Page 11 of In Too Deep

“Am I not weird enough already?”

“Maybe,” she said with a laugh.

“Where’s your mom?”

Christina’s laugh faded quickly. She lowered her eyes and said, “She got breast cancer when I was eight and never recovered. What about yours?”

“She died in a car accident when I was ten.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“Me, too.”

Coach Banks was right.

Christina and I did have a lot in common.

And I was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t so bad, after all.

CHAPTER NINE

That was the start of our friendship.

Christina and I never took a dip in the dolphin pool again, but we did continue to meet there, helping Stacey feed the dolphins or simply hanging out, talking about all kinds of things.

We hung out all the time, going out for coffee or dinner, watching movies, studying together at my house.

And of course, we hung out at the pool at school.

We practiced together.

We raced each other, trying to beat each other’s times.

The rest of the team saw our hard work and they worked harder, too. The result?

We ended up winning our first tournament, thanks to everyone’s hard work.

We celebrated at my house by eating and drinking and dancing the night away. My dad spent the night with a friend, giving us the run of the place with just two rules: NO BOOZE, NO BOYS!

We didn’t invite boys over, but we did raid my dad’s beer stash in the basement fridge.

When the other girls had fallen asleep in the three bedrooms, Christina and I sat on the balcony, talking as we enjoyed the night air and looking up at the stars.

“I can’t believe we did so well,” Christina said.

“You were amazing,” I told her. “You left the others a full length behind.”

“That’s because you helped me.”

“Maybe I helped a little.” I said, bumping her with my elbow. “I can’t believe we’re best friends now.”

“Why not?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t like you very much when we first met.”

She pretended to glare at me. “How can you not like me?”

“Because you were better and prettier than I was,” I admitted.