Goldfish in the Lightning
The vitamin gummy sat on my tongue, that artificial orange flavor I'd grown to hate but swallowed anyway because Mom swore it would help me "grow strong." Whatever that meant when ...
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The vitamin gummy sat on my tongue, that artificial orange flavor I'd grown to hate but swallowed anyway because Mom swore it would help me "grow strong." Whatever that meant when ...
The cool June water lapped against the dock as I stared at my phone, reading Jordan's text for the thousandth time: "camp is gonna be different this year." Understatement of the ce...
The invitation said pool party, which was basically code for everyone seeing me in a swimsuit. Major anxiety spike. But Maya said I had to go, that staying home on a Friday would m...
Maya stared at her reflection, the neon orange bucket hat perched on her head like a neon sign announcing 'I am absolutely not okay.' Her dad's fishing hat. At a pool party. She wa...
The bass thumped through the floorboards of Sarah's basement, making my chest vibrate. I stood near the snack table, nursing a lukewarm soda while my friends disappeared into the c...
Maya dragged herself into third period chemistry feeling like a straight-up zombie. Three hours of sleep thanks to that stupid AP History paper, and now she had to survive Paige's ...
Jordan hated pool parties. Hated them with the burning passion of a thousand suns. But here they were, standing at the deep end of Chloe's ridiculously expensive backyard pool, wea...
I pressed myself against the rough bark of the palm tree, heart pounding like I'd just finished a lap in the pool instead of standing perfectly still. Jordan had been swimming for ...
Maya's orange soda fizzed against her palm, condensation dripping down her fingers like nervous sweat. The Hernandez's pool party was already in full swing, bass thumping from blue...
Maya's iphone died at 11:47 PM—exactly three minutes before the notification she'd been waiting for all week. The one that would determine whether she spent the weekend hiding unde...
Maya's hair refused to cooperate that morning—some catastrophic rebellion against humidity that left her looking like she'd stuck her finger in an electrical socket. She'd spent fo...
My hair was supposed to be caramel highlights, but the salon lady clearly misunderstood "subtle" and went straight for "traffic cone orange." Mom said it looked "sunkissed." I look...