Papaya at the Pool Party

I felt like a straight-up zombie at Chloe's pool party. Not the cool, dramatic kind from movies—the awkward, shuffling kind who didn't know where to stand or what to do with their hands. Everyone from sophomore year was there, looking flawless in their swimsuits while I hovered near the snack table like I was guarding it.

"Maya! You made it!" Chloe materialized, looking annoyingly perfect. "Everyone's playing padel if you want to join."

Padel. Because of course Chloe's mansion had a padel court. The same girls who made TikToks about "aesthetic mornings" were now suddenly obsessed with a sport I'd literally never heard of before this week. I shook my head. "I'm good. Just, you know, taking it all in."

"Suit yourself." She drifted toward the pool, where people were already doing cannonballs and screaming.

I reached for something to do with my hands and grabbed the fruit bowl. Something bright orange caught my eye—papaya. My grandma always had papaya at her house, and suddenly I missed her kitchen in the Philippines so much it physically hurt. I took a bite, letting the sweet, weirdly musky flavor transport me somewhere else.

"Wait, is that papaya?"

I looked up. Jayden Martinez from my AP Bio class was standing there, actual interest in his eyes instead of the usual glazed-over look everyone had at parties.

"Yeah," I said, suddenly self-conscious. "Weird, right?"

"No way. My abuela swears by papaya for digestion. I haven't had it since I was like ten." He smiled, and it was this genuine, crooked thing that made something in my chest do a stupid little flip.

"Want some?"

He took a piece and we stood there eating papaya like two weirdos while everyone else screamed and splashed in the pool. And for the first time all day, I didn't feel like a zombie. I felt like Maya—someone who liked papaya and missed her grandma and maybe, just maybe, had found someone else who didn't fit perfectly into Chloe's perfect world either.

"Hey," Jayden said, nodding toward the pool. "Wanna go swimming? Actual swimming, not just standing around looking cute?"

I grinned. "Race you to the deep end."

And just like that, I wasn't on the outside anymore.