Lightning at the Pool Party

Maya's palms were sweating so bad she might actually slip right off her lounge chair. The Miller's pool party was basically the social event of the summer, and somehow she'd managed to avoid actually getting in the water for forty-seven minutes.

"You gonna swim or just starfish all day?" called Tyler from the deep end, splash-fighting with Jake.

"I'm thinking about it," Maya lied. She was absolutely not thinking about it. She was thinking about how her hair would look wet, and whether her swimsuit was actually cute or just weird, and how everyone else seemed so effortless while she felt like a walking cringe compilation.

That's when she saw it — the massive inflatable bear float drifting abandoned near the pool's edge. Someone's little sister must left it there. It was ridiculous, rainbow-colored, and completely absurd.

Maya stood up before she could overthink it.

"What are you—" Tyler started, but she was already moving.

She grabbed the bear float by the ear, launched herself onto it mid-air, and paddled into the center of the pool like she owned the place.

"FINALLY," Jake yelled. "Maya's living her best life!"

"This bear is my emotional support animal," she announced, floating with absolute dignity. "We are one."

Everyone cracked up. Someone started playing music from the speakers. Maya's stomach untwisted for the first time all afternoon.

Then the sky went dark. Actual dark.

"Was that—" Sarah squinted upward.

Lightning cracked across the sky, purple and electric and way too close. Everyone screamed scrambled out of the pool.

Maya paddled her bear toward the edge, grinning so hard her face hurt. Something about the chaos, the sudden ending, the fact that she'd finally just done something instead of worrying about it — it felt like everything clicking into place.

"You coming?" Tyler called from the patio, shaking water from his hair like an overexcited golden retriever.

"Yeah," Maya said, grabbing her towel. She looked at her empty palm, now marked with temporary indentions from the bear float's plastic seam. "Yeah, I'm coming."