Riddles at the Deep End

The pool party at Tyler's house was supposed to be chill, but Maya's stomach was doing full-on gymnastics. She'd been crushing on Tyler since freshmen year, and tonight felt like her shot.

"Yo, Maya! You gonna swim or just stand there looking like a total sphinx with all those mysteries?" Tyler called from the pool deck, grinning that stupid cute grin.

Maya rolled her eyes but felt her face heating up. "I'm contemplating my life choices, Tyler. Also, your pool looks questionably deep."

"That's 'cause it is, genius." He did a cannonball, sending water everywhere. "Living on the edge, you know?"

The backyard was already chaotic – someone's rap playlist blasted, people were playing chicken fights, and the whole thing felt overwhelmingly social. Maya clutching her papaya soda (her aunt's weird health kick phase had totally corrupted her taste buds) like it was a lifeline.

She spotted Harper – her best friend since forever – looking absolutely fire in her new bikini, effortlessly talking to like three people at once. Meanwhile, Maya was over here having an internal crisis about whether to take off her cover-up.

The sphinx comment had actually kind of saved her, though. Tyler had compared her to something mysterious instead of just calling her quiet like everyone else did.

"You coming in or what?" Tyler yelled, swimming over to the edge. "Water's perfect, I promise."

Maya took a breath and dropped her cover-up. Whatever. If she was gonna be awkward, she might as well be all-in awkward.

"I'm taking your word for this, Tyler!"

She jumped in, and okay, maybe it wasn't so terrible. Actually, it was kind of amazing – the cool water, the laughter echoing, Harper giving her a thumbs-up from across the pool, and Tyler smiling at her like she was someone worth waiting for.

"Not bad, sphinx," he said, splashing her. "Not bad at all."

Maya laughed, finally letting herself relax. Maybe first impressions weren't everything. Maybe sometimes you just had to jump in the deep end and trust that you'd figure out how to swim.