Chlorine and Secrets

Maya adjusted the oversized fedora she'd thrifted that morning, hoping it would make her invisible at Jessica's end-of-summer pool party. As if. The hat was basically a spotlight. But anything was better than showing up to the biggest social event of eighth grade feeling like the awkward new girl who'd moved from Ohio three weeks ago.

The pool already glittered with bodies—Jessica's popular crew doing their thing in the shallow end, Zach and his friends swimming laps like they were training for the Olympics. Maya's iphone buzzed in her pocket, her lifeline to her best friend Chloe back in Columbus. *You got this. Just breathe.*

Then she saw it—Tanner's phone sitting unlocked on a deck chair. Tanner, the boy every girl had been whispering about since June. The one who'd posted that weirdly cryptic Instagram story last night that had everyone playing detective.

Maya wasn't usually the type to spy. But something took over. Maybe it was the hat giving her false courage. Maybe it was wanting to belong. She reached for it, her heart pounding like she'd just finished swimming those laps herself.

One glance. Just one.

His notes app was open. A draft that read: *I don't know how to tell her I like her. She's always wearing that cool hat and looking at her phone like she's waiting for something important. I think she might be waiting for me to finally say something.*

Maya dropped the phone back like it burned. She was the her? The girl in the thrift store hat?

Later, floating in the pool while Tanner played chicken fight with his friends, Maya caught him watching her. He smiled, slightly, like he knew something she didn't. And maybe she knew something he didn't too.

Her phone buzzed again. *Well?*

Maya grinned, pushing her oversized hat back. *I think I might have a story for you. But first, I might need to learn how to actually swim.*

Some secrets were worth keeping. Others? They were just beginning.