“You should go to the party, KT Lady. It doesn’t matter if you swim or not.”
“Really?
“Really. Dolphina is your zone. Think of it this way: Iowa flair and Dolphina flair go together like—”
“Rocky road and sprinkles!” I interject.
“Like rocky road and sprinkles,” Lucy agrees. “You got this.”
What is it about big sisters and their ability to make you feel anything but little?
“Thanks, Lucy.” I’m about to leave when I ask, “Hey, can you help me set up my room later? It looks kind of empty and depressing. Like nobody lives there yet.”
“You bet,” Lucy agrees with a smile. I roll out and am about to shut the door behind me when she says, “Leave it cracked. For the ghosts to escape.”
I do as she asks, and we share a smile. One thing that doesn’t change across state lines: Tradition is always tradition.
I go to sleep with a full heart.
I don’t think it’s ever been hotter at Dolphina Cove. There isn’t a single cloud in sight, and the humidity is so high I feel like I’m sitting in a puddle. A puddle of sweat and nerves planted in a palm tree forest.
Dad drops me off fifteen minutes early so I can visit with Tara and the other trainers. Annie, as it turns out, is the relative who got Socks the discount tickets. I’m glad to see her familiar face when I arrive.
“You’re a regular,” she greets me when I wheel up to the deck outside the check-in office. “Good to see you again, KT.” This time, Annie looks me right in the eye.
Annie calls down to the trainers’ office to let them all know I’m here, and a minute later Tara trots up to the deck.
“How many bubble rings did Cola make since I last saw him?” I ask after giving Tara a huge hug. She smells like sunscreen and salt water.
“He’s gonna be a sculptor when he grows up, I swear,” Tara says. “Bubble rings are only the beginning.”
I giggle. That wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
“I’ve got to go finish getting ready for the session. See you down there!” Tara says.
“Oh, wait— Which dolphins today?” I ask. I feel my stomach flip. Despite all the excitement of seeing everyone again, I can’t forget the point of this whole day: the grand finale.
“Sammy and Cola. We gave Cola the morning off so he wouldn’t be too zonked for y’all’s session. He’s been cleared for guest swims for about a week now.” Tara somehow answers the question that I didn’t quite have the words to ask.
“Hashtag awesome.” Just as I had hoped.
I wait on the deck for everyone to arrive. Because I promised Mom, I lather an extra layer of sunblock on my nose and neck. I watch the lagoon. The water is dark, but as I soften my gaze, I allow myself to see the reflection of the blue sky on the surface. As if on cue, a dorsal fin punctures the glassy water. Cola launches into the air for his signature leap.
“Hey, dude,” I say.
Socks and Jas arrive first in a gray SUV. In my mind, I name it Manatee. They’re already bickering when they step out of the backseat and onto the gravel. Their moms look like taller and more tired versions of their daughters.
The boys all show up a minute later. Ayden smells like River Mist, which Jas is quick to point out. I give Juan Carlos a wave, but I can’t see his eyes behind his sunglasses. He has a smear of white sunblock on his earlobe. I don’t point it out. Kisa is last.
“Had to turn around halfway here because I forgot my phone,” she offers as an excuse.
“Who is ready to swim with some dolphins?” Natalia asks once we’re all gathered. There aren’t too many other guests today. A couple from Germany with their seven-year-old twin daughters and a family of five in matching orange T-shirts linger around the deck taking photos. “Follow me down to the picnic table area to get started.”
Socks takes the detour with me down the ramp while the other guests descend the stairs.
“So, I did some low-key preliminary research, and did you know that dolphins don’t have a sense of smell? And that a pod is like a family of dolphins, which can have as many as one thousand of them?! Hashtag squad goals.”
I did know all of that, but I listen to Socks anyway, without interrupting.
Tara leads the information briefing once we have our life jackets on. I ask Jolie for a smaller one than I got last time around. It fits like a glove. Tara gives a brief history of Dolphina Cove and does a speed round of Dolphin Facts 101. She also says that if we’re out in the open ocean on a boat and a dolphin pops up, don’t feed them.
