Orange Skies Over Everything

Maya's phone buzzed with the third text from Chloe about beach plans, but she couldn't respond. Not when her mom was forcing her to help at Tía Rosa's fruit stand again, wearing that apron that smelled like previous generations' sweat.

"People love fresh papaya, mija. It's exotic," Tía Rosa insisted, arranging the orange-fleshed fruit like precious jewels.

Maya sighed, adjusting her apron. The only thing exotic about her summer was how thoroughly uncool she felt. While her friends were posting beach pics and living their best lives, she was stuck selling fruit and watching time crawl like honey.

Then Jake from her English class walked up. Jake, who sat behind her and always had something clever to whisper during lectures. Jake, who she'd spent half the year pretending not to notice.

"Hey," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "My mom wants papaya. Said it helps with... things."

Maya's brain short-circuited. "Things?"

"You know. Things." He gestured vaguely. "Anyway, I don't know how to pick a good one."

Something about his awkwardness made her own nervousness fade. She stepped around the fruit stand, fingers grazing the sun-warmed skin of a papaya. "You want one that gives a little when you press it, like this. Not too soft, but not rock hard either. And it should smell sweet near the stem."

Jake leaned in close. Too close. His hair smelled like pool chlorine and something expensive. "You're like, really good at this."

"It's literally fruit."

"No, I mean... you know stuff. Cool stuff." He picked up the papaya she'd selected. "Wanna go swimming later? My cousin has a pool. And his dad works for cable, so they have, like, every channel."

Maya almost laughed. Almost. Because here was Jake, offering her an invitation to everything she'd been missing, framed around a pool and premium cable.

"Text me the address," she said, surprising herself. "But I'm bringing orange soda."

Jake grinned. "Obviously."

Later that night, floating in water that turned everything liquid gold under orange pool lights, Maya realized something: maybe her summer wasn't so exotic after all. But it was about to get a whole lot more interesting.