Riddle at the Pool Party

Maya's **hat** sat pulled low over her eyes, a black beanie despite the July heat. It was her armor against the eighth-grade social hierarchy happening around Jenna's pool. She clutched her dead **iPhone** like a lifeline, forgetting to bring the charging **cable** because she'd been too nervous about the invitation to think straight.

"Hey."

Maya jumped. Sasha stood there, dripping **water**, the most popular girl in class wearing a swimsuit that made Maya want to disappear.

"You're just gonna stand there all cryptic like the **sphinx**?" Sasha grinned. "Or are you actually gonna get in?"

The sphinx comment was weirdly specific—Sasha was in that mythology club Maya secretly wanted to join but felt too uncool to try. Maybe she'd noticed Maya's mythology sketchbook that fell out of her backpack last week.

"I... don't have a suit," Maya lied.

Sasha raised an eyebrow. "Your bag says otherwise. I saw you ogling the pool from your corner for twenty minutes. What's actually up?"

Something about the direct question broke through Maya's walls. "I don't want people to see my scars," she whispered before she could stop herself.

Sasha's expression softened. "The ones on your arm?" At Maya's nod, she rolled up her sleeve to reveal similar silvery lines. "Me too. Last year was rough."

Maya stared. Perfect Sasha?

"We're all going through stuff," Sasha said. "The pool's actually where I go to escape it. Weightlessness, you know? You coming or not?"

Maya took off her **hat** and finally really looked at Sasha—not as the untouchable popular girl, but as another person trying to figure it out. She dropped her bag and jumped in, clothes and all.

The **water** was shockingly cold, perfect, real. For the first time all year, Maya felt lighter than air.