Chlorine Dreams and Green Goo

Maya stood at the edge of the pool, heart doing jumping jacks in her chest. The annual Canyon Hills High swim tryouts. Everyone who was anyone had been preparing since last summer. Maya had started preparing last Tuesday.

"You got this, chica!" Jada called from the bleachers, giving an encouraging thumbs-up. "Just remember what Coach Miller said about form!"

Maya nodded, trying to look confident. She'd accidentally spent the past three nights watching swimming compilation videos instead of actually, you know, swimming. But details.

The whistle pierced the air. Maya dove in.

Twenty meters in, everything was fine. Forty meters, her arms were screaming. By the time she touched the wall, she was pretty sure she'd invented two new strokes and possibly spoken to God.

"Not bad," a voice said behind her.

Maya spun around to see Lucas Chen, who had apparently just finished swimming laps around everyone else while looking like he was out for a casual Sunday stroll. He smiled, and Maya felt her face do something extremely unfortunate.

"Thanks," she squeaked.

"Your turn was messy but your kick has potential," he said, then frowned. "You okay? You look kinda... green."

"Yeah, just my pre-race ritual," Maya blurted. Then immediately regretted everything.

Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"

"Spinach smoothie," Maya heard herself say. "Full of... vitality stuff. Helps with oxygen." She was fully committed to this lie now. "It's basically a performance vitamin in liquid form."

Jada was losing her mind on the bleachers. Maya could tell because she was making that weird snort-laugh noise.

"Huh," Lucas said. "Never heard of that."

"It's very European," Maya added, because why stop now?

"Cool. Maybe you could make me one sometime?"

Maya's brain short-circuited. "Wait, what?"

Lucas grinned. "I could use some new tips. I'm Lucas, by the way."

"Maya."

"Well, Maya, your time wasn't terrible, but your technique needs work." He paused. "Same time tomorrow?"

"For... practice?"

"And the smoothie recipe. Deal?"

"Deal."

As Maya dragged herself out of the pool, Jada appeared with a water bottle and the most unhinged grin imaginable. "So... spinach smoothies? Really?"

"Shut up," Maya groaned.

"You're going to have to actually make one now."

Maya thought about Lucas's smile, about actually making the team, about the ridiculous lie that had somehow worked. "I'll look up a recipe," she said.

"This is the best day of my life," Jada declared.

Maya couldn't help smiling. "Yeah," she said. "Yeah, it kinda is."