Bear Floatie Summer

Maya stood at the edge of the pool party, clutching her phone like a lifeline. The charging cable was still tangled around her wrist because she'd been doomscrolling in the car, unable to prepare herself for this. For THIS.

"Maya! You coming in?" Jake called from the water, sounding so effortless it made her teeth hurt.

Everyone was already swimming, their bodies moving through the blue water like they'd been born doing it. Meanwhile, Maya had barely passed her middle school swim test after three tries. The water looked like a mouth waiting to swallow her whole.

She reached into her tote bag and felt it—the bear-shaped pool floatie her mom had insisted would be "so adorbs." It was currently deflated and mocking her, but somehow the idea of inflating it felt worse than drowning. At fifteen, showing up with a giant inflatable felt like social suicide.

Then she saw it across the pool: Liam, the boy she'd been crushing on since September, wearing these ridiculous orange swim trunks that somehow worked on him. He was laughing at something Chloe said, his head thrown back, water dripping from his hair.

Maya's stomach did that thing it always did around him—like it was trying to bear witness to her entire existence and finding it wanting.

"Hey!" someone shouted. "Who wants to play chicken fight?"

The group erupted in cheers. And somehow, someway, Maya's hand shot up before her brain could stop it.

"Maya's in!" Jake announced, and suddenly everyone was looking at her.

Her pulse thundered in her ears as she kicked off her sandals. She could do this. She could absolutely do this. She'd just wade in the shallow end and—

Her foot caught on something. She pitched forward, arms flailing, and went under with an ungraceful splash. Water filled her nose. She surfaced sputtering, ears ringing, and there it was—her worst nightmare floating beside her.

Her mom must've tossed the bear floatie in her bag after all. Because it had drifted to the surface and inflated itself just enough to be visible, its goofy bear face staring at her judgmentally.

For three seconds, nobody spoke. Maya felt her face burning hotter than sun on asphalt.

Then Liam started laughing. Not mean laughter—actual laughter, head thrown back, the same way he'd been laughing at Chloe's joke. "That bear," he choked out. "That bear is iconic."

"Right?!" Jake grinned. "Maya, that is genuinely the best thing I've seen all summer."

Someone tossed her the bear. "You're partnering with me," Liam said, swimming over. "Bear floatie team. We're obviously winning."

Maya looked at the ridiculous orange pool floatie, then at Liam's orange trunks, then at all the faces smiling at her—not mocking, just waiting. She grabbed the bear, shoved it under her arm, and dove in.

The water wasn't so scary after all.