"Oh great! We're late." I groaned. This was the last B meet of the swim season, and I came in to find out that our swim team, the Dolphins, was already doing warm-up. "Well, better late than never." I said, then disappeared into the ladies room to change into my team suit.

The first person I saw was my young blonde friend, Bridgett, standing right by a dressing room. I went over to say hi to her, but as soon as I was close enough to give her a high-five, the dressing room door swung open, and my other blonde friend, Franka, burst out of the dressing room, singing and dancing all crazy-like.

When she saw me staring at her with a twisted look on my face, her face turned red, and Bridgett started laughing hysterically.

"Man, Frankie! You should warn me!" I laughed. She just glared at me.

"For the hundredth time, don't call me Frankie!!!!!" Franka yelled.

"Geez, sorry, Franka." I said, backing up. Dutch girls. Do they always act like this? To save myself from getting beaten up by Franka, I quickly made my way to another dressing room to change.

When I came back out wearing my team swimsuit, something I heard made me groan in irritation.

"SQUEEKY!!!!" There was no mistaking that voice. It was my little sister Danielle. I still have no idea why she calls Franka Squeeky. Well, my sister got into making little balloon animals, so she handed Franka and Bridgett little red balloons twisted into strangely-shaped dogs.

"I think I'm just gonna go escape the madness, and do the rest of warm-up." I said, backing out of the ladies room. I walked over to the team area, on the grass, as usual, and set up my spot with my towel. I grabbed my goggles and swimcap, rushed to my coaches, and I was pushed into the pool for warm-up. “HOLY CRAP!!!! Cold water! Cold water!” I thought as I swam.

I looked over at the people swimming in the lane next to me. When I found who I was looking for, I smiled. There he was. Franka and Bridgett totally knew who I was looking for: Michiel, Bridgett's 14-year-old brother. Screw all the other guys I liked! This guy's so much better! I've had my eye on him since his first few days on my swim team. At first, I was just looking for someone to keep my mind off Steven, this guy I met at school, over the summer, but as time went by... I can't explain it. He's just so nice to me, he always smiles, and as a plus, he's very cute!

And, he's fast. Did I mention fast? This is his first year on a swim team, and already, he's making it to the A meets! The A meets were reserved for the fastest people only! It took me years to get on the A meets, but with him, it was a piece of cake! And, he never really brags about it. He's just happy to be on a swim team. I'm just happy that he's on my swim team, and I'm a friend of his little sister.

So, anyways, warm-up was over before I knew it (I guess it was for being late), and soon everyone was sitting down on their towels in the team area. But, just as soon as I sat down...

"All Dolphins gather over here!" Coach Chris yelled, motioning for all the Dolphin swimmers to come closer for his pre-meet lecture.That talk was boring! I tuned him out after a few minutes. I just looked all around me. Tour opponents, the Great Falls swim team, sprayed themselves a bright blue, which kind of explained the unusual color of the swimming pool. But, what caught my eye was Michiel. My eyes almost bugged out when I saw long red scratches on his chest. I was about to ask him what happened, when I heard some kids telling off Eric, the Mr. Ego of our swim team. "What? It was an accident! I started too early, and my hand brushed right past him!" Eric whined. Apparently, He was the one who did the damage. I had a strong urge to tell him to cut his fingernails. That scratch remained visible for quite a while.

Well, soon, I was back in my little spot in the far back of the team area. My little cheerleading sidekick, Sebastian, put all her stuff on my towel, but I fixed that when she wasn’t looking. Then, I heard the announcer call out, "All IM-ers report to the Clerk of Course!" This was it. IM was a four-lap race, one lap of each stroke. I wasn’t used to sprinting more than two laps at a time, but I just wanted to face the challenge for the hack of it. I'll forever regret doing IM that day, because once it was all over, I collapsed face-down flat on my towel.

But, soon enough, Bridgett and Franka set their towels up right beside me, and the little circle of hyper girls was reassembled. We just talked for a while. Then, as I knew would happen, the subject of Michiel was brought up.

"Come on! Tell him you like him!" Bridgett said, who didn’t mind at all that I was crushing on her older brother.

