Chapter 3—Jen's POV

I'm not sure why, but most people seem to think I'm boring.

I mean, I'm a perfectly normal teenage girl. Like most girls my age, I'm sure, I would be spending my summer volunteering at the library, tutoring fifth-graders, and studying for high school entrance exams. (Unlike most of my peers, who would go to the public high school, I was aiming to get into a private, highly selective institution.) In my spare time, I'd be participating on the swim team. See? Normal summer activities.

On this particular day, I woke up at seven o' clock, showered, got dressed, and then ate breakfast. Then I checked my schedule for the day:

8:30-10:00—swim practice

11:00—lunch

12:30—tutoring at library

4:00—study for exam

6:00—dinner

Ah. Seemed like it would be a nice day.

Although, I must admit, I was feeling a bit nervous about swim practice. I'd never been on swim team before, but I had been on a team before, and my experience hadn't been the greatest. I wasn't the most athletic person, with my short legs that don't seem to be able to do much. But my mom had suggested that I sign up, and so, for the sake of getting fit, I did.

I felt like a swimmer, though, as I walked down the street to the pool. I was wearing my dependable, navy blue one-piece suit, with sensible jean shorts over it. On my feet were orange and yellow water shoes, so that I wouldn't slip in the pool (the bottom was quite slick.) I had my pink goggles slung around my neck, my hair in a ponytail, and I was carrying my towel. See? Perfect swimmer attire.

I walked into the pool area, which was already littered with kids of varying ages. The youngest I could see looked to be about five years old. Most of the kids were around my age, give or take a couple years.

"Jen? Is that you?" I heard an incredulous, vaguely-familiar voice behind me, so I turned. Then I gasped.

"Dell?"

Dell, wearing a swimsuit with the team's emblem on it, stepped forward. "What in the world are you doing here?" Her eyes, I noticed, strayed down to my water shoes.

I stiffened. "Having swim practice, of course. What else?"

Her eyes just about bugged right out of her head. "Wait-you joined our swim team?"

"Oh, please. It's not yours."

She ignored me. "Are you any good?" From the derisive way she asked, I could tell that she thought she knew the answer already.

"I've never tried, but I'm sure that if I put my mind to it-"

"So you're saying you're not?"

"No! I am most certainly not." I pulled my goggles up over my eyes. "I'm just new at it."

She laughed, not kindly, either. "Yeah, we can all see that."

That, I thought, was unnecessary. "See you later, Dell." I turned around, mostly so she wouldn't see the tears pricking at my eyes. What had I done to her to deserve that treatment?

Quickly I pushed my goggles back down to my neck and rubbed my eyes furiously. Don't cry, don't cry, I told myself sternly. I swallowed, and the tears left. See? You're fine, I told myself, feeling better.

"Okay, everybody gather round!"

This voice was authoritative, so I figured it must be the coach. I dropped my towel, slid out of my shorts, and then joined the group of kids surrounding a young guy, maybe in his early twenties. He had a clipboard and a pen and was wearing only baggy swim trunks, revealing a very muscled chest. I looked away from it.

"Okay, for those of you who don't know me, I'm Rick," he introduced himself. It seemed that most of the kids knew him. "I coach the middle age group." He gestured to two girls beside him, looking to be about the same age. "This is Lila and this is Madison. Lila teaches the older kids and Madison will be with the younger kids."

I was starting to get a bit nervous. It was inevitable that I'd be grouped with Dell, and I didn't really want that.

"Okay, so-middle age group kids, which is ages twelve to fifteen-follow me!" A good part of the group followed Rick over to the deep end of the pool. I tagged along. They dove in; I stood uncertainly at the edge.

"Hey, you, you okay?"

Rick came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. I jumped. "Oh, yeah," I babbled. "Just fine."

"Okay, just checking." It seemed that Rick liked the word "okay" a lot. He dove into the pool. I sat down, my legs hanging into the water, then eased myself in-it was freezing!

"Alrighty! Time for roll-call." "Roll-call" consisted of Rick scanning the group to see if everybody was there, very unprofessional. "Looks like we're good," he assessed. "Now, everybody is going to introduce themselves. Tell us your name, your age, and something about yourself." I thought that this exercise was mostly for my benefit, and a few other kids who seemed to hang back like me. Everybody else looked as if they were previously acquainted. He pointed to me. "You start."

