Poolside Truth or Dare

The chlorine smell hit me before I even saw the pool. Maya's annual summer party. The one where every popular kid from Westwood High showed up in their best swimsuits, pretending not to care who was watching.

I clutched my iPhone like a lifeline, thumb hovering over Maya's text: *come thru pool starts at 3*. Easy for her to say. She wasn't the one who transferred here three weeks ago and still sat alone at lunch sometimes.

"You gonna stand there all day or actually jump in?"

I turned to see Jake—Maya's older brother and the starting pitcher for the varsity baseball team. He was already in the water, wet hair plastered to his forehead, grinning like he knew something I didn't.

"I'm thinking about it," I lied.

"Bull," he said. "You've been hovering by the fence for ten minutes. I saw you on your phone, probably texting your mom to pick you up."

My face burned. Was I that obvious?

"Everyone's staring," I muttered.

Jake swam to the edge and pulled himself up, water streaming off his shoulders. "Nah, they're too busy trying to look cool. That's the secret, Ri—nobody actually knows what they're doing. We're all just faking it till we make it."

He held out a hand. "C'mon. I'll do a cannonball with you. We'll look ridiculous together."

Something about his goofy smile made me actually consider it. My iPhone buzzed in my hand—a notification that could wait.

"Fine," I said, kicking off my flip-flops. "But if I embarrass myself, I'm blaming you."

"Deal." Jake winked. "Besides, nothing's worse than that time I tried to impress Sarah by pitching a baseball at the park and accidentally threw it through some random person's car window."

I laughed—really laughed—as I stepped toward the pool. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Race you to the deep end!" I called out, phone forgotten on the pool deck.

"You're on!" Jake shouted back, already diving under.

For the first time since moving here, I didn't feel like the new kid. Just another teenager jumping into a pool, pretending to be brave while secretly terrified—and realizing that was okay.