Page 1 of When Our Stars Aligned

1

Aly

Fifteen Years Ago, Virginia

“Woo-hoo! Way to go, Aly!” one of my sisters cheered as I raised myself out of the pool. We weren’t sisters by blood, but in the last four years, we had become like family. As soon as I neared the stands, Sophia, Claire, Mia, and Lyndsey embraced me in a hug. I stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of their circle. All four of the Parker girls took after their mom, who was straight off the boat from Italy. Their olive skin, inky black hair, and dark brown eyes were quite the contrast to my fair Irish skin, blondish hair,and light blue eyes. I also stood about four inches taller than them.

“Sei stato fantastico!” Sophia gushed.

“Grazie, bella! But I only came in second and you know what they say about second place.”

“Second place isnotfirst loser, Aly! You put too much pressure on yourself,” Claire scolded. She was always looking out for me. All the Parkers looked out for my well-being. It’s why I cared about them so much, why I considered them more like family than my own.

“You’re also forgetting my relay team came in seventh.”

“Oh, please!” Mia snorted. “The only reason your team came in seventh was because of that girl Ariel. She can barely swim to save her life. I’m surprised the lifeguard didn’t have to go in after her.”

“Yeah, you’d think with a name like Ariel, she’d be a better swimmer,” Lyndsey added.

“Stop!” I laughed. It was true that Ariel was a terrible competitive swimmer. She was also a nasty human being in general. The only reason why she made the team was because her mom was the coach.

“Ms. Winters!” my coach barked.

“Crap, I gotta get back over there,” I said to my sisters as I ran toward my coach.

“Ms. Winters, I am very disappointed in you,” Coach Harris scolded. She kept her eyes trained on the pool and had a death grip on her clipboard.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m not sure what I did wrong.”

“I put you as anchor for the relay so you could pick up the slack for everyone else, but you still came in seventh.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. It wasn’t easy. Most of the teams were already on their last twenty-five before I even got into the water.” My body began to shake. I hated to disappoint anyone.

“Well, I’m pulling you from the hundred-meter back.”

“What?!” I yelled and quickly covered my mouth. I knew I shouldn’t yell back, but the backstroke was my best stroke. I always placed in the top three.

“You heard me,” Coach Harris hissed. “From now on, I want you on freestyle all the time. It doesn’t matter if the rest of the team practices butterfly, back, or breast, you’re going to live and breathe freestyle until you can pick up your pace. If your relay team places at the next meet, I’ll put you back in for backstroke.”

“Th-th-that’s not fair!” I squeaked, my shoulders slumping, as hot tears welled up behind my eyes. I refused to let them fall. I didn’t want her to see me cry.

“I’m the coach and I make the rules. I can speak with your parents about this, but”—she pretended to look around the bleachers, knowing full well my parents were nowhere to be found—“it looks like they’re not here.”

I pivoted on my feet and headed for Mamma M and Papa C. They were my ride home, and since I was removed from my last heat, there was no sense in staying for the rest of the meet.

“That’s bullshit,bella!” Lyndsey yelled as we piled into the Parkers’ minivan. It was typical for all five of us to call each otherbella, or beautiful. It was our little way of lifting each other up.

“Lyndsey! Language!” Mamma Maria scolded.

“Sorry, but you know Coach Harris was wrong! She was trying to use Aly so her daughter could place!”

“We know and we filed a complaint with the rec center, although it probably won’t do much of anything,” said Papa Chris.

“You didn’t have to do that for me,” I said softly. Though deep inside it warmed my heart that this family cared for me. I honestly didn’t know what I’d do without them.

“Of course, we did! No daughter of ours is going to be penalized for someone else’s actions.”

My sixteen-year-old heart swelled. The Parkers really did consider me to be an extra daughter. They had come to every swim meet to cheer me on while my own parents were busy schmoozing clients and making business connections. Dollar signs were more important to them than anything else.

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