Page 133 of Deep End

“And the thing is,” I add, walking backward, “the idea of you helping them clean even though you don’t have to, just because you won’t know peace until the house returns to its state of asepsis? Kind of a turn-on for me.”

Hasan and Kyle cackle. I wave goodbye. When I open the front door and turn around, Lukas is staring at me with an odd smile.

CHAPTER 52

WISHING CARISSA EXPLOSIVE DIARRHEA MAY HAVE BEEN Apoor idea. When Team USA meets in Houston ahead of the world championship, I’m given the cold shoulder by the other divers so openly, I almost expect to be bullied at recess.

Oh, well.

I didn’t come here to make friends, I guess. Not to make enemies, either, but I’ll deal.Your pal can really hold a grudge, I text Pen. It’s making me sad that Kyle, or any other swimmer from Stanford, didn’t manage to qualify.

PENELOPE:Oh, you have no idea.

PENELOPE:Want me to make a sock puppet account and add to her Wikipedia that she has a foot fungus?

SCARLETT:Let me think it through.

The coach may be in on it. Mei Wang is legendary, and I consider begging her to sign my shammy, but she stares at me a little too intensely, and her handshake gives me a metacarpal fracture.

We fly out in advance, to combat jet lag and get in a few days of on-site training. Team USA is huge, well over two dozen athletes, most of whom ignore me. But the Swedish delegation is already inAmsterdam, and I text Lukas as soon as I’m done pressing my nose to the bus window and basking in the beautiful architecture. His reply is instantaneous, like all he does is wait around with his phone in his hand, waiting formeto contact him.

LUKAS:What hotel?

SCARLETT:Motel One. You?

LUKAS:Same.

SCARLETT:Who are you sharing with?

LUKAS:No one.

Oh, come on.

SCARLETT:Did the King of Sweden pull some strings?

He sends me a picture of a handsome middle-aged man.

SCARLETT:Who’s that?

LUKAS:The Swedish Prime Minister.

SCARLETT:I heard he’s just a puppet for the King. Anyway, I’m sharing with Akane.

LUKAS:767

SCARLETT:235843

LUKAS:?

SCARLETT:Are we just sending random numbers?

LUKAS:It’s my room. Come see me tonight.

Akane is quietly terrifying. Small and wiry, with long, dark hair, full but unsmiling lips. She’s in her late twenties, on the older side for a platform diver, especially one as good as her. All I know is that she trained at Cal, has a child, and enjoys minding her business. The reason we’ve been paired is that Emilee, the good friend she usually rooms with, didn’t qualify. Because I fucked her over in the clutch.

If a vengeful angel of death has to stab me and stuff my corpse in a plastic bag, so be it. Still, as I roll my suitcase into the hotel room, I cannot help some trepidation.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she orders, severe.

---