How to Breathe Underwater by Vicky Skinner

Author:Vicky Skinner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Published: 2018-08-14T07:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

The next night, Lily brought a guy to dinner. It really shouldn’t have been that shocking. Lily was beautiful and smart and successful. She was the kind of girl guys wrote poems for and followed around like puppy dogs when she was in high school. Guys would show up on our doorstep, asking with desperate eyes if she was home.

This guy didn’t look desperate. He looked like he knew he belonged with her. He had dark hair and bright eyes and came to dinner wearing a suit, which told me he was probably someone she met through one of her business major friends. He sat at the head of the table and smiled every time someone glanced at him for even a second. He knew he was handsome.

We were all quiet, unsure what to say with a stranger at the table.

“Any news on your first meet?” my mother asked as we all cut into our steaks. I wasn’t a big fan of steak, but it had become a staple when we lived with my father. He was always waxing poetic about how an athlete like me needed the correct amount of protein, and I could only ingest so much chicken.

I knew I wasn’t going to be able to lie much longer. I’d just gone to Harris’s first meet. The districts weren’t all that different. I had to have a meet at some point, right?

“Soon. But you totally don’t have to come. It’s not even that big of a deal, and you probably need to work.” How much bullshit could I throw out before my mother got suspicious?

My mother shook her head. “Absolutely not. I’m not going to miss your first meet.”

“Well, I haven’t been paying as much attention as I should at practice. I’ll find out on Tuesday.” That bought me a whole four days.

“What sport do you play?” the hunk asked me. He stopped eating for a moment to look at me, waiting for an answer and not putting food in his mouth so that he could respond.

“Kate is a swimmer,” my mother answered proudly, saving me the trouble. “She came in first in her event at the State Championships last year. She’s absolutely incredible. She could even go to the Olympics someday.” My mother was glowing, and I felt my stomach twist. I was never going to the Olympics, and the longer I held on to this secret, the more it was going to hurt, and I knew it. But I couldn’t make myself say anything in front of Lily’s date. Lily was staring down at her dinner plate.

When dinner was over, my mom and I sat on the couch, sharing a handmade blanket we’d gotten on a trip to Idaho. Her eyes were glued to the TV, watching a home remodeling show that I found particularly boring, and I watched her closely. She’d barely given any sign since her breakdown before the wedding that anything was wrong, but I could see it in the lines around her mouth, the bags under her eyes, the too-much enthusiasm anytime she smiled.

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