Chasing Waterfalls

The pool deck shimmered with heat waves, but inside, Leo's stomach felt like ice. He adjusted his orange swim trunks—hand-me-downs from his cousin that were somehow still too loose at the waist.

"Yo, Leo! You playing padel later?" Marcus called from the diving board, dripping wet. The popular kids had taken up padel tennis recently, another thing Leo couldn't afford to join.

"Maybe," Leo lied, because the truth—that he'd never held a padel racket in his life—felt too heavy to say out loud. His grandmother's cat, Barnaby, had more athletic ability than Leo did, and Barnaby was literally missing one leg.

The pool filtration system hummed its usual mechanical song. Leo had worked here all summer as a junior guard, which meant mostly cleaning skimmers and telling kids not to run, which they always did anyway. But today was different—today Emma was here.

Emma with her messy bun and actual smile when their shifts overlapped. Emma who'd let him borrow her sweatshirt last week when the AC broke. Emma who was currently wading into the shallow end, laughing at something Tyler said.

Tyler, whose nickname was "The Bull" for no reason Leo had ever understood except that he somehow charged through social situations without fear.

Leo's phone buzzed. A text from Emma: *We're getting boba after. Come?*

His thumb hovered over the screen. Yes? No? Something cool that wouldn't make him sound desperate? Behind him, someone's cat—that stray calico that hung around the parking lot—jumped onto a lounge chair and began grooming itself like it owned the place.

"Earth to Leo!" Emma stood at the pool's edge, water droplets sparkling on her shoulders like tiny diamonds. "Boba? Now?"

Tyler splashed water at her. She squealed and splashed back, and for a second, Leo saw it—that golden, sunlit moment where everything could change, where he could step in instead of watching from the sidelines.

"Yeah," Leo said, and his voice didn't even shake. "Let me grab my stuff."

He'd figure out padel later. Some games weren't played on a court.