Wettmelons -
Selene winced. The bet. A stupid argument about who could hold their breath longer while doing calculus in their heads. She’d lost. The price? She had to swim the length of the pool using only her elbows, screaming “WettMelons” at the top of her lungs.
Kids used her float as a launching pad. Old Mr. Henderson, who never spoke to anyone, drifted past on a flamingo and tipped his captain’s hat at her. And then, he appeared. WettMelons
Halfway down the lane, her arms screaming, she felt something give. Not her muscles. The heavy curtain of self-consciousness she’d worn all summer, the one that told her she was too gangly, too quiet, too much in some ways and not enough in others. She laughed, a real, bubbling laugh that filled her mouth with chlorine. Selene winced
Selene winced. The bet. A stupid argument about who could hold their breath longer while doing calculus in their heads. She’d lost. The price? She had to swim the length of the pool using only her elbows, screaming “WettMelons” at the top of her lungs.
Kids used her float as a launching pad. Old Mr. Henderson, who never spoke to anyone, drifted past on a flamingo and tipped his captain’s hat at her. And then, he appeared.
Halfway down the lane, her arms screaming, she felt something give. Not her muscles. The heavy curtain of self-consciousness she’d worn all summer, the one that told her she was too gangly, too quiet, too much in some ways and not enough in others. She laughed, a real, bubbling laugh that filled her mouth with chlorine.