Poolside Oracle

Maya's palms were sweating — like, actually dripping — as she clutched her iPhone 13 beside the Reynolds' pool. The Saturday night bash was in full swing: Spotify bass thumped against the backyard fence, someone's older cousin was doing keg stands in the shallow end, and the popular crowd had claimed the prime lounge chairs like they owned them.

"Let me see your hand," Chloe said, dropping beside her with chlorine-damp hair and a knowing smile. "I've been, like, totally obsessing over palmistry on TikTok."

Maya hesitated. She'd been crushing on Chloe's brother, Ethan, since freshman year, and her social anxiety was already peaking. But Chloe's energy was impossible to resist.

"Fine," Maya said, extending her hand. "But if you say I have a short life line, I'm literally spiraling."

Chloe traced the lines on Maya's palm with manicured nails, her expression serious despite the party chaos around them. "Okay, so..." She squinted dramatically. "Your life line is insane — like, you're living to 102. But your heart line..." She paused, eyes widening. "You're gonna meet someone tonight. Like, SOON."

Maya laughed nervously. "Riiight."

"I'm serious!" Chloe insisted. "The stars don't lie. But Maya..." Her voice dropped. "You need to put your phone down. Like, actually. The universe can't work through you if you're doomscrolling through Instagram."

Before Maya could respond, some sophomore racing toward the diving board cannonballed into the pool, sending a massive wave sloshing over the deck. The splash caught Maya completely off guard.

Her iPhone.

Time slowed as she watched it slide from her grip, hitting the water with a tiny splash. "NO!" she screamed, scrambling toward the edge.

But someone was faster.

Ethan.

He'd been lounging on the pool's edge with his friends, but now he plunged underwater, resurfacing a second later with her dripping phone.

"Here," he said, shaking water from his dark hair and handing it to her. His gray eyes locked with hers. "You okay?"

Their fingers brushed.

Maya's heart did that terrifying, electric flutter thing that only happened in movies and fanfiction. "Yeah. Thanks. I'm such a clutz."

"Nah," Ethan said, grinning. "Just maybe don't bring electronics near water? That's, like, rule one of existence."

Maya's palms were sweating again, but this time it had nothing to do with anxiety.

Chloe was watching them both, eyebrows raised, her earlier prophecy suddenly feeling a lot less like a joke.

"Told you," Chloe whispered, when Ethan swam back to his friends. "The universe, Maya. It WORKS."

Maya looked down at her palm, then at Ethan across the pool, then at her iPhone, which — miracle of miracles — still worked.

Maybe palm reading wasn't so bogus after all.