with the way Maggie was so certain.
“I’m thrilled for you, Ria. Honest. I know more than anyone how hard you’ve worked. I know what you’ve done to get this. I’ve been there even when you’ve forgotten about me.” Maggie crossed her arms. “It was always all about you, the chosen one. We all knew you were the reason Benny showed up. We were all there for you. But I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
It was true that Maggie had been with her, more than anyone. They’d pushed each other, on and off the board. They’d massaged each other’s cramps, cleaned scrapes, iced bruises. They’d coaxed and coddled and cheered. But still, even through all those hours shared, there had been things they didn’t talk about. Some pains lay too deep to be uncovered, exposed to the sun.
“I didn’t know Benny would come too. He can make calls for you. You can still get a scholarship. You’ll see. You should call Coach Ling at Dayton Hill University.”
“I want Uden.”
“You could be in the big leagues, Mags. With your new dive, and more on the way.”
“I don’t want the big leagues. I want to win.”
“Obviously. Why else compete?”
“I won’t win if I’m at a school like Dayton Hill. I’ll always be behind someone like you. If I’m at Uden, I have a chance.”
She knew Maggie was right. But she also knew, for her, those wins would feel hollow. Being the best had to be real, not a convenient illusion. Moving up through the ranks, toward the Olympics, narrowed the field to only the top competitors.
“I kissed Sean.” Maggie stood up.
The words didn’t mean anything. Not at first. They were too unexpected. Out of context. Surreal. But then, they hit. “Sean? Like Sean . . . Sean?” She’d almost said my Sean, even though that obviously wasn’t true.
Maggie’s eyes looked full, ready to overflow. If Ria didn’t know what to do with the words, the tears were completely inexplicable.
“It just happened. He was upset and wanted to talk. We were drinking . . .”
“The wine.”
“And, well . . .” She scrunched up her face. “One thing led to another.”
Ria could imagine it. Each and every detail. As if she’d been there. She knew them both, implicitly. Maggie, curvy and confident, and Sean with his roaming hands and shiny metallic hair. His skin the color of Maggie’s freckles. A perfect match. Now that she could see them together, she couldn’t look away.
“How many things?”
“What?”
“How many things were led to?”
“Just kissing. Maybe a little bit more than kissing. We were pretty buzzed.”
Ria pushed off the ground, started swinging again.
“I’m sorry. We both are. You have every right to be pissed. We’re going to make this up to you somehow.”
“How?” she asked, genuinely curious. “What does that even mean?”
Maggie’s lip trembled. The crease between her eyebrows deepened. She looked the way she did whenever she got sidelined at practice.
“It’s okay, Mags. It doesn’t matter.”
Sometimes Ria said things she wasn’t sure were right or true. And held back plenty more that she knew were true, but couldn’t say the right way. She wasn’t sure where these words fit. She didn’t know if she believed herself.
Twenty-Nine
Ria jumped on her trampoline. No flips, no twists. Just jumps. Hundreds into thousands of jumps. She was buzzing from her exchange with Maggie. Anger and hurt and confusion mixed into a toxic concoction flowing through her bloodstream.
The truth was she and Maggie didn’t have anything to bind them together anymore. They weren’t teammates. They had no future together. They never would have been friends in the first place if they hadn’t spent all those hours together in the alternate universe ruled by Benny. All that lack of normal.
And now, Maggie and Sean. Together. Kissing. More than kissing.
She wondered who made the first move. Who crossed that line first? Not that it mattered. It was clear the result had been mutual.
And why did she care? Things had been off with Sean for a while now. If they’d ever been aligned in the first place. Benny had been the reason they got together and she hadn’t even realized. She’d always thought Benny understood her. That the reason he never needed to ask her why, or how, was because he already knew what she was thinking. He hadn’t been thinking of her at all. She didn’t belong to herself. He’d given her away and Sean had played along even though he’d wanted Maggie. Everything was finally how it should have been.
But Maggie and