Poolside Lightning Strike

Maya gripped her iPhone like a lifeline, thumb hovering over the screen as she sat on the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the water. The graduation party raged around her—laughter, splashing, someone blasting Doja Cat from a waterproof speaker. But Maya felt like a sphinx perched on her lonely pedestal, watching everyone else have the time of their lives while she overanalyzed every social interaction from the sidelines.

"You're not gonna swim?"

Maya jumped. It was Jada, her oldest friend, looking impossibly confident in a bikini that somehow matched the pool lights. Jada, who'd spent the last three months hanging with the popular crowd, leaving Maya to navigate lunch tables alone.

"Maybe later," Maya said, scrolling through her photo reel for the fiftieth time. "Just taking pics."

"You're always taking pics." Jada sat beside her, their thighs touching. "You're literally at every party, but never actually AT any party. What's up with that?"

Maya's pulse quickened. She wanted to say, I miss you. I miss when we'd get Slurpees and complain about geometry. I don't know how to be friends with popular Jada who's somehow still my Jada.

Instead she said, "I'm documenting. That's my thing."

"Your thing is being a ghost," Jada said gently. "Lightning could strike this whole party and you'd probably just post it on your story."

Then, as if the universe had a sense of humor, actual lightning cracked across the sky. Everyone screamed as thunder shook the ground. Rain started falling—huge, warm drops that sent people scrambling for cover.

Maya scrambled up, but Jada grabbed her hand. "No way. We're swimming."

"What? It's literally—"

"LIVE a little, Maya." Jada yanked her toward the pool, and before Maya could protest, they both jumped in.

The rain poured harder as they surfaced, gasping and laughing. The popular kids ran for the porch, but Maya and Jada floated on their backs, letting the storm wash over them. Maya's iPhone sat safely on a towel, but for the first time in months, she wasn't thinking about capturing the moment. She was too busy living it.

"Better?" Jada asked, grinning.

Maya wiped water from her eyes. "Actually? Yeah."

"Good," Jada said. "Now help me prank Lucas. I'm thinking we hide his clothes."