IT’S BEEN three days since the Viking funeral, and this is how Rose decided to play it. The first day after the violin was gone, Rose acted like she couldn’t find it and pretended to be very distressed. The next day (yesterday) she doubled down on her lie. Since her mom doesn’t always lock the front door and Rose practices in the front living room, Rose announced that her violin must have been stolen. And that it was her mom’s fault for leaving the door unlocked!
Breathtaking.
Today, the three of us have been at the pool all morning, mostly talking about the violin incident while standing shoulder-deep in pool water. When Ally points behind me, I turn and see Dad walking toward us. He’s got Zora by the hand. She’s wearing a bathing suit, and he’s not. I know what this means.
“Just an hour,” he says, looking down at me, Ally, and Rose. “It’s good babysitting experience—for all of you.”
“Birdie!” Zora screams, and jumps in wildly.
As she sinks to the bottom, Ally pulls her up with one hand. “It’s too deep here. Let’s go where you can touch the bottom.”
I squint up at Dad. “Okay. I’ve got it.”
Dad looks at Ally, then back at me. “Well somebody’s got it.”
Playfully, I splash him. “We’ll see you at lunch.” He waves at Mrs. Franklin sitting on the lifeguard stand and points toward us. She waves back and gives him a thumbs-up. Before he leaves, though, he turns to me seriously and says, “Remember, you’re in charge.”
I’m a model big sister for at least an hour. We play Marco Polo and Underwater Tea Party. I help Zora practice swim strokes and everything.
Then Joey starts up. “You coming to the big game, Blondie?” He drops this little bomb while he, Romeo, and Connor walk past toward the deep end.
Ally seethes.
Joey is psyched about the charity game. Partly because everyone at the ballpark attends and winning the big charity game somewhat assures his position as the sixth-grade middle school pitcher. And partly because he gets to torture Ally with it.
“Come on,” Rose says, and Ally follows her out of the water. “Who died and left you king of the jerks,” I hear Rose yell at Joey from across the pool.
For just a minute, I get out of the pool to join them, leaving Zora playing happily on the shallow steps.
“King of the jerks?!” Joey exclaims. “I’m king of the mound.” He looks at Ally pointedly. “Cuz only kings, not queens, belong there.”
Okay, that’s enough! I glare at Romeo, who reaches his arm out casually and pushes Joey into the pool.
We all laugh—me, Rose, Ally, Romeo, even Connor. Not Joey. He pops up from the water like a hissing snake and is out of the pool in seconds. “You’re dead, Romeo!”
Romeo smirks, but as Joey’s feet hit the concrete, Romeo starts to run. He circles the deep end, sailing past the diving boards, Joey on his tail.
A loud whistle blasts and instantly, they downshift to fast-walking. “No running,” Mrs. Franklin shouts from the high lifeguard’s chair.
“We’re not running,” Joey cries defensively, and walks faster.
She blows the whistle again. “Mr. Wachowski! Stop moving now!”
Joey obeys but I can see it’s killing him. Romeo walks on, turns the corner of the pool, and glances back at Joey nonchalantly.
“It’s not fair,” I hear Joey whine while I watch Romeo, not a care in the world, stroll along the other side of the pool, on his way back to us.
As Joey sits in “tween time-out” by the side of Mrs. Franklin’s lifeguard chair, his feet dangling in the water, Romeo rejoins us. He waves at Joey, tauntingly, and Joey groans. Ally waves, too, a big smirk on her face, then we all join in, laughing and smiling. Poor Joey.
“You never get in trouble,” I say to Romeo. It’s true. He hangs out with the most troublemaking boy in school but trouble never sticks to him.
He smiles broadly and shrugs. “Don’t know. Maybe Joey’s just a bigger target.”
“Much bigger,” Rose quips.
Ally cocks her head and looks thoughtfully at Joey. “But look at him, all sad and in time-out. He’s kind of cute.”
“For a big-boned boy.”
“Come on, Rose,” I say.
“Yes, Miss Adams,” she teases, and I feel my face turning red.
Rose whispers, “Blush much?”
I whip around. “I am not blushing!”
“Are, too!”
My eyes are steaming. I want to be mad at Rose, but she’s right. I am blushing. Because Rose called out my teacher voice in front of Romeo.
Suddenly, I’m done with swimming. Done with all of it. It’s got to be lunchtime by now. I walk toward the shallows to pick up Zora.
“Where are you going?” Rose calls out. “Come on. Don’t be mad.”
“I’m not mad. I’m hungry.”
Rose catches up with me. “Don’t be a liar.”
I stop and turn to her. “You’re calling me the liar? That’s hilarious, Rose.”
“I don’t lie to you.” Even though I’ve seen her lie a thousand times, when it comes to me, I know she’s telling the truth. Romeo looms behind her. I look away. Because I’m the liar by not telling her about Romeo.
