Market Crash at Miller's Pond

The sun baked Miller's Pond into something glittering and deceptive, the surface like liquid diamonds hiding who-knows-what underneath. Leo stood at the edge, toes curled into the warm mud, while his friends hooted from the wooden dock above.

"Yo Leo, you gonna stand there all day?" Marcus called, doing that thing with his eyebrows that made everyone crack up. "My man Leo's got more emotions than a bullied bear."

"Shut up," Leo muttered, but he was already sweating, and not from the heat.

This was supposed to be the summer after freshman year, the summer they all became legends. Instead, Leo was still the same guy who'd somehow managed to never learn to swim, while everyone else was already talking about who they'd take to homecoming and what colleges were already "looking good for them," whatever that meant when you were fifteen.

"Alright, alright," said Priya, floating on her back near the dock, her cutoffs and bikini top something Leo tried very hard not to stare at. "Leave him alone. Leo's just strategic. Like my dad says, you gotta know when you're in a bull market or a bear market. Right now? Leo's being bearish on the whole jumping-into-random-water situation."

The guys laughed, but Priya caught Leo's eye and gave him this tiny, understanding shrug that made his stomach do something complicated and terrifying.

"Whatever," Leo said. "I'm going in."

" Bullcrap," Marcus yelled.

But Leo did it. He stepped off the muddy bank and the water swallowed him whole, cool and shocking and everywhere. He came up sputtering while his friends went wild, actually cheering, and Priya high-fived him when he finally made it to the ladder.

"See?" she said. "Bull market vibes all day."

Leo dripped water all over the dock, grinning like an idiot. Sometimes you just had to jump in. Sometimes that was the whole point.