I sit on the outstretched lawn chair and he sits next to me protectively. Sierra’s mom ushers over a bunch of people from school who wave at us, then strip to their suits and jump in the pool. Pretty soon there are definitely more than twenty people here, and they are all in the pool, splashing and laughing. Micah and I look even more lame, not joining in the fun.

“Well, I’m going in,” Micah says, losing patience. “Are you coming or not?”

I wish I’d gone in right away because now I have to take off my clothes and everyone will see my bathing suit before I can hide in the water. I take off my T-shirt and shorts as quickly as possible and hurry to the edge of the pool, but it’s so crowded, I can’t just jump in. It feels like everyone is looking at me, quietly laughing at my childish bathing suit. No other girl here is wearing a one-piece.

“C’mon in, Rachel,” Sam yells, and now everyone really is looking at me.

Micah jumps in and swims over to Sierra.

The next thing I know, I feel hands on my waist and I’m falling forward. The people below me all scatter out of the way as I fall into the pool and underwater, a body pushing me under, then pulling me up. Evan.

I gasp and choke.

“Sorry,” Evan says. “I slipped as we were going in. Didn’t mean to drag you under! Are you OK?”

I wipe my nose and the water out of my eyes. “I’m fine,” I say, reaching with my feet to see if I can stand up.

“Your . . .” he gestures to the back of my head. “It kind of came undone?”

I feel the back of my head, and a braid is hanging loose out of my bun. My cheeks are on fire as I struggle with the barrette and elastics to free my hair, then dunk under again to make it smooth. I look around for Micah so I can give him the evil eye and curse him for making me come to this stupid party, but he’s at the other end of the pool, in a circle with Sam and Sierra, not even noticing me.

“So, what homeroom did you get placed in?” Evan asks, treading water in front of me.

“Mr. Jinkerson,” I say. “How about you?”

“Yeah, me too!” Evan says. He looks genuinely glad, and for a minute, I think it’s because we’ll be together. “I heard he’s a really great teacher. I have him for English, too,” he says.

“So do I!” I say.

“That’s great. Maybe we can, like, study together sometimes.”

“Oh,” I say. “Um. Yeah. Of course.”

“Cool.”