I cast my gaze over the shallow end looking for my sister. Zora is always easy to find. But I don’t see her. “Zora!” I shout. “Let’s go.” She doesn’t answer. So I check the stairs, where I left her. She’s not there. “Do you see Zora?”
Rose looks out at the water with me. I see lots of little white kid heads but no Zora head.
“What’s wrong?” Ally says, pulling up beside us.
“Where’s Zora? I can’t find her.”
“She’s probably in the bathroom,” Ally says. But I know she’s not. Zora doesn’t go to the pool bathroom without me.
That’s when I start to freak out. “Zora!” I yell.
“Chill,” Rose says, “we’ll find her.”
“Yeah, she’s around.” It’s Romeo, coming to help.
We’re searching the shallow end when I hear Mrs. Franklin’s whistle break out in three urgent bursts. “Birdie, look!” Ally exclaims.
I turn to see Ally pointing. Toward the deep end. And then I see her. Zora. By herself. Standing at the top of the high dive.
“Zora!” I yell, and start running.
As Mrs. Franklin’s whistle goes frantic, everyone clears out of the deep end. My sister stands absolutely frozen at the end of the high board. I don’t take my eyes off her.
Zora is only seven. Truth be told, I didn’t jump off the high dive until I was eight and it practically scared me to death. If Ally hadn’t double dared me, I’m not sure I would have done it yet.
“Zora!” I call out. But she doesn’t answer. Her terrified eyes are locked on the water below. “Zora, talk to me!”
Ally and Rose rush to my side. “Come on, Zora,” Ally yells.
I know Zora better than anyone. So I know she’s not moving. Once Zora freezes with fear, you practically need a blowtorch to thaw her out.
“Zora, come down off the board,” Mrs. Franklin calls out over her loudspeaker. And I can feel Zora tense up even tighter. Giving Mrs. Franklin a pleading look, I hold up my hands to stop her from doing that again as I run to the high dive ladder.
It’s twenty-two steps. I’ve counted them before. I count each one of them now, trying to calm myself down. As my head rises above the back of the diving board, I see her. “Zora, it’s Birdie,” I say softly. “I’m coming up.”
Zora doesn’t turn around. And I think, How’s she going to fly to Mars if she’s scared of the high dive? Maybe I’ll have to go to Mars with her.
I step up onto the diving board. It’s flat and solid, unlike the springboard below. As I walk out, holding on to the rail, I see every eye in the pool area watching us.
“I’m right behind you, Zora-pie,” I say and keep walking. As I pass the end of the rail, I move across the open board, which hovers over the deep water.
“Got you.” I grab her arm gently. “I got you. It’s okay.” But she doesn’t move. She doesn’t turn around. She’s as still as a block of ice.
“Come on, Zora. Just turn around and I’ll help you down.”
“I can’t.” It comes out like a whimper.
“Yes, you can.”
Ever so slightly, she shakes her head no.
“Just turn around. It’s easy.”
“No!” Zora whisper-yells.
I look down at my friends for help. “You should jump,” Rose calls up. But gently. “You can do it. It’s easy.”
Zora grabs on to my arm for dear life but still doesn’t turn from the spot. And I realize Rose is right. Jumping is the best way out of this.
“Let’s jump, Zora,” I say as brightly I can. “It’ll be fun.”
“No, Birdie.” She’s trembling now.
I lean down, my lips beside her ear, and whisper, “Why did you do this? Why did you come up here?”
It’s very quiet before she says, “I wanted to fly.”
I smile to myself. Of course she did. “So let’s fly. We’ll do it together.”
“Nooooo!”
“Please,” I say. “I’ll let you play with Peg Leg for a whole week. You can sleep with him and everything.”
Her head turns slightly. “Really?”
“Really. And it’s no big deal. I’ll stand right beside you. I’ll hold your hand. We’ll fly together.”
“It’s okay, Zora,” yells Ally.
She shakes her head sharply. “I can’t.”
“Don’t look down. Look up. Like the birds.”
She squeezes my hand. I could jump off and pull her with me. It would work. It would get her down. But it also might scar her for life. And I would hate it if I was the reason she never went to Mars. Instead, I choose the greater good.
“We could turn around and climb down the ladder with everybody looking at us. Or they could all watch us jump. Think how jealous Rose and Ally will be.” I feel her eyes shift to my friends by the side of the pool. “This will be just our thing. Only you and me, Zor.” That last part was completely manipulative because I know Zora is sometimes jealous of my friends. But like I said, the greater good.
“Okay,” Zora says quietly. “Okay.”
I step beside her, locking eyes with Mrs. Franklin, who’s probably going to put me in “tween time-out” for this because only one person is supposed to be on the high dive at a time. Not to mention if I had been watching her like I was supposed to, Zora wouldn’t have climbed up here in the first place. But I can’t think about that right now.
I take Zora’s hand in mine and she looks up at me. “We’re going to be birds,” I say. “We’re going to fly.”
Her eyes turn forward like she’s facing a firing squad.
“When I get to three. One … two … hold your breath, Zora … three.”
And we fly.