Lightning At The Deep End

Maya clutched her iphone like it was a lifeline, which honestly, it kind of was. Sarah's pool party raged around her—music thumping, people cannonballing, someone doing that annoying thing where they screamed every time they jumped in. But Maya was planted on a deck chair, strategically positioned behind a giant potted plant, casually scrolling through Instagram while actually watching Liam.

She wasn't proud of the spy thing. But last week at lunch, he'd looked at her when she laughed at Jordan's joke, and Maya had spent seven days overanalyzing *that specific look*. Was it a smile? Was he confused? Was he secretly in love with her? The mystery was killing her slowly and beautifully.

Suddenly, Sarah's golden retriever Buster came barreling out of nowhere, shook his entire body like a wet tornado, and unleashed a catastrophic amount of pool water directly onto Maya's phone.

"Buster, NO!" Sarah screamed, but the damage was done. Maya's iphone flickered valiantly, then died a tragic, watery death.

And oh, perfect—Liam was walking over.

"That was brutal," he said, crouching beside her. "You okay?"

Maya's brain short-circuited. "Yeah, just my entire digital life. NBD."

He laughed, and it was this genuine thing that crinkled his eyes. "Here." He handed her a towel. "My sister dropped hers in the pool last month. Put it in rice immediately. Also, maybe don't tell Buster I told you this, but he's done this like six times this summer. We're all victims here."

The sky darkened. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Storm's coming," Liam said. "Want to help me grab the pool floats?"

They moved together, gathering inflatable unicorns and pizza slices as the first raindrops fell. Lightning cracked across the sky—this gorgeous, electric spiderweb of purple and white that made everything feel sudden and important.

"Cool," Maya breathed.

"Yeah," Liam said, looking at her instead of the sky. "Really cool."

Buster chose that exact moment to shake off directly on both of them.

They stood there, dripping wet, laughing helplessly as rain poured down and lightning painted the sky in brilliant flashes. Maya's phone was dead, her hair was a disaster, and she'd never felt more alive.

"So," Liam said, wiping water from his face. "Tomorrow, wanna help me keep an eye on Buster? Dude's obviously a menace."

Maya grinned. "Spy duty? I'm in."

Somewhere behind them, thunder rolled again. But Maya was already thinking about tomorrow.