Sink or Swim

The pool shimmered like liquid blue topaz, but Maya's stomach felt like it was doing backflips off the high dive. She stood at the edge of Jessica's backyard bash, clutching her solo cup like a lifeline, watching everyone else cannonball into the social deep end without her.

"You gonna stand there all day or actually get in?"

Maya jumped. It was Riley—the new girl with the half-shaved head and infinite bedroom eyes, leaning against the pool fence with that effortless cool Maya had spent fourteen years trying to fake.

"I'm good," Maya said, though her sundress was already sticking to her back in the July heat. "Not really a swimming person."

"Bull." Riley's grin was all challenge. "You're just scared everyone's gonna notice you can't swim."

"I CAN swim."

"Then prove it."

Before Maya could overthink it into oblivion, she kicked off her sandals and dove in. The water hit her like forgiveness—cool and shocking and everything she needed. She surfaced to cheers, actually thriving, actually living, until Jessica's mom appeared with a tray of spinach-artichoke dip and the realization hit Maya like a rogue wave: she hadn't eaten anything all day because NERVES, and now she was starving enough to humble herself in front of the coolest girl at school.

She hauled herself out, dripping and determined, grabbing three crackers piled high with green dip. Riley watched, amused, as Maya practically inhaled them.

"Hungry?"

"Starving," Maya admitted through a mouthful of spinach. "I get nervous and forget food exists. It's a whole thing."

Riley's expression shifted—something softening behind the eyes. "Me too. Before parties, I literally memorize everyone's names like I'm studying for a final. Otherwise my brain goes static."

They sat on the pool edge, feet dangling in the water, sharing dip and anxiety hacks until the sun set behind the oak trees. For the first time, Maya wasn't performing friendship. She was just... having it.

"Hey," Riley said quietly, bumping her shoulder. "You're pretty chill when you're not overthinking everything."

"You're not so bad yourself," Maya replied, and somewhere between the chlorine and the spinach stuck in Riley's teeth, something shifted. Not a romance thing, or at least not yet. But a friend thing. A real one.

Maya dove back into the pool, and this time she didn't hold her breath.