Poolside Secrets

Maya adjusted her goggles, chlorine stinging her nose. The community pool was basically summer HQ for everyone at Northwood High, which was exactly why she'd claimed the farthest lane from the snack bar.

"You're literally doing laps around your feelings," said Jordan, her best friend since sixth grade, floating nearby with that annoyingly accurate perceptiveness. "Just talk to him already."

"I'm not ready for that level of embarrassment," Maya said, though she'd been lowkey spy-ing on Marcus from the shallow end for forty-five minutes. He was attempting to teach his little sister to dive, and honestly? The whole cute-older-brother thing was working for him. Hard.

"Dude, you've been swimming in circles for twenty minutes," Jordan pointed out. "Marcus is literally right there. The universe is handing you an opening on a silver platter."

Then came the lifeguard's whistle—everyone out, lightning spotted. The pool cleared faster than the cafeteria on pizza day. Maya scrambled for her towel, heart doing that thing where it forgot how to beat properly because she was now shoulder-to-shoulder with Marcus.

"Pool's closing," he said, and up close, his eyes were actually brown with flecks of green. "You guys need a ride? My mom's picking us up."

Maya's brain short-circuited. This was NOT in the emotional preparedness syllabus. Jordan was already nodding like this was the most normal thing ever, because Jordan had zero chill.

The storm hit properly as they squeezed into the backseat. Lightning cracked across the sky—nature's dramatic timing, honestly—and Maya's phone buzzed with a storm alert. Their neighborhood's cable internet was notorious for cutting during bad weather, and sure enough, Marcus mentioned his WiFi was already down.

"Our cable always goes out too," Maya found herself saying. "My dad literally threatens to switch providers every single time."

Marcus laughed. "Same. He goes on these whole rants about how we're overpaying forBuffering: Life."

They grinned at each other, and something settled in Maya's chest. Maybe Jordan was right. Maybe she'd been overthinking everything.

"Hey," Marcus said as the car pulled up to Maya's driveway. "Since we're both probably gonna be stuck without internet tonight... want to hang out? We could—I don't know—actually talk? Without screens?"

Lightning illuminated his smile. Maya grabbed her bag, heart suddenly lighter than air.

"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I'd like that."