Orange Hair & Papaya Kings

Maya smoothed down her orange sundress for the millionth time. It was Tyler's end-of-school pool party, and if she didn't make it into the squad's inner circle this summer, she'd officially be a social

nobody by senior year.

The backyard was transformed — string lights everywhere, actual palm trees in planters (who even buys those?), and a

pool that looked like something out of a magazine. Tyler's mom had gone all out.

"Maya!" Tyler waved from the pool edge. He was doing that thing where he flicked his wet hair back. "Get in here!"

Her crush, Jalen, was already in the water, laughing at something Tyler said. Maya's stomach did that awful

flip-floppy thing.

"I'll be there in a sec," she called back, heading to the snack table. That's when she saw it — someone

had brought papaya. Like, actual exotic papaya chunks in a fancy bowl. Who was this extra?

"You gonna try the papaya or just stare at it?"

Maya jumped. Jalen was suddenly right there, dripping wet, grinning like he knew something she didn't.

"I've never had it," she admitted. "Is it good?"

"Here." He speared a chunk with a fork. "Try it. I dare you."

Their fingers brushed as she took the fork. Her face burned. The papaya was weird — sweet but kind of musky, not

bad but not amazing either.

"Well?" He was waiting.

"It's... interesting," she said. "Very distinctive personality."

Jalen laughed. "You're funny. I like that."

Behind them, someone wolf-whistled. "Yo Tyler, quit doing that fox dive, you're gonna crack your head open!"

They both turned to see Tyler mid-flip, arms tucked like a literal fox diving into a hole. He hit the water with a

splash that soaked half the party.

Maya's orange sundress was drenched. She froze, mortified, as everyone stared.

Then Jalen snorted. And then he was full-on laughing. "Classic Tyler. The man has zero chill."

He looked at her. "You good?"

"Yeah," she said, and suddenly she was. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Wanna get back at him?"

She raised an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well," Jalen said, grabbing a handful of papaya, "they say revenge is a dish best served... dramatically."