On Saturday afternoon Tommy came home early from practice.
“Is everything okay?” Mrs. Sackett asked him worriedly. “You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”
“Everything’s fine,” said Tommy. “We had baseline concussion testing today—just a bunch of computer questions that measure our processing speed and reaction time in case we ever get a concussion.”
Mrs. Sacket looked relieved. “Got it. Well, I was going to take the girls to the pool. But maybe you’d like to take them?”
“Sure,” Tommy said. “I heard some of the guys say they might be heading there too.”
It had taken awhile to understand the driving laws in Texas, but Tommy and their mom had finally gotten the paperwork straightened out saying that it was legal for Tommy to drive his siblings.
The car ride there was quiet. After a few minutes, Tommy gave up trying to find a station that didn’t play country. This time Alex had actually won the shotgun battle for the front passenger seat. They rode in silence until Alex finally cleared her throat and blurted out a question.
“How are things between you and Daddy?” she asked Tommy.
Ava perked up her ears.
Tommy drummed the wheel thoughtfully, as though trying to think of the best way to respond. “Things are okay, not great,” he said. “Some of the guys think Coach is being really harsh on a few players. Like PJ and Tyler. And even me,” he added grimly.
“Oh,” said Alex worriedly. “I thought things were better.”
In the backseat, Ava crossed her arms and sulked. She’d been concerned about their dad since they’d gotten to Texas. Why had it taken Alex so long to get a clue?
But she knew the answer to that. That was the way Alex always was: quick to love everyone and see the bright side of everything. She was slow to acknowledge that a person might have ulterior motives and wasn’t quite as nice as she thought. Alex liked everyone, and everyone liked Alex.
As they pulled into the parking lot, Tommy put the car in park and then took out his phone to check his texts. “A bunch of guys from the team are meeting up here,” he announced. “You girls okay staying awhile?”
“Yes!” said Alex quickly. “I just got a text from Emily. She said she’s on her way here too. I guess a whole bunch of AMS kids come to this pool on Saturdays. Let’s stay as long as possible.” Ava had to admire her sister. She was very good at sizing up the social landscape of a new place and strategically putting herself into the right situations. How had she known that this pool, which was across town from their neighborhood, was the place to see and be seen? She probably will get herself elected class president, Ava thought.
The girl at the front desk smiled at Tommy. Ava had noticed that girls did this a lot these days. Then the girl looked at the twins, and realization dawned on her face. “Oh! Y’all must be the Sacketts, right?”
“Yeah,” said Tommy with a grin. “My twin sisters are a dead giveaway. How much do we owe you?”
“No charge for y’all,” she said, waving them through. “Women’s locker room on the left, men’s is straight ahead.”
“Thanks,” said Alex and Ava together.
“A girl could get used to this royal treatment,” Alex whispered to Ava as they headed into the locker room to change.
The swimming area was enormous. There were three different pools—one shallow wading pool full of little kids and their parents; another, directly in front of them, that looked like a tween and teen hangout; and a third that looked like an Olympic-size pool and was marked off with lanes. Serious swimmers were doing laps, and a swim practice was going on at the far end.
As Tommy headed off to find his teammates, the girls found two empty chairs and dragged them together. Then they laid out their towels. Alex settled into her chair and opened her magazine as Ava peeled off her T-shirt. Her mom had finally convinced her to buy a new bathing suit, and she had to admit, she loved it. It was a sleek, silver, one-piece racer.
Alex, in contrast, had talked their mother into buying her two new suits. Today she was debuting a cute fluorescent-blue bikini with a retro-looking, forties-style halter top.
Ava had just gotten settled into her chair and closed her eyes when she heard Alex squeal.
“There’s Emily!”
Alex sat up and waved wildly.
Ava opened one eye. Emily was waving back from the other side of the pool, beckoning to them. Or was it just to Alex? Ava was so accustomed to being friends with Alex’s friends. It had always been convenient for quiet, reserved Ava, not having to make small talk and flit around at birthday parties. She usually liked Alex’s friends just fine, and they her, but here it seemed like a whole new ball game. Ava hadn’t spoken to Emily very much, so she couldn’t really assume Emily already wanted to be her friend. Maybe she was just beckoning to Alex.
“Let’s go over there,” said Alex excitedly.
“Now?” said Ava. “We just got settled here.”
“Ave,” said Alex in her most matter-of-fact voice. “This is an important social opportunity for both of us.”
Ava sat up and swung her legs around to stand up. “You go ahead,” she said to Alex. “I just saw Coach Byron and his kids, Jamila and Shane—the ones we see at practice sometimes. I’m going to go say hi.”
“Okay,” said Alex. “I’ll be over there.”
Ava sighed. Playing with younger kids seemed so much less complicated. She just didn’t have the energy to delve into the Ashland Middle School social scene. Not yet.
As Alex made her way around the pool, she spotted a boy in the water. He had reddish hair, and he was hanging out at the side of the pool, talking with Emily and her friends, who were sitting on lounge chairs. Was it Corey? Her heart thudded. She could only see him from the back. Water streamed off his shoulders as he pulled himself effortlessly out of the pool and then stood up.
As she approached them, she silently thanked her mother for letting her buy this second bathing suit. She knew she looked great in it.
Corey must have thought so too, because as soon as he caught sight of her he tripped backward over a lounge chair, barely catching himself before he fell into the pool.
Alex giggled. He was truly adorable. Her breath caught in her throat as she noticed how his bright-blue eyes seemed to glow, even from this far away.
“Hey!” he called to her.
“Hi!” she said brightly, addressing the group. She tried not to look at Corey too much, but her eyes seemed drawn to him.