"Be cool about it, though. Ask him to the movies or something!" Franka suggested, sucking on a ringpop.

"Tell him he's really nice, he's a fast swimmer, and you think he's got a good body..." Bridgett said, counting down all of his assets with her fingers.

Then, in shock, Franka gave a skreech, and the ringpop she was sucking on broke off the holder. She spit out the candy on her hand and yelled “A GOOD BODY? Are you wack?” It was so funny that Bridgett and I were rolling all over the ground laughing. Once Franka finally downed the candy, she looked over at where Michiel was sitting. She stood up, and yelled something in Dutch to him.

"What did you say?" I asked, looking right at her. "I invited him to come sit with us! And I said that we won't bite him... but you might."

It was my turn to yell. "WHAT?"

Bridgett couldn't stand us talking to each other like that. She sat between me and Franka, and said, "Okay. Come on! Karina, this is your chance to tell him you like him! Look. He's coming over. Just act normal."

"But, I never act normal! I'm wierd all the time!" I wailed.

Then, I froze as I heard a voice behind me say, "Well, if you always act wierd, then that's your normal behavior!" I spun around, and saw Michiel setting up his towel right beside mine. I seriously could not keep from staring and wincing at the scratches on his chest.

Just as soon as he was getting comfortable sitting there, Franka and Bridgett backed off.

"Where are they going?" I asked, even though I knew why they were leaving. Michiel just shrugged, but other than that, he stayed put. I went after Franka and Bridgett. Franka stopped me right in my tracks.

"Whoa! Where are you going?” she asked. “We just set you up with him! Now, go back there!" I couldn’t believe she thought I was actually going through with this! But, I went back to sit beside him.

"So... did you get into divisionals?" I asked slowly, trying to start a conversation.

"I got in!" he said.

"Really?" I said, with more confidence this time. This was getting off to a good start.

"Yep, in breaststroke!" He smiled. And with that, we started a really long conversation. Until... Franka was giving me the thumbs up-thumbs down sign to see if it was going well. That ruined the moment.

"What are you doing?" I yelled in her direction. That was a big mistake! Franka came running up to me, and then grabbed my wrist.

"Excuse me, can I talk with you for a second?"

"Ow!" I winced. “ Quit tugging at my arm! I'm coming! I'm coming!” I said under my breath.I smiled at Michiel in apology before I let Franka drag me away. Once we were out of earshot, Franka looked me right in the eye.

"Did you tell him?" she interrogated.

"I was going to, until you pulled me away!" I said, my hands on my hips. Then, Franka took my back to my spot, pushed me back down to my towel, and yelled out, "If you don't do it in two minutes, then I will!" I cringed, then my face instantly turned red when I saw Michiel laughing hard.

"Man, that must have sounded wrong for you!" he said. I couldn't help but blush.

"Um... yeah. I don't know what they're talking about! Do you?" I said, just to clear my name. Michiel shook his head.

"So... " I began again, trying to regain courage. I mentioned all the high points about his swimming, then said, "You are so amazing!"

Michiel smiled. "Thanks." I had a sad a feeling that he didn’t know what I meant by telling him that he was amazing. If he did know what I was saying, he would have left right then and there. Then I heard the announcer say, "13-14 freestylers to the clerk of course!" I rolled my eyes.

"That's us. Come on." I sighed, getting up. We both made our way to the waiting benches.

"Good luck." Michiel said.

"Thanks. Same to you!" I replied. I sighed. He was so cute, so nice, so…

"KARINA!!!!" I nearly fell over backwards in surprise. "What is it, Frankie?" I asked angrily, looking behind me.

"Don't call me that! And, did you tell him?" she said, folding her arms. I rolled my eyes. What a big snoop.

"No, I didn't have the chance!" I lied. I honestly didn’t have the guts, and my past experiences didn’t help one bit.

"Well, then I'll tell him!" And, with that, Franka took off after Michiel. I slowly went back to my spot to get my goggles, keeping my head down, then I looked over at Michiel

“Oh great.” I grumbled. She actually told him. I knew she told him because he was looking at the sky with a twisted embarrassed grin on his face“Thanks a bundle, Frankie.” Wasn’t this wonderful?

