Below, Kendall slapped the side of the pool. She was red-faced and breathing hard. She’d come in second, but a very distant second, in the drill. The twins appeared next, also winded.
Coach Greeley shook her head. “I can’t explain it, Shelly,” she said, studying her stopwatch like it was broken. “You’re like a whole different swimmer today. What’s your secret?”
Shelly, towel looped around her neck, shrugged and smiled, hoping that would be enough. But when she saw her friends watching, she said, “I guess practice makes perfect.”
Coach Greeley grinned, then looked down. “Kendall, nice job,” she said. “But you’ll have to do better! Shelly here just beat your official record. Can you believe it?”
Kendall’s eyes narrowed but then widened as she swept Shelly into a hug. “I totally underestimated you, Shells. You swam so fast!” she said. “Now we’ll win that regional trophy for sure!”
Attina said, “You even beat Kendall at her own event. That’s, like, never happened before.”
Kendall flashed Attina a look but then quickly smiled. “Shelly’s a natural at breaststroke,” she said.
Shelly was thrilled by her performance but even more by Kendall’s praise.
Now she couldn’t wait to face Little River and Judy Weisberg again in the next meet.
I’ll show Judy a thing or two.
* * *
“See? I told you I’d do better,” Shelly said, proudly parading into the locker room with Kendall and the twins. She kept the towel draped around her neck like a featherless boa. She felt like her wish had been worth it. Now Kendall would just have to stay friends with her.
Kendall reached out and touched her shoulder. “As the team captain, I’m totally proud of you.” Kendall grinned, and for the first time, Shelly felt like she had the upper hand in the friendship—like Kendall admired her, instead of the other way around.
Attina and Alana nodded their agreement.
“Thanks,” Shelly said.
“Don’t mention it.” With a flip of her hair, Kendall marched to the showers. Alana followed, but Attina lingered behind, looking torn.
“Look, I shouldn’t say anything,” Attina said, eyes darting. She glanced after Kendall, making sure she disappeared into the showers. “But just be careful with Kendall. She wants you to win—just not against her.”
Shelly frowned. “What do you mean?”
Attina waited for the showers to start running, masking their voices. “Kendall is the top swimmer at Triton Bay,” she whispered. “Everyone knows that. She’s the captain of the swim team. It’s, like, her reputation. If you keep beating her top swim times, you’ll ruin that.”
“Ruin it?” Shelly asked.
“Yeah. Beating her that badly in the drill? At her own event? Surpassing her record time? Then parading in here like you’re the captain of the swim team? And like you’re better than her at the breaststroke now?”
Shelly felt her stomach drop. Her gills also flared, making her feel self-conscious. She clutched the towel tighter. “I didn’t mean to do that. I was just trying to make her happy. And do what the coach wanted and was best for the team!”
Attina frowned. “Well, just know it’s a sensitive subject, so be careful.”
“I just want to win—to help us get the trophy. So Kendall can throw her party.”
Attina shook her head. “Look, you’re new, so I don’t expect you to understand everything. But this is a big deal for Kendall. If you beat her in the next match, she won’t forget it. Trust me on this one. I’m just saying this as your friend.”
With that, Attina headed for the showers, leaving Shelly alone on the bench. She could feel the wet towel wrapped tightly around her neck—and, underneath it, the gills that flared every time she breathed. Wanting to race home and cry, she forced herself to head for the showers instead. Still in her bathing suit, she scooted into a shower stall and turned it on.
“What’s good about being the best swimmer if being the best swimmer means that Kendall will hate me?” Shelly muttered to herself, stepping under the scalding water.
And aren’t friends supposed to celebrate the successes of their friends? she thought.
She reached for the shampoo bottle. The water pelted her skin. She felt her gills flare. She had thought that becoming the fastest swimmer would help her keep her friends, not lose them. On top of that complication, she had actual gills. She’d signed her name in gold on that contract. She’d made her wish and agreed to the deal. But now she almost wished that she hadn’t.
Was it too late to take it back?
Then she remembered Ursula saying, “There’s no going back,” and her heart stopped.
Mindlessly, she squirted shampoo into her palm—but thick oily black sludge came out of the bottle. It coated her palm and dripped down her arm.
She gasped, dropping the shampoo bottle. “What the—”
The sludge leaked from the bottle and stained the water black. It reminded her of an oil spill in the ocean. She looked down. Her hand was still stained with the oily black sludge. She tried scrubbing it under the scalding water, but the black stain wouldn’t come off.
The sea witch’s sultry voice echoed through her head. “You can’t change your mind!”
A horrible cackling filled the showers. “You wanted to be the fastest swimmer!”
Shelly grabbed her towel and bolted from the shower, darting past Kendall and the twins, who were now dressed. She tried to hide her hand, hoping they wouldn’t notice the black stain.
“What’s wrong?” Kendall asked as she detangled her wet hair with a comb.
“Nothing!” Shelly said, her voice higher than she meant it to be. “I—I’m late for dinner!” Shelly quickly tugged on her outfit over her bathing suit and ran from the locker room.
The sea witch’s cackling followed her out into the parking lot, where her
