Chapter 11Nervously, she held the papers in her hand, trying not to lift her head, trying not to look at the faces of her peers, feeling the presence of Mr Sturluson nebulously somewhere in the room, and more reassuringly, Eirian at her side.
She ran through the names of the people in her class in her head, trying to picture them without lifting her head to look at them: Phoenix Delgado, Eloise Harris, Yuusuk—
“I thought I’d find you here,” Eirian read aloud.
Oh, s**t, we’re starting, she thought, and instantly she wished she was anywhere but in that classroom—Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Guatemala—anywhere but in front of her class, holding these papers in her hands.
* * * *
The water was warm as she lowered herself hesitantly into the pool, her body disturbing the surface, the warmth washi
