Chlorine and Secrets

The orange vinyl floatie bobbed alone in the deep end like a forgotten sun, and honestly? Same. I stood by the pool's edge wearing my dad's old fishing hat—pulled low, obviously—wishing I'd just pretended to be sick today.

Pool parties were basically social minefields, and minefields required reconnaissance. That's the charitable way to explain why I was currently crouched behind the shed like a total weirdo, spy‑ing on Tyler Jensen's legendary end‑of‑summer bash. The uncharitable way is that I was a coward with a crush who couldn't risk getting splashed and ruining my entire aesthetic.

I watched Maya float past on the orange thing, laughing at something Tyler said. Maya, who'd sat behind me in bio since freshman year. Maya, who I'd been lowkey obsessed with since the time she helped me rescue a escaped classroom frog and didn't even make fun of how I screamed. But now she was out there among the chlorine and the cool kids, and I was back here with the spiders and my extremely dignified hat.

"You know, water doesn't actually hurt you."

I jumped so hard I nearly knocked over a lawn chair. Maya stood there, dripping pool water, toweling off her hair. She'd seen me. Of course she'd seen me. I was literally behind a shed.

"I'm allergic to fun," I said, because my brain had apparently ceased to function.

She laughed. "Nice hat. Very mysterious."

"It's for medical purposes."

"Sure it is." She tilted her head. "You gonna stay back here all night or actually come in? The water's fine. Tyler's been asking about you."

My stomach did something extremely unhelpful. "He has?"

"Yeah. Something about how you're in his AP calc class and he needs help with, and I quote, 'literally everything.'" She held out a hand. "Come on. Your floatie's waiting."

I looked at the orange thing drifting in the deep end, then back at her.

"Fine," I said. "But if my hat gets wet, I'm billing you."

She grinned, already walking toward the pool. "Deal."

I took off the hat. My hair was terrible. I felt exposed. I followed her toward the water anyway.

Some things were worth getting a little soaked for.