Lightning in the Water

Maya's mom said the purple dye would wash out before school started, but the streaks in her hair had turned a stubborn pink that refused to fade. Not exactly the vibe she wanted for Sarah's end-of-summer pool party.

"You look fine," her best friend Chen had texted. "Ethan's gonna be there anyway. He won't care."

Ethan. The reason Maya had spent forty minutes straightening her hair that morning, even though she knew the humidity would wreck it immediately.

Sarah's backyard looked like something from a teen movie — fairy lights strung across the fence, a playlist bumping from portable speakers, and the above-ground pool shimmering with that artificial blue that made everyone's skin look decent. The baseball game playing on the patio TV provided background noise to the nervous laughter and shouted greetings.

Maya hovered near the snack table, clutching a red solo cup like it was her lifeline. Ethan was already in the pool, splashing water everywhere while his friends laughed. His hair was wet and messy and he looked annoyingly perfect.

"Hey!" Sarah materialized beside her. "Stop lurking and come swimming."

"My hair—"

"Literally no one cares, Maya. You're overthinking it."

A sudden crash of thunder made everyone freeze. The sky had been darkening for hours, but nobody had wanted to be the first to suggest going inside. Then came the lightning — a jagged streak that lit up the whole backyard like a flash photograph.

"Pool! Everyone out!" Sarah's dad yelled from the porch.

The scramble toward the house was chaos. Someone knocked into Maya, and her cup of soda splashed all over her favorite shirt. She was frantically trying to dab it out when she found herself pressed against the wall in the crowded hallway, shoulder to shoulder with Ethan.

"Your hair," he said, gesturing to the pink-streaked strands that were now frizzy from humidity. "It looks actually kind of cool. Like, punk vibe."

Maya felt her face burn. "Thanks. It was supposed to be purple."

"Well, it's better than purple." He grinned. "Hey, did I tell you about my goldfish?"

"Your what?"

"My goldfish. His name was Baseball. I named him that because he had this orange spot that looked like a baseball, and I played baseball, so... anyway, he died last week. My parents are making me get a new one but I'm not ready to move on yet."

Maya stared at him. "You named your goldfish Baseball?"

"I was seven! Cut me some slack." Ethan's eyes were bright in the dim hallway. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No reason." Maya smiled, really smiled. The awkwardness, the stained shirt, the hair that wouldn't cooperate — none of it mattered. "I think it's kind of perfect, actually."

Outside, rain started pouring down, and more lightning cracked across the sky. But inside, squeezed into a crowded hallway with soda on her shirt and pink in her hair, Maya finally felt like she could breathe.