Chlorine and Orange Crush

Maya stood at the edge of the pool, clutching her phone like it was a life raft. The annual block party. The worst night of the summer.

"Hey! Earth to Maya!" Jenna waved from the deep end, her orange swimsuit practically glowing under the string lights. "Get in here! The water's actually decent for once!"

Maya forced a smile. "Maybe later!"

Her old swimming friend from freshman year was now the queen of the junior class, and Maya was just... awkward girl who'd rather be home streaming anime. They used to spend every weekend at the community pool, seeing who could hold their breath the longest. Now Jenna was Instagram famous, and Maya was barely holding it together.

Someone shoved an orange soda into her hand. "You're standing kinda close to the edge there, Maya."

Caleb. The skateboarding poet who'd transferred in last month and already had half the theater department crushing on him. Great. Just what she needed—an audience to her existential crisis.

"Just thinking," she said, cracking open the soda. "About stuff."

"About how you haven't been swimming in like, two years?" He raised an eyebrow. "Jenna told me you used to be basically a mermaid."

Maya rolled her eyes. "Jenna says a lot of things."

"She said you were the one who taught her how to dive without doing a belly flop every single time." Caleb sat on the edge, dangling his feet in the water. "Said you guys were inseparable until... something happened."

"Until she became Jenna." Maya took a swig of orange soda. "And I stayed... me."

"You know," Caleb said, pulling out a sketchbook from his bag, "I'm drawing this comic about this girl who's scared to jump back into the pool because she thinks everyone's watching. But really, everyone's too busy worrying about themselves to notice."

Maya looked at the pool. At Jenna laughing with the popular crowd. At the way the blue water rippled in the moonlight.

"You think?" she asked softly.

"I know." Caleb tore out the sketch and handed it to her. A girl standing at pool's edge, orange light above her head like a halo. The caption read: SOMEWHERE BETWEEN WHO YOU WERE AND WHO YOU'RE BECOMING.

The orange soda can slipped from her fingers.

"That's... actually kind of deep, Caleb."

"I try." He grinned. "So? You gonna swim, or what?"

Maya looked at Jenna, who'd turned and was watching them. Really watching. Not performing—just waiting.

"Yeah," Maya said, kicking off her flip-flops. "Yeah, I think I am."