Chlorine and Blue Hair

Maya's hair was supposed to be caramel brown. Instead, it was electric blue.

"It's temporary," her older sister had promised. "Washes out in, like, three shampoos."

Liar.

Now Maya was standing at the edge of Jen's pool party, her blue hair slicked back in a pathetic attempt to hide it. Everyone else was already swimming—laughing, splashing, looking like normal teenagers having a normal summer. Maya's best friend Sarah was there, doing that thing where she pretended not to see Maya standing awkwardly by the snack table.

They'd fought that morning. Something stupid about Sarah spending all summer with her new friend from camp, whatever her name was. Chloe? Katie? The girl with the perfect hair, probably.

"Maya!" Someone yelled. "Jump in already!"

Maya's heart hammered. If she got her hair wet, the blue would bleed. Everyone would see. It would be a whole thing. There would be photos. It would end up on someone's Snapchat story and she'd be Blue Hair Girl forever.

Sarah swam over to the edge, wiping water from her eyes. "You okay?"

Maya shrugged. "Fine."

"Your hair looks... different."

"Yeah."

Sarah studied her for a second. Then she climbed out of the pool, dripping wet, and walked right over to Maya. She reached out and touched a blue strand.

"Did you dye it?"

"It was supposed to be brown," Maya whispered. "My sister messed it up."

Sarah's eyes widened. "Wait, you let your sister dye your hair? The one who once put purple Kool-Aid in the dishwasher?"

Maya cracked a smile. "That was different."

"No it wasn't. She's chaotic and you trusted her. That's on you."

Sarah grabbed Maya's hand. "Come on."

"What? No, my hair—"

"Everyone's already seen it, Maya. The whole point of standing dramatically by the chips is that people NOTICE you."

They jumped in together.

The blue didn't bleed that much. And by the end of the party, three other people were asking Maya's sister to dye their hair too. Sometimes the worst decisions become the best stories. And sometimes swimming in awkwardness is exactly what a friendship needs.