Pool Party

They were at that point in teenhood when the boys would throw the screaming girls into the pool, and the girls would feign horror, but stayed buoyed by the secret that the boys were casting their own lures.

Waist-deep, Caitlin protected her eyes from playful splashes with the same half-heartedness with which she tried to ignore the worry that these people were only her friends because she lived in the house with the pool. Her toes strained below the surface, seeking out the subaquatic ledge that separated the diving end from the area for easy treading. She let her body gently bob with the teen-caused currents in the pool, soaking herself in false confidence.

Anto -- who had been Caitlin’s friend the longest -- was the one who threw Caitlin in the deep end. Now, he swam to the other boys. Stereotypes should have dictated that the girls would stick together in a tight formation, but in practice it was the boys who formed a synchronous shoal.

The girls were dispersed clumps of seaweed and driftwood, but none floated near Caitlin. She felt like the outsider in her own home. She swam to the edge and pulled herself on to dry land. Her wet feet slapped the sun-warmed tiles as she ran to the deepest edge. The boys followed her movement with glances they thought were subtle. Caitlin’s suit was a practical one, designed for efficiency, not flattery. Alluring designs and string ties didn’t compliment her practiced athleticism. She stepped on the wobbly diving board as one of her new friends shouted, “show us a dive!”

There were a few more cheers, challenging her to impress them. She bounced a few times in consideration, then canon-balled in, causing a splash on the surface, but also ripples below that she hoped would rattle the invisible social walls. Sure enough, when Caitlin surfaced Anto had drifted back toward her. He was the second best swimmer there.

“You can do better than that,” he said.

“Nobody likes a show off,” she replied.

“Doing something you’re good at doesn’t have to mean you’re showing off.” He was still talking to her, but his attention was gravitating back to the rest of the teens playing in the shallow end. Caitlin wondered if he was thinking about the girls in the pretty bikinis, like she was. The laughter and screams filtered through the sunshine, conjuring a feeling of nostalgia for something that hadn’t happened yet.

One by one, the teens climbed out of the pool, shivering into towels and mourning the quick turn of August heat into September coolness. Caitlin pretended she was cold too, and climbed out with the rest of them for forced goodbyes. Parents arrived to collect their children, each gripping the steering wheel with the pressure they couldn’t use to hold them back from adulthood.

Caitlin hoped chance would make Anto the last to leave, but he slipped into one of his new friend’s cars for a lift home.

Alone, Caitlin dove back in, this time with the graceful precision she had ironed into herself. She swam the length of the pool again and again, not bothering to pace herself. Her lungs burned with fire as she ripped through the currents. Her muscles screamed as she gulped air and plunged herself below the surface again. She couldn’t hear the thunder growling, or feel the slap of raindrops. Her only purpose was to keep swimming.