Chlorine Kisses and Curveballs

My mom's obsessed with these Vitamin D gummies ever since the doctor said I was deficient. Apparently, staying inside playing Valorant for six months straight isn't great for your health. Who knew?

So when Maya invited me to Jordan's pool party, I was already sweating— and not from the summer heat.

Maya. The same Maya who sits behind me in pre-calc and smells like coconut everything. The Maya I've been lowkey crushing on since freshman year. And now I was going to see her in a bathing suit.

RIP my nervous system.

I showed up wearing my swim trunks and my mom's sunscreen (she refuses to buy the spray kind). The pool was already packed— the whole baseball team was there, shirtless and loud and terrifyingly confident. Jordan's house had this insane setup with a diving board and underwater speakers bumping Drake.

"Hey! Vin!

Maya waved from the shallow end, water glittering on her shoulders like something out of a movie. I froze, clutching my bottle of Vitamin D gummies like a total psychopath. (Yes, I brought them. My mom said I couldn't skip a day.)

"You gonna stand there all day or actually get in?" This was Lucas— the baseball team's star pitcher, also Maya's lab partner, also my personal villain.

"I'm... assessing the situation,"

Someone shoved me from behind. I stumbled, arms windmilling, and plunged straight into the deep end.

The chlorine stung my eyes. My Vitamin D gummies— still clutched in my hand— dissolved into the water around me like some kind of neon orange cloud. Everyone stared.

"Did he just... turn the pool into gummy bear juice?" someone asked.

Maya laughed. Not mean-girl laughed, but actual laughed, head tipped back, hair dripping wet. She swam over and tread water next to me. "You okay?"

"Fine," I said, though my dignity was drowning somewhere in the deep end.

"Good." She splashed me. "Because you're on my team for chicken fight. Lucas needs to get knocked down a peg."

I climbed onto her shoulders, her skin warm against my legs, and somehow, improbably, we won. I watched Lucas surface, sputtering and furious, and Maya looked up at me with this huge grin.

"Not bad for a vitamin supplement commercial."

I didn't even mind the teasing. Maybe summer wasn't going to be so terrible after all.