Electric Blue

The blue hair had seemed like a great idea at 2 AM when I'd watched the last TikTok tutorial and decided fuck it, why not. Now, standing at the edge of Jordan's pool with chlorine stinging my nose and what felt like everyone's eyes burning into my very obvious, very blue head, I was having second, third, and fourth thoughts.

"Yo, Kai going for the electric blue aesthetic," Jordan called out, already doing cannonballs like he didn't have social anxiety to contend with. "Bold move."

I muttered something and slid into the water, grateful for the way it swallowed me up. Swimming had always been my escape – that weightless feeling where nobody could see you, nobody could expect anything. But now even that felt stolen, like the blue streaks in my hair were neon signs screaming LOOK AT ME TRYING TO BE INTERESTING.

The sky had been gray all afternoon, that thick ominous color that makes everything feel heavier. When the first real rumble of thunder rolled through, half the pool evacuated like the water might turn electric any second. I stayed under longer, surfaced to find most people heading inside.

Except Avery.

She sat on the pool edge, legs dangling in, this quiet junior who always sat in the back of English and drew spiral designs on her jeans. Her hair was this incredible mess of curls that defied gravity and probably social convention too.

"The lightning's gonna be sick," she said, not looking at me, just watching the sky. "My brother says storms are better from the roof but my mom would literally kill me."

I treaded water closer. "I could die of embarrassment first."

She looked down then, really looked at me, and for some stupid reason I thought she might mention the hair. Instead she said, "That shade of blue? It's the exact color of that moment right before lightning hits. Like charged."

A flash cracked across the sky – actual lightning, purple-white and branching like frozen roots. We both watched it, and for three seconds of thunder-rumble silence, it was just us and the storm and the water, and somehow the blue hair didn't feel like a cry for attention anymore. It felt like evidence.

"You going to Jordan's thing next week?" she asked, like it was nothing.

"Maybe," I said, trying to sound casual while my heart did something embarrassing. "If I don't die of embarrassment first."

Avery smiled, small and real. "You won't. You look like someone who knows exactly who they are."

The rain started falling, big drops that turned the pool surface into silver confetti. We didn't move. I thought about swimming to the deep end, about diving under and staying there until everyone forgot the blue hair, the new boldness, the way I was trying on different versions of myself like oversized jackets.

But I stayed right there, treading water while Avery hummed something I couldn't quite place, and somewhere beyond the backyard fence, the sky cracked open again.