Electric at Maria's Pool Party

The hat wasn't even mine. I'd swiped it from my brother's closet—this beat-up Dodgers cap that I thought made me look chill, mysterious. Instead, I just looked like I was trying too hard. Which, okay, I was.

Maria's pool party was already in full swing when I arrived late. Neon floats bobbed in the water like drunk jellyfish. People were doing cannonballs, screaming, living. I hovered by the fence, gripping my phone like a lifeline, calculating the minimum time I had to stay before it wouldn't be rude to bail.

Then I saw her. Lena. Lena with the pyramid of red Solo cups stacked precisely in the corner, Lena who'd moved here three months ago and already had everyone wrapped around her finger. She caught me staring and raised an eyebrow.

"Nice hat," she said. "You look like you're plotting something."

"Always," I managed, which was exactly the wrong thing to say because it sounded like I was trying. Ugh.

But she laughed. Actually laughed. "Come help me with this."

The pool table on the patio was warped, but that didn't stop her from challenging me. I played like my life depended on it, sinking shots I had no business making. Something about her watching me—really watching me, not through me—made everything sharper. Clearer.

Then it happened—this flash of **lightning** across the sky, followed by thunder so loud it shook the fence. Everyone screamed. The power died. Pitch black.

"I know you," Lena said in the dark, her voice close. "You're the guy who draws sphinxes on your history notes. I sit behind you in third period."

My face burned. "You noticed?"

"I notice everything. You're interesting, okay? You don't have to perform."

The lights flickered back on. Maria's mom came out yelling about the storm warnings, everyone grabbing towels and scattering. But Lena lingered, tossing me the **hat** I'd abandoned on the table.

"Keep being weird," she said, grinning. "It works on you."

I walked home in the rain, hat on backward, soaked to the bone, grinning like an idiot. Some nights change you. This was one.