Poolside Operations

The chlorine hit Maya's nose before she even stepped through the gate. Another summer pool party at Jessica's house — same girls, same drama, same fake smiles plastered across everyone's faces. Maya adjusted her oversized bucket hat, pulling the brim lower. Her armor.

"Maya! Finally!" Jessica waved from the shallow end, surrounded by the usual squad. "Come swimming! The water's actually not freezing today!"

Maya hesitated. Last summer she'd been the first one in, cannonballing like she owned the place. That was before the growth spurt that made her body feel like foreign territory. Before she realized everyone was watching, really watching.

"Maybe later," she called back, sinking onto a lounge chair.

Her phone buzzed. Leo's name lit up the screen. Her heart did that stupid fluttery thing it always did lately. You doing it? Operation: Crush Recon?

Maya typed back, cheese puff emoji included. Leo had convinced her that his sister's friend group — aka Jessica and company — constantly discussed boys at these parties. If Maya played spy, she could find out if Jessica's cousin Tyler thought Maya was cute. It was the most middle-school plan ever, and Maya was humiliated to be going along with it.

But here she was.

She slipped her phone under her thigh and pretended to scroll through Instagram, tilting her head like she was lost in the feed. Really, she was angling her ear toward Jessica's circle, straining to catch any mention of Tyler's name.

"...so Tyler was saying..." someone said.

Maya's pulse spiked. She leaned forward infinitesimally, like she was adjusting her hat.

"...that he's not coming to any more parties until someone apologizes for what happened at homecoming."

Wait.

"He's still mad about that?" Jessica rolled her eyes. "It's been, like, seven months. Maya needs to get over herself."

Maya's stomach dropped. Homecoming. Tyler had spilled punch on her dress, then laughed while his friends joined in. She'd cried in the bathroom for twenty minutes. Everyone knew about it.

"It wasn't just the punch," someone else said quietly. "He made fun of her for, like, ten minutes straight. It was actually kinda mean."

"Whatever," Jessica said. "Maya's dramatic. Always has been."

The words hit Maya like a physical blow. She'd been sitting here for an hour, agonizing over whether Tyler found her attractive, while these girls had spent seven months deciding she was dramatic for being humiliated.

Her phone buzzed again. Any intel??

Maya stood up, hat in hand, and walked toward the gate without looking back.

Outside, she typed: Mission aborted. And honestly? I'm done with this.

Leo responded instantly: For real? Did they say something about Tyler?

Maya smiled as she headed toward her bike, the afternoon sun warming her skin. She blocked Jessica's number. No. They said something about me. And honestly? They're right about one thing.

What?

I AM dramatic, she wrote, kicking her bike stand up. But I'm done letting Tyler be the main character. This summer? I'm the protagonist.

She pedaled home, hat off, hair streaming behind her, already planning her revenge. Not the petty kind — the spectacular kind. The kind where she became so unignorably herself that Tyler's opinion wouldn't matter anymore.

Sometimes the best spy mission was learning you didn't need to spy at all.