Dropped in the Deep End

The iPhone slipped from my sweaty palm like a wet bar of soap. I watched in slow motion as it arced through the humid air, hitting the water with a disappointing plop.

"You've got to be kidding me," I groaned, staring at the ripples spreading across the community pool where my phone now rested at the bottom.

Behind me, Chad's laughter echoed against the chain-link fence. "Smooth move, Maya. Real smooth."

I'd been running from Chad and his friends for twenty minutes—literally running, sneakers slapping against the hot pavement as they chased me with handfuls of Silly String. My first week at Lincoln High, and I'd already managed to become the target of the most popular guy in tenth grade. Great start.

"Whatever." I kicked off my flip-flops and dove in.

The chlorine burned my eyes as I swam toward the bottom, fingers grasping for my lifeline to the outside world. My phone was down there somewhere, probably already waterlogged and ruined. Mom was going to kill me—she'd just bought it last month after I begged for three weeks straight.

I found it near the drain, screen still glowing faintly. Through the distortion of the water, I could see five missed notifications from Instagram and three texts from my best friend Chloe, who had moved to California two months ago.

I grabbed it and kicked upward, breaking the surface gasping.

Chad was still there, leaning against the fence, but his expression had shifted. "You actually went in after it? That's kind of brave, I guess."

"It's called being desperate, not brave," I said, wringing out my hair. "And this conversation is over."

"Wait." He stepped closer, then pulled something from his pocket—his own phone, dry and intact. "Let me guess—you're new here?"

"Obviously."

"Yeah, I figured. Nobody who's gone to Lincoln since elementary would be caught dead swimming in their clothes." A small smile. "I'm Chad, by the way. The guy who just ruined your phone chase."

"Maya. And you didn't ruin it—I did that myself."

"True." He paused. "Look, my sister's boyfriend works at the phone repair shop downtown. He owes me a favor. I could..."

"Why would you help me?"

Chad shrugged, looking suddenly less like the terrifying popular guy and more like just some dude. "Maybe because I felt bad about the Silly String thing. Or maybe because you're the only person who's ever jumped into a pool to save a conversation with me."

I stared at him, water dripping from my nose, my ruined phone clutched in my hand. And then I started laughing. I couldn't help it—the absurdity of it all hit me at once.

"What?" Chad asked, grinning now.

"I moved here thinking high school would be this terrible dystopia," I said. "And instead I'm standing in a pool, fully clothed, discussing my phone repair options with the guy who was just chasing me with Silly String."

"Welcome to Lincoln," he said. "It's weird here. But sometimes, weird is okay."

I looked down at my phone one more time. The screen flickered once, twice, then went dark completely. But somehow, that didn't feel like the disaster it had five minutes ago.

"So about that repair shop..."