Splash Landing

Maya gripped her iPhone so hard her knuckles turned white. For three weeks, she'd been sliding into Jayden's DMs from her finsta account — not actually sliding, just watching. Lurking. Spying, basically. She knew he posted sunset photos at exactly 7:12 PM every Tuesday. She knew his Starbucks order (venti iced caramel macchiato, three pumps). She'd practically memorized his Spotify playlists.

Today was different. Today she was actually going to talk to him at Chloe's pool party.

The hair transformation had taken three hours and half a bottle of bleach. Her mom freaked — "You had such beautiful dark hair!" — but Maya needed the change. The beachy waves hit her shoulders now, golden and unfamiliar in the mirror. New hair, new vibe, new Maya who wasn't afraid to shoot her shot.

Chloe's backyard was already packed when Maya arrived. The pool glittered like something from a music video. Too-bright, too perfect, way too many people.

"MAYA!" Chloe screamed from the diving board. "COME IN THE WATER IS LIT."

Maya spotted Jayden immediately. He was sitting on a lounge chair, scrolling through his phone, absently running a hand through his own messy curls. Her stomach did that stupid fluttery thing it did every time she saw him in the hallway at school.

She dropped her towel on a chair and walked toward him, heart hammering against her ribs like it was trying to escape.

"Hey Jayden."

He looked up, and his eyes went wide. Not in a good way. In a I'm-recognizing-you-from-somewhere way.

"Maya?" He paused. "Wait, is your hair... different?"

"Yeah, just got it done."

"It looks nice." Then he squinted. "But also... kind of familiar?"

Her stomach dropped through the patio.

"From school?" she tried.

"No, I mean —" He laughed, this awkward half-laugh. "Okay, this is gonna sound weird, but do you have an Instagram account? Like, a different one?"

Maya froze. The blood rushed to her face. "Why?"

"Because there's this account that's always the first to like my photos. Always. Within like thirty seconds. And yesterday they posted a story with this coffee cup from the new cafe downtown, and I was gonna comment, but then I saw you at that same cafe after school."

He held up his phone. Showed her the screen. Her finsta profile picture — that aesthetic sunset she'd stolen from Pinterest.

"I knew it looked like you," Jayden said, almost wonderingly. "I've been trying to figure out who @sunflower_vibes was for weeks."

"You were... trying to find me?" Her voice came out small.

"I mean yeah." His ears turned pink. "I was gonna DM you but I didn't wanna be creepy. But then you walked over here and I was like, no way."

"So you knew I was watching your stories?" Maya couldn't decide if she wanted to pass out or jump into the pool fully clothed.

"I was hoping you were." Jayden smiled. "I only posted them that fast because I knew you'd see them."

The silence stretched between them, charged and electric.

"Oh," Maya said.

"Yeah. Oh." He stood up. "So since we've been basically talking for three weeks already... wanna get in the pool?"

Maya's lips curved up. She didn't feel like new Maya anymore. She just felt like Maya — hair bleached within an inch of its life, standing in front of a boy who'd been waiting for her to make a move.

"Race you," she said, and bolted toward the water.