“Gosh, look at the height of that thing. Looks like the twelve years of practice was for nothing. You’ll never make it.”

“I don’t think I’ll mess up.”

“Are you crazy? You’ll embarrass the whole country if you break down at the last minute. Oh, imagine the horror. Tell them you’re feeling sick. They can’t blame you—the fish was horrible last night.”

When her name rang through the loud speaker, Vanessa approached the pool with jelly legs. Before she knew it, she was poised for her Olympics qualifier.

At the whistle, she dove.

Astonished, her inner voice never surfaced.