“Because you’re not supposed to feed wild animals, like at the zoo and stuff?” Socks asks. She sits tall in her chair, gobbling up every dolphin-saturated word. “Rawr,” Ayden says. EJ and Jas explode with laughter. He’s going to need to get a little funnier if he’s going to maintain his status as class clown into high school. “Actually,” Tara says, “it’s because they’re going to keep coming back for more once they realize there’s an easy food source, and when they bob on the surface of the water for too long, the tops of their heads can get sunburned.”
Gosh. As if dolphins could get any more adorable.
“One more thing dolphins and I have in common,” Juan Carlos jokes. We share a smile.
I try not to worry about what’s to come. Lucy’s words echo in my memory. It doesn’t matter if you swim or not. I hope she’s right. Behind Tara, the surface of the lagoon glistens under the relentless sun. Juan Carlos snaps a photo. I hear some splashing, but don’t see Cola, Luna, Sammy, or any of the rest of them.
Balloon breath time.
Here I am again: Sitting on the dock in that Dolphina Cove water chair that isn’t Sprinkle. The birthday girl and EJ are set to go first. I’m not sure if she’s more excited about swimming with dolphins or standing in a confined platform with EJ.
“Jas, pair with me,” Kisa demands, but Jas makes an excuse that she forgot something in her bag, and Kisa should go ahead with Ayden and Juan Carlos. (Odd. Very odd.) When Jas returns a few minutes later I notice her eyes are a little red around the edges.
Jas and I watch in silence as one by one our friends swim with dolphins. Socks shrieks with joy, and even EJ laughs like nobody is watching. I don’t think I’ve ever seen happier human beings.
“Y’all are up!” Tara says after the Kisa group is out of the water. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Jas fidget with the little key-shaped charm on her gold necklace. My breath is shallow, and the sun toasts the back of my neck. I’m not sure if I am ready yet.
“Why don’t you let the twins go first?” I suggest. “I think they’re, like, really anxious to get in there. We can hang tight.”
I look to Jas, expecting her to challenge my decision, but instead, she just nods. “Yup, totally cool,” she says quickly.
Our friends horse around and giggle on the other dock while the blond girls splash around with Sammy and the leader of the orange T-shirt group howls with laughter as Cola leaps over his head.
“Whoa. They’re, like, really big,” Jas says, as Cola crashes back into the water.
“Hashtag big.” Even after spending as much time around dolphins as I have in the past few weeks, that part doesn’t get old. Dolphins are just tremendous creatures. No way around it.
“OMG, why do they have so many teeth?” Jas whispers. Her voice is soft in a way I’ve never heard before. I’m not sure if she’s talking to me or herself, but I respond because I know the answer.
“They’re not for chomping, if you can believe it. Dolphins don’t chew their food. The just use their teeth to snag fish.”
“Oh,” Jas says quietly. “Okay. That makes sense, I guess.”
“Don’t worry, they don’t bite.”
Jas nods.
Soon, the German family and the orange shirts are out of the water. It’s just Jas and me waiting to go. Jas’s mom has her phone out for pics, and, of course, Juan Carlos has brought his fancier camera. He’s been snapping photos since the mome
nt he arrived. I hope I get to see them.
The squad is for sure out of earshot, but Jas whispers again, so quiet I almost can’t hear. “Why is that one so thrashy?”
I follow Jas’s gaze and land on Cola. I smile. “That’s just how Cola plays.” We watch him for a moment more. Cola reminds me of a puppy rubbing its back in the grass to scratch an itch.
Suddenly he leaps out of the water. Jas catches her breath. “Show-off,” I say with a giggle. “He does that all the time. It’s kind of his thing,” I explain. Cola lands with a theatrical splash and disappears beneath the surface.
“All aboard, ladies,” Natalia calls from the dock. “Good to go?”
I can tell that Jas is too nervous to answer, so I respond for the both of us. “Thumbs-up, Natalia.” Then, to Jas, “You’ll see when you get closer how happy they are. Plus, their skin feels really cool.” Tara pushes my chair a few feet forward onto the mobile dock. Only then does Jas join us.
The dock begins to lower.
Jas’s breath catches when her feet touch the water. “Wow. So. Cold.”
I can’t feel it yet, but I remember. The chill might actually be nice on this hot, hot day.
A moment later the water nears my chest and the dock stops.
