Pool Party Prophecy

The air smelled like coconut sunscreen and teen anxiety.

I stood at the edge of Maya's pool, clutching my **papaya** smoothie like it was a lifeline. Which, honestly, it kind of was. My mom had gone through this weird health phase and packed my lunch with actual **spinach** wraps for a week straight. I was still recovering.

"You coming in or what?" Jake called from the water, droplets flying from his hair like he was some kind of Disney channel character. He did that thing where he floated on his back, **swimming** in lazy circles near the edge.

My stomach did that embarrassingly dramatic flip it always did when Jake was around. Which was ridiculous, because we'd been friends since kindergarten and he still made fun of me for crying at the Finding Nemo ending.

"In a minute," I lied.

Maya's dad had set up this ridiculous Egyptian-themed decor for her birthday, complete with a plastic **sphinx** near the snack bar that stared judgmentally at everyone's questionable life choices. Someone had drawn googly eyes on it.

I plopped down on one of the lounge chairs, staring at my **palm**. Okay, I know how this sounds — but I'd spent way too much time scrolling those fake astrology TikToks, and the algorithm had served me like twelve "palm reading reveals your crush" videos in a row. My life line looked weirdly short, and I was spiraling.

"You good?" Jake had swum over and was now dripping pool water all over my towel. His eyes were doing that concerned crinkly thing.

"Yeah," I said way too quickly. "Just... thinking about how Maya's dad went all out on the decor."

Jake snorted. "The sphinx has been judging me all day. I think it knows about that time I accidentally wore Crocs to homecoming."

I laughed, and some of the tension in my chest loosened. Maybe that was the thing about parties — they felt like life or death, but really they were just awkward moments and bad snacks and friends who somehow still liked you even when you were being weird.

"Hey," Jake said, splashing water at my legs. "Your smoothie's melting. And the spinach wraps aren't that bad, I tried one yesterday."

My face burned. "You WHAT?"

"Your mom gave me one. She thinks I'm too skinny." He grinned. "Come **swimming**, loser. Before the sphinx starts judging you too."

I set down the melting smoothie, wiped my sticky **palm** on my shorts, and jumped.

The water was perfect, and for once, everything else kind of faded away.