Charged

The pool party was in full swing, literal bass vibrating through the **water** as Jaedin cannonballed off the diving board. Maya stood at the edge, clutching her phone like it might save her from social extinction. Her phone was at 3%. Critical.

"You coming in or what?" Keisha called, already waist-deep, her curly **hair** slicked back like a seal.

"Just gotta—" Maya fumbled with her charging **cable**, "—you know, respond to this, like, super important text."

Lies. All of it. The only thing waiting in her notifications was a text from Kyle sent twenty minutes ago: *u coming?*

Three letters. That was it. Meanwhile Maya had typed and deleted approximately forty-seven variations of *yeah* and *on my way* and *maybe later* before settling on not responding at all, because apparently her brain had short-circuited somewhere between kindergarten and sophomore year.

"Maya!" Kyle himself materialized behind her, dripping wet, smile doing unfair things to her cardiovascular system. He held out his hand. **Palm** open. Fingers slightly curled. An invitation.

Her stomach did that thing again. The thing that felt less like butterflies and more like entire flock of geese.

"I—I forgot a swimsuit," she lied again, because at this point why stop.

Kyle's eyebrow shot up. "You're wearing one under your dress. I can see the strap."

Oh. Oh no.

Before she could dissolve into the pavement, her phone buzzed in her hand. Not a text. An alarm. *RUNNING: START IN 5 MIN* — her reminder about cross country tryouts on Monday.

Wait. Kyle was on the cross country team.

"You're **running** Monday?" he asked, reading the notification over her shoulder because of course he did.

"Yeah, but I'm gonna choke. Probably."

"Nah." He gestured toward the pool again. "Come swimming with us. Then Sunday, we can do a practice run together? I know this trail—"

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, I mean—" He scratched the back of his neck, suddenly looking anywhere but at her. "Unless that's weird. I just thought—since we're both—"

"No!" Maya practically shouted. "I mean, yes. Not weird. Good weird. Cool weird. Normal cool."

Keisha catcalled from the pool. Smooth, Maya.

Maya's phone screen went black. Dead. And somehow, that was perfect.

"So?" Kyle said, hand still out.

She kicked off her flip-flops.

"Yeah." She smiled, finally. "I'm coming."