Emily asks the reader to keep the secret she’s about to share. All her life, Emily has wanted to swim, but her mom has always protested, citing her own fear of the water. Despite her mother’s fear, they live on a boat, which never quite made sense to Emily. Now in seventh grade, Emily finally convinces her mom to let her take a swim class. The minute Emily sees the pool, it calls to her, as if it were “waiting for someone to jump in and set it alive with splashes and ripples” (6). Though she’s never swum before, Emily finds herself gliding effortlessly through the water until her legs feel like they’re being clamped together. She drags herself out of the pool, where the feeling goes away, and she vows not to get back in the water.

At home, Emily spends the evening debating what to do about swim class. She forges a note from her mom to the swim instructor, telling him to let Emily out of class, but writing it makes her realize she needs to learn the truth. After her mom goes to bed, Emily goes for a swim in the ocean, where the weird feeling hits again.