Breathing Underwater

Maya's hair refused to cooperate that morning. She'd spent forty-five minutes trying to perfect those effortless waves that every girl at Jefferson High seemed to wake up with naturally, but hers just looked like she'd stuck her finger in an electrical socket. Which, honestly, might've been an improvement.

"You're going to be late," her mom called from downstairs.

Maya grabbed her **iphone** off the charger—12% battery, of course—and shoved it into her pocket without checking the three group chats that were probably blowing up about Tyler's party. The one she'd accidentally said yes to last week when she was feeling brave.

The **pool** shimmered in Tyler's backyard like something from a music video. Already there were people—so many people—lounging on deck chairs, cannonballing into the deep end, blasting that same summer song that played everywhere. Maya stood by the gate feeling like she'd crash the party if she actually walked in.

"You made it!" Tyler materialized beside her, dripping wet and grinning like this was the best day of his life. "Everyone's in the **pool**! Come on!"

Before she could protest, he was dragging her toward the water. Maya's heart was **running** a marathon against her ribs. She hadn't brought a swimsuit. She'd planned to just stand on the edges and look casual, maybe disappear after twenty minutes with a believable excuse about homework.

"I didn't—" she started, but then someone screamed her name.

"MAYA! Finally!" It was Jade, sliding across the deck with a slice of pizza in hand. "We were just talking about you. Well, not you-you, but your hair tutorial went viral on TikTok, so basically you now."

Maya blinked. "What?"

"Your **hair**!" Jade pointed. "That messy-wave thing you posted last month? Everyone's doing it. Even Sienna tried it yesterday and failed spectacularly."

Sienna, who somehow managed to make even bad hair look like a deliberate fashion statement, waved from the hot tub. "It's harder than it looks!"

Maya's **palm** was sweating against her phone, her anxiety doing that thing where it built up into something enormous and impossible, but then Jade looped an arm through hers and said, "Come sit with us. Tyler made virgin margaritas and they're actually not terrible."

Something inside Maya unclenched. These weren't the cool kids she'd been terrified of. They were just Jade with pizza on her face, and Sienna with failed beach waves, and Tyler who was practically vibrating with happiness that people actually showed up.

"Okay," Maya said, and let herself be led toward the circle of deck chairs where someone was already saving her a spot. "But someone needs to charge my phone. It's at 10% and we all know what happens when my group chat goes silent."

"Tragedy," Jade agreed solemnly. "Absolute catastrophe."

By sunset, Maya was still wearing her cutoff shorts and oversized t-shirt, but she was chest-deep in the water, learning how to do a handstand from Sienna, **hair** slicked back and a ridiculous grin on her face that she couldn't wipe off if she tried. Sometimes the things you're **running** from are exactly where you're meant to land.