Palm Reader at the Pool Party

The chlorine stung my nose before I even stepped through the gate. Jessica's annual summer pool party—the social event of the season, or at least that's how she hyped it on her Snapchat. I adjusted my swimsuit straps for the hundredth time, suddenly hyperaware of how the humidity had already frizzed my hair into something resembling electrocuted seaweed.

"You coming in?" Marcus called from the pool, water dripping from his curls like he was in a shampoo commercial. Of course he looked effortless. Some people just got all the good genes—or at least all the good hair products.

"In a minute!" I lied, retreating to the shade where Chen and Priya were sitting on lounge chairs. Priya had her hands out, palms up, doing that thing she did where she pretended to read fortunes.

"Let me see," she said dramatically, grabbing my hand. "Ooh, interesting. Your life line is... complicated."

"My life line is non-existent because I'm socially anxious at a pool party," I muttered, but she laughed.

"No, seriously. Your palm says you're about to have a moment. A big one."

"My palm says you watched too many tarot videos on TikTok."

"She's got you there," Chen said, popping a gummy vitamin from the emergency stash in her bag. "My mom says these prevent sunburns. That's science, right?"

We all looked at her. "That's definitely not how that works," I said, but I took one anyway because why not. Gummy vitamins were basically candy that adults couldn't yell at you for eating.

Then Jessica appeared, fresh from the pool like some kind of mythical water goddess. "Who's doing what? I want in."

"Priya's reading palms," I said before I could stop myself. Why did I say that? Now Jessica would want—

"Do ME!" Jessica demanded, shoving her hand in Priya's face. And that's when it happened—the moment. The one Priya had apparently predicted.

Because as Priya started doing her fake mystical routine, I saw it: a tiny, perfect, heart-shaped mole on Jessica's palm. And I realized—Jessica, who I'd spent three years worshipping from afar, who seemed impossibly perfect and unapproachable—was just... a person. With weird moles and frizzy hair and gummy vitamin addictions like the rest of us.

"Your love line says you'll kiss someone before summer ends," Priya announced with zero evidence.

Jessica groaned. "Finally. I was worried I'd die alone at fifteen."

And I laughed, really laughed, and something in my chest loosened. I was still anxious about the pool. Still awkward around popular people. Still not entirely sure how to talk to Marcus without stuttering. but maybe that was okay. Maybe growing up wasn't about becoming perfect—it was about realizing nobody else was either.

"So," Marcus said, suddenly beside us, "who's next for the palm reading? Because I need to know if I'm making varsity this year."

"Your palm says you're definitely getting cut," I said, and he faked being offended and splashed water at me and for once, I didn't even care about my hair.