Electric in Lane 4

4:47 AM. Coach Martinez's text glowed on my lock screen like a threat: "Pool's open. Get here."

I dragged myself out of bed, movements stiff and jerky, a total **zombie** in my mismatched pajamas. Three weeks of early-morning **swimming** practice before regionals will do that to you — turn you into someone who communicates primarily in groans and aggressively hates the concept of consciousness.

The pool deck was dark, water still and black like liquid obsidian. I slipped in, and the cold shocked me awake. Lap one, lap two, lap ten. My arms moved on autopilot, my brain a static fuzz of exhaustion and the chemistry test I hadn't studied for and the fact that Jordan, the one with the lazy smile and the perfect dives, had definitely noticed me staring at practice yesterday and I wanted to die.

Then **lightning** flashed.

The whole pool lit up blinding white, and for one crystalline second, I saw everything — the way the water rippled around me, the empty bleachers, the figure standing at the far end of the pool deck.

Jordan.

Another flash. They were watching me swim.

My brain short-circuited. I'd never told anyone, but swimming was the only thing that made me feel like myself. Not the version of me that tried too hard in class, or the one who made jokes that didn't land, or the one whose parents kept asking what I wanted to do with my life like I was supposed to have it figured out at seventeen. Just me and the water and the rhythm of my own breath.

Jordan stepped closer to the edge as I finished my lap, water streaming from their hair like they'd been waiting in the rain. They weren't wearing a swimsuit.

"You too?" they asked softly.

"Too what?"

"Couldn't sleep." Jordan sat at the edge, feet in the water. "Thought I'd come watch. You're... really good."

I treaded water, heart pounding. "Thanks. I feel like I'm dying most of the time."

Jordan laughed, and it was the best sound I'd heard in weeks. "Join the club."

We sat there in the dark as lightning flickered in the distance, talking about nothing and everything, and I realized I wasn't tired anymore. I was awake, truly awake, for the first time in forever.