Orange You Glad You Didn't Drown

Marcus's orange swim trunks were basically a scream for attention. Which was exactly the opposite of what he wanted.

"Dude, you look like a traffic cone," Jordan joked, which got everyone laughing at the pre-party gathering. Maya just rolled her eyes, but Marcus caught the slight smile she tried to hide. That was something, right?

The community pool was already packed with everyone from school. Marcus's stomach did that familiar flip — the one that happened whenever he had to be Shirtless Guy in public. He'd spent all winter doing push-ups in his bedroom like his life depended on it, but somehow that didn't translate to confidence when it actually mattered.

"Marcus! You coming?" Jordan called, already halfway to the deep end.

He hesitated. The swimming thing — yeah, not his strongest moment. He could splash around in the shallow end like a champion, but actual swimming? That was a whole different story. And everyone else was treating the pool like their personal Instagram stage — hair flips, coordinated dives, Jordan doing that thing where he pretended to be a dolphin.

Maya appeared beside him, squeezing past with her own flourish — she'd clearly coordinated her orange bikini with his trunks, or maybe he was reading too much into it. Probably reading too much into it.

"You okay?" she asked, all casual.

"Yeah, just —"

"The vitamin thing again?"

Marcus felt his face get hot. Only Maya knew about the daily handful of supplements his mom insisted on, the ones that made him feel like the invalid kid even though the doctor said they were NBD. He'd瞒ed it from everyone else because the last thing he needed was another reason to feel different.

"Forget it," he muttered, heading toward the shallow end like he'd planned it that way the whole time.

The water felt perfect — that magical summer temperature that wasn't too cold or too warm. He waded in, letting the familiar relief of being underwater wash away the awkwardness. This was his element. No expectations, no performing, just the quiet muffled world where everything was simpler.

When he came up for air, Maya was there.

"My friend isannoying sometimes," she said, splashing him. "But at least she knows when someone needs to just... chill."

Marcus smiled, really smiled. Maybe orange trunks weren't so bad after all.