Flash of Green

Maya's stomach did backflips as she stood at the edge of the pool, clutching her towel like a lifeline. The annual end-of-school pool party. The one social event she'd successfully avoided for three years. Until now.

"You coming in or what?" Ethan called from the water, droplets streaming down his stupid perfect abs. Maya had been crushing on him since seventh grade, which made everything approximately ten thousand times worse.

She'd psyched herself up all morning. You're going swimming. You're being normal. You're not letting anxiety win again. But then came lunch at Tyler's house, and the spinach artichoke dip, and now she was hyper-aware of every single particle of green that might be stuck in her braces.

"Yeah, just—" She pressed her lips together and flashed what she hoped passed as a casual smile. "Sec."

Maya ducked into the bathroom, phone flashlight blazing. No spinach. Okay, good. But her reflection told another story—hair frizzing, eyes wide, giving off major freaking-out vibes. Her phone buzzed. Group chat blowing up.

*ethan is asking if ur ok??*

Brooke's text made Maya's chest tighten. Everyone was noticing.

A crack of thunder shook the house. The pool party's outdoor setup meant everyone was suddenly scrambling toward the covered patio. Maya spotted Ethan near the snack table, completely drenched, laughing with his friends like being caught in a sudden downpour was the funniest thing that had ever happened.

Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating everything in stark white. In that split second, Maya saw something—Ethan's phone on the table, his lock screen a picture of a math textbook with the caption "when will i ever need this" and then, underneath it, her own username: @maya.explains.it.

Wait. WHAT.

Another lightning strike. White light flooded the patio again, and this time Ethan caught her staring. His face went bright red.

"So," he said, practically shouting over the rain, "about that spinach in your teeth during homeroom—"

"You noticed?" Maya groaned, wanting to evaporate.

"I notice everything about you." The words tumbled out fast, like he'd been holding them back. "That's why I'm failing math. I'm too busy watching you explain it to everyone else."

The rain kept pouring. Everyone kept screaming and laughing. But in that moment, Maya forgot about her hair, her anxiety, everything except the boy in front of her, who apparently thought she was worth failing math over.

"Well," she managed, heart pounding harder than the thunder, "I guess I could help you. If you want."

Ethan's grin could've powered a whole city block. "Yeah. I want."

Sometimes, Maya thought later, the stuff that feels like the end of the world is actually just the lightning strike before everything finally makes sense.