Like Bug Juice on a Burger (11 page)

And what to say to her if I did.

But before I could,

Hope told us to put on our bathing suits.

Because it was time for swimming.

At least I wasn’t the oldest Guppy.

Braces Girl from the bus

was a Guppy, too.

I was pretty sure she was older than me.

Because of the braces.

I couldn’t tell if she recognized me from the bus,

because she kept looking down at the dock

while we all waited for the Guppy teacher.

After a few minutes that teacher arrived

and blew her whistle.

“Everybody in the water!”

she said.

Braces Girl was the first one in.

I jumped in second.

That water was still freezing!

But I warmed up

because our teacher made us swim forever!

Five laps of backstroke,

then five of freestyle.

She must have liked my backstroke fine.

Because she never said anything about it.

But after one lap of freestyle,

she tapped me on the head.

I held on to the dock, kicking my feet,

and looked up at her.

“Watch,”

she said.

She showed me how to breathe,

two or three times,

then sent me off again.

“Show me a stronger kick,” she told me

after the third lap.

I tried hard for the rest of the laps,

kicking and breathing.

“Better,” she said

when I was done.

“Much better.”

I’d never swum ten laps before

in my whole life.

I figured our lesson
must
be done.

But when the last of the Guppies returned

to the dock,

our teacher said,

“I want everyone to tread water now

for five minutes.

Or until you can’t tread anymore.

Ready? Set!

Go!”

I wasn’t sure I could tread at all.

My legs were tired!

But I moved away from the dock,

not far from Braces Girl,

and I started to tread.

After about a minute,

I was facing away from the dock,

struggling to keep my head above water,

when I heard my name.

I kicked around.

Joplin was standing on the dock,

dripping wet.

She waved at me.

I did
not
wave back.

I knew if I did,

I’d sink to the bottom

of the lake

and never rise

again.

“You’re moving your legs too much!”

she shouted.

“Slow down!”

“Shut up!” I wanted to shout back at her.

But I could barely breathe.

“Move less!” Joplin shouted again.

“Pedal a bike slowly!”

Actually,

I realized,

moving less sounded good.

So I stopped kicking fast

and started pretending to pedal a bike slowly.

It
was
easier.

Much easier.

Joplin kept shouting directions at me.

And when our teacher blew her whistle

after five minutes,

I was still treading.

I didn’t want to go

on the floating trampoline.

“I’m tired,” I said.

I
was
tired.

Swim lessons had just ended.

“Sorry,” Hope said.

“It’s a cabin activity.

Go and get your life jacket.”

So I had to go all by myself

to the swim shack, next to the dock.

It stank of mildew in that shack.

The floor was covered with paddles and ropes.

And life jackets hung crookedly

on rods.

They came in all different sizes.

I had to guess at mine.

The first one I picked was filthy,

so I put it back.

The second one was filthy, too,

and
it had a broken clasp.

These things are ancient! I thought.

Then I realized something.

My mom might have stood in that very spot

and flipped through those very life jackets

when she was a camper.

In a funny way, in that moment, I felt her beside me.

Which made me happy.

But only for a second,

because then Joplin stuck her head through

the shack’s door.

“Ready?” she said.

“Everybody’s waiting.”

I grabbed the next life jacket I saw

and threw it on.

Even though it was enormous.

Then Joplin and I ran together to the dock.

Hope frowned at my giant life jacket.

But she just said,

“OK, everybody!

To the trampoline!”

The rest of the cabin leaped right into the water

and started
racing
to the trampoline.

I jumped in last.

I could tell it was going to take me
forever

to kick my way to the trampoline.

Because my stupid life jacket kept dragging me back.

Hope stayed beside me the whole time,

doing an easy breaststroke in her striped bikini.

“I wish I’d had that life jacket last summer,”

she said.

“Swimming in the ocean, in Thailand.”

“What
happened
?” I asked.

I figured it must’ve been scary and awful.

Since she’d needed a life jacket.

But she said,

“My bikini top fell down!

I hadn’t tied it tight enough!

I needed a life jacket

to keep me covered!”

I laughed.

“It was
horrible
!”

she said,

laughing, too.

“I had to tread water

practically naked,

until I finally got my top back on.”

“I don’t even own a bikini,”

I told her.

“So a life jacket doesn’t help
me
.”

“You can borrow one of mine!”

Hope said.

I laughed again.

Because the thought of me

in one of Hope’s bikinis

was just ridiculous.

Something about Hope’s story

made me feel better.

Even though all the other girls

were already jumping on the trampoline,

and I was still the only one in a puffy diaper.

“Listen up, everybody,” Hope said,

after I’d followed her onto the trampoline.

“Sit in one big circle.

We’ll jump two at a time.”

I didn’t want to jump at all.

I just wanted to be invisible.

But when it was Joplin’s turn,

she pulled me by the hand.

“Come on!” she said.

“Jump with me!”

We bounced together.

Lightly at first,

then harder and harder.

Until we knew exactly when to

STOMP

to make each other soar.

After candle lighting that night,

I fell asleep to the sound of raindrops on the roof.

But I heard no rain when I woke up

in the middle of the night.

Instead,

I heard

a tapping.

On the window above my cubby.

It stopped after a few seconds.

Then started again.

I knew—

I just knew—

there was a man out there.

Making his way inside.

“Hope!”
I tried to say.