All of the Albany kids left spare swimsuits in a drawer in Marley’s room. She was the only one of us with a pool. It made sense to keep some stuff at her house. But when I pulled open the drawer, I cursed myself for my tie-dyed peace-sign tankini, sun faded and baggy from overuse. Where was my cherry-red two-piece with a padded top and drawstring bottom?

Only in my mind.

Nick took out his board shorts. “Today’s gonna be good,” he said as he left to change in the bathroom.

I undressed in front of Marley’s mirror, slipping into my old suit. Maybe it didn’t fit. Maybe it was old. But it was mine. I could make it wonderful.

No. Today’s going to be amazing, I thought to myself, a ghost of a smile traced onto my puckered lips.

I loved getting into trouble with Marley and Nick.

9

I stared at Ruby’s paper like the words were going to rearrange into something easier to decipher. “Mine’s pretty strange,” she said. “I never knew she thought like that. I can’t think of a time she was ever embarrassed. The Marley I remember was like—”

“Unstoppable.”

“Yeah.” Ruby examined her paper. “You know what else is weird? She says I’m in on everyone’s business. I mean, I am good at keeping secrets, but I don’t know that many. I know things like Aidy and Harrison lost their virginity to each other on the pool table in your attic.”

“I told you that.”

“That’s what I mean.”

“I think she’s trying to say she knows you’ll listen.”

“That’s my clue, then, isn’t it?”

“I’d say so.”

Ruby smiled to herself. “Her clues never made a lot of sense. She plucked this stuff straight from her head like we were all wired into her brain. No wonder we never finished a single Adventure.” She wrapped her arms around her knees. “Remember the year that everyone got mailed a different pair of something? I got a pepper shaker from the Campbells’ table. Did I ever tell you that? When I figured out which one of our houses it came from, I stole their salt shaker and brought the pair to Marley. She was like, Okay? So what? and didn’t tell me anything else. I’m pretty sure she counted it as me giving up.”

I hadn’t heard the story before. Not even Ruby shared her memories of Marley with me anymore.