In Chap­ter XXV, the scene is set at a pool where two girls, Mibs and Bob­bi, pre­pare to change into their swim­suits. Mibs strug­gles with her swim­suit fit­ting poor­ly, feel­ing vul­ner­a­ble and self-con­scious, a stark con­trast to her pre­vi­ous con­fi­dence. Bob­bi, who appears grown-up in her cher­ry red biki­ni, helps Mibs adjust the straps of her pur­ple one-piece, pos­i­tive­ly influ­enc­ing Mibs’s con­fi­dence.

Once dressed, they join the boys, Will and Fish, near the pool. The descrip­tion of the pool area is vivid, reveal­ing both its charm and the chaos that unfolds as the boys begin to play. Will is already swim­ming, while Fish, a bit more reserved, pre­pares to engage with his broth­er. The atmos­phere light­ens when a water fight breaks out, play­ful ban­ter exchanged between the boys. Will’s unex­pect­ed kiss for Mibs adds a lay­er of com­plex­i­ty to their inter­ac­tions, leav­ing her both flus­tered and con­fused, espe­cial­ly when Fish warns Will about behav­ing around Mibs.

As the boys engage in more water play, Mibs finds her­self caught in a whirl­wind of emo­tions, con­tem­plat­ing her feel­ings for Will. Bob­bi notices the dynam­ic and teas­es Mibs about Will’s affec­tions, prompt­ing Mibs to reflect on her own feelings—her respons­es fluc­tu­ate between shy­ness and curios­i­ty.

Bob­bi reveals her own strug­gles as the preacher’s daugh­ter, hint­ing at an ongo­ing desire for free­dom and nor­mal­cy amidst soci­etal expec­ta­tions. Their can­did con­ver­sa­tion allows them both to con­nect on a deep­er lev­el, dis­cussing their iden­ti­ties and aspi­ra­tions. The chap­ter pow­er­ful­ly jux­ta­pos­es the inno­cence of child­hood against the bur­geon­ing com­plex­i­ties of ado­les­cence, leav­ing Mibs ques­tion­ing her role and feel­ings as she expe­ri­ences life’s fleet­ing moments.

In a con­clud­ing exchange, Mibs and Bob­bi float togeth­er, con­tem­plat­ing the notion that life can feel sur­re­al, echo­ing a shared sen­ti­ment that per­haps they are nav­i­gat­ing a strange dream­scape as matu­ri­ty approach­es. This chap­ter illus­trates their trans­for­ma­tion as they grap­ple with their evolv­ing iden­ti­ties in the con­text of friend­ship and famil­ial respon­si­bil­i­ties.