Last Summer's Papaya

The backyard was already loud when Leo arrived, his childhood best friend Marcus text-bombing him with WHERE R U?? for the past twenty minutes. Leo hated pool parties. He hated the way everyone looked half-dressed and the way the air always smelled like coconut sunscreen and chlorine.

And okay, maybe he was a little jealous.

Marcus was by the deep end, holding court like he owned the place. His hair was wet, his swim trunks were expensive, and somehow he'd already collected a ring of popular kids around him. The same Marcus who used to cry because he was afraid of deep water. The same Marcus who'd been Leo's built-in best friend since second grade, back before popularity was something that could come between people.

"Leo!" Marcus spotted him and waved him over. "Dude, finally!"

"Traffic," Leo lied, clutching his phone like a shield. He'd actually sat in his car for ten minutes working up the nerve to come inside.

"You have to try this punch," Marcus said, shoving a red plastic cup toward him. "Maya's aunt made it. It's got papaya or something."

Papaya. Who put papaya in punch?

"I'm good," Leo said, but Marcus was already turning back to his new friends, already forgetting Leo was there.

The **water** in the **pool** glittered, blue and perfect. People cannonballed and screamed and flirted, and Leo stood on the edge holding a cup of papaya punch he didn't want, watching his friend drift further away.

Then a splash hit his leg.

A girl surfaced, wiping water from her eyes. "Sorry. My cannonball game is weak."

She was cute, in a quiet way that didn't demand attention. Her hair was plastered to her face and she had this tiny smile, like she was in on a joke no one else got.

"Leo?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"I'm June. Maya's cousin."

"The papaya punch is hers?"

"Her aunt's," June corrected. "Maya would burn water."

Leo laughed. He actually laughed.

"So," June said, treading water, "you gonna drink that or guard it all night?"

He looked at the cup. At Marcus across the **pool**, already moving on to the next conversation. At this strange summer ending in ways he hadn't expected.

Leo took a sip. Weird. Sort of sweet, sort of sour. Not what he expected at all.

"It's... not bad," he said.

June grinned. "Bet you won't have a second cup."

"You're on."

And suddenly the party didn't feel so loud anymore. The **water** felt cooler. The papaya punch tasted like something new.

Some friendships change shape. Some things end. But sometimes, weirdly enough, you find the good stuff in the unexpected flavors.