Electric Summer Static

Maya's palms were sweating like they always did when she had to talk to people she didn't know. Her mom's new boyfriend's pool party was basically her personal nightmare—populated by kids who'd known each other since kindergarten while she was the stranger who'd shown up three weeks into summer break.

"Hey, you gonna swim or what?" Some guy called out. He was floating in the deep end with a papaya-colored pool noodle, grinning like he owned the place.

"Maybe later," Maya muttered, clutching her vitamin water like it was a lifeline. She'd made the mistake of accepting her mom's offer to "mingle" and now she was stuck here, surrounded by teenagers who vibed with each other on some frequency she couldn't access.

The party was fine until the thunderstorm rolled in. One minute the sky was blue, the next: lightning cracked across the horizon like something out of a movie. Everyone scrambled inside, suddenly squeezed together in the covered patio area.

That's when everything shifted.

Papaya-noodle guy—whose name turned out to be Leo—ended up beside her. "You've been hiding out with that vitamin water all day," he said, not even being mean about it. "You okay?"

Something about the storm, the sudden proximity, the way he'd noticed her at all—it made Maya actually answer. "I'm new. My mom started seeing someone and now I'm here and I don't know anyone and I'm terrible at parties."

Leo laughed. "Same. Except my dad got remarried and I'm still trying to figure out who these people are too. We should've stuck together."

By the time the storm passed and people drifted back toward the pool, Maya was actually laughing. She'd spent the whole day convinced she was the only one feeling out of place, swimming upstream against a current of preexisting friendships. Turns out, she'd just been swimming alone.

"Next time," Leo said, "don't let your palms sweat it out alone."

Maya smiled. Maybe this summer wouldn't be so terrible after all.