Swim Team

At school during the week before the state championship, Bree runs into the hall monitor, who admits that, like Bree, she didn’t know how to swim. She tells Bree that she started taking lessons because of her. She hopes that Bree will go back to the swim team.

Later, Bree finishes the puzzle she’s been working on since she moved to Florida. Her dad makes all her favorites for dinner. He tells Bree that he doesn’t know how to swim. He almost drowned when he was younger, and he’s afraid to be around pools, which is why he’s avoided going to her meets. He adds that he’s proud of her. He thinks she should rejoin the team, but if nothing else, she should stay in touch with the team. Just then, Bree has a realization: She grabs the photo Etta gave her and says that Etta clearly misses her friends. They need to go to the bank.

There, they find Yvette, and Bree explains to her that Etta needs her team. Then, they go to the dentist’s office, where they meet Jamie. Yvette wonders if Etta will really want to see their fourth teammate.

The panels shift to a memory, with letters spelling out “What Went Down” across the top (202). Yvette and Jamie explain that, when they were kids, legal segregation ended, but many public pools became private, barring Black people from becoming members. Many of the public pools were in white communities, so as Black families moved into those neighborhoods, white families left. There was some overlap in which the public schools were a mix of white and Black students.

Etta’s swim team excelled, and the four girls were very close. One day, the fourth member of the team, Mari, invited the rest of the girls to the pool in a different neighborhood. However, the security guard let Mari in because she was white, but the other girls were Black. When he threatened to call the police on Etta, Yvette, and Jamie, Mari left them to go hang out with her other friends. The three of them, still in their bathing suits, had to take the bus home. The next morning, at the state championship, Mari didn’t show up.

By then, Bree has figured out who Mari is, and they go to the diner, where they find her working. Bree convinces her to come with them, even though she adds that she can’t promise Etta will forgive her. However, she knows Etta needs to get her team back together.

The scene shifts to Etta’s apartment, where Yvette and Jamie greet her. When Mari appears, Etta rebukes her at first, but then Mari apologizes. She says that they’re still a team and that she wants to help. They declare that they’re “swim sisters” again (211).

The next day at school, Bree goes over to Clara and offers to help her study for the math part of her Holyoke Prep exam. Bree apologizes, and Clara reassures her that they’ll still be friends, even if Clara goes to Holyoke. Clara gives her friendship bracelet back.

Clara, Phillipa, Keisha, and Bree all apologize to one another, and Bree asks to come back to the team. They also declare that they are “swim sisters” (215).

At practice that afternoon, Etta and the coach are joined by Yvette, Jamie, and Mari. They go over endurance, diving, and speed. When Phillipa doubts herself, Jamie reminds her that she helps to hold the team together with her humor. She also suggests that Phillipa switch to breaststroke for the medley.