Chlorine & Orange Crush

Maya stood at the edge of the pool deck, clutching her towel like a lifeline. The orange bikini she'd spent thirty-seven minutes agonizing over felt suddenly ridiculous—too bright, too bold, too *everything*. Like she was trying too hard to fit in with the popular crowd that already regarded her as some kind of alien species.

"You coming in or what?" called Jessica, the girl whose Instagram stories had defined Maya's entire eighth-grade existence. Jessica was currently gliding through the water with the grace of a mermaid, while Maya felt about as coordinated as a baby deer on ice.

Maya's house was three blocks away. She'd totally planned to walk home, grab her sweatpants, and binge-watch Netflix until the social damage repaired itself. But that was before Buster escaped.

Her golden retriever, currently in the process of crashing the party like the chaotic good boy he was, bounded through the open gate with zero hesitation. Maya's mom had dropped him off for "water therapy" (which was definitely not a thing, but Maya's mom was in her essential oils phase).

"OH MY GOD IS THAT A DOG?" someone screamed, but not in a bad way. Suddenly everyone was petting Buster, who was living his best life, rolling in grass and demanding belly rubs like he owned the place.

"That's your dog?" A cute guy with dark hair was scratching Buster's ears. "He's awesome."

"Yeah, that's Buster," Maya said, suddenly less terrified. "He's kind of an idiot but we love him."

"Dude, he's not an idiot, he's a legend," Cute Guy said. "I'm Tyler, by the way. You coming in?"

Maya looked at the water. At Jessica, who was now waving her over. At Tyler, who was smiling at her like she was actually someone worth talking to. At Buster, who was currently being fed a hot dog by some junior.

The orange bikini didn't matter. The nervousness didn't matter. What mattered was cannonballing into the deep end, chlorine stinging her eyes, surfacing to laughter and someone tossing her a floatie.

"Nice cannonball," Tyler said. "Total 10/10."

Maya grinned, treading water. "I've been practicing."

She hadn't, really. But nobody needed to know that.