Bull's Eye

Maya gripped her iPhone so hard the case creaked. Three notifications lit up her screen: Chloe's pool party, in forty minutes. Her stomach did that familiar flip-flop thing — the same one from before that disastrous swim meet in seventh where she'd forgotten her goggles and finished dead last, flailing like a panicked turtle.

"You're going, right?" JJ leaned against her doorframe, spinning a basketball on his finger. "It's gonna be sick. Dylan's gonna be there."

"Dylan who thinks I'm 'basically a sister'? That Dylan?" Maya rolled her eyes but grabbed her swimsuit from the chair. Whatever. She'd go. Swimming had always been her thing — the one place her ADHD brain actually chilled out, chlorine and silence and the perfect rhythm of breathing. This party couldn't be that different from the Y pool at 6 AM, right?

Wrong. So wrong.

Chloe's backyard was basically a social minefield. Kids everywhere, Bluetooth speakers bumping, laughter echoing off the fence. And there it was — the pool, glittering blue and packed with people. Maya stood there in her cover-up, heart hammering. This was fine. Everything was fine. Just get in the water and—

"YO MAYA!" Dylan waved from the deep end, grinning. "Finally! We're playing sharks and minnows but with ZERO chill. Get in here!"

His ex, Sierra, drifted past on a floatie, giving her this look that was somehow both bored and assessing. Like a bull deciding whether to charge or keep chewing cud. Maya'd seen that look before — usually right before someone became the week's main character in the group chat drama.

Whatever. Maya yanked off her cover-up and dove in.

The water hit her like reset button. Suddenly the laughter wasn't overwhelming. Dylan's splashing wasn't performance. It was just... fun. She surfaced to him splashing water in her face, grinning. "You're IT! No backsies!"

"Oh you are SO deceased!" Maya lunged after him, cutting through the water smooth and easy. This was her element. She wasn't the awkward kid who forgot how to talk to crushes. She was fast, she was strong, she was—

Her iPhone buzzed on the patio table. Mom: "Don't forget, dinner with grandma at 6 😘"

Maya tread water, grinning at the sky. Could be worse. Could be a lot worse.

"YO MAYA!" Dylan called from the other end. "Truth or dare! But make it weird!"

She laughed and swam toward them, not even caring about JJ filming the whole thing for his Story. Sometimes the bull-in-a-china-shop energy of teen chaos hit different. And tonight, somehow, she was actually part of it.