Poolside Pyramids

I stood by the edge of the pool, clutching my red Solo cup like it was a lifeline. Emma's annual end-of-summer bash. Everyone who was anyone was here, and apparently, that included me now, thanks to my new friendship with Madison.

The pool deck was basically a social pyramid in action. The popular crew—Emma, Tyler, Brianna—held court at the deep end, while the rest of us orbited around them like planets hoping for gravitational pull. I checked my reflection in the sliding glass door. The papaya-colored bikini Madison had talked me into buying made me look like a human traffic cone. Great.

"You gonna swim or just hold up the wall?"

I turned and found Jake Matthews standing behind me. Swim team captain. The guy I'd been low-key obsessed with since sophomore year. His hair was wet, droplets catching the patio lights like tiny stars.

"I, uh..." I stammered. My brain, normally somewhat functional, had officially left the chat.

He smiled. And then his expression shifted. "You've got..." He gestured vaguely at his own teeth.

Oh no. No, no, no.

I rushed to the bathroom, my face burning with what I'm sure was a spectacular shade of crimson. There it was. A massive piece of spinach wedged between my front teeth. From my morning smoothie. How long had it been there? Hours? Had I really been talking to half the senior class with a giant green debris situation going on?

I fished it out with my fingers, staring at my miserable reflection. I'd been planning my perfect entrance all summer, and instead I'd served up a dental horror show.

When I finally returned, Jake was crouched by the shallow end, a group of girls gathered around him.

"Check it out!" Brianna squealed. "He's actually doing it!"

I moved closer and saw three goldfish swimming in the water. Jake was making faces at them, crossing his eyes and poking out his tongue, looking completely ridiculous.

"They're training me," he announced, dead serious. "I can feel them absorbing my knowledge."

Someone laughed. "Jake, those fish have a three-second memory."

"Exactly," he said, grinning. "Perfect students. They forget everything I teach them, so I can say the same stuff over and over. Never gets old."

And then it hit me. The varsity swim star, the guy every girl wanted, spent his time making faces at goldfish in a pool. I'd been trying to decode the perfect way to act, what to wear, how to stand, and he was just... being himself. Unapologetically weird.

The papaya bikini didn't matter. The spinach incident—humiliating, sure, but he'd still talked to me afterward. The social pyramid that had seemed so terrifying from the edge of the pool suddenly looked a lot less permanent.

I slipped off my flip-flops and stepped into the water.

"What are you doing?" Jake called out, distracted from his fish lecture.

"Joining the goldfish," I said, and for the first time all night, I actually felt cool. "Move over. They need to learn from someone who knows how to embarrass herself properly."

Jake laughed, and it was better than any spot at the top of any pyramid could ever be.