Poolside Lightning Strike

Maya's sweaty palm gripped the red solo cup like her social life depended on it. Emma's end-of-summer pool party was supposed to be casual—just the squad hanging before sophomore year—but somehow Maya had spent forty-five minutes hiding near the snack table, snapchatting her cat back home because at least Mittens didn't judge her for being awkward.

"Maya! Get in here!" Jake called from the pool, water droplets dripping from his perfectly messy hair. She'd had a crush on him since seventh period algebra, and now he was shirtless in her general direction.

She forced a laugh. "Yeah, totally, just finishing my—"

CRACK.

Lightning illuminated the entire backyard. One of those sideways strikes that looked like it was tearing the sky open. Half the party screamed. The other half whipped out phones to document it.

Then darkness.

The party's massive Bluetooth speaker cut mid-song. Someone knocked over a lawn chair. Maya's phone screen became the only light source, and not even a bright one at 12% battery.

"Did the power just..." Jake started.

"Someone tripped over the extension cable," Emma groaned from somewhere in the dark. "My dad's going to kill me."

Maya's heart hammered like she'd been the one struck. She could feel herself overthinking—was this her chance to be the calm, collected friend who knew what to do? Or was she going to freeze up and make it weird like when she'd tried to tell that joke at lunch and accidentally insulted Jordan's shoes?

Her phone flashlight found Jake, who was now out of the pool and looking around confused. And then, inevitably, came the voice from the darkness.

"Who's still swimming? We're supposed to wait 30 minutes after—"

"That's a myth," Maya found herself saying, surprised at her own voice. "The whole thing about lightning and pools. It's not scientifically—"

The emergency floodlights flickered on. Jake was three feet from her, towel around his shoulders, looking at her like she'd just grown a second head.

"Wait, you're right," he said, smiling. "You're, like, weirdly smart about random stuff."

Maya felt her face burn. "I just... read a lot."

"No, seriously, that's actually sick." He looked around. "So, power's out. What now?"

Emma emerged from the house with a flashlight. "Emergency pool party continuation! We've got candles and I'm starting a group chat for the power outage squad."

Maya's palm was still sweating, but for once, she didn't feel like hiding. Jake sat next to her on the edge of the pool deck, and for the first time all night, she didn't reach for her phone to check on Mittens.

Maybe the lightning strike was exactly what she needed.