Poolside Panic Attack

Maya's curls had become a frizz disaster by noon, the humidity absolutely destroying the sleek look she'd spent forty-five minutes perfecting. At Tyler's pool party, everyone looked effortlessly perfect—Jaime's waves cascading down her shoulder, Sydney's bob somehow staying intact even after two hours of actual swimming.

Meanwhile, Maya sat poolside in her cover-up, clutching her phone like a lifeline, watching Tyler cannonball into the deep end for the third time. He'd posted a Snapchat story of the party earlier—everyone laughing, splashing, living their best lives. Meanwhile, Maya was out here fighting a literal mental battle about exposing her post-swimming hair to the guy she'd been lowkey crushing on since seventh period English.

"Yo, Maya!" Tyler called, dripping wet and way too close. "You gonna hop in or what?"

Her face burned. "Uh, maybe later."

"Live a little!" He grinned, and her stomach did that traitorous flutter thing.

Then came the incident.

Someone's little brother had brought his pet goldfish in a bowl—why, nobody knew—and amid the chaos of chicken fights and Marco Polo, someone knocked it off the patio table. The bowl shattered, and suddenly there was a goldfish flopping on concrete, dying in the most traumatic way possible.

Maya didn't think. She just moved—scooping up the fish with her bare hands, running for the pool, tripping over her own feet and face-planting directly into the shallow end.

The entire party went dead silent.

She surfaced, hair plastered to her face, chlorine stinging her eyes, and discovered she was still clutching the fish. It swam away immediately, clearly unbothered by near-death experience.

Tyler was staring. Everyone was staring.

Then Tyler started laughing. Not mean laughing—genuine, breathless laughing. "Did you just save a fish with your bare hands?"

The tension broke. Someone else laughed, and suddenly Maya wasn't the awkward girl on the sidelines anymore. She was the girl who'd done something completely unhinged and kinda legendary.

"First time for everything," she said, flipping her soaked hair out of her eyes. And for the first time all day, she didn't care what it looked like.