Electric Blue

The pool water shimmered like liquid sapphire, but Maya's stomach was doing that thing where it felt like swallowed a whole lemon. Quarter till curfew, and she was still stuck in the shallow end while Jordan's crew dominated the deep end like they owned the place.

The social pyramid at Camp Wawona was less ancient Egypt, more brutalist architecture. Jordan at the apex, naturally. Her minions forming the base. And the rest of them just trying not to get crushed underneath. Maya smoothed her frizzing curls—humidity was absolutely not her friend—and adjusted the straps of the bikini she'd bought three sizes too small because online shopping said it would "fit differently."

It didn't fit differently. It just didn't fit.

She was technically swimming, or at least treading water while pretending she wasn't hyperventilating, when she felt it. Someone's palm against hers underwater. A hand squeeze, deliberate and confusing.

Maya whipped around. Chloe. The girl who sat three rows back in English and never spoke, except that one time she corrected Mr. Harrison about a comma.

"Your strap," Chloe whispered, like they were sharing state secrets instead of wardrobe malfunctions. "It's showing everything."

Lightning struck behind Maya's eyes—embarrassment so sharp it nearly knocked her backward. But Chloe just fixed it with fingers that didn't even shake. Then she didn't move away.

"Jordan's been watching you," Chloe said, and Maya felt that thing happen where your stomach drops but in a way that's not entirely terrible. "Not like that. Like she's intimidated."

Maya almost laughed. "Intimidated? By me?"

"You're the only one who didn't laugh at her joke about Sarah's haircut yesterday." Chloe's eyes were seriously the bluest thing Maya had ever seen, and she was having a very sudden, very loud realization about maybe not being as straight as she'd thought. "Nobody else noticed, but I did. You're like a sphinx, Maya. You don't give anything away."

The pool lights flickered. Storm coming. Everyone else scrambled for towels and cabins, but Maya and Chloe stayed floating in the deep end as the first real raindrops kissed the water surface around them.

"Stay?" Chloe asked, and it wasn't really a question.

"Yeah," Maya said, and the word felt like electricity running through her veins. "Yeah, I'm staying."

Sometimes the most terrifying moments are the ones that change everything. Maya was just beginning to understand how much she wanted that change to happen.