Curveballs at the Deep End

Maya's hair frizzed into a question mark the moment she stepped outside. Humidity plus her curl pattern equaled disaster, which was exactly why she'd spent forty minutes straightening it for Tyler's pool party. Now it looked like she'd stuck a fork in an electrical socket.

"You coming in or what?" Tyler called from the pool, water droplets glistening off his baseball shoulders. He'd made varsity as a sophomore, which apparently gave him permission to be ridiculously fit.

"Just grabbing some fruit first," Maya lied, heading toward the snack table instead of the deep end. Because here's the thing: Maya didn't do swimming in public. At least not since sixth grade when someone's mom asked if she needed a floatie.

Her cousin Sasha appeared beside her, already dripping. "You're overthinking it."

"Am not."

"Your face says otherwise." Sasha grabbed a chunk of papaya from the fruit bowl. "Try this. It's basically summer in fruit form."

Maya wrinkled her nose. "It looks like someone's internal organs."

"You're so bull sometimes." Sasha laughed. "Living in that head of yours, building everything up until it's terrifying." She popped the papaya into her mouth. "You know what my coach says? 'Either you jump in or you don't. The water's the same temperature either way.'"

"Your coach plays softball. Completely different sport."

"The point stands." Sasha's expression softened. "Tyler invited *you*. Not hair-straightened, perfectly-put-together Maya. Just you."

Maya looked toward the pool where Tyler and his friends were laughing, splashing water that caught the sunlight like thrown diamonds. They looked so effortless, so comfortable in their skin. Meanwhile she was standing at the snack table having an existential crisis over tropical fruit.

"I'm going in," Maya said suddenly, toeing off her flip-flops.

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. But I'm doing it my way."

She walked to the edge of the pool and did a cannonball.

Water everywhere. Tyler surfaced, spitting chlorinated water, grinning. "There she is."

Maya's hair was ruined. Her makeup was gone. But for the first time all summer, she wasn't thinking about any of that. Sometimes you had to make your own splash to realize you could swim all along.