Read the passage that gabriel wrote for his narrative essay. once we arrived at the local pool, i looked around to see who else was there. normally, i would have found the kids frolicking and splashing in the water hilarious, but not today. they were cute, but the fact that they were half my age and swimming around like so many ducks just made me feel worse. “you nervous? ” my mom asked. i swallowed the lump in my throat. “not really,” i mumbled, trying to hide my shaking hands in my pockets. i don’t think i fooled my mom, but she didn’t comment on the fact that i looked a little green. instead, she tried to encourage me, saying, “well, i think it’s really impressive that you’re going to confront your fear of water and learn to swim.”