Anna Jarzab - Breath Like Water

Susannah Ramos has always loved the water. A swimmer whose early talent made her a world champion, Susannah was poised for greatness in a sport that demands so much of its young. But an inexplicable slowdown has put her dream in jeopardy, and Susannah is fighting to keep her career afloat when two important people enter her life: a new coach with a revolutionary training strategy, and a charming fellow swimmer named Harry Matthews.

As Susannah begins her long and painful climb back to the top, her friendship with Harry blossoms into passionate and supportive love. But Harry is facing challenges of his own, and even as their bond draws them closer together, other forces work to tear them apart. As she struggles to balance her needs with those of the people who matter most to her, Susannah will learn the costand the beautyof trying to achieve something extraordinary.

Expansive, romantic, and powerful, Breath Like Water is a novel for any young person who faced doubt and discovered in those murky depths not just strength, but grace.

Gayle Forman, #1 New York Times bestselling author of If I Stay and I Have Lost My Way

Books by Anna Jarzab
available from Harlequin TEEN/Inkyard Press

Red Dirt

Breath Like Water

Breath Like Water

Anna Jarzab

Anna Jarzab is a Midwesterner turned New Yorker. She lives and works in New York City and is the author of such books as Red Dirt, All Unquiet Things, The Opposite of Hallelujah and the Many-Worlds series. Visit her online at annajarzab.com and on Twitter, @ajarzab.

For all the beautiful dreamers.

Contents

Does the tide hurry, seeking something, and never give up? O I the same.

WALT WHITMAN

1,063 days until US Olympic Team Trials

THE WATER IS BREATHING. At least, thats how it seems. Ive always imagined it as a living thing, benevolent and obedient and faithful. A gentle beast at first, like a pony, but over time something faster. A thoroughbred, maybe. A cheetah sprinting across a flat, grassy plain.

But, of course, the water isnt breathingits rippling, with the echoing wakes of eight elite swimmers as they poured themselves into one last swim, one final chance to grab the golden ring. Now theyre gone, and in half a minute, Ill be right where they were, reaching for my own shot at glory.

This is my first international competition. I turned fourteen in May, so Im the youngest member of Team USA. In January, nobody knew who I was, but by my birthday Id broken the womens 200 IM record in my age group twice and finished first in the same eventmy bestat World Championship Trials. My summer of speed earned me a lane here in Budapest. All I have to do now is not screw it up.

Earlier, in the semifinals, I clocked my fastest time ever in this event, and Im coming into finals seeded third overall. I have to beat that by almost a second if I want to win.

The announcer introduces me over the loudspeaker. I wave to the crowd but my mind is far away, already in the pool, charting out my swim. I shake out my limbs and jump to get my blood pumping, then climb onto the block. I adjust my goggles, my cap, my shoulders. These little rituals feel solid and reliable. The rest is as insubstantial as a dream youre aware of while youre dreaming it.

Take your mark

The signal sounds and Im in the pool. My mind lags half a second behind my body, registering every breath, stroke and turn only after it happens.

First: butterfly, arms soaring over the water, fingertips skimming the surface.

Then: backstroke, concentrating on the lines in the ceiling while waves boil around me.

After that: breaststroke, stretching, pulling, kicking, gliding.

And finally: freestyle, bursting off the wall like a racehorse released from a starting gate.

I go six strokes without taking a breath and snap into my highest gear for a mad-dash last push, coasting along the razors edge of my perfectly timed taper. No thinking, just doing. No drag, only flight.

My hand touches the wall, and my eyes begin to burn. Its over. Instinctively, I look for my coach. Daves on the sidelines, frowning, and I think: I blew it.

He notices me watching and breaks into a rare grin. Hopeful, I turn to the board. I cant find my name, so I force myself to look at the top spot. There it is: RAMOS. Number freaking one.

I whoop and blow kisses at the people in the stands. Theyre on their feet, chanting, USA! USA! American flags billow like sheets.

It cost my parents a fortune to fly themselves and my sister all the way to Europe on such short notice, credit cards stretched to their limits. I cant even see them in the crowd, but I know theyre somewhere in that jubilant crush of people. My heart feels so full its like a balloon about to pop.

As soon as Im out of the water, Dave wraps me in a bear hug.

How do you feel? he asks.

Great! I sigh and shake out my arms. Tired.

Gold, Susannah, he says. His voice is tight with something like awe.

Gold. It doesnt feel real yetwont, until that medal hangs around my neck, until I can hold it in my hands while the national anthem blooms through the natatorium speakers with patriotic brio. Maybe not even then. I could have more wins here, but right now, this seems like more than enough.

Youre a world champion, Dave says. Next, Im going to make you an Olympian.

The #1 Source for Swimming News on the Web

Freshman Phenom Flops Flat into Sophomore Slump: What Happened to Susannah Ramos?

By Kris McNamara

Posted July 25

Its a familiar story: a kid with some talent breaks out for a split second way too early in their career, then disappears from the rosters, never to be heard of again. Sometimes its an injury, sometimes they cant handle the pressure and sometimes it is plain old biology dragging them down by the heels, which is what seems to have happened to Susannah Ramos.

You remember her. The fourteen-year-old wunderkind who came out of nowhere two years ago and hopped from one national competition to the next, tearing up the pool in the 200 IM, then took home a gold from Budapest?

Well, it looks like all the up-and-comers who were quaking in their flip-flops over Ramoss meteoric rise can rest easy. The Illinois swimmer, who enters her sophomore year next month, hasnt placed in a single national competition since her world championship win, and though shes got a full schedule of events at the upcoming GAC Invitational, she seems unlikely to fare any better on her home turf. If she has any hopes of triumph at next years US Olympic team trials in Omaha, shes got a long way to go.

You have only to look at a recent picture of her to figure out why. A growth spurt during this years long-course season transformed Ramos from a petite powerhouse into a broad-shouldered Amazon, and her new build seems to be weighing her down in the water. Its a sad fact of the sport that some swimmers peak young and never find their way off the time plateau. Surely Ramos, who competes with the Gilcrest Aqualions Club, hopes she wont be one of them, but the statistics arent on her side.

For the sake of her college prospects, heres hoping she can beat the odds.

330 days until US Olympic Team Trials

THERES NOTHING LIKE the moment a race begins. Its the highest height of the roller coaster, the top of the drop, all potential energy and anticipation.