"Um. Um." I could feel my cheeks going red as Dell and her friends turned their gaze on me. "My name is, um, Jen, and I'm fourteen, and um, I like to read."

This comment, which I thought perfectly normal, gathered snickers from the crowd. Rick clapped his hands. "Great. Next!" He gestured to a girl next to me.

"I'm Nancy…" I didn't listen to the rest of Nancy's introduction. I was too busy silently berating myself. Why had I gotten myself into this? More than anything I wanted to back out, just jump out of the pool and run home. Surely nobody would try to stop me, would they? What could they do to me?

Much too quickly for my liking, the introductions ended and then the real swimming began. Rick split us up, boys and girls, and had us all dive into the pool. I lingered towards the back of the line. I'd never dived before in my life. I'd kill myself, I just knew it, or break my neck-

Whoa! How did I get all the way up here? Now there were only two people left before I'd be expected to jump headfirst into the water. I watched Dell dive. Her body arced perfectly and gracefully. It made me nauseous.

One more girl, and then I was up. I swallowed and looked down at the water. Rick watched me. "You okay, Jem?"

"It's Jen," I corrected. "And no, I'm not." I lowered my voice. "Uh…I don't know how to dive."

"Ah. A first-timer." He grinned at me. It made me feel a bit better. "Okay, just put your arms up like this…bend over…and jump!"

I tried. Really, I did. But all I could manage was a regular, feet-first jump, with my hands held over my head idiotically. I surfaced, gasping, to uproarious laughter. Bright red, I climbed out of the pool.

"Not quite like that," Rick said. "Bend forward more, like this." He put his hand on my back and pushed me forward. But when I jumped, I got the same result.

"Okay, let's try this. Come on." He sat down on the wall and I sat next to him. "Go like this," he instructed. "Now lift your arms like before and just kind of fall in."

I stared at him. "What?"

He laughed, but not unkindly. "Like this." He fell forward with a small splash.

"I won't do it," I said.

Rick ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, I've got an idea. Crouch here, by the edge. Kind of make your body into a ball." I obeyed.

"Now get your arms up." I did.

Then, without warning, I felt strong hands on my back…and then he pushed me into the water! Alarmed, I flailed wildly and surfaced, splashing everybody in the vicinity. "What-what-" I sputtered. "What was that?"

Rick smiled. "There, now you've done it once, it won't be so hard," he said. "Now stand up and try!"

I gaped at him in disbelief, but he was dead serious. "Go on, Jen."

I tried…and it was kind of better…until I belly-flopped.

The wind was knocked straight out of me. "Oof," I said weakly, trying to get some air into my lungs. "Ow…" I couldn't get a breath in. "Oh…"

Rick turned to the rest of the group, about fifteen kids. "Everybody, two laps, freestyle," he instructed. Then he turned back to me. "Okay. That was better. But you just have to bend more…"

Was he really, seriously expecting me to do it again?

Finally, by the end of practice, I'd managed to get one good dive in. As I miserably toweled myself dry, Rick came by and slapped me on the back gently. "Hey. Take it easy. On Wednesday we'll practice some more, okay?"

I appreciated his kindness, but now I knew-it was hopeless. I'd been completely wrong to sign up for swim team. I pulled on my jean shorts, gathered my things, and started out of there.

"Wait up, Jen!"

No, no, no. Just go away. I couldn't deal with Dell right now. Worse, she had a cute boy in tow. He wasn't wet-but then I figured out that was because he had a cast and crutches.

I turned to Dell. "I'm really not in the mood right now."

"Aw, why not?"

"I think you know perfectly well," I snapped.

"Ooh," she mocked. "Someone's touchy." I glanced over at the boy. He looked vaguely uncomfortable. He caught my eye. Was that something like sympathy in his eyes?

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Dell asked me. "Maybe lunch with all your teachers from last year. Or reading some books-Crime and Punishment or, my personal favorite, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

"Lay off, Dell," the boy mumbled.

Dell rolled her eyes. "Whatever. See you later, Jen." Except she didn't sound very friendly. She and the boy flounced off and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Hopefully, tutoring would be much better than swim team.