Xander was about to leave for a whole new life in the military. His old life was better. Swimming. Surfing. Me. The only way to survive his new life would be to change with him. I’d go away with him and escape boring school, my tyrant father, the cheerlords who pretended they were my friends but really weren’t. Once I started a new life with Xander, I’d reinvent myself as someone better, someone happier. Someone perfect, like him. Today, this would happen, I told myself. Time to take the dive. If I finally accomplished the one dive that had eluded me since Xander started training me, it would be a fateful sign. Xander and I were meant to be a team. The Uni-Mil shouldn’t be allowed to break us up. I stood atop a ten-meter-high diving platform as Xander watched me from below. I stepped to the edge of the platform and turned around, so my back faced the pool. As I placed my feet in the familiar formation, Xander called up to me.
