Summer of the Fox

The heat wave hit harder than Maya's crush on Leo, which was saying something. She stood at the edge of the infinity pool, clutching her iPhone like a lifeline, scrolling through Instagram to look busy. Really, she was watching Leo dominate the padel court two houses down, his shirt sticking to his back in all the right ways.

"You gonna get in or just stand there looking like a terrified fox?" Maya's best friend Chloe called from the water, laughing.

Maya flipped her off. "I'm assessing the situation. Strategizing."

"Strategizing what? Your fifth consecutive summer as the girl who watches from the edge?"

Ouch. True, but still ouch.

The pool party was legendary—until you actually had to be in the pool. Maya's new bikini felt too revealing, her body too visible, everything too much. Last year's growth spurt had turned her from invisible to suddenly noticeable, and she wasn't ready for either.

Then Leo walked over, dripping wet, holding a cup of something bright orange.

"Hey," he said. "Want this? My mom made papaya smoothies and they're actually kinda gross."

Maya's brain short-circuited. "What?"

"The smoothie. It's weirdly spicy? I think she added chili or something." He thrust it toward her, their fingers brushing, and Maya almost dropped her iPhone in the pool.

"Thanks," she managed. Their eyes locked for approximately three years.

"So," Leo said, "you playing padel later? We need a fourth."

"I don't play."

"Perfect. Neither do we. We just hit things and yell."

Maya laughed—really laughed—and something in her chest loosened. The fox inside her stopped running.

"I'm in," she said. "But warning: I'm terrible."

"That's the point." Leo grinned. "It's not about being good. It's about not taking yourself seriously."

Maya looked at the papaya smoothie in her hand, then at her phone, then at the boy who somehow made everything feel simple. She chugged the spicy drink in one go.

"That's disgusting," she sputtered.

Leo's laugh was the best sound she'd heard all summer.

"Ten minutes," he said. "Court's ours."

Maya jumped into the pool, phone and all.

Okay, not the phone. But for the first time, she was actually diving in.