Poolside Pacts

Maya's mom had shoved the gummy **vitamin** D supplements into her hand before she left, as if they were some kind of social shield. "You're pale as a ghost, mija. These will help you absorb the sunshine." Yeah, right. Like sunshine was going to fix the knot in her stomach.

The neighborhood pool party loomed ahead, bass thumping from portable speakers. Maya had spent freshman year metaphorically **swimming** through the hallways of Northwood High, staying under the radar, keeping her head down. But this summer, her friends had decided, was going to be different.

"You coming in or what?" Jesse called from the edge of the pool. He was already shirtless, dreadlocks piled high in a messy bun. Behind him, Kaiya lounged on a floatie, somehow making the too-small **cable**-knit sweater she'd thrown over her bikini look intentional.

Maya hesitated. The **water** glittered like someone had spilled diamonds across the surface, but it might as well have been lava for how her stomach twisted.

"Don't be such a **fox** about it," Aisha teased, splashing water toward Maya's flip-flops. "All sneaky and watching from the sidelines. We see you."

The comment landed harder than Aisha meant it to. Fox. That's what Maya's ex had called her last year before everything fell apart—sly, distant, always holding something back. The nickname had stuck like burrs in her social circle, a shorthand for her inability to just BE without overthinking every movement.

"I'm not being—" Maya started, then stopped. What was she being? Scared? Visible? Both?

Jesse swam over to the edge, resting his chin on his arms. "Maya. You're overthinking again. I can practically see the gears turning from here."

She took a breath, shucking her cover-up. The air hit her skin, and suddenly she was just there—no pretenses, no analysis, just a girl in a swimsuit at a pool party with her friends.

"Last one in does cannonballs off the diving board," Kaiya yelled.

Maya didn't run. She didn't dive. She walked in, letting the cool water swallow her up, and for the first time in forever, she didn't calculate her next move. She just let herself float.