Drowning in the Shallow End

The pool party was already lit when Maya arrived, her stomach doing cartwheels. She clutched her iPhone like a lifeline, thumb hovering over Jake's text from three days ago—the one she still hadn't answered.

"Maya! Finally!" Chloe yelled from the diving board, doing an impressive cannonball that sent water everywhere. "You're missing everything."

Everything turned out to be typical high school theater. Jake was there, naturally, standing near the snack table with his backwards hat and that effortless cool that made Maya's brain short-circuit. She'd been crushing on him since sophomore year, and now here she was, junior year, still paralyzed whenever he looked in her direction.

The backyard was strewn with tangled HDMI cable from someone's failed attempt to set up outdoor movies. Mrs. Chen was trying to untangle the mess while lecturing about responsibility.

"Hey." The voice came from behind her. Jake. Of course.

Maya spun around, nearly knocking over a bowl of vitamin C supplements on the patio table. "Hi!"

"You want to hit the hot tub?" Jake asked, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Her mind raced. Was this happening? Was Jake actually inviting her somewhere semi-alone? "Sure, yeah."

They ended up in the hot tub while everyone else splashed in the pool. The water was practically boiling, but Maya didn't care. They talked about everything and nothing—AP Chem, college applications, his attempts at learning guitar. Her iPhone buzzed repeatedly in her bag—probably Chloe wondering where she'd disappeared to—but she ignored it.

"You know," Jake said, "I've been meaning to text you. About that chem homework."

Maya's heart hammered against her ribs. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. And maybe other stuff too." He looked away, suddenly interested in the pool filter. "You're cool, Maya. Like, actually cool. Not fake cool."

The compliment landed so unexpectedly that Maya forgot how to speak for a solid three seconds. When she finally found her voice, the old awkward Maya was gone. "You too, Jake. You too."

Later that night, she pulled out her phone to find twelve texts from Chloe demanding details. Maya smiled, typing out everything. The vitamin supplements on the table caught her eye—someone had arranged them to spell "CALL ME."