Electric Hair Summer

Maya's hair had become her entire personality. Since she'd chopped it into a wolf cut last week, she'd been officially That Girl With The Hair—the one who actually committed to the TikTok trend everyone else was too scared to try.

"You look like a sexy pinecone," her best friend Dre had said, which was basically the highest compliment possible.

Now they were at Tyler's pool party, and Maya was hovering near the deep end like she actually knew how to swim in anything deeper than a bathtub. The real problem wasn't the water—it was Tyler himself, who kept looking at her from across the pool like maybe he was going to actually talk to her this time.

Then everything went sideways.

"Who wants papaya?" Tyler's mom called out, carrying a literal mountain of tropical fruit. "It's fresh from the farmer's market!"

Before Maya could process that wealthy people apparently just bought papaya on a regular Tuesday, someone screamed.

"BEES!"

Maya didn't think. She just grabbed the closest person—which happened to be Tyler—and launched herself backward into the pool.

The water shocked her system like actual lightning. They surfaced simultaneously, spluttering and soaked, while everyone stared. Maya's wolf puff had transformed into something closer to a wet dog situation.

"I'm allergic to bees," she explained, though she wasn't even sure if that was true.

Tyler looked at her with completely new eyes. "That was hardcore."

"Your mom's papaya summoned actual bees," Dre said from poolside. "This is officially iconic."

Later, wrapped in a towel with her hair frizzing into something that looked like it had been styled with actual electricity, Maya realized two things: her hair was ruined, and Tyler had slipped her his number while pretending to help her up.

"You look like a sexy drowned rat now," Dre said.

Maya laughed. "Perfect."

Sometimes disasters were just plot twists in disguise.