Hair Wet, Paddle Set

The pool glittered like a spilled soda can in the July sun, and I was still standing on the deck, fully clothed, clutching my towel like a lifeline.

"Yo, Marcus! You gonna swim or just stand there looking like a NPC?" Jake called from the water, doing a backflip that sprayed chlorine everywhere.

I forced a laugh. "Yeah, just warming up, bro."

Truth was, I'd gotten the haircut yesterday. Number 2 on the sides, enough on top to slick back. My mom said I looked sharp. My friends said nothing, because they hadn't seen me yet. And now, at the biggest party of the summer, I was about to reveal the new me to everyone who actually mattered.

Including Jordan, who was currently sitting on the pool edge in that bikini that made my brain glitch, laughing at something Jake said.

Through the fence, I could hear the rhythmic thwack of padel balls from the country club next door. The rich kids' sport. Jordan played sometimes. I'd watched through the chainlink, wondering what it would be like to be on that side of the fence.

"Marcus!" Jake paddled over. "Jordan's asking about you. She wants to know if that hair is real or you're trying to be E-40."

My face burned. The old Marcus—before the fade, before the plan to reinvent himself freshman year—would've mumbled something and disappeared.

But the new Marcus had paid forty dollars for this haircut. The new Marcus was done hiding.

I pulled off my shirt. Dropped my towel. The air hit my skin, cool and terrifying. Everyone was looking now. The old Marcus's awkward afro was gone. The new Marcus stood there, exposed.

Then I heard Jordan's voice over the splashing. "Finally! You been hiding that all day? It looks good, stupid."

She was smiling. Actually smiling.

So I jumped in.

The chlorine burned my eyes. My hair plastered to my forehead, weird and foreign and amazing. When I surfaced, sputtering, Jordan was floating nearby.

"So," she said, flicking water at me. "You play padel?"

"Never," I admitted. "You?"

"Every weekend. You should come sometime. I'll teach you."

Underwater, my ears filled with silence and possibility. When I broke the surface again, I was smiling so wide my face hurt.

Maybe this summer wouldn't be so bad after all.