Lightning in the Deep End

The pool party at Tyler's house was supposed to be legendary, but Maya spent the first hour clinging to a red solo cup like it was a life raft. Somewhere across the backyard, Jordan—the varsity baseball star with the annoying perfect hair—was holding court. Everyone laughed at something he said. Maya's palms went sweaty just watching him.

"You gonna get in or what?" Her best friend Kaelyn shoved her playfully. "The water's fine, I promise. Jordan's not gonna bite."

"I'm not scared of Jordan," Maya lied, adjusting her bikini top. "I'm strategically timing my entrance."

"Uh-huh." Kaelyn rolled her eyes. "You've been 'strategically timing' for like, three hours. This is painful, bestie."

Before Maya could defend her extremely logical approach to social interaction, the sky decided to wreck everything. One crack of lightning split the whole backyard open, and suddenly everyone was scrambling toward the covered patio. Rain came down sideways, turning the pool into this churning mess.

Of course she ended up squished next to Jordan under the tiny overhang.

"Wild party, right?" He grinned, and up close, she could see the freckles across his nose. "I'm Jordan, by the way. We have English together."

"I know," she said, then immediately wanted to die. "I mean, yeah, I'm Maya. English is... cool."

He laughed—actually laughed, not mean laughing. "English is whatever. But you always have those stickers on your notebook. The retro video game ones? Those are sick."

Maya's palms went sweaty again, but this time it wasn't panic. Jordan, the perfect baseball guy, noticed her stickers?

Another lightning flash illuminated the whole patio, purple and electric. In that split second, Jordan looked at her like he was about to say something important. But then Tyler's mom started herding everyone inside for pizza, and the moment broke.

Later, when the storm passed and people trickled back to the pool, Jordan found her by the snack table.

"Hey, Maya?" He rubbed the back of his neck, looking almost nervous. "There's this baseball thing next Friday. My teammate's brother's band is playing afterward. You wanna... maybe come?"

Her heart did this ridiculously cliché flutter thing. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."

"Cool." He smiled, and it was different this time—realer. "Cool."

As she walked back to Kaelyn, Maya realized something: Sometimes the best moments aren't the ones you plan for. Sometimes they're the ones that crash in like lightning, unexpected and terrifying and absolutely perfect.

"So?" Kaelyn demanded. "Spill. NOW."

Maya just grinned. "Baseball game. Friday. And shut up, I know."