Papaya Sunset at Miller's Beach

You know that feeling when you're fourteen and everything feels like the most important moment of your life? That was me, standing in the corner of Miller's end-of-summer bash, nursing a lukewarm soda like it was my only friend. The papaya sunset painted the sky in impossible shades of coral and violet, and everyone else seemed to know exactly how to exist.

I'd been crushing on Maya since seventh period English, when she'd complimented my handwritten story assignment. Now she was by the beach bonfire, laughing at something Jake said—Jake who'd somehow grown six inches over summer and now loomed like a friendly bear in his oversized hoodie. His shoulders were literally so broad he could probably carry the entire eighth grade's emotional baggage.

My palms were sweating. I wiped them on my shorts for the third time. Gross. Why was my body betraying me like this?

Maya caught my eye and waved. I panicked and pretended to wave at someone behind me. Smooth, Leo. Really smooth.

Then she was walking over, her orange bikini top bright against the gathering dusk, and my brain completely short-circuited.

"Hey!" She grinned. "I didn't know you were coming. You gonna join the bonfire or brood in the corner all night?"

I shrugged, trying to play it cool. "Just... soaking in the atmosphere."

"The atmosphere is literally called 'people having fun,' Leo." She laughed, but it wasn't mean. "Come on. Jake's telling this story about a bear that wandered into his backyard last summer. Apparently his dad tried to scare it off with a broom."

That's when I noticed—the guy in the bear hoodie wasn't Jake. It was some other guy. Jake was the lanky kid roasting marshmallows. The real Jake. The Jake I'd been intimidated by all summer because I thought he was competition.

"Wait," I said. "That's not Jake?"

Maya looked at me weirdly. "That's his cousin. Why?"

"No reason," I said, feeling suddenly lighter. "Hey Maya?"

"Yeah?"

"Want to split this papaya I've been saving all day? My mom's weird health phase, but I promise it's actually good."

She smiled, and it was better than any sunset. "Only if you tell me about that story you wrote. The one with the dragon and the bookstore?"

"Deal."

Sometimes the scariest moments are just beginnings in disguise.