Deep End Spy Games

The pool party at Tyler's house was supposed to be chill, but my stomach was doing backflips. I stood by the edge, nursing a lukewarm soda, watching Maya float on one of those ridiculous inflatable **palm** tree slices. She looked effortless in that way that makes everyone else feel like they're trying too hard.

"You gonna get in, or just stand there looking like a lifeguard who forgot how to swim?" My best friend Darius materialized beside me, grinning.

"I'm observing," I said. "It's called recon."

"It's called being a creep," he shot back, but he was already peeling off his shirt. "Maya's been asking about you, by the way."

My heart did this stupid thing where it forgot its job. "For real?"

"She wants to know if you're gonna **spy** on her from the sidelines all night or actually talk to her like a normal person." Darius shoved me toward the pool. "Go. Now. Before I tell her you write poetry about her eyes."

"I DON'T——" I started, but he was already cannonballing into the deep end.

The **water** hit my skin like electric shock. Cold, sudden, everything at once. I surfaced sputtering, and there she was, paddling over on her palm tree raft like she'd been waiting for exactly this moment.

"Hey," she said. "You finally made it."

"Yeah," I managed, treading **water** like my life depended on it. "Just had to... mentally prepare."

Her laugh was this bright, real thing. "What, were you writing a whole screenplay about how to approach me?"

"Maybe," I said, surprising myself. "It had a lot of deleted scenes."

"I bet." She splashed me, but softly. "Hey, can you help me with something?"

"Anything."

"My cousin's phone is inside, and she's been begging me to take pics of the party. But every time I try to connect to their Wi-Fi, it says I need a **cable**? Like, what does that even mean?"

"Oh, that's probably the ethernet——" I started, then stopped. Because Maya was looking at me like she actually cared what I thought, and the pool lights were reflecting in her eyes, and suddenly I couldn't remember how words worked.

"You know what?" she said. "Forget it. I'll figure it out later. Right now, I want you to tell me about all those deleted scenes."