The next day, Maddie had swim practice after school. She welcomed the physical exertion, anxious to get out some of her nervous energy. Her father had been heavy on her mind. It had been four days since he'd come to school, and she hadn't called or emailed. Was he getting worried?

The coach blew the whistle for a break and everyone got out of the pool. There was a tournament this weekend, so they were fitting in an extra Friday practice. Maddie was pretty good, and was likely to make the state competition for middle school. Her specialty was the butterfly.

Maddie got super nervous before competitions, but as soon as she hit the water, she transformed it into power. Her muscles worked harder than they did in regular practice. That morning, she ate a light breakfast, knowing her stomach would be churning. As usual, Lin and Kate planned to come to watch.

When the time for the 200m butterfly came, Maddie walked over to her place and began stretching. Her hair was tucked up in her cap. She looked over in the stands. She'd already found Lin and her mom earlier, so she looked in their direction and saw them cheerly loudly. Her eyes happened to wander upwards and she saw her father sitting high up in the stands. Her mouth gaped open and she was thrown off.

She was snapped out of her momentary shock when the official blew the whistle for them to mount their blocks. Maddie climbed up and her heart was already racing, partially from nervousness and partially because her dad was randomly here. She guessed Lin and her mom didn't know he was there. Her mom would not be looking so happy if she knew.

They took their places, ready to dive in. The whistle blew again and they all dove into the water. From the moment she hit the water, Maddie knew she was off. Her movements weren't as crisp as usual. Things weren't clicking. It was hard to tell exactly where she was in the water, but she was pretty sure she could feel the drag of the other swimmers' wakes as they swam ahead of her.

When Maddie made her final turn back to the finish, she knew it hadn't been a good race. She touched the wall and turned around to see her time. It was two seconds more than it usually was. Dead last. Maddie dipped back into the water and just floated for about ten seconds, disappointed in herself. She was also frustrated with her dad. Why did he just show up randomly? Didn't he know it would throw her off?

Maddie used her hands to push herself out of the water. She crossed her arms over her body and made a beeline to her towel. Her teammates try to encourage her, telling her it was alright and to nail the next one. She still had the 100m race left.

She avoided looking up at the stands. She didn't want to see her father. She couldn't believe the audacity he had. Her mother could very possibly see him and then there'd be a huge scene.

Maddie did slightly better in the 100m, finishing fourth. It definitely hadn't been her best showing. Her coach wasn't happy with her.

"Madeline!" he called her over. She frowned, her eyebrows knitted, knowing he was going to give her a lecture. "What happened out there?"

"I was just off," she told him.

"You've been on all month," he said. "There's no reason you should be finishing less than third. Get your head in the game."

Madeline stormed off to the locker room, tears in her eyes. She was disappointed enough in herself. She didn't need the coach telling her she'd screwed up. Maddie got dressed in record time, not in the mood to talk with her teammates. She knew her mom and Lin would be waiting for her out in the lobby. Her mom gave her a sympathetic smile as she walked up.

"Not your day, huh?" she asked, giving her arm a quick squeeze.

"Nope," she said. "Can we go?"

"Sure," she said. "I just need to have a quick word with Riley's mom."

"Mom! Please!"

"It'll just take a second," she assured her. Her mother spotted Riley's mom across the room and waved at her, then walked over. They began chatting, leaving Maddie alone with Lin.

"Are you frustrated?" Lin asked his daughter.

"You could say that," she said. Lin knew there wasn't anything he could say to cheer her up. When she was disappointed in her performance, she was her harshest critic. Lin decided to just be silent, knowing she wasn't in the mood to talk.

From across the room, they heard a yell. Their eyes travelled in the direction of the noise and they saw Kate face to face with Jason.

"Oh, crap," Lin mumbled, rushing over to them.

"How dare you show up here!" she accused him. "You are not allowed to have contact with her!"

Lin put his hands on his wife's shoulders and pulled her back. "Come on," he told her, trying to lead her into the hallway where they could have a more private conversation.

"I haven't seen my daughter in eight years because of you!" Jason countered, his eyes flaring. The two adults continued to argue as Lin led Kate away, Jason following. Kate kept trying to move her body towards Jason, and Lin finally stepped between the two of them, putting a hand on each of their shoulders.

"Both of you stop!" he raised his voice. "This is not the time or place to have this discussion."

"He shouldn't be here at all!" Kate said, her face beyond angry.

"It's a free country!" he countered.

"Stop!" Lin yelled, snapping them out of their angry spell. They both looked at him and Lin stepped back. "This is not going to do Madeline any good. You both need to be civil. How do you think she feels seeing the two of you screaming and shouting in front of her?"

Kate crossed her arms over her chest and looked away, annoyed that her husband wasn't defending her. Jason put his hands on his hips and looked down.

"Now, Madeline needs to get home," Lin continued. "Jason, if you want to have contact with Maddie, you need to let her initiate it. You can't be showing up like this."

"I wanted to see my daughter," he said.

"I know," Lin said. "And Madeline's been thinking about it."

Kate looked at her husband, shocked. "She's been thinking about it? Since when?"

Lin looked at Jason, urging him to man up and tell Kate what he'd been up to.

"Since I went to her school on Monday," he admitted sheepishly.

Kate gaped and couldn't form any words for a few moments. "You went to her school?!" she was livid. "What were you thinking? Do you know how much stress you've put her under?"

"No, because I never see her," his voice amped up again.

"Alright, let's go," Lin told his wife, putting his hand on her upper back. She shrugged him off.

"You knew he came to Maddie's school and you didn't tell me about it?" she accused him.

"We'll talk at home," Lin told her, seeing Maddie peek her head around the corner. "Let's not make a scene."

Kate reluctantly agreed, and the family of three walked out the front doors. They took the subway home in silence, the tension thick. Madeline immediately stormed off to her room, upset with her father, and now with her mother. She knew this was exactly how she'd react and she hated it.

Once Lin had closed the door, Kate spun around and was immediately on the offensive.

"How could you not tell me?" she accused him.

"Kate, we didn't want to tell you because we knew you'd react like this," he told her.

"Of course I'm reacting like this! He violated our agreement! He was ordered not to contact her until Maddie was ready to do it herself."

"And how often do you bring that up? Hmm?" he pointed out. "Your daughter is terrified to bring up her father with you because she doesn't want to hurt you. Do you know how unfair that is?"

"Don't lecture me about my daughter?" she spat.

"Oh, so she's just your daughter now?" he asked. "Have you forgotten that I've been around since she was four?"

Madeline laid face down on her bed. Her parents were fighting because of her. She could hear their raised voices from the kitchen. They rarely fought, but when they did it got heated. She couldn't sit around and listen to this. Maddie went to her window and pushed it open, then climbed out the fire escape. Carefully, she made her way down and to the street.