Bull's Eye at the Deep End

My palms were sweating so bad I could practically water the plants with them. Pool parties at Tyler's house were legendary—the kind where your social life either leveled up or died in spectacular fashion. And I'd just lied my face off.

"Yeah, I'm totally gonna bring my suit," I'd told Jessica, the girl whose hair somehow defied humidity. "I'm, like, part mermaid."

Total bull. I couldn't swim. Like, at all.

Now here I was, standing at the edge of the deep end while everyone splashed around like aquatic dolphins. My dog, Buster, would've judged me so hard. That lazy golden retriever spent half his life dog-paddling in our kiddie pool, living his best life, while his human was about to humiliate herself in front of the entire freshman class.

"Maya! Come in!" Tyler called from the middle, doing some impressive backstroke thing. "Water's perfect!"

My heart hammered against my ribs. I could just run. Literally sprint away, claim I forgot my phone, whatever. But running meant admitting I'd lied. Running meant Jessica would know I was a fraud.

So I jumped.

The water swallowed me whole—cold, shocking, silent. For a second, I just sank. Then instinct kicked in. I clawed at the water, thrashing my way to the surface, gasping like I'd just won an underwater screaming contest.

I broke through, spluttering, wiping water from my eyes. Everyone was watching.

"Dude," said Tyler, grinning. "That was the most dramatic entry I've ever seen."

"Yeah," Jessica said, pushing off the wall. "Kinda intense, but also... honestly? Pretty badass."

I treaded water, legs burning, feeling like the biggest idiot on the planet. But then Jessica swam over, and we started talking about how scary deep water was, and how she'd pretended to know skateboarding tricks she couldn't actually do until she face-planted in front of everyone last summer.

By the time I dragged myself out, fingers pruned, muscles aching, I'd made a friend. And maybe, just maybe, I'd keep coming back to this pool until I didn't have to fake it anymore.