Page 55 of Breathing Under Water

“Yeah, she didn’t do anything except pour gallons of paint and gasoline into the club’s seventy-five-foot swimming pool last night. Late, so no one on-site would notice the oily sheen on the water. It left plenty of time for the fuel to seep into the filters and then the pump.” He looks back at me. “That’s what you wanted, right? Maximum damage.”

I’m stunned into silence.

“They’ll have to drain the whole pool into a special hazardous waste removal truck, and you can bet your bottom dollar that both the filter and the pump are completely destroyed. Brand-new pool equipment. The pool walls and floors are stained, and they may need to acid-wash the whole pool. Thousands andthousands of dollars, Sonny. That’s what this childish stunt of yours is going to cost the club. Hazardous waste and material degradation. Kathleen said so much, I lost track. And for what?! Did you think it would make them hire you back? You’d better hope they don’t find proof, Sonny, because you’ll almost certainly get arrested. Is that what you wanted? To go to prison?”

“Prison?!” I shout back. “Coach, I had nothing to do with any of that! I didn’t even know about it until right this minute! Why do you think it was me?”

He stares back at me, examining my face, and I think he’s finally hearing me. His features slacken, as if he’s realized he jumped too quickly to the wrong conclusion.

“Coach,” I hurry to say. “You know me. You know I’d never do anything like that.”

He shakes his head and lets out a long sigh.

“That’s the problem, Sonny. I do know you. I know how quick you are to anger, how you make irrational, stupid choices when you’re mad.”

“Yeah, maybe, but nothing like this.” I can hear the pleading in my voice, but my desperation seems to stoke the flames of his anger.

“It just sounds like bullshit to me, McKenna. There’s no one else who’d have reason to do this. It was so clearly revenge... All because a private club didn’t want to act as a charity? What exactly did you think would come of this? Once they find proof, I don’t think there’ll be anything I can do to protect you. God knows you don’t deserve it!”

As shocked as I am that someone poured a bunch of toxic waste into the country club pool, I’m more stunned they think I’m the one who did it. Most of all, I’m floored that Coachbelieves them, that his first instinct is to think the worst of me. Until this moment, I really believed he cared about me, just like a surrogate dad. But a family member is supposed to give you the benefit of the doubt. I’m so incensed by his lack of belief in me, how quick he is to assume I’ve done these terrible things, that I’m blinded by rage. I open my mouth and tear into him even worse than he just laid into me.

“Are you out of your fucking mind? Proof? Let them find proof! I didn’t do shit, Coach! Their proof will show I had nothing to do with any of this! How could you think, after all the time we’ve spent together, that I would do something like that? But you’re not even questioning it. I thought you knew me. I thought you prided yourself on getting to know all your swimmers so, so well. Apparently you don’t know shit about me if you think I’d throw gasoline in a pool. I can’t even afford the fucking gas, you asshole!”

No sooner are the words out of my mouth than I want to take them all back, reach into the air, grab them, and stuff them back into my mouth, where no one will ever hear them. I know better than to speak to Coach like this. He may have been an ass, but he’s my coach, and he deserves respect, if not for who he is then at least for his position. I’ve seen other swimmers lose it on a coach a time or two in the past, and I know full well it always ends the same way.

“Coach,” I start. “Coach, I am so sorry.”

“Pack up your locker, McKenna.”

“No, Coach, no, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean— I shouldn’t have said all that.”

“Damn it, Sonny. You’ve given me no choice. You’re off the team.”

27

Berry

July 2023

Few places are more deserted than a New York elementary school in late July. But because Stillwell is a private institution, some skeleton staff, including a few key administrators, keep showing up to prep for fall. It’s so quiet in the building that when my phone rings from inside my bag, I’m startled nearly halfway out of my seat.

“Harrison!” I answer with delight as I recover. “To what do I owe the pleasure of a midday call?”

“Hey. I’ve got a meeting with Vinny in a few minutes, but I wanted to give you a heads-up.” He’s speaking in hushed tones, as if he doesn’t want to be overheard. “I think we need to take a pause before letting Leo hang out with McKenna anymore.”

“Why would you say that?”

“You know Duncan Wallace from my office?”

I’ve never met the guy, but Harrison talks about him plenty.

“Sure,” I prod.

“His parents belong to Hollyhock. He’d been planning to take time off today for some sort of family day at the club with his wife and kids, but he ended up coming into work. Apparentlythe events got canceled because somebody vandalized the pool. They’re saying that an employee who was recently fired poured gasoline or paint or something into the water and caused thousands of dollars of damage.”

“That’s terrible. Why would somebody do that?”

“Mom.”