Chlorine & Orange Rinds

Marcus stood at the edge of the pool, clutching his phone like it was a lifeline. The backyard was already packed with juniors from school, all of them acting like this was just another Friday night. For Marcus, freshman and perpetually invisible, this was basically mission impossible.

"Yo, Marcus! You gonna stand there all night or actually jump in?" That was Tyler, laughing with his swim team crew. Marcus forced a grin, feeling his face heat up. He'd only come because Maya said she might show up. Maya, with her perfect hair and her actual chances at being social.

He'd spent twenty minutes psyching himself up in front of the mirror, practicing casual poses, trying to look like someone who belonged at parties like this. Someone who didn't overthink every single interaction.

His mom had pressed an orange into his hand before he left. "For vitamin C," she'd said, like that was somehow going to help his social anxiety. He'd shoved it in his pocket and forgotten about it until now, when he could feel it pressing against his thigh through his swim trunks.

"Marcus!"

He spun around. Maya. Actually here. She was wearing this cyan bikini that made his brain short-circuit, and she was smiling at him like she was actually happy to see him.

"Hey!" he managed, voice cracking slightly. Kill him now.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," she said, grabbing his arm. "Come on."

She dragged him toward the side gate, where the neighbor's cat—a grumpy tabby named Pickles—sat perched on the fence like it was judging everyone's life choices.

"Tyler's being a jerk," Maya whispered, rolling her eyes. "Can we just bail for a minute?"

They ended up on the front porch, sharing the orange Marcus had forgotten about. The juice stuck to their fingers in a way that should've been gross but felt kind of perfect. Maya's hair smelled like chlorine and coconut shampoo.

"Your cat tried to eat my retainer case last summer," she said suddenly.

"Pickles?" Marcus blinked. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry."

She laughed, actually laughed, and he realized something terrifying: he was having fun. Like, actual, no-pretending fun.

Later, they sat on the couch inside watching some terrible cable reality show that Tyler's older sister had left playing. Maya kept leaning into him like it was nothing, and Marcus's heart was doing this thing where it forgot how to beat properly.

"This summer's gonna be sick," she said.

Yeah. Yeah, it might be.

The orange rinds sat on the coffee table between them. Marcus took a breath. Finally, finally, he wasn't the kid standing alone at the edge of the pool anymore.