Blue Screen at the Pool Party
Maya stood at the edge of the swimming pool, clutching her phone like a lifeline. The water glittered like something from a TikTok edit, but inside her chest, everything felt twisted and wrong. Three weeks ago, her best group chat had gone silent after she'd posted something cringe — she still didn't know what — and now every notification felt like walking through a minefield.
"Maya! You coming in or what?"
Jenna waved from the middle of the pool, surrounded by the people Maya used to call friends. Before she could answer, her iphone buzzed with that特定的 vibration pattern — the one she'd assigned to her mom checking in. She swiped it away, fighting back the familiar lump in her throat.
"Maybe later," she called back, voice betraying nothing. She'd perfected this particular performance.
She sank onto the pool chair and dug into her backpack, fingers finding the familiar bottle of vitamins her therapist had suggested. Something about supporting her nervous system during "transitional periods." She swallowed two dry, because taking them felt like doing something, even if she wasn't sure what.
"You know those don't work if you don't drink water with them."
Maya jumped. It was Sam from English, sitting two chairs over with a book. They'd never actually spoken, not really.
"What?"
"The vitamins. You're supposed to take them with water." Sam held out a bottle. "Also, you've been staring at your phone for twenty minutes without unlocking it. Everything okay?"
Something in Maya's chest cracked open. "Not really."
"Wanna talk about it?" Sam closed their book. "Or we could just sit here being awkward together. Your call."
For the first time in three weeks, Maya didn't reach for her phone. She grabbed the water bottle instead. "Start with awkward. I can work up to the rest."
Sam smiled, and it wasn't performative. It was just... real.
The pool party went on behind them — laughter and splashing and the flash of someone's story — but for the first time, Maya was exactly where she needed to be.