Lightning in the Chlorine

The pool party at Jenna's house was supposed to be mid. That was the vibe Maya had sold me, and honestly? I believed her. I'd been stressing about it for days — what to wear, whether to bring my own towel, if my haircut was trying too hard to look effortless.

I showed up fashionably late with a bag of cheddar goldfish because Jenna's text was vague about food. Found everyone already in the pool, laughing like they'd been friends since kindergarten. I hovered at the edge, clutching my goldfish like a lifeline, feeling like the world's biggest fraud.

Then this guy Bear — massive football player, actually named Brian, but nobody calls him that — pulls up next to me. I'd had a crush on him since bio, when he let me copy his lab worksheet without making me feel pathetic.

"You coming in or what?" He's got this crooked grin that makes my stomach do actual gymnastics.

"I'm good," I say, but my voice cracks. Smooth.

The sky chose that moment to open up. Rain started coming down in sheets, and suddenly everyone's screaming and scrambling out of the pool. Thunder shook the ground beneath my flip-flops. Then lightning — brilliant, blinding, a purple-white fissure that split the sky open like something cracking open an glow stick.

We all froze. Bear's hand brushed mine as we both reached for the same towel. The air felt charged, like static before a shock you know is coming. He looked at me, rain dripping from his eyelashes, and for a second I thought he might actually say something real.

"You got goldfish on your face," he said instead, wiping it off with his thumb.

I laughed so hard I almost choked on my own awkwardness. But as we huddled under the porch overhang, watching the storm turn the pool into this rippling, electric thing that looked like it could swallow us whole, I realized something.

None of us had any idea what we were doing. We were all just faking it, hoping nobody noticed we were treading water.

Bear passed me a goldfish from my bag. Our fingers touched. Lightning flashed again.

Maybe this night wouldn't be so mid after all.