I Know It's Over by C. K. Kelly Martin Page B

difference in his voice. He cocked his head and grinned at me. “Everything happens to you, doesn’t it?”
    We went for a swim while we were waiting for Sasha, then bought a couple sodas from the snack counter and plodded back to our towels. A few minutes later I spotted her heading towards us in a high-cut one-piece swimsuit. It was strange to see her like that, even if it was a one-piece, and I was glad we weren’t alone.
    “Good to see you guys,” she said, plopping herself down on Nathan’s towel. “No trouble getting in?”
    Nope, no trouble. I stared down at her legs and noticed they were completely smooth, like her underarms and everything else I could see. Her hair was damp and she gathered it together with her right hand and snapped a rubber band around it. “You’ve already been swimming,” she observed, motioning to our wet hair.
    “It’s a hot day,” I said. Her toes were as fine and tiny as her hands. I wanted to fold my fingers around her ankle, just to touch her somewhere safe.
    “Humid, yeah,” she agreed.
    The three of us sat there watching the water. I was beginning to wonder if we’d sit there giving a weather report all day when Nathan launched into safe subject matter—updates on people from school and his upcoming Arizona vacation. Then, just when I was beginning to feel comfortable, he announced that he was going to take another dip and padded down to the lake.
    “Nathan’s great,” Sasha said, staring at his back as he waded into the water. “Have you guys been friends a long time?”
    “Forever. Me, him, and Keelor.”
    I didn’t explain about the recent fallout between the two of them. I didn’t feel like explaining much of anything. That was one thing about Dani—you never had to explain anything to her; she took things as they came. I asked Sasha how the sailing lesson went and listened to her describe the kids in her class. It was funny to imagine Sasha being someone’s teacher. I couldn’t remember the last time I taught someone anything really useful. I taught Holland how to tie her shoes, but that was years ago. My parents tried for months, then my mother decided they were putting too much pressure on her and that she’d come back and ask them when she was ready. But Holland never did ask them, she asked me, and we practiced it together until she could tie her shoes as well as I could. Holland was really weird about learning things when she was a little kid. It was like she thought she had to be perfect all the time.
    Dad once said that was the difference between us—that Holland repeated something until she could do it perfectly and I assumed whatever I was doing was perfect from the start. He was angry with me when he said that. Keelor and I had taken out his mother’s car and dented it trying to put it back in the garage. Mom told Dad he shouldn’t say things like that because he’d give me a complex. “You criticize his confidence and glory in your own arrogance,” she said. That was when I was fourteen, before he left.
    “What’re you thinking?” Sasha asked, lying down on Nathan’s towel. “You look a million miles away. You look like that a lot, you know that?”
    “I didn’t know that,” I said. “Maybe I have ADD or something.”
    Sasha turned on her side and stared at me. “Are you wondering why you showed up?”
    “Of course not. It’s just kinda weird being here with you asking me these questions when I hardly know you.” I took a sip of warm soda and blinked at her. “I guess I’m trying to figure you out.”
    “So what do you want to know?” she asked.
    “Just like that? Twenty questions?”
    “Well, maybe not.” She tried to smile, but it only part-worked. “You’re making me nervous. Is that what you want?”
    “You make me nervous too.” Surprise cut into my voice. “Did you know I was watching you in English?” Her honesty made me daring. She looked amazing lying there on Nathan’s towel, her suit clinging to her