Storm-Brewing Poolside

The air was thick enough to chew. Jax stood by the chain-link fence, clutching the brim of his dad's old baseball hat like it might actually hide the fact that he was the only one not in swim trunks. His so-called best friend, Tyler, was currently doing cannonballs off the diving board, surrounded by people who'd somehow morphed into strangers over summer break.

"Yo Jax! The water's straight fire!" Tyler hollered, water dripping from his hair. "Get in here!"

Jax adjusted his hat. Lowered the brim. "Nah, I'm good."

But everyone was looking now. He could feel their eyes like mosquito bites. This was it—the moment where he either stripped down to his trunks and jumped in, or became That Guy Who Stood Fully Clothed At A Pool Party Until Graduation.

Then the sky tore open.

Lightning cracked so close the hairs on his arms stood up. A collective gasp rippled through the crowd, and suddenly everyone was scrambling out of the pool, grabbing towels, screaming about phones and getting soaked.

Jax stood frozen, mesmerized by the jagged veins of light splitting the sky purple. Something about it felt familiar—the way the air charged right before the strike, the held breath, the inevitable release.

"You gonna stand there or help me with this umbrella?"

It was Maya from his English class, holding a collapsed umbrella and looking unimpressed. She'd been reading in the corner all afternoon, weirdly immune to Tyler's hype.

"Oh. Yeah." Jax grabbed the other side. Together they fumbled it open just as the sky opened too.

They huddled under the umbrella as rain drummed the fabric. Tyler was inside now, probably dry and posting about the "crazy storm" on his story.

"I hate swimming," Maya said suddenly, like they were already mid-conversation. "Like, actively despise it."

Jax blinked. "Really?"

"My parents make me do club. It's basically emotional damage in a chlorinated prison." She adjusted her glasses. "You?"

"I don't know how to swim."

The words fell out before he could stop them. But Maya just nodded like he'd said something normal.

"Dope. We can be dry people together."

Another flash of lightning illuminated her crooked smile. Jax realized he was still gripping his hat's brim. He let go.

"Hey," he said. "Wanna get Italian sodas later?"

"Only if they're that blue kind that stains your teeth."

"Deal."

Somewhere behind them, someone shrieked about their hair getting ruined. Jax and Maya just watched the storm, dry under their umbrella, and he thought maybe sometimes the real lightning strikes weren't the ones in the sky.