Bearing It All

The pool shimmered like liquid turquoise under the June sun, but Maya's stomach was doing backflips that had nothing to do with excitement and everything to do with the fact that she was wearing a two-piece swimsuit in public for the first time since seventh grade.

"You coming in or what?" Jenna called from the water, splashing enough to soak the concrete edge. The rest of the friend group was already in, laughing at some joke Ethan had made about his disastrous attempt at a cannonball.

Maya stood there, clutching her towel like it was a lifeline. This was supposed to be the summer before sophomore year, the summer she finally stopped caring what people thought. But here she was, fifteen and still bearing the weight of every Instagram comment about her thighs from eighth grade like they were branded into her skin.

"Maya?" It was Liam, who'd somehow ended up standing next to her while she was overthinking. His hair was wet, droplets running down his neck. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just. You know." She gestured vaguely at everything.

He nodded, like that made perfect sense. "I didn't want to come either. Jenna threatened to tell everyone about my Pokémon phase if I bailed."

Maya snorted. "You had a Pokémon phase?"

"I had a Charizard birthday cake in sixth grade. Jenna still has the photo evidence."

Something in her chest loosened. "My mom still has my bear from when I was five. It's wearing my first dance recital costume."

"Bet that's adorable."

"It's humiliating, Liam. Absolutely humiliating."

He grinned. "Wanna make a deal? We both jump in at the same time. Get it over with. No thinking, just—"

"Cannonballs?"

"I was going for a simple jump, but if you've got skills to show off..."

"My cannonball game is weak at best."

"Mine's tragic. You should've seen it earlier."

She looked at the pool, the way the sunlight caught the ripples, how Jenna and Ethan were now having a splash war that was definitely going to end with someone's nose product up their sinuses. They looked ridiculous. They looked happy. They weren't overthinking anything.

"Okay," Maya said. "But if I belly flop, you're never speaking of it again."

"Deal."

They stood at the edge, counted to three, and jumped. The water rushed over her, cool and shocking and perfect, and when she surfaced, sputtering and wiping chlorine from her eyes, everyone was cheering.

"Finally!" Jenna yelled. "What took you so long?"

Maya treaded water, realizing she'd been holding her breath for months. She let it out, laughing. "Just had to work up the nerve to make a terrible entrance."

"Mission accomplished," Ethan said. "That was the worst cannonball I've ever seen."

"Thank you," Maya said, and she meant it. She was never going to be the girl who jumped without thinking. But maybe, just maybe, she could be the girl who jumped anyway.