Hair on Fire

Maddie's mom was gonna lose her entire mind when she saw the bathroom sink. Pink everywhere. Like, messy ritual sacrifice everywhere. But Maddie didn't care. The box dye said "Vibrant Fuchsia" and the back of her head was definitely vibrating with fuchsia energy now.

"You look like a cotton candy explosion," Carlos said from her beanbag chair, not looking up from his phone.

"Shut up, it's artistic rebellion."

"Against what, exactly?"

"Everything."

Their friend group had been weird since winter break. Since Chloe and Ethan became "ChloeandEthan" and started speaking in fluent Instagram caption. Since Maddie's dad moved out and started a new family that was somehow more perfect than the original one. Pink hair felt like something she could control.

The lake house was supposed to fix everything. Classic rich kid therapy - weeks of water and no responsibilities. Except the lake was apparently under renovation, which meant everyone was crammed into the tiny pool, and some guy named Diego was literally swimming circles around them, showing off his six-pack like it was a rare Pokémon.

"This guy's full of it," Carlos muttered. "Watch, he's gonna say some bull about his swim times."

Diego coasted over, wet hair perfect, smile almost perfect enough to make you forget how annoying he was being. "Wanna race?"

Maddie should've said no. Should've stayed in the shallow end with the toddlers and her existential crisis. But something about his smug expression made her competitive brain light up. "You're on."

They lined up at the deep end. Someone counted down. Maddie's dive was clean. Her arms pulled, water slick against her skin, everything falling into rhythm. She was actually winning.

Then she felt it - something weird under the water. A cable, maybe? Some kind of pipe? Her fingers brushed against it, sending this weird electric tingle up her arm. Not enough to hurt, but enough to make her brain go WHAT THE ACTUAL

She surfaced sputtering, clutching her tingling hand. "Something shocked me!"

Diego had already touched the other side. He turned, confused. "What?"

"There's like - electric something down there!"

"Dude," Carlos called from the deck. "That pool hasn't been updated since the nineties. That cable's probably for the underwater light that hasn't worked since 2003."

Diego swam back, suddenly serious. "You okay?"

"Yeah just -" Maddie held up her hand, still tingling. "Freaked me out."

"Probably just a loose wire," Diego said, but he helped her out of the pool, and his hand was warm and solid and not annoying at all. "We should tell someone though."

They found the owner, who turned off the entire pool system while muttering about how his brother was supposed to fix that last year. Maddie wrapped herself in a towel, pink hair dripping onto her shoulders.

"Sorry I didn't believe you," Diego said, sitting beside her.

"It's fine. I probably imagined it."

"Nah." He bumped her shoulder with his. "You were winning anyway."

"I absolutely was."

Later that night, their group sat on the dock watching the real lake. Carlos and Diego were arm-wrestling for some reason. Chloe was complaining about the lack of service. Maddie let her legs dangle in the water, thinking about electricity and competition and how sometimes the most annoying people turn out to be decent.

"So," Diego said, beside her now. "Think you'd beat me next time?"

"Next time you're going down."

He laughed. "Bet."

Her phone buzzed - her mom, asking about the bathroom. Maddie typed back: hair looks great, everything's fine, love you. Then she set it down and watched the water, feeling less like a cotton candy explosion and more like someone who was maybe, finally, figuring her shit out.