Poolside Confidence

The **water** in the Miller's backyard pool glimmered like liquid diamonds, but Maya's stomach was doing way more flips than any dive she'd ever attempted. She clutched her towel like a lifeline, hyper-aware that everyone else looked like they'd stepped out of a TikTok feed while she felt like the awkward extra in a coming-of-age movie.

"Yo Maya! You gonna stand there all day or actually jump in?" called Jax, aka **The Bull** for his relentless playing style at intramural sports. He was currently cannonballing into the deep end with zero chill, sending a wave splashing toward Maya's feet.

Maya's face heated up. She'd been crushing on Jax since seventh grade, back when he was just the loud kid who sat behind her in math. Now he was six feet of confidence with abs that definitely didn't come from playing video games.

"I'm good!" she called back, but her voice cracked. Smooth. Like, really smooth.

Her best friend Chen materialized beside her, holding out a bright **orange** soda. "You're overthinking again. Just swim already."

"Easy for you to say," Maya muttered, accepting the soda. "You didn't nearly drown during swim lessons in fifth grade."

"That was literally eight years ago!" Chen rolled their eyes so hard it looked painful. "Jax has been asking about you all week. That's literally the only reason I dragged you here."

Maya nearly choked on her orange soda. "Wait, what?"

Before Chen could elaborate, Jax swam over, hoisting himself out of the pool like it was nothing. Water dripped down his face as he grabbed his own orange soda from the patio table.

"Hey," he said, suddenly nervous. Definitely not the same confident Bull from five minutes ago. "I was wondering... you still doing that marine biology thing?"

Maya blinked. This was not in the script. "Yeah? I mean, I'm interning at the aquarium this summer."

"That's actually sick," Jax rubbed the back of his neck, looking anywhere but at her. "My cousin runs this ocean cleanup nonprofit, and they're looking for volunteers. I thought you might be interested."

Maya's heart did this stupid little flutter thing. The Bull wasn't so terrifying up close. Just a guy who smelled like chlorine and orange soda, and apparently thought her obsession with sea turtles was cool.

"I'd love that," she said, and for the first time all afternoon, she wasn't faking her smile.

Jax's grin was brighter than the sun reflecting off the water. "Awesome. I'll text you the details."

As he walked away, Chen whispered, "I told you you were overthinking it."

Maya took a deep breath and finally let her towel drop. The water didn't seem so scary anymore. Neither did being exactly who she was — awkward crushes, marine biology obsession, and all.