Lightning in the Chlorine

Maya's reflection in the pool bathroom mirror confirmed her worst nightmare: a massive piece of spinach wedged between her front teeth. She'd been smiling at Jake—the cute junior she'd been crushing on all semester—for like twenty minutes with a green leafy flag announcing her social death.

"You good?" her best friend Chloe called from outside. "Jake's asking about you!"

Maya scrubbed her teeth with her finger, cursing her mom's advice to eat something healthy before the party. This was exactly why she stuck to chips.

Outside, the pool party was in full swing. Someone's Bluetooth speaker blasted that song everyone pretended not to love, and a group of seniors played chicken fights in the shallow end. Jake sat on the pool edge, his silver chain glinting against his chest. He was like a human lightning bolt—all electric energy, everyone drawn to him.

But then there was Leo, floating in the deep end with that unreadable expression on his face. Leo who sat behind her in English, who doodled sphinxes and riddles in his notebook margins. The Sphinx. That's what Chloe called him—impossible to read, always asking questions that made Maya's brain hurt.

"Riddle time," Leo said, paddling over as Maya finally emerged from the bathroom. "What has teeth but cannot bite?"

Maya froze. Was this about the spinach? Did he know?

"A comb?" she guessed, her voice tight.

"Wrong." Leo's eyes crinkled. "You have three tries."

Jake laughed from the side. "Dude, let her breathe."

"No, I got this," Maya said, weirdly competitive now. "A saw?"

"Still wrong." Leo treaded water, completely calm. "Last chance."

Lightning cracked across the sky—the storm they'd predicted all week finally breaking. Someone squealed. The lifeguard's whistle blew everyone out of the water.

"What's the answer?" Maya demanded as they grabbed their towels.

Leo smiled, this genuine thing that transformed his whole face. "A zipper."

A zipper. Something that could come undone. Something that could reveal what was underneath.

The rain started coming down, warm and sudden. Maya stood between Jake—whom she'd wanted for months—and Leo, who'd just made her forget about everything except solving his stupid riddle.

"Hey," Leo said, pulling his hoodie over his wet hair. "You wanna hang after? I've got more riddles."

Jake was already heading toward his car with his friends. But Maya stayed put, spinach-free and breathless, feeling like something was finally starting to unzip.

"Yeah," she said. "I'd like that."