Poolside Truth

Maya's palms were sweating like crazy, which was exactly why she was clutching her phone so tight her knuckles turned white. The Saturday pool party at Tyler's house was basically social suicide fuel for someone like her—quiet, overthinking, currently wearing a swimsuit that felt about three sizes too small.

She'd spent twenty minutes convincing herself to come, another ten standing by the snack table, and now she was basically trapped. Because Tyler— gorgeous, confident, lacrosse-team captain Tyler—was currently holding court by the pool, telling some story about how he'd faced down a literal bull at his uncle's farm last summer.

"Dude, I'm not kidding," Tyler said, gesturing with his red solo cup. "The thing was massive. I basically had to stare it down."

Maya snorted before she could stop herself.

The whole pool area went silent. Tyler turned, raising an eyebrow. "Something funny, Maya?"

Her heart hammered. This was it. The moment she became the weird girl who laughed at inappropriate times and never got invited to anything ever again. But something in her just snapped—maybe it was the humidity, maybe it was weeks of feeling invisible, maybe she was just done.

"Yeah, actually," she said, her voice shaking but getting louder. "There's no way you stared down a bull. That's not how bulls work. My cousin works on a farm, and bulls don't do stare-down contests. They charge or they don't care about your existence."

Tyler's friends started laughing. Tyler's face went red.

"Okay, whatever," he muttered. "Maybe I exaggerated."

"You think?" Someone called from the pool.

But then something weird happened. People were looking at Maya now—not with that annoyed look they gave teachers when they assigned homework, but like, actually seeing her. A girl named Jordan (who Maya had barely spoken to all year) slid over and handed her a juice box.

"Thank you," Jordan whispered. "I've been sitting here listening to his stories all day and I was losing my mind."

Maya's palms weren't sweating anymore. She was still nervous, still felt exposed, but for the first time all year, she didn't feel invisible.

"Wanna go in the pool?" Jordan asked. "Before someone else starts telling story time?"

Maya grinned. "Absolutely."