Because barely any other island kids had applied, probably. Because most island kids thought everybody at the Academy was snobby.

“You must be hungry, huh?” Mom said.

She was, but if they went out to lunch in town, Mom and Mitch would know everybody and everybody would ask about school because that’s what everybody always asked about. And anyway, after this morning, her whole body ached with the need to swim.

“Actually can you drop me off at the pool?” she asked. “I can eat there.”

“But you don’t have practice today,” Mom pointed out. “Yeah, but we did yesterday,” Annabelle reminded her, as if she needed to be reminded. “And I really need to swim today, since I skipped it.”

Mom had made Annabelle stay home from summer team practice to squeeze in a few more hours of studying, not that those extra hours had done any good.

Mom sighed, and Annabelle sort of wished Mitch had been the one to pick her up. Mitch would have agreed to take her to the pool in an instant because he got it—how important it was for Annabelle to train. How good she was, and how great she could be.

“You probably have lots of work anyway, right?” Annabelle said. “With all the summer people wanting you to plan all their parties? Could we do takeout from Lombardi’s tonight instead? I’m in a gnocchi mood.”

Mom hesitated at the stop sign, but she turned left instead of right, toward the pool instead of back to town. Annabelle’s shoulders relaxed for the first time since she’d sat down to start her test that morning.

“All right, Belle. You deserve to celebrate how you want. The pool and Lombardi’s it is.”

Mom probably wouldn’t feel that way if she’d seen how little Annabelle had written for her essay, but Annabelle kept her mouth shut and watched all the giant vacation homes they passed, mostly occupied again now that summer was finally starting.

When they got to the pool, Mom said the same exact things she always did: to be safe and reapply sunscreen and drink plenty of water. Then she leaned over to give Annabelle an extra-tight, extra-long hug.

“I’ll come back to get you after my two o’clock meeting,” she said into Annabelle’s ear. “And, hey. I’m proud of you no matter what. You know that, right?”

Annabelle nodded as she pulled away from Mom’s hug and then stepped out of the car. But did that even count, the kind of pride you didn’t have to do anything good to earn?

Chapter 2

After Annabelle ate lunch at the snack bar, she changed into her new black racing suit and lowered herself into an open lap lane between two grown-ups. One of them was swimming a smooth, quick freestyle, and the other bobbed up and down in a slow breaststroke.

She pushed off the wall and started to swim, feeling the familiar pinch of her goggles and watching bubbles stream ahead of her as she blew out air.