They owned both the marina and the five acres of land across the street from the marina. Here is the thing about our living arrangements: My grandparents grew up in Lakesprings. A short person ran past me, followed closely behind by another little kid screaming, “Uncle Luke said it was my turn!” I walked across the street, around the corner, and through the front door to our house. Sometimes school felt so pointless when I already knew what I wanted to do with my life-run this marina with my parents. “This one is rented out starting at eight a.m.,” I told her.

I’ll be fine.” I pulled up to the dock and she reached for the WaveRunner to tie it off. “Fifteen minutes now,” Mom said, giving my wet swimsuit a once-over.

We both had long, light brown hair, easy-to-tan skin, and hazel eyes, which was really just a fancy way of saying brown with a little bit of green in them. Not really what a sixteen-year-old wants to hear when her mom is forty. People often said I looked exactly like my mom. Mom was waiting on the dock as I pulled up. I wiped off the screen of my phone on my left sleeve, tucked it back into the pocket of my board shorts, and steered back toward the marina. I hated when people who clearly saw me drove too close. Just then, another WaveRunner passed me by, sending a spray of water over my entire right side. “It’s your brother and your cousin’s first day of high school. So my high school was thirty minutes down the mountain in Oak Court. But there weren’t enough permanent residents in Lakesprings to support a school. If my school were in Lakesprings, the town where I lived, it wouldn’t start until after Labor Day. I’d been trying to pretend it didn’t start today. “Out on the lake, huh? You have to leave for school in twenty minutes.” “It wasn’t a hard question,” she said, a smile in her voice. My phone rang and I startled, nearly dropping it into the lake. I posted it online with the caption In denial. “Today of all days.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and took a picture of the sky. “You’re teasing me, aren’t you?” I asked the sky.

I let my hand drift down to the water and skim along the surface. I lay on my back on the seat of my WaveRunner, my feet up on the handlebars.

Listen to your heart by kasie west