Poolside Reflection

Maya smoothed her oversized t-shirt for the hundredth time, standing at the edge of Jenna's pool party like she'd wandered into the wrong dimension. Water shimmered turquoise in the afternoon light, dotted with floating noodles and too-confident teenagers. At sixteen, Maya still hadn't mastered the art of acting like she belonged somewhere.

"You gonna swim or just stand there looking like a lost puppy?" Jenna called out, surrounded by her perfect circle of friends.

"Yeah, uh, just warming up," Maya mumbled, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks. She'd barely dipped her toes in the shallow end when her brother Leo lumbered over. At six-foot-three with enough hair to rival a grizzly, everyone called him Bear – a nickname that fit his personality way too well.

"Maya, you good?" Leo's bass voice cut through the chatter. "You've been hovering by the snacks for twenty minutes."

"I'm fine! Go away, you're literally hovering." She shoved his shoulder, which was like shoving a brick wall.

"Just checking. Also, Mom said to tell you to actually talk to people, not just exist in their vicinity." Bear leaned against the fence, crossing arms the size of tree trunks.

Maya slipped away before he could say anything else, finding solace behind the shed where a scruffy calico cat crouched under a rhododendron. It eyed her suspiciously, then – miraculously – let her scratch behind its ears. The cat's purr vibrated against her fingertips, steady and uncomplicated. Why couldn't people be this easy?

"There you are!" It was Tyler from her history class, holding two sodas. "Thought you'd ditched."

"Just... needed a minute."

"Same. These parties can be pretty intense." He sat beside her, offering a soda. "Your brother's cool, though. He helped me fix my flat tire last week."

Maya glanced at Leo, now laughing with Jenna's friends. Maybe Bear wasn't so bad after all. And the cat, sensing the moment, curled between them, its tail draped like a fuzzy bridge.

"Hey," Tyler said softly, "you want to get out of here? There's this spot by the creek."

The water would be colder there, quieter. Maya smiled, really smiled, for the first time all afternoon. "Yeah. Actually, I'd love that."