That was when Gemma realized Alex was staring at her, and she glanced over at him. He had a strange expression on his face, almost like he was dumbfounded.

“What?” Gemma asked, beginning to feel embarrassed at the way he looked at her. She fidgeted with her hair, tucking it behind her ears, and shifted in her seat.

“Nothing. Sorry.” Alex shook his head and put the car in drive. “You probably want to get out to the water.”

“I’m not in a huge rush or anything,” Gemma said, but that was sort of a lie. She wanted to get as much time in the water as she could before her curfew.

“Are you still training?” Alex asked. “Or did you stop for summer vacation?”

“Nope, I still train.” She rolled down the car window, letting the salty air blow in. “I swim every day at the pool with the coach. He says my times are getting really good.”

“At the pool you swim all day, and then you want to sneak out and swim all night?” Alex smirked. “How does that work?”

“It’s different.” She stuck her arm out the open window, holding it straight like the wing of a plane. “Swimming at the pool, it’s all laps and time. It’s work. Out in the bay, it’s just floating and splashing around.”

“But don’t you ever get sick of being wet?” Alex asked.

“Nope. That’s like asking you, Don’t you ever get sick of breathing air?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. Sometimes I think, Wouldn’t it be grand if I didn’t need to breathe?”

“Why?” Gemma laughed. “Why would that ever be grand?”

“I don’t know.” He looked self-conscious for a minute, his smile twisting nervously. “I guess I mostly thought it when I was in gym class and they’d make me run or something. I was always so out of breath.”

Alex glanced over at her, as if checking to see if she thought he was a complete loser for that admission. But she only smiled at him in response.

“You should’ve spent more time swimming with me,” Gemma said. “Then you wouldn’t have been so out of shape.”

“I know, but I’m a geek.” He sighed. “At least I’m done with all that gym stuff now that I’ve graduated.”

“Soon you’ll be so busy at college, you won’t even remember the horrors of high school,” Gemma said, her tone turning curiously despondent.

“Yeah, I guess.” Alex furrowed his brow.

Gemma leaned closer to the window, hanging her elbow down the side and resting her chin on her hand as she stared out at houses and trees passing by. In their neighborhood, the houses were all cheap and run-down, but as soon as they passed Capri Lane, everything was clean and modern.

Since it was tourist season, all the buildings and trees were lit up brightly. Music from the bars and the sounds of people talking and laughing wafted through the air.

“Are you excited to get away from all this?” Gemma asked with a wry smile and pointed to a drunken couple arguing on the boulevard.