Free Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee by Mary G. Thompson Page A

parking and a roped-off swimming area and bathrooms and a concession stand. Dee and I were the first to jump in, but even Lee liked to swim. She’d be wearing her sparkly pink tankini while she raced us to the buoys. And then Jay would come through and splash us all, and we girls would gang up on him. Lee and Dee actually went in together on one of those tankinis for me on our last Christmas. It was just like Lee’s, except blue.
    I stare at the sparkly swimsuit wrapped in tissue paper. It’s so
not me
that I can’t think of a thing to say, so I just keep staring.
    Lee and Dee giggle. Dee thinks my reaction is so funny that she has to hide her face in Lee’s shoulder.
    â€œCome on, Amy, try it on!” Lee says.
    â€œOh my god,” I say.
    â€œAmy, you’ll look great in it,” Dee says.
    â€œOf course she will—that’s why
I
had the idea,” says Lee.
    â€œGuys, I mean, thank you, but . . .” I stumble over my words, and I can see Mom raising her eyebrows at me from Aunt Hannah’s couch. I doubt she wants me wearing this kind of swimsuit, but I doubt more that she wants me to be rude about the gift. “Thank you.”
    â€œCome on!” Lee grabs one arm, Dee grabs the other, and they pull me past the Christmas tree, up the stairs, and into Lee’s room. A picture of a ballerina in a pink tutu hangs above her twin bed.“Dee, turn around.” They huddle together while I change out of my jeans and T-shirt into the suit. I feel ridiculous, but when they turn around, they both squeal.
    â€œYou look so good, Amy!” says Lee.
    â€œ
So
good!” says Dee.
    I can’t even stand to look in the mirror because I’m afraid I’ll stick out like a dozen rows of Christmas lights. But when they push me into the bathroom and make me look, I realize that it kind of does look good. It fits perfectly.
    The next time we went to the lake, I wore it. Aunt Hannah had bought Dee a new one-piece with little cutouts, and Dee and Lee thought we were the three coolest kids at the lake. I felt weird with all the sparkles, but we were having so much fun together that it didn’t matter. We did all the usual things—swimming, splashing Jay, eating fudge bars. I’d forgotten about all of that until just now.
    â€œYou okay, kiddo?” Dad asks.
    â€œI was just thinking about how we used to come here,” I say. “Remember that sparkly swimsuit Lee and Dee gave me?”
    Dad chuckles. “Your mom gave Hannah a good talking-to over that.”
    â€œI never knew.”
    â€œEh, she decided it wasn’t worth fighting over. You kids seemed so happy.”
    â€œWe were.” We’re all the way across the lake from the swimming area, but I can see kids playing, little ants on the sand or in the water splashing each other. I wonder if I ever would have gotten comfortable with that tankini, if Lee andDee together could have got me interested in clothes and makeup and all that stuff, in being cool. But I never had a chance to change, to figure out how I’d grow up. I’m a universe away from days at the lake and Christmas gifts.
    Dad puts his arm around me, and I lean into him. We stay there until the sun starts going down.
    â€¢Â Â Â â€¢Â Â Â â€¢
    Mom and I walk in the park, the same park where Dee and I used to roller-skate when we were little, where Jay and I used to play on the swings and the monkey bars. It seems smaller but also greener than I remember. It’s full of life, and I get used to the feel of Mom’s steps beside me.
    She tells me about how she’s a supervisor at the post office now, how Jay got his first report card with no Cs last semester and is going to play baseball in high school. She stopped going to church a few years ago, but she’s thinking about going back. And she’s learned some new things to make for dinner that she hopes I’ll like.
    I tell her