Chlorine and Chaos

Marcus stood at the edge of the pool, clutching his towel like a lifeline. Three months of vitamins for his skin, two hours of hair gel, and what felt like a lifetime of avoiding swimming situations had led to this moment—Chloe Miller's pool party.

Everyone was already in the water. Jake was doing cannonballs off the diving board. The popular girls sat on pool floats, their hair wet-messy perfect. Marcus adjusted his t-shirt, feeling the vitamin bottle in his pocket like a security blanket he couldn't actually use.

"You coming in or what?" Jake called, splashing water toward him.

Marcus opened his mouth to decline—he always declined—when suddenly his dad's golden retriever Buster came barreling through the unlocked gate. His parents had dropped him off and must've left the dog in the car.

"Buster, no!" Marcus yelled.

The dog, sensing fun, made a beeline for the pool. And not just any part of the pool—straight toward Chloe Miller, who'd just climbed onto a bright pink flamingo float.

The collision was spectacular. Buster launched himself into the water with the enthusiasm of a canine cannonball. Chloe shrieked as her flamingo flipped. Chlorine water went everywhere. Jake stopped mid-cannonball.

Marcus didn't think. He just dove in.

The moment he surfaced, his hair gel was gone, his carefully styled curls plastered to his forehead. But he was too busy grabbing Buster's collar to care. "Sorry! Sorry! He's never done this before!"

Chloe wiped chlorinated water from her face, her mascara running down her cheeks in dark rivers. And then she started laughing. Not mean-girl laughing, but actually cracking up.

"Your dog just assassinated my dignity," she said, grinning. "And your hair is totally wrecked."

Marcus looked at her—at the smeared makeup, the wet hair, the way she didn't seem to care at all.

"Yeah," he said, and for the first time all summer, he didn't feel like running away. "I think we're both having a pretty bad hair day."

"Pretty sure you just won the pool party, though," Jake called from the diving board. "Dog versus flamingo? That's legendary."

Later, when Marcus's dad came to collect Buster (who'd been happily adopted by the group as an honorary party guest), Chloe texted him.

Same time next week? Just the pool. No dogs required. Also, bring those vitamins. My skin's been breaking out like crazy.

Marcus grinned at his phone. Maybe pool parties weren't so terrible after all.