“You ready?” Tara asks. I look at the water in front of me. It’s dark and it’s cold and it’s scary, and I have no idea what’s under there. But I also know that Cola loves to play, and Tara is an amazing dolphin trainer and not all surprises are bad. “Y’all can swim out to the center of the lagoon together, and then Sammy and Cola will give y’all dorsal pulls back in to where you are now.”
I give Tara a thumbs-up and unbuckle from the crazy chair. I’m about to doggy paddle forward when Jas says, “I’m not the best swimmer.”
I see her reflection on the surface of the water before I turn to face her directly. Her eyes dart around the lagoon and she takes very shallow breaths. I balloon breath for the both of us.
“It’s okay. That’s why you have a life jacket,” I remind her. “We can do this,” I say as much for her as for me. “Let’s go.” I hold out my hand, and she takes it. We swim linked together for a few strokes before I break free and paddle on my own. My arms are covered in goose bumps, but by the time I’m halfway out, I’ve already started to warm up.
“When Cola swims by, hold out your hand and grab on to the part of his dorsal fin closest to his body, okay?” Tara shouts.
I don’t see Cola anywhere, but I trust Tara. She bridges, and I remember that dolphins have a super sense of hearing. Suddenly, Cola pops up in front of me. He’s enormous, and his smile shows rows of Tic Tac teeth.
“Hey, dude,” I whisper.
I feel calm. All those balloon breaths must have carried over.
I let my fingers curl around his fin. Wet suit, windbreaker, rubber-band baby. I hold on tight, and Tara bridges.
Off we go.
We soar through the water and I release a laugh that begins from somewhere deep inside my heart. It’s exactly like I imagined and also nothing like I could have ever expected. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but for the time being, I let myself enjoy the moment. Next to Cola, the lagoon feels big, open, wide. Free.
Like home.
When I arrive in the cafeteria Monday morning, everybody—Socks, Jas, Kisa, Lilly, Ayden, EJ, and Juan Carlos—are gathered around our table staring at something. I wheel toward the tundra side of the table. Lilly tells a story. Something about a crazy thing that happened last weekend. The words hashtag, splash, and so cold filter into my ears. Almost every other word is interrupted with laughter or corrections. I feel my breath catch. Did everyone hang out last weekend without me? Did Lilly have another bat mitzvah?
Then I remember. No, of course not. Last weekend we were all together at Dolphina Cove.
I take a low-key balloon breath without even thinking, and listen for a moment to get caught up to speed.
“Dude, your face was so funny! Like—” Ayden pauses and makes an expression of exaggerated, wide-eyed astonishment.
“Whatever. All I’m saying is that my ride was the fastest. They’re gonna be calling me ‘E to the flash to the J’ at Dolphina Cove all year.”
“Pshh,” Socks says, her cheeks flushing deeper than the most tropical sunset.
Ayden isn’t deterred. Like Lilly, he likes to entertain the crowd. Very Cola of him. “I still can’t get over that dolphin fur, it felt so—”
“Dolphins don’t have fur!” Lilly and I exclaim at the same time.
“OMG, speaking of, I heard they spotted a two-headed dolphin in Turkey,” Socks says before popping a handful of blue M&M’s into her mouth. That sends us into skeptical hysterics. Where does Socks come up with this stuff?
“Who’s they?” Jas asks rhetorically.
“No way would I swim with a two-headed dolphin,” Kisa admits, speaking to both her cell phone and the group.
“I almost didn’t swim with a normal dolphin!” Ayden practically shouts. “Those dudes are mad big and have like four hundred teeth! How do you know they wouldn’t eat me right up?”
Jas and I instantly make eye contact and share a quick smile before I interject, “Um, hate to break it to you, but dolphins don’t use their teeth for chewing. They swallow their fish whole.”
The rest of the squad looks my way.
“That’s what I’ve been telling them!” Jas says, giving me a high five. “Dolphins don’t eat people ’cause they don’t even chew! Nothing to be scared of! Y’all, KT is like the world expert on dolphins.” I blush, because Jas says it in a way that’s definitely, no-doubt-about-it, a compliment. “Seriously, you should write a book about them!”
“The Wild Dolphins of Iowa City!” Juan Carlos suggests wistfully, before cracking up. I laugh along with him.
