Chlorine & Papaya Summer

Maya's plan had been flawless in theory: spend the summer before freshman year perfecting her cannonball, maybe finally talk to Julio, and definitely avoid any situations where her uncooperative curls could betray her in humidity.

The universe, naturally, had other plans.

"She's not coming," Jessica whispered from behind her iphone, the device practically glued to her hand since seventh grade. "I saw her story. She's at the mall with Brianna."

The pool party at Tyler's house had been the social event of the summer—until it wasn't. Now Maya stood poolside in her favorite (and carefully selected) swimsuit, clutching a papaya smoothie she'd grabbed from the snack table because anything was better than standing there awkwardly alone.

"Hey, Maya."

She nearly dropped the smoothie. It was Julio. Actual Julio, with his stupid perfect smile and hair that somehow always looked intentional even when it was wet from swimming.

"Hi," she managed, her brain suddenly empty of every cool thing she'd practiced saying in her mirror. "Nice... party."

"Yeah, it's chill." He gestured to her drink. "What's that?"

"Papaya smoothie," she said, then immediately regretted it. Who brought a fruit smoothie to a pool party? "It's... weirdly good?"

Jululo laughed, but not in a mean way. "I bet. Hey, you want to play chicken? Tyler and Jessica need players."

Chicken. In the pool. Where her hair would get wet and frizzy and terrible.

"Sure," Maya heard herself say, because apparently her mouth had decided to abandon all dignity in the name of talking to Julio.

They won, mostly because Maya discovered she was unexpectedly competitive and also possibly because Julio was stronger than he looked. Her hair was definitely frizzy now, haloing her head like she'd stuck a fork in an electrical socket.

"You're pretty intense," Julio said as they dripped at the pool's edge afterward, shoulder to shoulder on the concrete.

"I don't like losing," she said, then something—honesty, the summer air, the papaya sugar rush—made her add, "Also, my hair looks insane. Like, actually insane."

Julio leaned back on his hands, studying her. "Nah. It looks... cool. Like, wild energy."

Maya's stomach did something ridiculous and gymnastic.

"Wild energy," she repeated. "That's definitely one way to describe it."

"It's a good way." He checked his own iphone. "Hey, a bunch of us are going to the boardwalk later. You should come."

Outside. Where people could see her hair in natural light.

"Yeah," Maya said, surprising herself. "I think I will."

Her curls were still dripping down her neck. Her smoothie was gone. Jessica was probably documenting everything for her story. But somehow, none of that mattered quite as much as it had an hour ago.

Sometimes the best plans were the ones you abandoned entirely.