Splashes and Secrets

Leo pulled his dad's old trucker **hat** lower on his forehead, trying to look chill. But his hands were shaking, and everyone at Maya's pool party could probably tell. The **water** in the pool sparkled like something out of a music video, and somewhere, someone's Bluetooth speaker pumped out summer anthems.

This was it. The moment he'd been overthinking for weeks: talking to Sasha, the mysterious new girl who'd transferred to Northwood High and immediately taken over Leo's usual lunch table with her crew of Instagram-model friends.

"Nice hat," Sasha said, sliding onto the lounge chair beside him. "Very... vintage thrift shop aesthetic."

"Yeah, I guess," Leo managed. His brain had gone completely offline.

Sasha pulled out her phone, started scrolling through TikToks. Leo watched her, wondering how someone could make doing nothing look so effortless. This was his problem—he always tried too hard. That's what Jason called him, anyway. Jason, the **bull** of sophomore year, who'd made Leo's life miserable since seventh grade with his "just joking" comments and "accidental" shoulder checks.

But Jason wasn't here right now. And Sasha was.

"You know what's weird?" Sasha said suddenly. "My **cat** back home? She only drinks running water from the bathroom sink. Like, she won't touch a water bowl. She's got zero chill."

Leo laughed, surprised. "That's oddly specific."

"I'm an oddly specific person." Sasha locked eyes with him, and Leo's stomach did that full-on somersault thing that always happened in movies but had literally never happened to him before. "You're Leo, right? The guy who sits by the window in English?"

He nodded, stunned she'd noticed.

"You're like this **sphinx**," she continued. "All mysterious and quiet. But I bet you've got opinions."

Leo opened his mouth, closed it. The old Leo would've deflected, made a joke, changed the subject. But something about Sasha's directness, like she actually gave a damn what he thought, made him want to be real.

"Okay," he said. "My opinion? This party? Everyone's performing. It's like we're all in some constant audition. And I'm tired of it."

Sasha studied him for a long moment. Then she smiled—not her fake Instagram smile, but something different.

"Finally," she said. "Someone who gets it."