“That’s mad ridiculous,” Kisa says without looking up. I’m learning that she actually seems to pay more attention when her nose is buried in her phone. Kinda like doodling helps me focus or calms me down if I’ve got something on my mind, maybe.
And yes, Juan Carlos’s title is totally ridiculous, but it does give me an idea. A potentially amazing idea for the piece I do still have to write, that’s in fact due at the end of the week. Which gives me another maybe not-so-ridiculous idea …
“Listen up, everyone,” I announce. “I need your phone numbers. My birthday is coming up, and I’m having a thing. Not sure what it is yet, but it’s unlikely any marine mammals or their teeth or fur will be involved. You’re all invited.”
“Sweet,” Lilly says, snatching my phone first. “Birthday celebration season!” She passes my battered smartphone around the table, and as the recap about our time at Dolphina Cove resumes, my friends enter their digits, one Florida area code at a time. The bell rings, indicating the end of lunch. Ayden scampers after Jas, and Socks, Lilly, and Kisa moan about the burden of seventh-grade science as they sling their backpacks over their shoulders. EJ fishes a crumpled worksheet out of his backpack and jets out the door in a panic.
Before I see it coming, Juan Carlos captures my phone from where EJ left it on the table.
“Hold up,” Juan Carlos says. I watch a piece of his hair fall across his forehead as he plugs his number into my contacts. “I texted myself so I have yours, too.”
He smiles, and then shoots me a goofy look. I’m about to respond with my signature KT Wynn look, but my emerging grin is too big to conceal.
I drop my phone in my lap and speed off to fifth-period civics. Once I’m parked in my cutout desk and snuggled inside my emergency hoodie, I think to check my last outgoing text. The text Juan Carlos sent to himself from my phone. Something tells me it might be interesting.
I’m not wrong.
KT Wynn: salsa with a side of punk rock.
Because Mr. Lewis has his back turned, and also because I can’t resist, I type back Xylophone appetizer.
Then, at record speed, I pop out one more message, this one to my favorite dolphin tr
ainer: Tara! Hi! Favor … too much to explain … call you after school? Give Cola a belly rub for me!
My thirteenth birthday is on a Saturday. I wake up before my alarm. That’s like a rule of birthdays. For me, at least. I don’t want to waste my special day sleeping. I do one final proofread of my article and email it to Miles. Right on time. I was up until two a.m. poring over my interview notes and writing, typing quicker than Socks talks. Or, almost as quick.
The storm that raged the night before brought nothing but the sunniest skies for the first day of thirteen. Sunshine pours in through my windows, spotlighting a collage of photos and newspaper cutouts that Lucy helped me hang on the wall.
A barrage of texts from Cady and Kaytee arrive before I’ve had breakfast. They want to know what I’m doing to celebrate. I stick with the same line I’ve said since I came up with my idea and text it back in all caps:
SURPRISE!!
Not all surprises are bad.
Be ready, 3 p.m. sharp. Keep your phones charged.
Lucy used her graphic design skills (apparently, they go hand in hand with video game skills, who knew?) to make a digital flyer with little GIFs that move. I texted the invitation to my Fernbank Middle squad individually. Mom, Dad, Lucy, and I arrive at the beach an hour early to stake out a spot halfway between the parking lot and the ocean. Sprinkle, bless her heart, can’t handle the sand, so Dad gives me a piggyback ride to the king-sized blanket Mom and Lucy laid down. The sky is blue, the clouds are cotton balls, the water is aqua, and the seagulls are squawking. A classic Florida postcard, but real life.
Everything is set up with a few minutes to spare. The leaves, the hay, the thermos of apple cider. Pumpkins pin down the corners of the sheet. Mom and Dad, like actual champs, made an epic Rice Krispies Treat cake in the design of a tree ablaze with orange and yellow leaves. The sound of the ocean hums in the background. A whisper, not the nervous kind, but calm.
Socks and Jas arrive first.
“OMG, KT!” Socks exclaims when she sees me. “This is genius!”
A banner I made out of a pillowcase held up by old broomsticks waves in the breeze like a flag marking newly discovered territory. My territory, new and old. “Resurrect Fall!” the banner reads.
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