chlorine kisses

Marcus sat on the edge of the pool, legs dangling in the water that still smelled like summer and chlorine and all the mistakes he'd made in the past three hours. His iphone was somewhere at the bottom of the deep end — a perfect, $900 sacrifice to the gods of teenage stupidity.

'You gonna jump in after it?' a voice called.

Marcus jumped. Literally. His phone was dead, drowned, gone, and now some girl was watching him have a crisis behind the community center where the baseball team's end-of-season party raged inside.

'Nah,' he said, refusing to turn around. 'Let it rot. Like my dignity.'

She laughed, and Marcus turned to see someone sliding down the concrete embankment toward him. Green hair, cutoffs, a t-shirt that said something about local bands. She sat beside him, close enough that their shoulders almost touched.

'Let me guess,' she said. 'You dropped it doing something dumb.'

'Got into a fight with Tyler,' Marcus admitted. 'He was talking smack about Maya, and I shoved him, and my phone flew out of my pocket during the chaos.' He pressed his palms to his eyes. 'First game of the season tomorrow, and I just got into it with the star pitcher.'

'Maya as in your ex?' The girl raised an eyebrow. 'Bold move, defending her honor.'

'She wasn't my ex. She's my best friend. Tyler's just a — '

'A dick?' she offered. 'Yeah, I've heard.'

They sat in silence for a moment. The pool reflected the moon, and somewhere inside, someone had turned the music up.

'I'm Sasha,' she said.

'Marcus.' He hesitated. 'You go to North?'

'Nope. Central.' She nudged his foot with hers underwater. 'My little brother's on your baseball team. That's why I'm here — my mom made me come pick him up.' She checked a watch on her wrist. 'He's supposed to be outside ten minutes ago.'

'So you're just gonna leave me here alone with my shame?'

Sasha laughed. 'I've got a charger in my car. You can come wait with me if you want.' She stood up, water dripping from her legs. 'Unless you'd rather sit here thinking about how you ruined your baseball career before it even started.'

Marcus stood too. 'You know what? Yeah.' Something in his chest loosened. 'I'd rather not think about that anymore.'

'Good choice.' Sasha smiled, and it was genuine. 'Besides, you can tell me more about this Maya situation. I'm sensing backstory.'

'Long story,' Marcus warned.

'I've got time.' She started walking toward the parking lot. 'My brother takes forever to say goodbye to his friends. We've probably got like, twenty minutes.'

Marcus followed her, leaving the pool and his dead phone and the worst night of his life behind. Something told him tomorrow might actually be okay.