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  “Weed?” Miriam repeated incorrectly in an attempt to understand the word. She mispronounced it a few more times but I ignored her; I didn’t feel like playing translator right now. She gave up and dipped her head back so her face was level with the water. Her hair fanned out around her like seaweed.

  I was getting tired of treading water so I swam over to where I could stand on a rock. The water lapped over my breasts as they floated on top of the surface and I folded my arms in an attempt at modesty. Miriam didn’t follow me. She was watching my brothers clown around on the high ledge, probably still pondering the meaning of the word weird. Let’s see, what examples could I give her that she would understand? My life, her presence in our house, or my brothers up on that ledge? George hung back while Finn hot-dogged it, one set of toes curled around rock, his calf muscles taut, while he dangled the other leg over the side like he was going to fall. His arms made windmills while from his mouth came a whoop-whoop-whooping sound.

  When Finn did finally dive, it was expert but not as elegant as George. I couldn’t see the expression on Miriam’s face but she clapped. Finn stayed in the water near Miriam and shouted insults to George until he jumped in—a major cannonball that drenched us all. I waited until the water cleared and George and Finn climbed back up on the ledge and then I said good-night to Miriam.

  Her mouth turned down into a little pout but she didn’t try and stop me from leaving. On the bank I skipped over my bra and underwear entirely and pulled on my T-shirt and shorts as fast as I could. I took a quick look back and felt a little guilty. Finn and George were ignoring Miriam, although either she didn’t mind or didn’t notice. I hesitated a second and then fatigue settled on me like King Kong himself and I dragged myself back to the house, dropped into bed in my wet clothes, and fell into a hard dreamless sleep.

  Also by Robin Antalek

  FICTION

  The Summer We Fell Apart

  Credits

  Cover design by Julia Gang

  Cover photograph © by Sean Malyon/ Getty Images; Author photograph © by Jill Cowburn

  Copyright

  Grateful acknowledgement is made for permission to reprint the following:

  The lines from “(The Floating Poem, Unnumbered)” of “Twenty-One Love Poems.” Copyright © 2013 by The Adrienne Rich Literary Trust. Copyright © 1978 by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., from Later Poems: Selected and New, 1971–2012 by Adrienne Rich. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.

  THE GROWN UPS. Copyright © 2015 by Robin Antalek. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  FIRST EDITION

  ISBN 978-0-06-230247-2

  EPub Edition January 2015 ISBN 9780062302489

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