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around me, and Sam thrashes to a standing position and glares up.
    “What the hell?”
    “No fraternization,” I mumble.
    Ally turns to me, mouth open in shock, like she’s at war with herself about whether to be angry or pleased.
    She decides on angry. “I could have handled that.”
    “Ryan just threw Sam in the pool!” Matt shouts from behind us. He sidles up to me and ribs me with his elbow. “Nice catch man, she yours now?”
    I want to say yes. But she isn’t. “She isn’t property,” I say quietly. Matt’s face falls, but Ally looks at me for a moment as if caught off guard.
    She shakes it off and turns to Matt and Sam. “Another five hundred each for harassment. Now. And if I catch you doing that to any of the girl guards, you’ll be out of here.” She pushes Matt in, and waits for them to start swimming before turning to me.
    “What the hell were you doing?”
    “Protecting you,” I mumble. Isn’t that obvious?
    “Well don’t,” she says, looking flustered. “I was handling it myself.”
    “What if I wanted to handle it?” I ask, coming close to her, pulling on her clipboard to pull her closer to me. “Why can’t I handle it if I want to?”
    She blushes and pulls hair back off her forehead. “So now you can talk.” She gives up on the clipboard and flips around, giving me her back. “Totally silent when you want me to look like a liar to Knight, but now you can talk.”
    I don’t get why she’s so hung up on this talking thing. I wish I could kiss her again. I feel like I could explain more to her that way anyway. But I don’t want her telling Knight again. Moreover, if she had to tell Knight, maybe she didn’t really like me doing it, in which case, I don’t want to do it again.
    Why don’t people realize words make things more complicated, not less complicated? You can lie with them, tell half truths, or whole truths. The only thing that distinguishes between those is body language. Body language doesn’t lie.
    “I’m sorry,” I say.
    “For?” she says sharply, still not facing me.
    “Winning?”
    She sighs, so I try again.
    “Not speaking up with Knight?”
    Another sigh, this one angrier.
    “Protecting you?”
    She turns to me, eyes blazing, and grabs the clipboard back out of my startled hands. She jabs me in the chest with it. “Look, I don’t need your apologies, or your pity, or your protection. I’m your competition. So just stay out of my way, okay?”
    “Okay,” I lie. I’m not going to stay out of her way. I like her. I even like the way she hits me with stuff that doesn’t actually hurt. It’s cute.
    I rub my chest where she’s jabbed it multiple times and try not to grin because it’ll just make her angry. She blows her hair out of her face with an exasperated puff, and looks down at the clipboard, marking a few more names. Then she hands it to me.
    “You do the rest. I’m going to get back in my suit for drills. You can be the one on deck.”
    “But—” I want to be where she is. In the water, out of it, anywhere.
    Oh no, I’m like a stalker.
    She shakes her head. “No, Mister. You don’t get it. You’re my competition. You’re on my bad list. I’m going to take you down. Not during training. Not when we’re working with the guards. But other than that, you watch your back.” She sticks out her tongue. “Asshole.”
    It’s like she’s five and I’m the seven year old neighbor boy next door that she keeps pushing in the mud.
    I can’t tell if she likes me and she’s just immature about it, or if she really thinks we are enemies. She storms off and I can see she’s gesturing with her hands and talking to herself angrily as she passes guards on her way to the guard room.
    I follow her at a safe distance. I’m already in my suit, but I’m going to get an extra towel and run drills with her. They don’t need me on deck. She’s already changed and leaving by the time I reach the guard room. She watches me go to my locker and pull