Chlorine and Courage

Maya stood at the edge of the pool, chlorine stinging her nose. The water rippled like liquid sapphire, and her stomach did that familiar flip-flop thing it always did when she had to do something brave. Which today was: jumping into the deep end during Jordan's party without looking like a total loser.

"You coming or what?" Jordan called from the pool ladder, already surrounded by the popular crew. His hair was perfect, even wet.

Maya gripped her phone so hard her knuckles turned white. No service. The coaxial cable situation at Jordan's house was ancient, which meant zero bars, which meant she couldn't even fake an emergency text to escape.

Her older sister's voice echoed in her head: *You need to get out there, Maya. Make friends. Take your vitamin D supplement and stop hiding in your room.* But what Dina didn't get was that putting yourself out there wasn't as simple as swallowing a pill.

Especially when you'd spent the whole summer working at your aunt's health food store, smelling like spinach smoothies and nutritional yeast while everyone else was at the beach getting tan and confident.

A calico cat appeared from behind the pool house, staring at Maya with judgment in its yellow eyes. Even the neighborhood cats knew she was overthinking this.

"Whatever," Maya muttered, and before her brain could list seventeen more reasons why this was a terrible idea, she jumped.

The cold hit her like a thousand tiny needles. She surfaced, sputtering, to find Jordan right there.

"Finally!" he grinned. "We're playing chicken fight. You're on my team."

Maya blinked water from her eyelashes. Her heart was still pounding, but maybe—just maybe—from fear instead of panic. And for the first time all summer, she didn't feel like hiding.

She wiped her face and climbed onto Jordan's shoulders, ready to launch herself into something new.