

Ruby was getting close now. A few strokes away. Now two. Now—

As Ruby extended her arms forward, Annabelle launched into the pool. She stayed under as long as she could, and when her head broke the surface, she knew she was ahead of everyone else. Her adrenaline pushed her forward as her head and shoulders shot out of the water—she didn’t waste any energy popping up too high. She could feel the South Shore A team girl on her left, but she kicked even harder, and her turn was perfect.

The tall butterflyer gained on her, but Annabelle was not going to lose enough ground that Elisa didn’t have a chance to win the race. She pushed harder than she ever had before—pull, kick, pull, kick—and she and the broad-shouldered girl touched the wall at the very same time.

In the next lane, the other team’s best freestyle swimmer splashed into the water, and then Elisa was in, too.

Annabelle hoisted herself out of the pool, gulping for air. Kayla and Ruby stood behind the blocks. Kayla put her arm around Annabelle for a second, but she and Ruby barely even clapped when Elisa came up for breaths. Why weren’t they cheering for real?

Maybe that was a middle school thing, to squeal and yell and wave your arms every time your teammate came up for air and could hear you? Except that the South Shore teams on either side of them were doing plenty of yelling.