Poolside Vitamin D Deficiency

The chlorine hit my nose before I even saw the pool. Taylor's house was massive — the kind of place where the garage was bigger than my entire apartment. I clutched my phone like a lifeline, thumb hovering over Maya's contact.

"You came!" Taylor materialized beside me, wearing a bikini that probably cost more than my monthly phone bill. "Everyone's out back. Oh, and Jake's here."

Jake. The boy who'd somehow become the main character of my thoughts since junior year. The one who played padel competitively and had that annoying perfect hair that defied physics.

I followed Taylor outside, where fifteen people I barely knew lounged around the inground pool like this was a music video. Someone cannonballed. Water sprayed everywhere. I took a seat on a lounge chair far too close to the action and immediately started overthinking everything.

"Yo, pass me a Vitamin Water!" someone yelled.

"Only sparkling, my dad's on this health kick now," Taylor called back, tossing a can across the pool.

I mentally kicked myself. Why had I agreed to this? I was terrible at parties. I should've stayed home with my cat, Luna, who actually appreciated my existence and never made me play wingman for people I didn't know.

Then Jake sat on the chair next to mine.

"Hey, you're in my English class, right?" He had water dripping from his hair. "Shakespeare unit nearly killed me."

"Yeah," I managed. "The sonnets were brutal."

"No kidding." He laughed, and I noticed a small tattoo on his shoulder — a bear. A tiny, geometric bear.

"Nice bear," I said before I could stop myself. "Interesting choice."

"Thanks." He didn't explain. Didn't make it weird. Just nodded. "My sister drew it. She's an artist now. Living in Portland."

"That's cool."

"What about you? You play anything?" He gestured toward where some people were setting up a net. "We're gonna play pool volleyball if you want to join. Or padel, if you're feeling adventurous."

"I'm —" I started. I was about to say I wasn't good at sports, that I'd rather watch, that I didn't want to embarrass myself. But then I thought about Luna waiting at home, about how I'd spent the past three years saying no to things because I was afraid of looking foolish.

"Actually," I heard myself say, "I'm in."

Jake grinned like I'd just given him the best news ever. "Awesome."

As I stood up to follow him toward the water, I felt something shift. The vitamin D deficiency from spending too much time in my room would have to wait. Sometimes growth looked like cannonballs and chlorine and unexpected tattoos and saying yes when every instinct screamed no.

I grabbed a volleyball. Game on.