Chlorine and Citrus

Marcus had been waiting for this pool party since freshman year. Finally invited by the seniors, finally had a chance with Sarah—the girl who always smelled like coconut shampoo and sat three rows ahead in homeroom.

He'd spent forty minutes on his hair. He'd practiced his casual "yeah, I swim" voice in the mirror three times.

What he hadn't practiced was arriving with spinach stuck between his front teeth.

His mom's healthy kick had backfired. The spinach smoothie she'd made for breakfast left behind evidence that wouldn't budge. He'd chugged orange juice in the car, hoping the acid would help, but now his teeth were stained too.

"Marcus! You made it!" Sarah waved from the pool edge. "Everyone's doing cannonballs. You next?"

This was it. The moment to show his rizz, his confidence.

Or humiliate himself.

"I'll be right there," he said, dodging toward the bathroom instead.

Ten minutes later, the spinach still wouldn't budge. When he emerged, Sarah was talking to Tyler.

Marcus headed for the snack table, defeated. At least he could drown his sorrows in more orange juice.

"You're avoiding the pool," Sarah said, appearing beside him.

"No, just taking a break. Swimming's not really my thing."

"But you're on cross country."

"Yeah but running's different. Swimming, you're just in the water and if you get tired you just... sink."

Sarah laughed, genuine and bright. "That's how I feel about math tests. Like I'm swimming through numbers and eventually I'll sink."

"I'm literally failing math," Marcus admitted. "It's all cap. I'm barely holding it together."

"Really? But you're in honors everything."

"My mom tutors me for hours. It's miserable."

Marcus's hand went to his mouth. "I have something in my teeth, don't I? My mom made this spinach smoothie and—"

Sarah leaned in close. "It's not that deep. Here." She wiped her thumb across his front teeth. "Got it."

She showed him the tiny green fleck. "See? Not a crisis."

Marcus stared, stunned. She hadn't made fun of him. She'd helped him.

"I'm still not going in that pool though," he said.

"Then we'll both stay out here," Sarah said, grabbing two oranges. "We can watch Tyler's tragic cannonball attempts."

Marcus smiled, not worrying about how it looked for once.

Maybe he wasn't the cool guy with the perfect cannonball. But sometimes the better moments were the ones where you admitted you were afraid of sinking and found someone else who was too.

Next year, he'd learn to swim. And skip the spinach smoothies.

But the orange juice? That he might keep.