When Michiel went over to the benches, I was right beside Franka in a flash.

"Well? What happened?" I asked, eager and scared at the same time. Franka shrugged.

"He said he wasn't interested in that kind of stuff, which means he's GAY!" she snickered. I was sad and angry at the same time. Michiel's still not into liking girls, but I know for a fact that he's not homo! That thought stayed with me until both of us finished our Freestyle races. It didn’t tire me out as much as the IM race, but I was still huffing and puffing when it was all over.

Then, I had to face him again, because he was sitting right beside my spot in the team area. We had another long conversation, but it was more fun because Franka and Bridgett were buzzing around and chattering with us whenever we said something that interested them.

Finally, after a while, they left, and it was just the two of us again, and believe me, I wasn't ready. I took a deep breath, and then blurted it out. "Did Frankie tell you that I like you?"

Michiel's face went into that embarrassed grin again. "Yes. I have to tell the truth... She did." I covered my face in my hands.

"I can't believe she did that." I groaned.

"Hey, don't worry! She says stuff like that!" he said optimistically. I uncovered my face and smiled at him weakly. That was close, too close! Then, we started up another conversationI learned that we had a lot in common! I couldn’t believe how much we could talk about. I just couldn't keep from smiling, which very rarely happens, since I don't usually have something to smile about. But, I was right. Michiel was something else. And, it was a total disappointment when...

"All 13-14 breaststrokers to the clerk of course!" I heard the announcer yell, spoiling another perfect moment. Michiel quickly grabbed his goggles. "Well, that's us! Good, luck, Karina."

"Yeah. Good luck to you too." I said. Then...

"SQUEEKIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Danielle came running up, and pounced on Franka, who had mysteriously appeared beside me. I had to get out of the way. Danielle just kept clinging onto her, and squealing like a baby. "YAY, Squeekie!"

Franka looked over at me with a face crossed between stress and humor. Who could blame her? "Get off, me, Dale. I've been a bad girl." Franka said, her face turning all guilty-like. I just smiled and went over to pry Danielle off Franka.

"Actually, Franka's been very helpful." Franka looked up at me with a start.

"Really?" she squeaked. I smiled and nodded my head. Franka was ecstatic.

When Dale finally ran off, Franka pulled me aside less roughly than usual.

"What happened? Did he admit it?" she asked excitedly. I shook my head.

"Nah. It's just going really well. Thanks for setting me up, Frankie." I said, shrugging. Franka didn’t complain about her name this time. The two of us just went to get our breaststroke time cards, smiling the entire time.

Karina smiled when she finished reading. It had been a year since she had written that flashback, and now it was that beginning of a new swim season. She put her journal back into her swim bag and sighed. She had waited all year to see Michiel again. The memory of that past swim meet was what had pulled her through the school year, pulled her through promotion into Freshman year of high school, and pulled her through finally getting over Steven, who was just a friend to her now.

She had about ten minutes to wait before her swim practice started, so she took a walk around the pool, looking for Michiel and Bridgett. She wasn’t expecting Franka, because she said that she was leaving for the Netherlands for good, and Michiel and Bridgett had to go there after the season to give Franka her trophies from the awards ceremony she missed. Karina missed Franka, and every now and then, she tried contacting her with the email address she gave her, but every single time, the message came back, saying that the address did not exist. She did have bad handwriting, so she probably spelled something wrong when she gave Karina the address. Karina didn’t worry about it, though. Michiel said that he would be coming back, and she was determined to get news of Franka from him and Bridgett. But, she mostly just wanted to see Michiel. It had been too long, and Karina was getting sad. He wasn’t there at sign-up night, but then again, only a few people went to the event, but he wasn’t at the very first practice of the season either. It made Karina worried.

Seeing the head of the swim team, Karina made her way to him and asked, “Mr. Hall? Do you know if Michiel and Bridgett are coming? I haven’t seen them.” Mr. Hall looked down at her and sighed.

“Sorry, Karina, but the entire family’s over in Holland. Last thing I heard from them was that they won’t be coming back to the swim team.” He said.

“I’m sorry.”