Screen Deep, Shallow End

Maya's iPhone buzzed against her thigh, eighth notification in five minutes. Pool party texts blowing up the group chat like usual, while she sat curled on her bedroom floor, scrolling through everyone's hype posts. Three weeks into freshman year and she still hadn't cracked the social code at Northwood High.

Her palms were literally sweating—gross, nervous sweat that she kept wiping on her denim shorts. Kai's party started in twenty minutes and she still wasn't ready. Was she even going?

'you coming????' flashed across her screen. Someone from the chat.

She stared at her reflection in the full-length mirror. Straight hair, slightly crooked teeth when she smiled too big, basically invisible in the halls at school. Everyone else seemed to have mastered the art of existing—meanwhile, Maya was still working on simply showing up.

Her palm hovered over the lock button. Could she fake sick? Say her aunt was in town?

Maya tossed the phone onto her bed and grabbed her swimsuit. Fine. She'd go. Swim two laps, leave early, claim her mom called.

Kai's backyard already had people spilling out of the sliding glass door. The pool lights glowed underwater as the sun dipped behind the trees. Someone was playing music too loud, laughing bodies cannonballing into the deep end.

Maya slipped through the crowd, phone pressed against her side like a shield. She made it to the pool's edge and sat, dangling her legs in the water.

'Scared?'

She jumped. Marcus from her history class stood there, dripping wet. Cute Marcus, who always answered questions and actually read the assigned books.

'No,' Maya said automatically. 'Just... thinking.'

Marcus smirked. 'About your iPhone? You've been clutching it like it's a lifeline.'

Her palms started sweating again. She forced herself to set the phone on the concrete deck. Out of reach. Suddenly defenseless.

'First party of the year?' Marcus asked, sliding into the water beside her.

'Is it that obvious?'

'To me it is.' He gestured toward the chaos. 'They're all performing. You're actually just... existing. That's kinda rare.'

Maya looked at her hands. At the people doing TikTok dances by the snack table. At someone's story being filmed against the sunset.

'I don't know how to do any of this,' she admitted quietly. 'The talking, the swimming, the... being seen.'

Marcus splashed water toward her. 'So don't. Just swim.'

She looked at the dark water reflecting the pool lights. No one was watching. Everyone was too busy performing.

Maya slid into the pool. The cool water shocked her skin as she pushed away from the edge, stroke after stroke, counting to herself. One, two, three, four. The noise faded underwater. No notifications, no expectations, no nervous palms.

She resurfaced near the middle of the pool, breathless.

'Told you,' Marcus called from the shallow end.

Maya tread water, watching her iPhone sit alone on the concrete. Signal full, notifications piling up, but she wasn't checking. She was swimming. She was showing up.

For the first time all night, her palms were dry.