Bull in the Water

Mateo stood at the edge of the pool, chlorine stinging his nose, heart doing that annoying fluttery thing it always did when someone mentioned anything deeper than a bathtub. The **pool** stretched out before him like a shimmering blue monster, mocking him with its peaceful surface.

"Yo, Mateo! You coming or what?" Carlos called from the **padel** court, slapping his racquet against his palm. "We need a fourth for doubles, and Jenna's actually asking for you."

Right. Jenna. The reason Mateo was even at this stupid country club party instead of in his room gaming. Jenna, with her sun-streaked hair and that laugh that made his chest feel tight in a good way. Jenna, who'd definitely lose all interest if she knew a sixteen-year-old guy couldn't swim.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Mateo called back, turning away from the water. **Padel** was safe. Padel was just tennis with walls, and Mateo could handle walls. Walls didn't try to drown you.

But then he saw him—Tyler, the absolute **bull** of the sophomore class, currently doing cannonballs off the diving board while a cluster of girls giggled at his display. Tyler, who'd made freshman year miserable for Mateo before the guy had apparently gotten "chill" over the summer. Tyler, who was now swimming toward the edge where Mateo stood frozen.

"What's up, man?" Tyler pulled himself up, dripping wet, not mean anymore, just ... present. "Everyone's doing laps. You coming?"

And something in Mateo snapped. Maybe it was Tyler being decent for once. Maybe it was watching Jenna glance over from the padel court. Maybe it was just being sick of his own fear. But Mateo found himself toeing the edge, then jumping before his brain could interfere.

The shock of cold. The silence underwater. The moment of pure panic before instinct kicked in and he started thrashing toward the surface, breaking through with a gasp, paddling awkwardly but moving. Tyler was right there. "You got this. Don't fight it."

Mateo kept **swimming**—ugly, graceless, but swimming. When he finally hauled himself out, chest heaving, Jenna was watching from the padel court with this look he couldn't read. Mateo didn't care. He'd done it. The water hadn't killed him. And okay, maybe he wasn't ready for laps, but the monster wasn't so scary anymore.