Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume Page B

you out."
     
        "You'll really be near me?"
     
        "Yes. I told you that. Now get ready."
     
        I stood at the edge of the pool.
     
        Marty counted. "One . . . and two . . . and three jump!"
     
        I didn't move.
     
        "What are you waiting for?" Marty asked.
     
        "I wasn't quite ready," I told him. "Let's try it again."
     
        "Okay. Here we go. And one. . . and two. . . and three. . . jump!"
     
        I held my nose and jumped in. When I came up I looked for Marty. He was right where he said he'd be. "Swim. . . swim. . ." he called.
     
        I started. First I tried blowing bubbles, but I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. So I kept my head out and swam like a dog. That way I could see what was going on. And I could keep an eye on Marty to make sure he followed me all the way across.
     
        Every time I looked up at him he yelled, "Go, Sheila, go!"
     
        I swam past the low diving board. Then past the high one. And then I started to get tired. I couldn't get my arms all the way out of the water. And my legs didn't want to kick anymore. I looked up at Marty.
     
        "Go, Sheila, go! Don't stop now!"
     
        Marty was wrong. The pool wasn't forty feet across. It was really forty miles. I never should have tried it.
     
        "Go. . .go. . . ."
     
        Why didn't he just shut up? When I raised my head and looked straight across the pool, who did I see waiting for me but Mouse and the twins. They were yelling "Go . . . go!" just like Marty. I wanted to tell them to stop. That I would never get to their side. This was very stupid. Soon I would be dead. Why didn't Marty pull me out? What was he waiting' for? Couldn't he see I wasn't going to make it?
     
        I tried to say, "I can't make it," but it came out so soft he didn't hear me.
     
        He said, "That's it. Keep on going ."
     
        I can't . . . I can't. . .I thought. Then my hand touched the ladder.
     
        Mouse and the twins were cheering and jumping up and down. Marty was yelling, "You made it! You made it! I knew you would!"
     
        It was true. I swam across the deep end of the pool and I was still alive! I really and truly did it! I tried to climb up the ladder, but Marty bent down and said, "Now all you've got to do is tread water for two minutes."
     
        "No. . . no. . . let me up!"
     
        "Relax, Sheila. You can do it. Just tread for two minutes."
     
        Treading water is pretty easy. It's just like riding a bicycle except you aren't on one. But I was so tired. I wanted to go to sleep.
     
        Marty was holding a watch. He talked to me the whole time I was treading. He said, "That's it, Sheila. Only one more minute to go. And what's one little minute?"
     
        When we got down to the last couple of seconds Marty counted out loud. "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. . . . Hurray! You did it! You did it!"
     
        I climbed up the ladder and Marty put his arms around me. Then he gave me a big kiss right in front of everybody, but I didn't mind. My mother ran over and wrapped me up in a towel and Mouse and the twins dragged a lounge chair to me.
     
        "I really did it?" I asked over and over.
     
        "You sure did," Marty said.
     
        "How about that?" Never mind that Mouse and the twins are already working on their Advanced cards. Never mind that Libby is practically a Junior Life Saver. Never mind that I will never dive like Betsy Ellis or stand on my hands under the water. I can swim . I proved it to everyone, including myself! I am Sunny Tubman, girl swimmer! I am Super Sheila the Swimming Wonder. I am. . . I am. . . I am. .
     
        "Sheila . . ." I heard my mother say. "Are you all right?"
     
        I think I nodded.
     
        Then another voice laughed and said, "She's asleep. That's all."
     
        I think it was Marty. But I couldn't even open my eyes to thank him.
     
     
     
Chapter