Tiger Milk by Stefanie de Velasco Read Free Book Online

down on the warm stone tiles next to the pool and watch as Jameelah climbs the steps to the ten-metre platform. With her arms stretched wide she lifts herself up and down on the balls of her feet.
    Can someone put on Carmina Burana, she yells, I’m going to do a double Rittberger.
    The security guards look at her blankly. Jameelah springs head first into the air, arms and legs fluttering like rags. The way she hangs in the air, just like on TV, when people were jumping out of that tower in America, it scares the shit out of me, and I’m relieved when she finally hits the water with a splash. I watch her swim beneath the surface until she reaches the edge of the pool by me.
    So how was I, she asks grinning as she climbs out of the water. Her right thigh is bright red.
    It looked pretty dangerous, I say.
    Above, on the diving platform, Amir stands staring down into the depths.
    Don’t look down, yells Jameelah.
    Amir stares into the water as if there’s some sort of beast waiting below to eat him, until finally the pool superintendent says something to him and points at the people waiting behind him.
    Oh no, says Jameelah as Amir steps aside and the waiting kids push past him and splash one after the next into the pool below. Amir goes back out to the edge of the platform.
    That’s not how you do it, says Jameelah, you have to just jump, you can’t think about it or you’ll never do it.
    A couple of boys start jeering him.
    Loser, loser!
    I look up at Amir, who looks much smaller up there, smaller than he really is, he looks down at the water, up at the sky where his father apparently is, then down at the water again, but then he turns around and climbs gingerly back down the steps.
    The boys start jeering him again.
    Chickenshit, says Jameelah smiling when Amir makes it down to us.
    Cut it out, he says.
    What, she says, it’s not a crime to be chickenshit.
    You don’t know anything, says Amir, you’re a girl, you don’t have balls that can burst on impact.
    Burst on impact, says Jameelah laughing out loud, who told you that bullshit?
    It’s not bullshit, Tarik told me.
    Tarik talks shit.
    Oh, fuck off, says Amir.
    You fuck off, says Jameelah.
    Cut it out, I say, who wants an ice lolly?
    Eating sweets together always helps end a fight.
    I run into Nico at the snack kiosk. He has a currywurst and fries in one hand and at least four ice cream bars in the other and under his arm is a giant bag of crisps. His eyes are hidden behind sunglasses.
    You got the munchies, I ask smiling, but Nico just smiles back and kisses me on the cheek.
    Always, he says.
    His kiss is just right, warm and a little bit moist.
    They’re sold out of ice lollies so I buy slush puppies, and as we cross the lawn I keep an eye out for Jessi in case she’s standing around somewhere hooking up, but I don’t see her. Instead I see Jasna and Dragan lying down kissing. Jasna is wearing the bright yellow bikini and she has her long legs wrapped around Dragan, he’s running his hand up and down her thigh, it’s almost like in a porn film the way they’re going at it as if the rest of the world doesn’t exist but then suddenly Dragan sits up and looks over at me.
    What are you looking at, he yells.
    I’m not looking at anything, I say.
    Look somewhere else, got it?
    Shut up, says Nico, and Dragan actually shuts up.
    Tobi and Nadja have spread out their towels next to ours. Jameelah sits down at the foot of Lukas’s towel and has him spread sunscreen on her back. A victorious smile spreads across her face and she makes a V with her fingers. Anna-Lena, Laura, Kathi, Tobi, and Nadja play Taboo, Anna-Lena brought it, I don’t feel like playing Taboo with Anna-Lena so I start to squeeze blackheads on Nico’s back, it’s fun.
    That’s disgusting, says Anna-Lena, cut it out or I’ll have a herpes outbreak.
    You get outbreaks from everything, says Lukas, you even get it when people talk about spiders.
    Spiders are totally disgusting, says