Fox in the Water

The padel court at the country club was basically my personal social pyramid, and I was stuck at the bottom. Literally. My parents had finally caved and signed me up for lessons, hoping I'd make friends. Instead, I was paired with Fox Chen — the girl who'd moved here from California with expensive highlights and a vibe that screamed 'I don't care what you think, even though I definitely do.'

So yeah, Fox lived up to her name — cunning and impossible to catch. Our first match, she absolutely destroyed me, then acted like I'd almost won. The worst part? I actually ate it up. That's how pathetic I was.

Then came the pyramid scheme.

Okay, not technically a pyramid scheme, but close enough. Fox decided we should offer private padel lessons to middle schoolers — because apparently, we were experts now after three whole lessons. 'Think about it,' she'd said, sprawled across the clubhouse couch like she owned it. 'We charge twenty bucks an hour, split it fifty-fifty. Easy money.'

I should've said no. Something about it felt off. But Fox had this way of looking at you, like you were in on some brilliant secret together, and suddenly you're agreeing to things you know you'll regret.

The whole thing fell apart on a Tuesday afternoon.

We were at my uncle's pool because the club courts were booked. Fox had insisted on 'practicing' our sales pitch on the deck, but instead she kept eyeing the water like it might jump out and attack her.

'You can't swim, can you?' I asked, finally putting it together.

Her face did this complicated thing — defensive for a second, then just tired. 'My parents tried to sign me up for lessons when I was seven. I freaked out and refused to go back. They just let it drop.' She shrugged, but there was something raw underneath it. 'Pathetic, right?'

'No,' I said, and meant it. 'I'll teach you.'

Fox laughed, actually laughed — not her usual performive little giggle, but something real. 'What, here? Now?'

'Why not? Nobody's around.'

So I taught Fox Chen, the girl who'd conned me into a borderline pyramid scheme and thoroughly humiliated me at padel, how to swim. She was terrible at it, arms flailing, water everywhere, somehow managing to splash me while I was standing two feet away on dry land.

But she was trying. Actually trying, no irony, no performance.

By the time my uncle pulled into the driveway, Fox could doggy-paddle across the shallow end. We were both soaked, my uncle was definitely going to ask questions, and the pyramid scheme was completely dead.

'Best twenty bucks I never made,' Fox said, wringing out her expensive highlights.

'Yeah,' I agreed. And for the first time all summer, I didn't feel like I was at the bottom of anything. Just floating, somewhere in the middle, exactly where I needed to be.