Surviving High School

can’t get into a pool without thinking of my older sister, or how I follow the exact same training regimen my dad designed for her, even her sleep schedule down to the minute. Or how before I ever check my times against Dominique’s, I check them against Sara’s.”
    Miss St. Claire was typing furiously, trying to get every word.
    “Sara—” said Emily. “She could have won medals, too. Way more than my dad ever did. But she didn’t get to. And if I don’t work just as hard as she would have—if I don’t live up to that—I mean, what was it all for? And now here you are asking all these questions about her, just trying to turn all this into some kind of—some kind of story .”
    “You’ve got me all wrong,” said Miss St. Claire, stopping her typing for a moment to look Emily in the eye. “Of course I’m looking for the best story, but I’m on your side. I’m going to make you a hero. I’m going to make you a star.”
    The Swimmer’s Monthly article came out three weeks later. Emily’s father flopped it down in front of her as she ate a bowl full of hard-boiled eggs, and she nearly choked on one when she saw the cover. It was her, tearing through the water, a wet spray hanging in the water beside her outstretched arms. Theheadline read: AMERICA’S BEST SHOT FOR GOLD: HOW ONE GIRL’S QUEST TO FULFILL HER SISTER’S LEGACY FUELS AN OLYMPIC DREAM .
    “Congratulations,” said Emily’s father, beaming. “You’re famous.”
    Emily felt sick.
    “Dad,” she said, “the cover? Really? Now everyone in school is going to think I’m—that I’m—”
    “A great swimmer,” he said. “And I don’t think too many kids at the high school read Swimmer’s Monthly .”
    And he might have been right—
    Except that the next Friday, both the school paper and the local one picked up the story and ran it on the front page.
    And the next day, a local TV station requested an interview.
    And the next morning, a reporter for Sports Illustrated called.
    “This is awesome,” said Kimi as she flipped through Swimmer’s Monthly on Emily’s bed that Sunday. “She makes you sound like a frickin’ superhero, or a rock star, or LeBron James or something. And the best thing is Dominique! All she gets are, like, two lines in the final paragraph!”
    Emily winced. “Great. So now Dominique is going to totally hate me.”
    “Aw, don’t be so upset. She already hated you.”
    “Why couldn’t that stupid reporter have just left mealone?” asked Emily as she reread the story on the Swimmer’s Monthly website. “I haven’t even won anything, not really. This is just too much—attention.”
    Kimi sat up and laid down the magazine. “You’re joking, right? This is the best thing that’s ever happened to us. You’re going to be totally famous now. Forget sitting in the corner of the cafeteria. Forget boys completely ignoring us. Forget never getting invited to parties. We’re in!”
    “Not to burst your bubble or anything,” said Emily, “but it’s just a stupid story. No one at school reads the newspaper. No one cares.”
    Kimi flopped onto her stomach and groaned into one of Emily’s pillows, then turned her head to look at Emily, a pleading expression on her face. Emily closed the Swimmer’s Monthly website and opened a fresh window.
    “Em, don’t do this. You always do this! Something good happens and you find a way to—”
    “Kimi—”
    “No! Don’t interrupt. What I’m saying is, you always find a way to take some awesome thing that just happened and make it look like a complete—”
    “Kimi!”
    “What?”
    Emily carried her laptop over to the bed and turned the screen toward Kimi.
    “I just logged onto Facebook.”
    “Yeah. And?”
    “And I have one hundred and sixty new friend requests.”

CHAPTER FIVE
    The next day in homeroom, as the other students caught up on homework or sleep, Alicia walked over to Emily’s desk and laid down a copy of the school paper.
    “I didn’t realize I was in the presence of greatness—or at least future greatness. Now, why, exactly, have you been hiding this from everyone?”
    Emily shrugged. “I wasn’t hiding anything.”
    “You’re not like most kids your age, you know,” said Alicia. “When I was a freshman, which wasn’t all that long ago, I would have given anything to be a celebrity—but mostly just because I wanted to date Justin Timberlake.”
    “He’s a little old for me,” said Emily. “Maybe Justin Bieber