One Percent

Maya's **iphone** stared back at her with that menacing red battery icon—one percent. The pool party was in full swing, bodies splashing in the blue **water**, laughter echoing off the fence. And she was stuck against the side of the house, frantically searching for an outlet, her **cable** tangled in her pocket like a snake she couldn't untangle fast enough.

"Maya! You coming in?" It was Jake—the Jake. The one she'd been lowkey obsessing over since September, whose stories she watched first thing every morning and last thing every night. He was waist-deep in the pool, grinning at her, water dripping from his hair like something out of a movie.

"Yeah! Just, uh, gotta—" She gestured helplessly at her phone, which chose that exact moment to die. The screen went black. Of course. Just her luck.

Her friend Chloe popped up beside Jake. "Oof, RIP. Just live in the moment, bestie!"

Easy for her to say. Chloe was already friends with everyone here. Maya was still trying to figure out where she fit in this new school, this new life. The **vitamin** supplements her mom made her take every morning sat in her backpack like a reminder of how uncool she actually was—health gummies shaped like dinosaurs. Not exactly vibe material.

"Whatever," she muttered, kicking off her flip-flops.

She cannonballed in. The cool water shocked her system, and for a second, she wasn't overthinking anything. She surfaced to find Jake right there.

"Finally! What took you so long?"

"Phone died," she said, and then—because her brain clearly hated her—"I had to say goodbye to my 474 unread snaps."

Jake laughed. A real one. "Dude, same. I literally got my mom to hide my charger so I'd actually do stuff."

Wait.

"For real?"

"Yeah, it's sick. You should try it." He splashed water at her. "Living in the moment and stuff."

Maya wiped water from her eyes, grinning. Maybe she didn't need her phone to fit in. Maybe she just needed to jump in.

"Challenge accepted," she said, and splashed back.