Maggie Malone Makes a Splash Read Online Free

that water, giving it everything I’ve got. Man, am I flying! I’m like an underwater eagle slicing through this water! Or a submarine wearing a jet pack! I’m a mermaid, a graceful, nimble water nymph!
    I start to wonder why I didn’t go out for the swim team at Sacred Heart, or even the community All-Star team. After all, I’m practically a fish! A sailfish, to be exact. We learned in biology that those are one of the fastest fish in the ocean. They can swim up to eighty miles per hour! I’ll bet I’m going at least half that fast right now—and I’m just getting warmed up! I wonder if I’ll win a medal this year, or maybe even a trophy.
    I’ve never won a trophy in my whole life, if you don’t count that baby gymnastics class Stella and I took when we were in preschool. “Everyone’s a winner!” was the Tumbling Tots slogan, and if you stuck it out for the whole twelve-week session, you got a junky plastic trophy. Mine broke in the car on the way home from the last class. Anyway, I’ll bet if I got a real one for actually winning something, my mom would get me one of those trophy shelves like Stella keeps all of her soccer trophies on. Or if it was a medal I could frame it in a cute shadow box with my Camp Itchy Bitey ribbon… Focus, Malone. You’re in it to win it today. Glide like the wind!
    I crane my neck up just a tiny bit, but I can’t even see Elizabeth or Brianna in the lanes next to me. I must be killing it! I sort of want to turn my head back and see how far ahead I am, but that would slow me down and there’s no way I’m going to blow this. Even from the bottom of the pool I can hear all sorts of yelling above the water, which must be the team rooting for me. It sounds like they’re blowing horns! Usually I can’t hear a thing when I’m this deep.
    It’s so encouraging that I sail all the way to the end of the pool without even coming up once for air. With my arms above my head, I race toward the surface of the water and pop out, ready to soak up all of that delicious, thunderous applause.

Chapter 5

When I Discover I’m Swimming with a Shark
    There’s no delicious, thunderous applause.
    There’s not even polite clapping.
    In fact, nobody is moving or making a sound anymore.
    The other three swimmers are still standing on their blocks, shivering and staring at me with their mouths open. What the heck? Hanging on to the side of the pool, I shake the water from my ears and lift my foggy goggles onto my head.
    â€œWhat’s up, guys?” I call out.
    â€œThat was a false start, Margaret,” Coach bellows back. “If this were a meet, that would be an automatic DQ. Please get back to your block quickly. And this time, maybe wait until after I blow the horn.”
    â€œDQ?” I ask. An automatic Dairy Queen?
    â€œ Disqualification ! ” Coach roars. I nod and duck into the water, trying not to cry. This is so embarrassing. I’d like to just float here under the water, but I don’t since that’s not an option with everybody waiting for me. I’m totally out of breath when I climb back onto the starting block.
    â€œOn your marks, get set…”
    I hit the water dead last after Coach blares that terrifying horn. I swim as hard as I can but this time it’s different with other swimmers in the lanes next to me. At first I think I’m seeing things, but tiny Brianna seems to be way ahead of me. Then I notice that Elizabeth has left me in the dust too. Obviously it’s because I started a little late. I’m sure I’ll catch up. But those two are flying across the top of the water like they’re sledding down an icy hill on a snow day. What in the world? I’m a good swimmer! And Elizabeth said she was terrible!
    Everyone is out of the pool by the time I make it back to the starting blocks. Coach is bent way down and talking sternly to