Puddin'(108)

“Well,” he says, “I’ll admit that’s rather impressive.”

“But, sir,” I say, “what’s not impressive is our budget. I’m all for rolling your sleeves up and doing some good ol’-fashioned fund-raising, but the Rams, our football team, is allotted a budget twelve times the size of ours, and you’re even building them an indoor training facility.”

Behind me a few people clap, and I think I know just who they are.

“So, Mr. Crocker, today I stand before you wearing my Shamrock uniform for the very last time, and I ask you to consider where you spend taxpayer dollars. I daresay the Shamrocks have more than proven themselves worthy.” I nod to him and the rest of the board. “Thank you for your time.” I step forward and place the folder in front of him, which not only includes Shamrock stats, but also the team’s budgetary needs, thanks to Melissa.

“We thank you for speaking up, Ms. Reyes, and we’ll be sure to consider this as we finalize next year’s budget.” He bangs his gavel. “Meeting adjourned.”

I twirl on my toes, and Mama is right there to meet me. She holds my face like she would when I was a little kid and she’d squish my cheeks together, except this time without the squishing. “Callie Alejandra Reyes, I am so damn proud of you.”

There’s so much between us that’s unsaid, but this feels like a good first step.

Just two weeks after the last day of school, and it’s already time for us all to see Millie off. Amanda hosts a pool party in her backyard the night before.

Millie wears a bright-yellow high-waisted bikini swimsuit with a ruffle top. She’s lying out on a lawn chair beside Malik with huge red heart-shaped sunglasses pushed up the bridge of her nose. Willowdean, in her bright-red polka-dot swimsuit, is canoodling with Bo on the tiny bench built into the deep end of the pool, while Hannah sits on her girlfriend Courtney’s shoulders as they battle Ellen with Tim on her shoulders in a game of chicken.

I sit on the steps in the shallow end with Mitch (whose amazing swim trunks look like the Texas state flag, by the way) on the steps above me so that I’m resting between his legs.

I’m actually 100 percent twinning with Millie today and wearing the exact same style and color of bikini that she is. Her idea, of course. She had tried to get all the girls to join in, but I was the only one who agreed. But I agreed to go all in on the whole obnoxious twinsie thing. I guess you could say I’m pretty accustomed to wearing identical outfits with at least twenty other girls, so the idea of matching bikinis seemed sort of normal to me. Millie mostly marveled about the fact that she found the same thing in both our sizes.

Amanda steps down into the pool beside us, presenting us each with multicolored plastic beads and neon shutter sunglasses. “Much better,” she says.

“You didn’t look festive enough!” Millie yells from across the yard.

Mitch swaps his neon-green sunglasses for my neon-yellow pair. “Feeling very festive right about now!”

“Amanda,” I say, “it’s not that I like you only for your pool, but I also hope you invite me over all the time this summer to go swimming.”

“Your wish is my command! As long as you can deal with my brothers.”

“Where are they, anyway?” I ask.

“My mom bought them a new video game so they’d leave us alone.”

“Good woman,” I say.

“She’ll need all the pool breaks she can get with her new work schedule!” calls Millie.

I cup my hands around my mouth. “Either come over here and be part of this conversation, or stay over there and flirt with your boyfriend.”

Her cheeks are nearly bright enough to match her lei.

“She’s really good at multitasking!” yells Malik. “Flirting with me and butting into your conversation at the same time.”

She swats at him playfully.

“I approve!” I say.

Tim crashes into the water, falling from Ellen’s shoulders as Hannah and Courtney whoop victoriously.

“I can’t believe the elusive Courtney has finally made an appearance,” says Willowdean as Tim surfaces and dunks Ellen.

Hannah hangs on Courtney’s arm like a koala, both their chins skimming the water as they move toward the deep end. It’s the most affection any of us has ever seen her express. Ever.

“Oh,” says Courtney. “Don’t be fooled.” Her bleached hair is nearly white and spreads in the water like tentacles. “Hannah tries to keep her social circles like her food. Separate and never touching.”

“No fun!” says Amanda.

Courtney turns to her. “Thank you!”

Hannah rolls her eyes but can’t stop herself from smiling.

Tomorrow is my first day back at the gym. Vernon agreed to let me take on Millie’s shifts, and, most surprising of all—it was Inga’s idea. I’ve already started to pitch them some ideas about student discounts and a few other things we can do to grow membership over the summer so that maybe I can stay on in the fall.

Millie calls it a night early, since she and her parents are leaving town way before sunrise, and even though I’m not grounded anymore, I’ve got an early curfew until my mom says otherwise. As we’re all saying our good-byes, I run back inside for my bag to get the small going-away gift I made her. Yes, made her.