Electric Blue Summer

Maya stood at the edge of the pool, clutching her vitamin D supplement bottle like it was some kind of armor. Her mom had shoved it at her that morning, going on about how she's pale as a ghost and never goes outside. Classic Maya behavior—avoiding the sun, the pool, the pretty much everything that required being seen in a bathing suit.

"You coming in or what?" Jake called from the water, droplets streaming down his stupid perfect face. The whole group was there—Lila with her TikTok-worthy poses, Tyler and Ryan doing something dumb with a beach ball, all of them glowing in that golden-hour light that made everything feel like a movie Maya wasn't invited to star in.

"Just... gotta take this first," she mumbled, dry-swallowing the pill. A vitamin. Great. Now she was that person who couldn't even have a normal moment without making it weird.

The first flash of lightning streaked across the sky—purple-white, electric, everything lighting up like someone had flipped a switch on the whole world. Half the pool screamed like it was jump-scare content. Maya actually jumped too, but she'd never admit it.

"Everyone out! Now!" The lifeguard's whistle cut through everything. They all scrambled, grabbing towels and phones, bodies moving in this chaotic surge that was somehow synchronized. Maya ended up squeezed under the tiny overhang with Jake, their shoulders pressed together as the sky opened up.

"You're shaking," Jake said, not making fun of her. Just... noticing.

"Hate storms," she admitted, feeling weirdly vulnerable. "My anxiety's basically a lightning rod for overthinking."

He laughed, soft and genuine. "Same. I literally have an entire vitamin cabinet my mom thinks fixes everything. Vitamin C for immunity, vitamin B for stress, vitamin whatever for being awkward."

Maya turned to him, rain dripping down her forehead. "Wait, you're awkward too? You, Jake Chen, who somehow ended every seventh-grade conversation with 'anyway, see you later' and somehow made it cool?"

"That was panic, Maya. Pure, unadulterated panic." He grinned, and something shifted—like the lightning hadn't just lit up the sky but whatever wall existed between them. "Anyway, wanna hang out inside? We could continue this groundbreaking discussion of our mutual weirdness."

The rain poured down, washing away whatever script they were supposed to follow. And for the first time all summer, Maya didn't want to hide.

"Yeah," she said, feeling something bright and electric spark in her chest. "Yeah, I'd like that."