The Messy Life of Blue by Shawna Railey

Author:Shawna Railey [Railey, Shawna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: little bee books
Published: 2020-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

10

Once the weather finally started to warm up, Arnie was back in swim lessons. I watched as he splashed happily with the other runny-nosed kids in the pool, kicking his legs as hard as he could while holding on to the edge of the wall. I watched Kiera, the instructor for the class, work her way down the line of students, correcting their legs so they stayed straight and stiff. When she got to Arnie, he barely needed any help at all. He was like our mom: a natural-born swimmer.

My teeth were chattering now that I was out of the pool and sitting on a wooden lounge chair. I tried to stretch my towel around my arms, but it wouldn’t reach. I couldn’t find any beach towels before we left the house, so I was stuck using an extra-small bath towel. It barely fit around my waist.

As fascinating as it was to watch my littlest brother put his nose in the water and blow bubbles, he wasn’t the reason I’d all of a sudden started coming to his swimming lessons. At first, it was because of my mom. Knowing she was practically a mermaid made me want to be a better swimmer like her, and I knew that with practice, I could make it happen.

But then I met Kiera, Arnie’s swim teacher. She was in high school and was even older than Seth—and way, way cooler. She wore her hair piled on top of her head in a bun that somehow looked messy and perfect all at the same time. She had at least ten bracelets tied around one arm, each one made of different-colored threads weaved together in intricate designs. And, even in the water, she wore purplish lipstick.

If I were old enough to wear makeup, I would wear purplish lipstick just like her.

I pulled my legs up and tried to tuck them under the tiny towel for extra warmth. I glanced down at the other end of the pool, where a diving class stood along the edge. One by one, the teacher called their names and they took turns plunging effortlessly into the deep water. If I knew how to dive, and if I were allowed to wear purplish lipstick, I would quite possibly be the coolest girl in my school.

But my lips were plain old lip color. And I was way too scared to dive.

“Yoo-hoo! Blue? Earth to Blue.”

I turned to Arnie’s class and saw Kiera waving at me. I sat up straighter. “Yes?”

“Will you jump in and help me for a few minutes?”

I dropped my towel and slipped into the pool. It wasn’t deep; the water didn’t even come up to my shoulders. Kiera handed me a green foam kickboard with a smiley-faced starfish on it. She held on to one with an orange octopus.

“Okay. We’re going to have each kid hold on to the kickboard while we pull them across to the other side of the pool and back again. Do you think you can handle that?”

I nodded, afraid my voice would squeak if I tried to talk.

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