Running From Perfect

Maya Chen stood at the edge of the **pool**, chlorine stinging her nose. It was the last Friday before freshman year, and somehow she'd let Harper talk her into this. The pool party of the century, according to Harper, which really meant the popular kids hanging out and everyone else pretending they belonged.

"You coming in or what?" Harper yelled, already **running** toward the deep end with that effortless confidence Maya envied. Harper, who'd somehow conquered middle school's social **pyramid** without even trying. Meanwhile, Maya had spent three years perfecting the art of being nobody—not quite cool enough for the top, not quite weird enough for the bottom. Just there.

Then she saw him. Ethan Rivera, leaning against the fence with a **baseball** cap pulled low, talking to some sophomore girls like it was the most natural thing in the world. Maya had sat behind him in algebra since September, watching him draw elaborate pyramids and foxes in the margins of his worksheets while Mrs. Henderson droned on about equations.

"Hey," someone said beside her.

Maya jumped. Ethan.

"You're Maya, right? Algebra?" He tilted his head. "I like your drawings. The fox in your notebook today."

Wait. He'd noticed? She'd been doodling that same fox—sleek and skeptical—since seventh grade, her private symbol for everything she wanted to say but never did. Now the guy she'd been secretly crushing on for months was talking to her. At Harper's pool party. Where she was wearing a swimsuit that felt entirely too revealing.

"Thanks," Maya managed. Her heart was doing that weird fluttery thing that made her feel like an idiot.

"I'm **running** to the corner store for snacks," Ethan said, already walking backward toward the gate. "Wanna come? This party's kinda lame anyway."

Maya looked at the **pool**, where Harper was splashing water at people who would definitely be writing the social script for high school. Then she looked at Ethan, with his imperfect smile and the way he actually saw her.

The social pyramid could wait.

"Yeah," Maya said, and for the first time in forever, she didn't overthink it. "Let's go."