Palm Reader at the Pool Party

Maya's palms were literally sweating as she stood by the refreshment table at Jessica's end-of-summer pool party. This was it. The social event of the season, and she was somehow there despite being approximately zero percent cool.

"Yo Maya, you gonna stand there all day or actually get in the water?" That was Tyler, with his annoyingly perfect hair and that grin that made her stomach do actual gymnastics.

"I'm... observing," Maya said, because somehow that sounded less lame than admitting she was secretly low-key terrified of putting her swimsuit-clad body on display for the entire sophomore class.

"Spying on the competition?" Tyler raised an eyebrow.

"Hardly. There's no competition when everyone's already won at life before the game even started."

But then she spotted Jordan — the new girl with fox-red hair and an attitude sharp enough to cut glass — sitting alone by the diving board, looking like she'd rather be literally anywhere else. Maya felt this weird pull, like magnetic but emotional.

Without thinking, Maya grabbed two sodas and marched over.

"They're out of punch," Maya said, sitting down beside her. "But I stole these before the popular kids could grab them all."

Jordan's lip twitched. "Nice. I'm Jordan."

"Maya. You new here?"

"Yeah. My parents think moving three towns over was gonna 'fix my attitude.'"

"And yet here you are, absolutely radiating I-hate-this energy."

Jordan actually laughed, and it was this sound like surprise and relief mixed together. Then she grabbed Maya's hand.

"What are you—"

"Reading your palm," Jordan said, like this was completely normal behavior. "My grandma taught me. It's kinda our thing."

Maya's heart was definitely not supposed to be racing this fast. "That's literally not real."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that." Jordan traced lines on Maya's palm with surprising gentleness. "You're overthinking everything. You care too much what people think. And there's someone here you like but you're scared to admit it."

Maya's face burned. "Okay, that's literally everyone. That's so generic it could apply to anyone."

"Is it?" Jordan's eyes searched hers, and Maya felt seen in a way that was terrifying but also amazing.

"BET YOU WON'T!" someone shouted, and suddenly Tyler and his friends were RUNNING toward the pool.

"Race you," Jordan said, already pulling off her overshirt.

"Wait, what—" But Jordan was already in the water, surfacing with water dripping from her fox-red hair and this daring grin.

Maya jumped in after her, and the water was shocking and perfect, and for once she wasn't overthinking every single movement. They swam until the sky turned purple, talking about everything and nothing, and when Maya's mom finally called to say she needed to come home, she realized she hadn't thought once about whether she was cool enough to be there.

Sometimes the best nights happen when you're not even trying.