Surviving High School

remember, her sister’s absence didn’t physically sting her.
    “I talked to Nick Brown today,” she said, putting the cookie cutter down. “He showed me photos—”
    “How dare you bring up that boy’s name in my house!”
    “I’ll say his name all I want, Dad! Now tell me. Did you know?”
    “I didn’t want you to think of her like that,” he said, his voice shaking. “Better that you saw her at her best—”
    “—than the way she really was?” Emily finished his sentence.
    “That boy—” he started, his voice growing firmer, angrier.
    “Nick’s not the villain here. No one is. You know what the truth is? There was a terrible accident. And now Sara’s dead. But I’m not. And I’m tired of you using some imaginary version of Sara as an excuse to ruin my life. So I’m not going to Junior Nationals. I’m going to homecoming. And if that means you can’t be my coach anymore, that’s okay. Maybe that’s even for the best.”
    Emily’s dad turned to her mom.
    “Are you hearing this? She obviously won’t listen to me. Maybe you can reason with her.”
    “Paul,” she said. “She is being reasonable.”
    “Great. So now you’re taking her side.”
    “Our deal has always been that you can push the girls as hard as you want—because this is their dream, too. But it sounds like this isn’t Emily’s dream anymore. We always promised each other we’d never be those parents, living out our dreams through our daughters.”
    “She’s fifteen!” Emily’s dad shouted. “She doesn’t know what she wants!”
    “Yes, I do,” said Emily. “I want this to be over. I just want a normal life with boys and friends, and staying out past ten at night, and if that means giving up swimming—”
    “I won’t lose another daughter!” he shouted, his voice beginning to shake again. “I won’t. Don’t you get it? She lied to us, Em. She stayed out with that boy, and look what happened. I can’t lose you the same way.”
    For the first time since Sara’s funeral, Emily could see tears in his eyes.
    “Dad, we all miss Sara,” said Emily, fighting to keep her own voice steady. “But what happened to her was an accident. And I’m sorry if you can’t accept it, but that’s how it happened. It was no one’s fault. But it’s not an excuse to ruin my life, too. I’m out, Dad. I’m done with it. The training, the diet, the swimming. All of it.”
    “Fine,” he said, turning away. “You’ve made your choice,Em. Just don’t expect to come crawling back to me, asking me to be your coach, when you realize what you’ve thrown away.”
    He left the room, and Emily and her mother sat quietly at the table as they heard him stomping up the stairs.
    “Mom,” said Emily, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
    But before she could say another word, her mother had come over and was hugging her close, just as she had when Emily was younger.
    “You have nothing to be sorry for,” her mom said. “You know how your father can be. He’s like you, entirely stubborn. But give him a day or two, and he’ll see the light.” She stroked Emily’s hair and kissed the top of her head. “Now tell me, who’s this boy who’s taking you to the dance?”
    The next morning, as Emily spied on him from behind a nearby classroom, Ben Kale walked slowly down the hall. The usual bounce had gone out of his step, and his perpetual smile had been replaced with a blank stare. As he got to his locker, he found Spencer waiting for him.
    “Dude,” said Spencer. “Dude! You’ll never guess who I’m taking to homecoming.”
    Homecoming. The very word made Ben cringe.
    “Who?”
    “Lindsay, man! Apparently she’s been mad crushing on me all year! She’s into my bod, naturally. I just wish I’d known sooner, you know? Then I wouldn’t have wasted so much time on Dominique.”
    “Yeah,” said Ben distractedly. “Sure.”
    “I know, I know! I mean, I think maybe Lindsay started liking me so much because I was just going after Dom and ignoring her, right? Girls are totally like that. I can’t believe it. I totally gamed her without even meaning to!”
    Spencer raised his hand for a high five, but Ben ignored it, opening his locker. When he did, a bouquet of roses fell out and landed at his feet. Ben knelt down to pick them up.
    “Is there a note?” asked Spencer. “Who are they from?”
    “Who do you think?” asked Emily, stepping out from the doorway of the classroom.
    “You broke into my