Chapter 1 I was surrounded by racks and racks of swimsuits as if circled by sharks Mo do we have to do this now I asked my mom Everyone calls her Mo which is short for Maureen Come on said Mo waving at the counter for assistance like she was landing an airplane This is the perfect way to celebrate the end of the school year I wasn’t in the mood to celebrate Yesterday had been my last day at Pico Primary the only school I had ever known In the fall I would be moving over to the enormous regional middle school along with hundreds of other new seventh graders from all over Kettleboro Vermont Just thinking about the maze of hallways and a confusing cafeteria in that gigantic cement building made my stomach cramp 1
I already told you I don’t want a new What can I help you with ladies the sales woman chirped as she fluttered across the store I crossed my arms and scowled This is the first day of my daughter’s summer break announced Mo and she needs a bathing suit Nothing too pricey Just a cute sporty number that shows off her new curves My face instantly burned Ooh let’s think about this said the sales woman staring at me as if I were a mannequin in the window I would love to find something to complement those gorgeous exotic tones Exotic was supposed to be the nice way of describing the way I looked but that word made me cringe I’d inherited my dad’s tawny skin and piercing piercing dark eyes tossed together with Mo’s genes her coiled copper hair and excessive freckles The com bination makes it hard for people to label me no matter how hard they try And in the white world of Kettleboro they try a lot Within minutes Mo had gathered a dozen suits Let’s get this over with I grumbled as I grabbed the hangers and trudged toward the dressing dressing rooms 2
Halfway across the store I overheard the sales woman ask So she’s adopted No one ever thought I could hear that question but I always heard even when they didn’t come right out and say it Nope Mo whispered loudly as if everyone in the entire world needed to know her dad’s half Korean and I’m mostly Scottish with a dash of Lebanese Lebanese on my paternal grandfather’s side Sometimes I wish I had been adopted That would explain a lot Reluctantly I tried on the first suit and stared at myself in the three-way mirror Part of me still believed that one day I would wake up and find myself as I used to be scrawny and shapeless But standing under the fluorescent lights in a navy blue one-piece I looked curvier than ever Can I see Mo called from the other side of the curtain I bet that orange one with spaghetti straps is sensational This is a waste of time I don’t even like swimming swimming anymore Hang tight my mother commanded I’ll check the racks again I ignored her and changed back into my clothes 3
Nothing for you sweetie asked the sales woman as I handed her the pile of rejects I shook my head and found Mo by the bikinis She held one in front of me pastel pink and lacy Not a chance I hissed and we finally left We stopped for lunch at Mo’s favorite café Pita Pan in the center of Kettleboro and were seated outside under a striped umbrella As soon as we’d ordered Mo leaned in too close to my face Did you take a look at that book from the library I left on your bureau The one on becoming becoming a woman She grinned hard like she always does when explaining the facts of life as if we were in on a wonderful secret together Mo had given the becoming a woman lecture so many times I knew it by heart Always comparing comparing the amazing transformation to a caterpillar bursting into a butterfly or a bud blossoming into a flower as if butterflies and flowers had to deal with divorced parents or trying on new bathing bathing suits I wanted nothing to do with growing up I would 4
