He'd been swimming laps for a half hour every day, mostly with Tony and sometimes with Eldon. A few times he'd seen other kids practicing, but nobody had done as much swimming as he had.
He stopped by the water and looked across the lake, all the way down to the totem pole.
Could he win it? He could dream about it, but it seemed impossible. He'd studied the results of the trials in the Bulletin, and a top-ten finish seemed within his reach. But the best swimmers were just too far out there.
Riley shut his eyes and took a deep breath, brining in the smell of the lake. He felt like he could swim that race right now, cutting through the cool water, biding his time in the middle of the pack, making a big move midway through and reeling in the guys who went out too fast.
He'd gain strength as the race wore on, stroking past swimmers who were gasping for air and desperately trying to hang on. Then that all-out sprint, picking off one or two others in the final fifty meters as his teammates went wild on the dock.
He swallowed. His heart was pumping hard now, and all he'd been doing was thinking about the race.
Two more days. Less than that, even. Race time was forty-six hours away.
