Green at the Deep End

My hair was supposed to be sun-kissed bronze. Instead, it looked like a desperate pumpkin had thrown up on my head.

"You look... festive," Maya said, barely glancing up from her phone as we walked toward Jason's pool party.

"I look like a traffic cone," I groaned, tugging my hoodie tighter. "This was supposed to be my summer glow-up."

The party was already in full swing—music thumping, bodies everywhere, the smell of coconut sunscreen and chlorine. I froze at the gate. My palms started sweating, because obviously my body decided now was the time to remember I had zero social skills.

"You coming?" Maya asked.

"In a minute," I lied.

She disappeared into the crowd, and suddenly I was alone. Again.

I made my way to the snack table, grabbing a spinach wrap because at least I could pretend I was just really into healthy eating instead of literally hiding behind food. And that's when I saw him—Jason, actually looking at me, smiling as he walked over.

"Hey! You made it," he said. "You gonna swim?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely," I choked out. "Just... warming up."

He laughed, and it was genuine and warm and why was my heart doing gymnastics? "Cool. I'll be in the pool if you want to hang."

As he walked away, I caught my reflection in the patio door. Spinach. A massive, obvious piece of spinach wedged between my front teeth. I'd been standing there talking to Jason with spinach in my teeth like some kind of rookie.

I wanted to evaporate. Instead, I made a split-second decision—dropped my hoodie, kicked off my flip-flops, and marched straight to the pool. Jason was treading water in the deep end, and I didn't stop at the edge. I just cannonballed in, fully clothed.

When I surfaced, spluttering and determined, Jason was laughing. Not mean laughing. The real kind.

"What are you doing?" he asked, grinning.

"Swimming," I said, shaking water from my pumpkin hair. "Obviously."

"Obviously," he repeated, and his eyes were crinkling and suddenly it didn't matter that I'd just ruined my outfit or that my hair was a disaster or that I had zero cool points.

Sometimes you have to dive into the deep end before you learn how to swim.