“Don’t you look cute as a bug!” said Emily, leaping up and hurrying over to Alex. She crooked her elbow through Alex’s and led her to a free chair in the midst of the group. Alex could see Corey out of the corner of her eye as he headed over to a group of his friends and sat down. She was pretty sure he was still gawking at her.
“Where’s that twin sister of yours?” asked Rosa, sitting up on one elbow and smiling at Alex.
Alex looked around. She spotted Ava in the kiddie pool, moving through the shallow end with Jamila on her back and Shane chasing them. The kids were screaming with delight.
“Over there,” she said, smiling. “She’s playing ‘shark attack’ with those little kids.”
“Aw, how sweet,” said Annelise. “We were just heading to the snack bar,” she went on. “Want to come with us?”
“Oh, thanks, I’m fine for now,” Alex said. Then she wondered if that had been a mistake. Should she have agreed to go with them? Had she missed an important socializing opportunity? Or would this be the perfect chance to think of a reason to say something to Corey?
The three girls stood up. Emily smiled at Alex and tossed her a bottle of sunscreen. “Here, slather up,” she said. “You northerners need to get used to our Texas sun!”
As Alex was putting sunscreen on her legs, a shadow fell over her. She looked up. It was Corey. Gulp.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Um, great.” She knew she had to say something, but her mind was totally blank.
“So how’s your dad’s team look?” Corey finally said.
Alex’s heart sank. She knew nothing about football and cared nothing about football. She couldn’t carry on a conversation about it to save her life—not like Ava could. She would have to make a note to learn the game better. She could learn the players’ names, that kind of thing. But for now, what should she say to Corey? She needed to come up with a standard response to this question, because it seemed to be the one everyone asked.
“Um, okay, I guess,” she managed.
Corey abruptly sat down next to her on the lounge chair. Her whole body stiffened—whether in thrilled excitement or pure terror, she had no clue.
“Sorry, that was a dumb question,” he said.
“No, it wasn’t. It’s just that I—”
“You’ve probably been asked that by every person in this whole town,” he said.
She smiled gratefully. “I do hear it a lot,” she admitted.
“I was just trying to make conversation. I’m not great at small talk.”
Inside, her stomach did a cautious little flip. Maybe he liked her, too!
“Well, you should really ask my sister that question,” she said. “She’s really into our dad’s team. She even plays football herself. She was the star kicker at our school back in Massachusetts.”
“No kidding,” he said. “That’s pretty cool. But you told me before you weren’t that into sports, right?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m very uncoordinated,” she said. “Ava and I are pretty different, even though we look exactly alike. Or used to,” she added under her breath.
“It must be awesome to have a twin. You two are probably super close, huh?”
A wave of sadness washed over her. “We always have been,” she said. “But since we moved here, we’ve kind of been drifting apart a little.”
“I guess you guys must be under a lot of pressure, just like your dad is,” said Corey thoughtfully. “I was just talking about it with my dad last night. He said a lot of people have been kind of ragging on Coach Sackett at practice, criticizing some of his coaching decisions and saying if your dad doesn’t get to the state finals, he’ll be out of a job. That there are no second chances in Ashland.” Seeing Alex’s horrified face, he quickly continued. “But my dad said that wasn’t fair. People who know what they’re talking about, who really know the game, are saying that your dad is an awesome coach. He needs a season to rebuild the team because they lost a lot of seniors and they’re not very big this year. I think your dad’s awesome. I learn so much about my own game when I watch him coaching.”
Alex flashed a dazzling smile. “Thanks for saying that.”
His ears instantly turned bright red, which made her like him all the more.
The others returned just then, carrying drinks and snacks and chattering away about the latest episode of a reality TV show Alex hadn’t heard of. She told herself she would look into it before school started.
Corey stood up. Over where his friends were sitting, the boys were collecting their towels and clothes and shoving them into backpacks. “Gotta go,” he said, a bit wistfully. “Our summer park district football team has practice.”
He and Alex exchanged a quick smile. He jerked his chin up ever so slightly as a quick good-bye gesture to her, and she felt herself blush. She was glad she had on her big sunglasses.
Alex watched him knock over a small plastic table as he left. He joined up with his friends and then they all wound their way through the sea of suntanners and swimmers. She sighed. How could anyone be that cute and that nice?
An hour or so passed, in which the girls alternated between jumping into the pool and lounging and chatting. Occasionally Alex would wave to Ava, beckoning her to come join them, but each time she was either in the middle of a game or under water. Then Emily glanced at the time on her phone. “We better get going,” she said to Rosa and Annelise. “We’re all assistant counselors at a cheerleading camp for little kids, which starts next week. We have to go to a meeting. Are you going to try out for the squad this year?”
Alex shook her head quickly. “I really am a klutz,” she admitted.
“Oh, nonsense!” said Emily with a tinkling laugh. “How can the coach’s daughter not be coordinated?”
Alex laughed too and made a mental note to look into cheerleading. How hard could it be? Her friend Isabel back in Boston was a cheerleader. Maybe she should go out for the squad. It definitely seemed like something that could elevate her social status at AMS and make her more of a public figure. “But anyway, I think I need to get going too. I should find Ava and my brother.”
The girls left, and Alex stood up to look for Ava.
She scanned the kiddie pool again and spotted her in the far end, blowing up an inflatable beach ball with Coach Byron’s kids. Then Alex did a double take. Her gaze shifted to the main pool.
There, in the water right in front of her, was Jack. He was laughing and splashing a girl who had just gotten out of the pool and was toweling off. It was the blond girl from the mall. Alex was sure it was the same person. She looked quickly toward the other pool to see if Ava had spotted them as well, but Ava gave no sign of having seen them.
She thought of calling after Emily to ask her who the girl was, but Emily and the other girls were already heading into the locker room.
She made another mental note, this time to keep a careful eye on that guy. He really had no right to flirt with her sister when he obviously already had a girlfriend.