Lightning in the Deep End

Maya gripped the red plastic cup, knuckles white, while everyone else splashed in Jake's pool like they'd invented fun. The water glittered with that annoying perfect suburban sparkle, and Jake—with his stupid perfect hair and dimples that could probably cure diseases—kept looking at her like he was waiting for something.

"You coming in or what?" Kae called, doing that backflip thing that made everything look effortless. Because of course Kae could do backflips. Kae who wore bikini tops that cost more than Maya's entire wardrobe.

"Cold water shocks my asthma," Maya lied, and immediately regretted it. She didn't even have asthma. That was honestly such bull, and she knew they knew she knew.

"You're full of it," Jake said, grinning that grin. "I've seen you swim laps at practice."

Because of course he'd noticed her at swim practice. Because the universe hated her specifically.

Then the sky tore open.

First came the lightning—a jagged scar of white that turned everything black-and-white for one suspended moment. Someone screamed. Then thunder cracked like the world was splitting in half, and suddenly they were all scrambling, grabbing towels and phones, running toward the back porch as the sky opened up.

Maya grabbed her tote and bolted, bare feet slapping wet concrete, rain already plastering her hair to her forehead. She reached the covered porch just as the real storm hit—sheets of water like someone had overturned the ocean.

Jake was there. Of course Jake was there, shaking water from his hair like some kind of Golden Retriever GOD, and suddenly they were pressed together in the crowded porch, shoulders touching, and she could smell chlorine and rain and whatever Jake smelled like which was probably expensive but also weirdly like home.

"Your asthma okay?" he murmured, eyes crinkling.

"Totally cured," she said, and then they were both laughing, pressed close in the storm's chaos while rain drummed the roof like applause, and for once Maya wasn't watching from the edge. She was right here. Lightning struck again, illuminating everything—Jake's smile, Kae doing something ridiculous with a pool noodle, the way the rain made the backyard glow like magic.

Sometimes the storm was exactly what you needed to jump in.