Palm Reading at the End of the Dive Block

Maya stood at the edge of the **pool**, chlorine stinging her nose, while everyone else acted like they'd been born in their swimsuits. This was supposed to be the ultimate start-of-summer rager, but Maya felt about as natural as a cat in a bathtub.

"Hey, you gonna jump or what?" called Tyler, the guy she'd been crushing on since third period, currently dripping wet and annoyingly confident.

"In a minute," she lied, backing away from the diving block like it was about to bite her.

She escaped to the patio, where someone's mom had set up a truly bizarre fruit spread. That's when she saw it—a whole **papaya**, cut open like some alien artifact. Maya had never actually tried one. It looked weirdly gelatinous, but at this point anything was better than awkwardly hovering near the **pool** pretending she knew how to socialize.

"Weird, right?" A girl appeared beside her—Chloe, the quiet one from her English class. "I'm pretty sure someone's grandma went overboard with the tropical theme."

Maya took a tentative bite. "Actually... not terrible?"

Chloe laughed, and suddenly they were sitting on the patio stairs, two people hiding from the same party. Then Chloe grabbed Maya's hand.

"What are you—"

"Let me see your **palm**," Chloe said, squinting dramatically like she'd seen in movies. "I'm basically an expert."

"You are not."

"Fine, but you've got this crazy long life line, which either means you're gonna live forever or you just really like to draw on yourself during class."

Maya looked down. Sharpie. From yesterday's chemistry lecture.

They were both laughing so hard that Tyler himself came over to investigate. And somehow, that was it. The ice broke, the **papaya** was forgotten, and Maya spent the rest of the evening learning that the terrifying **pool** was way less scary than doing it alone.