chlorine summer

Maya's hands wouldn't stop sweating. Literally couldn't stop. She wiped her **palm**s on her denim shorts for the third time, staring at Jason's pool party invitation taped to her locker door. Everyone was going. Like, literally everyone.

The problem wasn't the party. The problem was everything.

Her mom had talked her into getting bangs two days before summer started, and now they sat on her forehead like two curly disobedient question marks. The worst part? She couldn't even tuck them behind her ears like the rest of her **hair** because they were too short. She looked like a confused poodle.

"You're overthinking it," Kira said, sliding up beside her. "Jason's pool parties are literally just people standing around awkwardly in swimwear until someone's brave enough to actually swim."

"Easy for you to say," Maya muttered. "You didn't get bangs three days before the biggest party of the year."

Kira shrugged. "So wear a swim cap. Tell everyone it's vintage.

Maya snorted. "Vintage what, 1950s competitive swimming?"

"Exactly. Trendsetter."

Friday arrived like a weight in Maya's stomach. She spent twenty minutes trying to pin back her bangs before giving up and throwing on her favorite oversized t-shirt over her swimsuit. At least she could hide.

The **pool** glittered blue and perfect in Jason's backyard. Music thumped from somewhere near the house. Maya already felt like she was underwater.

She found a spot on the edge of the patio, kicking off her flip-flops. This was fine. She could survive two hours of awkward small talk and then peace out with the dignity of someone who had definitely not spent all week stress-eating about bangs.

"Hey."

Maya jumped. Jason stood there, holding two sodas, water dripping from his hair down his neck. "You okay over here? You look like you're plotting someone's murder."

"Just appreciating the aesthetics," Maya said smoothly. "Very ... pool-adjacent."

Jason laughed. "Pool-adjacent. That's one way to put it." He sat down beside her, not close enough to be weird but close enough that her palms started sweating again. "My mom said if anyone throws up in there again, I'm personally scrubbing the whole thing with a toothbrush."

"Again?"

"Freshman year spring formal. Don't ask."

They sat there for a minute, watching people splash and scream in the water. Maya could feel Jason glancing at her sideways, like he was trying to figure something out.

"So," he said, "are you gonna get in, or...?"

Maya's heart did something weird and fluttery. "I'm good pool-adjacent. This is my thing. Aesthetic appreciation from a distance."

"Your bangs are cool," he said suddenly. "Different."

Maya snorted. "That's one word for it."

"I mean it," Jason said. "Like, actually. Not even trying to be nice. They're ... brave."

"Brave," Maya repeated. "That's definitely a word."

"You know what I mean." Jason bumped her shoulder with his. "Sometimes you just gotta do stuff and not overthink whether it's gonna look stupid. That's cool."

Maya looked at him—really looked at him—and something in her chest loosened. "You have chlorine in your eyebrows, by the way."

Jason's eyes went wide. "What? Seriously?"

"Seriously." She stood up, pulling her t-shirt over her head before she could talk herself out of it. "Come on. I'll help you wash it out. But you have to jump in with me."

Jason grinned, and they both splashed into the blue together, Maya's bangs plastering to her forehead and all of it—every bit of it—absolutely, completely fine.