Electric at the Edge

I felt like a **zombie** dragging myself through the last week of school—brain fogged out, running on three hours of sleep and maybe two energy drinks. Summer couldn't come fast enough.

Then Marcus invited me to the pool party. THE pool party. The one where everyone who was anyone would be, lit by **lightning** bugs and string lights, the water gleaming like something out of a movie.

"You should bring some friends," Marcus said, pulling me aside between periods. "I'm starting this new thing, super exclusive. Like a **pyramid**, but for success. You get people in, they get people in, everybody wins. My cousin's making bank."

A pyramid scheme. At sixteen. I almost laughed.

The party was everything I expected—**orange** sunset bleeding into purple dusk, kids I'd known since middle school transformed by contact lenses and outfits that cost more than my entire wardrobe. Maya was there, leaning against the pool fence in that way she had, like she was simultaneously bored and bored of being bored.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," she said, sliding over as I hovered near the snack table.

"Worse. Marcus tried to recruit me into his pyramid scheme."

Maya's laugh was sharp and bright. "Classic. Hey, you wanna get out of here?"

We ended up on her roof, watching actual **lightning** split the sky somewhere distant, talking about everything and nothing until the storm broke and we had to run inside, soaked through and breathless.

"Worst party ever," she said, squeezing water from her hair. "Best night ever."

I wasn't a zombie anymore. I was awake, really awake, for the first time in months. Summer was just starting.