“Don’t push yourself too hard,” Coach said, but he smiled at her.
“All right.” She smiled back and pointed to the locker room behind her. “I’m gonna hit the showers now.”
“Try to do something fun tonight that doesn’t involve water, okay? Expand your horizons beyond the aquatic. It’ll be good for you.”
“Yes, sir.” Gemma saluted him as she walked backward to the lockers, and he laughed.
She showered quickly, mostly just rinsing the chlorine from her hair. All the time in the water should’ve left her with crazy dry skin, but she used baby oil every time she dried off. It was the only thing that prevented her from turning into an alligator.
After she’d gotten dressed, she went out to unlock her bike. The rain had come back, pouring down twice as hard as it had earlier. Gemma flipped the hood up over her head, regretting her decision to ride the bike to practice, when a horn honked behind her.
“Do you need a lift?” Harper asked, rolling down the car window to yell out at her sister.
“What about my bike?” Gemma asked.
“You can get it tomorrow.”
Gemma thought about it for a second before running over and hopping in her sister’s car. She tossed her gym bag in the backseat and buckled up.
“I was on my way home from work, and I thought I’d swing by and see if you needed a ride,” Harper said as she pulled away from the gymnasium. Practice lasted only a couple of hours, but Gemma would usually grab lunch and then hit the weight room. She wasn’t buff, but she needed her body in peak physical condition.
“Thanks.” Gemma turned the vents so the heat would blow directly on her. “The rain gets pretty cold.”
“How was practice today?”
“Good.” Gemma shrugged. “I beat my best time.”
“Really?” Harper sounded genuinely excited and smiled over at her. “That’s amazing! Congratulations!”
“Thank you.” She leaned back in the seat. “Do you know what’s going on tonight?”
“With what?” Harper asked. “Dad’s making a pizza for supper, and I was thinking of going over to Marcy’s to watch this documentary called Hot Coffee. What did you have planned?”
“I don’t know. Nothing. I think I might stay in tonight.”
“You mean like stay in in?” Harper asked. “No midnight swims?”
“Nope.”
“Oh.” Harper paused, surprised. “That’ll be nice. Dad will like that.”
“I guess.”
“I can stay home if you want,” Harper offered. “I could rent movies to watch together.”
“Nah, that’s okay.” Gemma stared out the car window as Harper drove them home. “I was thinking after supper I might see if Alex wanted to come over to play Red Dead Redemption.”
“Oh.” Harper exhaled deeply, but she didn’t say anything.
She wasn’t thrilled about their friendship, but she’d already said her piece on it. Besides that, it was better if Gemma was at home playing video games with the boy next door than running around all over town in the middle of the night.
“There are only three,” Gemma said, pulling Harper from her thoughts.
“What?” Harper looked over to see Penn, Thea, and Lexi walking down the street.
It was pouring rain, but they didn’t have any jackets on and didn’t seem to mind. If it had been anybody else, she would’ve offered them a ride, but she purposely sped up as she drove past them.
“There’s only three.” Gemma turned to her sister. “What happened to the fourth one?”
“I don’t know.” Harper shook her head. “Maybe she’s sick.”
“Nah, I don’t think so.” Gemma rested her head on the seat and leaned back. “What was her name?”
“Arista, I think,” Harper said. She’d heard their names from Marcy, who’d heard them from Pearl, who usually was pretty accurate when it came to town gossip.
“Arista,” Gemma repeated. “What a stupid name.”
“I’m sure plenty of people think our names are stupid,” Harper pointed out. “It’s not nice to make fun of something people can’t control.”
“I’m not making fun of her. I’m just saying.” Gemma turned around to watch the diminishing figures of the three girls. “Do you think they killed her?”
“Don’t say things like that,” Harper said, although the idea had actually crossed her mind. “That’s how rumors get started.”
“I’m not spreading a rumor.” Gemma rolled her eyes. “I’m asking you what you think.”
“Of course I don’t think they killed her.” Harper hoped she sounded more convinced than she felt. “She’s probably sick or she went back home or something. I’m sure everything is fine.”
“But there is something off with those girls,” Gemma said reflectively, more to herself than to Harper. “There’s something not quite right.”
“They’re just pretty girls. That’s all.”
“But nobody knows where they came from,” Gemma insisted.