Five
Monday morning, stillWhen the front door closes behind me, it’s like I’m leaving my sanity behind. Leaving it safe at home while I swim out into this crazy new world where Zak Marlin—ZAK MARLIN!—is waiting to swim me to school.
He’s floating casually above the bushes outside the living room window, as if it’s a totally normal thing to be doing.
This can’t be my real life.
I squeeze my eyes shut and count to ten. This is always how a character in a novel breaks themselves out of a dream, right?
When I re-open my eyes, I fully expect to find Zak gone and me staring up at my bedroom ceiling, wishing the dream would come back.
But nope, there he is, leaning down to inspect the beautiful rose bulb anemones that bloomed overnight, bursting open in a vibrant display of reds, pinks, and
